WeChat Announces Major Upgrades

Singapore
– August 5, 2013 – WeChat today announced the launch of WeChat 5.0 to
further enrich the user experience. As WeChat continues to grow on
the international stage with its recent announcement that they passed 70
million registered user accounts internationally, the platform continues to
innovate and bring new features to meet customer needs.

 

With
the WeChat 5.0 comes the introduction of the Sticker Shop which is supported by
online payment allows users to download and pay for stickers via the platform.

Also
new with the WeChat 5.0 is the ‘Hold Together,’ a location based service that
allows users to further find and connect friends who are close to each other.
Along with ‘Shake’ and ‘People Nearby’ (previously called “Look Around”), users
are able to connect with friends with just a simple touch of the screen. WeChat
has also made it easier to add friends with their upgraded ‘Adding Contacts’
function, as well as made communicating with them simpler with a refined ‘Quick
Entry’ for the group chat function.

“The new WeChat 5.0 moves the
platform beyond a simple chatting app and enriches the user experience by being
a truly mobile social platform.  Users
not only meet, chat and share moments, pictures and videos with friends and
people they care about in an innovative and fun way, they do
it in a dynamic and intuitive fashion,” said Poshu Yeung, Vice President at
International Business Group at Tencent, the company behind the WeChat app.

 

In addition, other platform updates
include

·      Making sharing web pages to Facebook
easier for those who have linked their Facebook account to their WeChat.

·      A revamped ‘Official Accounts’ user
interface making it more convenient for users to group brand accounts into one
single category reducing clutter in chat screens.

·      A new ‘Save Messages’ function
allows users to keep sentimental text and voice messages and photos.

“While WeChat users enjoy connecting
with friends and meeting new people; WeChat’s comprehensive privacy setting
functionality allows
users to limit and control who is able to communicate
with them, view their
information and manage how
they can be found. For added security and control, protection
mechanisms such as the two-way authentication to initiate a chat, ability to hide contact details and create
a ‘black list’ to block
other users and allowing users to turn off LBS features, means their fun is experienced
only with people they trust,”
continued Mr. Yeung.

 

Connecting people in
an innovative way, WeChat became the most downloaded mobile social app on App
Store in July in numerous countries including the
Philippines, Argentina, Brazil, Hong Kong, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore,
Spain, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.

WeChat 5.0
for iOS is now available for download. WeChat 5.0 for Android will be available
at a later date. For further details, please visit www.wechat.com