WeChat has been described as China's "app for everything" and a super-app because of its wide range of functions.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,062 |
46 Facts About WeChat
1.
2.
WeChat provides text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, broadcast messaging, video conferencing, video games, sharing of photographs and videos and location sharing.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,063 |
3.
User activity on WeChat is analyzed, tracked and shared with Chinese authorities upon request as part of the mass surveillance network in China.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,064 |
5.
WeChat had over 889 million monthly active users by 2016, and as of 2019 WeChat's monthly active users had risen to an estimate of one billion.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,066 |
6.
WeChat provides many features similar to Snapchat such as text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, broadcast messaging, video calls and conferencing, video games, photograph and video sharing, as well as location sharing.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,067 |
7.
WeChat allows users to exchange contacts with people nearby via Bluetooth, as well as providing various features for contacting people at random if desired.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,068 |
8.
In 2017 WeChat had a policy of a maximum of two advertisements per day per Moments user.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,069 |
9.
WeChat Pay is a digital wallet service incorporated into WeChat, which allows users to perform mobile payments and send money between contacts.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,070 |
10.
For non-Chinese users of WeChat Pay, an additional identity verification process of providing a photo of a valid ID is required before certain functions of WeChat Pay become available.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,071 |
11.
WeChat Pay can be used for digital payments, as well as payments from participating vendors.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,072 |
13.
In 2019 it was reported that WeChat had overtaken Alibaba with 800 million active WeChat mobile payment users versus 520 million for Alibaba's Alipay.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,074 |
14.
In 2019 it was reported that Chinese users can use WeChat Pay in 25 countries outside China, including, Italy, South Africa and the UK.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,075 |
15.
Business owners can create mini apps in the WeChat system, implemented using JavaScript plus a proprietary API.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,076 |
16.
WeChat Games have received huge popularity, with its "Jump Jump" game attracting 400 million players in less than 3 days and attaining 100 million daily active users in just two weeks after its launch, as of January 2018.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,077 |
17.
In September 2021, it was reported that WeChat Channels began allowing users to upload hour-long videos, twice of the duration limit previously imposed on all WeChat Channels videos.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,078 |
18.
In January 2022, there were reports that WeChat is set to diversify further and place more emphasis on new products and services like WeChat Channels, amid new regulatory restrictions imposed in China.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,079 |
19.
In September 2021, WeChat introduced a brand new feature on its platform called Easy Mode.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,080 |
20.
In 2015, WeChat offered a heat map feature that showed crowd density.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,081 |
22.
WeChat allowed people to add friends by a variety of methods, including searching by username or phone number, adding from phone or email contacts, playing a "message in a bottle" game, or viewing nearby people who are using the same service.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,083 |
23.
In 2017, WeChat was reported to be developing an augmented reality platform as part of its service offering.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,084 |
24.
In spring 2020, WeChat users are now able to change their WeChat ID more than once, being allowed to change their username only once per year.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,085 |
25.
WeChat has added the function of animated emoji, such as the emojis of Bomb, Fireworks, and Celebration.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,086 |
26.
WeChat Business is one of the latest mobile social network business model after e-commerce, which utilizes business relationships and friendships to maintain a customer relationship.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,087 |
27.
The first one is to launch advertisements and provide services through the WeChat Official Account, which is a B2C mode.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,088 |
28.
Additionally, the lack of any supervision mechanism in WeChat business provides opportunities for criminals to continue this illegal behavior.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,089 |
29.
In early 2022, WeChat suspended more than a dozen NFT public accounts to clean up crypto speculation and scalping.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,090 |
30.
In 2014, Burberry partnered with WeChat to create its own WeChat apps around its fall 2014 runway show, giving users live streams from the shows.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,091 |
31.
In 2016, WeChat partnered with 60 Italian companies who were able to sell their products and services on the Chinese market without having to get a license to operate a business in China.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,092 |
32.
WeChat ceased the development of the app for Windows Phones before the end of 2017.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,093 |
33.
WeChat could be accessed on Windows using BlueStacks until December 2014.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,094 |
34.
WeChat opens up video calls for multiple people not only for a one-person call.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,095 |
35.
WeChat operates from China under Chinese law, which includes strong censorship provisions and interception protocols.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,096 |
36.
September 2017 update to the platform's privacy policy detailed that log data collected by WeChat included search terms, profiles visited, and content that had been viewed within the app.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,097 |
37.
Additionally, metadata related to the communications between WeChat users—including call times, duration, and location information—was collected.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,098 |
38.
WeChat speculated that the officials of the Internal Security Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security listened to his voicemail messages that were directed to his friends, repeating the words displayed within the voice mail messages to Hu Jia.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,099 |
39.
China Central Television, a state-run broadcaster, featured a piece in which WeChat was described as an app that helped criminals due to its location-reporting features.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,100 |
40.
On 6 May 2017, Russia blocked access to WeChat for failing to give its contact details to the Russian communications watchdog.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,101 |
41.
The problem existed because WeChat's servers were all located in China and thus subjected to its censorship rules.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,102 |
42.
In 2020, WeChat started censoring messages concerning the COVID-19 pandemic.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,103 |
43.
In December 2020 WeChat blocked a post by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison during a diplomatic spat between Australia and China.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,104 |
44.
In 2016, the Citizen Lab published a report saying that WeChat was using different censorship policies in mainland China and other areas.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,105 |
45.
WeChat collects phone data and monitors member activity and because app developers are outside of the country and not cooperating, this software has been blocked, so you can use domestic applications for cheap voice calls, video calls and messaging.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,106 |
46.
On July 6,2021, several WeChat accounts associated with China's university campuses LGBTQ movement were blocked and then deleted without warning.
| FactSnippet No. 1,585,107 |