By now even the walls know this: after the first 12 months in which the application can be used at no cost, WhatsApp requires the payment of a small annual subscription fee which amounts to 0,89 euros. What not everyone knows, however, is that subscribing to the service can also be done on behalf of third parties. This means that if, for example, you have a friend who needs to renew WhatsApp and you want to give him a small gift, you can pay for his subscription using your mobile directly.
Do you want to know how? I'll explain it to you right away. Grab your trusty smartphone and find out how to give WhatsApp to a friend following the simple steps outlined below - it's really child's play, I assure you!
UPDATE: from January 2016 WhatsApp is no longer a paid application. The service has become free for everyone, on all operating systems and with no time limits. This means that you no longer have to pay the annual fee of € 0,89 and that the information in this guide is to be considered obsolete.
If you want gift WhatsApp to a friend and you use an Android smartphone, all you have to do is start the application, press the button Menu located at the top right (the icon with the three dots) and select the item Settings from the box that appears.
In the screen that opens, go to Contacts, select the voice Pay for a friend e pulsing sul pulsating Select a contact which is located at the top. At this point, select the friend to whom you want to pay the WhatsApp subscription from the contact list, choose whether to give him as a gift 1 year, 3 years o 5 years subscription and presses the button Google Wallet to complete the transaction using the credit card linked to your Google account.
The recipient of the gift can use Android, iOS or any other mobile operating system - it makes no difference. However, a restart of the phone may be required for the renewal to take effect on your account.
Unfortunately, in the iPhone version of WhatsApp the option to pay the subscription as a third party has not yet been introduced, however if the holder of the account to be renewed uses an "iPhone by" you can take advantage of the App Store's gift system to credit on your account the sum necessary to pay for the service.
To better understand what I mean, take your iPhone, open theApp Store, select the scheda First floor and scroll the screen to the bottom. Then press the button Send gift, type in the field A: the email address associated with your friend's Apple ID and enter in the field Other the amount to be credited to your account (min 10 €).
In conclusion, make sure there is a check mark next to the item Today, add a message to accompany your gift and press on Following. Choose a theme for your virtual gift card and confirm the transaction by pressing on first Following and then Buy Now.
Another possible solution for gift WhatsApp to a friend is to have the person concerned send a URL for payment via email and carry out the entire operation via computer.
To learn more about this procedure, consult my tutorial in which I explained how to pay for WhatsApp from your PC: also in this case it is a very simple operation to complete.
