WeChat Announces Major Upgrades

WeChat 5.0 introduces a sticker shop with online payment

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – 5 August 2013 – WeChat, a leading mobile social communication application, today announced the launch of WeChat 5.0.  Key enhancements include the introduction of a sticker shop with online payment capability and an enriched user experience.

As WeChat continues to grow on the international stage, recently announcing that it surpassed the 70 million registered user accounts internationally, the platform continues to innovate and bring new features to meet customer needs. The introduction of a sticker shop supported by online payment allows users to download and pay for stickers via the platform.

The update introduces ‘Hold Together’, a location based service that allows users to find and connect friends who are close to each other. With “Shake” and “People Nearby”, users are able to connect with friends with a simple touch of the screen. Once friends have been located, WeChat has made it easier to add friends with an upgraded ‘Adding Contacts’ function, while communicating with them is made simpler with a refined ‘Quick Entry’ for the Group Chat function.

“The new WeChat 5.0 moves the platform beyond a simple chatting app and enriches the user experience by being a truly mobile social platform.  Users not only meet, chat and share moments, pictures and videos with friends and people they care about in an innovative and fun way, they do it in a dynamic and intuitive fashion,” said Poshu Yeung, Vice President at International Business Group at Tencent, the company behind the WeChat app.

In addition, other platform updates include making sharing web pages to Facebook easier for those who have linked their Facebook account to their WeChat account, a revamped ‘Official Accounts’ user interface that makes it more convenient for users to group brand accounts into one single category reducing clutter in chat screens and finally a new ‘Save Messages’ allows users to keep sentimental text and voice messages and photos.

“While WeChat users enjoy connecting with friends and meeting new people, WeChat’s comprehensive privacy setting functionality allows users to limit who is able to communicate with them, control who views their information and manage how they can be found.  For added security and control, protection mechanisms such as the two-way authentication to initiate a chat, ability to hide contact details and create a ‘black list’ to block other users and allowing users to turn off LBS features, means their fun is experienced only with people they trust,” continued Mr. Yeung.

Connecting people in an innovative way, WeChat became the most downloaded mobile social app on App Store in July in numerous countries including Argentina, Brazil, Hong Kong, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.