Last month, WhatsApp announced that all around India, users could now send money through the app itself. How does it work? WhatsApp partnered with 5 leading banks in the country and use a “UPI” – Unified Payment Interface – to send money through mobile phones. When will this be rolled out worldwide? What else is cooking at WhatsApp, here are a few answers.

1. Carts

WhatsApp wants to facilitate shopping via the app. Shop staff, customer care agents and consumers themselves have become used to exchanging information by chatting on the platform. Carts are catalogues of products that can be exchanged easily as opposed to sending multiple photos or pdf’s. Once a user opens the carts, they can add products just like if they were shopping on a website, the cart is sent to the business who then goes on to fulfil the order.

2. Disappearing messages

With the idea in mind that not every single content should live on forever in our phones, WhatsApp released an option to make some messages disappear. When enabled, this will make sure to delete your messages within 7 days.

3. QR codes for businesses

With as many as 50 million WhatsApp business accounts worldwide, the platform is always trying to find new ways to support their business partners. The latest update allows consumers to start a chat with businesses by scanning a QR code. It is more convenient for users who don’t need to register a business s number onto their phones and also a fantastic way for businesses to show how available they are.