WhatsApp to drop annual fee

Popular messaging app WhatsApp will no longer require users to pay a $1 annual fee to use its service.

According to a statement released Monday, WhatsApp will start removing annual fees from different versions of the app over the next several weeks.

The first year of WhatsApp is available to users for free, but after that, users pay $0.99 every year. However, a statement from WhatsApp says that approach has not worked.

"Many WhatsApp users don't have a debit or credit card number and they worried they'd lose access to their friends and family after their first year," reads an excerpt from the statement.

WhatsApp also says it won't rely on third-party ads to compensate for the loss of annual revenue fees. However, the company is testing tools to allow businesses to launch WhatsApp accounts and reaching out to users.

"That could mean communicating with your bank about whether a recent transaction was fraudulent, or with an airline about a delayed flight," reads WhatsApp's statement. "We all get these messages elsewhere today – through text messages and phone calls – so we want to test new tools to make this easier to do on WhatsApp."

Two years ago, social network Facebook made a huge splash by acquiring the messaging app for $22 billion, but has yet to reveal how to plans to generate more revenue from the service. During the first half of 2014, WhatsApp generated $15 million from subscription fees.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp's user base continues to surge. When Facebook announced it would acquire WhatsApp in February 2014, the company had 450 million monthly active users. In September, WhatsApp revealed the service topped 900 million.

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.