WhatsApp Debuts Biz App On iOS

WhatsApp Business has started to roll out its services on iOS, more than a year after it launched on Android. The app, which is separate from the original WhatsApp, allows businesses to easily communicate with their customers. According to WABetaInfo, the app has been found in the Mexican App Store, as well as in France and Brazil.

Free for businesses to download and use, WhatsApp App Business enables small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to reply to their customers directly, set away and greeting messages, and list info such as opening times and addresses.

WhatsApp rolled out its messaging app on Android in January 2018. At the time, WhatsApp had 1.3 billion users, and it recently surpassed Facebook in terms of monthly active users. One year later, the company announced that there were more than 5 million businesses using WhatsApp Business.

“In January of last year, we launched the WhatsApp Business app, and now there are more than 5 million businesses using it to support customers, grow their businesses and serve their communities all over the world,” WhatsApp wrote in a blog post. “We’re excited that we’ve helped millions of businesses grow. For example, in India, Bengaluru-based eyewear brand Glassic has told us that 30 percent of its new sales are generated through WhatsApp Business.”

To celebrate the app’s first year on Android, the company rolled out some of the most popular features of WhatsApp Business to the web and desktop, including quick replies (frequent messages businesses can send to answer common questions), labels (which enable SMBs to organize chats) and chat list filtering (which enables users to manage and sort chats by certain categories). According to WhatsApp, using these features on a computer can help businesses save time.