WhatsApp allows you to do money transfers from the app. The Meta-owned company, it seems, now plans to take its financial services a step up by allowing users in India to pay their bills from the app. According to an APK teardown by Android Authority, WhatsApp’s beta version 2.25.3.15 includes code that hints at a new way for users to pay their bills directly from the app.
What does this mean for users?
Paying bills has come a long way from standing in never-ending queues once to few taps on a smartphone. If the said bill payment feature arrives on WhatsApp, people might not need to switch between multiple apps or websites to pay for essential services like electricity, water, mobile recharges, rent, and more. Instead, they could complete these transactions within WhatsApp itself, making payments easier and swift.
WhatsApp already supports Payments
WhatsApp currently allows users in India to make money transfers to their contacts and businesses via Unified Payments Interface (UPI). This feature was introduced a few years ago and was gradually rolled out to users in India.
With this upcoming bill payment feature, WhatsApp plans to take a step ahead in expanding its financial services in India- a place where digital payments are growing in multifold.
What bills could you pay through WhatsApp?
According to the code spotted in the beta version of WhatsApp, users may be able to pay for various types of bills such as several types of bills like – electricity bills, mobile bills and recharges, LPG gas payments, water bills and landline postpaid bills and even monthly rent payment.
However, it’s important to note that this bill payment feature is still in development. Although WhatsApp has included an empty placeholder for the feature in its latest beta version, there is no certainty on its release. There is also a chance that it may not make it to the final public release.
What’s next?
If WhatsApp rolls out this feature, it could come in fierce competition with other popular digital payment services like Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm– popular platforms that are currently being used for bill payments.