Facebook-owned WhatsApp today expanded its popular WhatsApp Business app to the iPhone, giving business owners a better way to interface with their customers using the chat app.

With WhatsApp Business, businesses are able to create profiles with contact details, website information, and options for automated greetings, replies, and away messages.

whatsappbusiness

Whether it's an online sweet shop in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil that closes 60 percent of its sales via WhatsApp Business or a cinnamon roll company in Tijuana, Mexico that credits WhatsApp Business for allowing it to open a second location, small business owners all over the world are using the app to grow. We're excited to bring the WhatsApp Business app to even more small businesses and hear new stories about how it's helping them succeed.

WhatsApp Business also includes a desktop website component, so businesses can use a smartphone, tablet, or desktop machine to contact customers. Prior to now, the WhatsApp Business app has been limited to Android devices.

WhatsApp Business will be available in the App Store for free, but it looks like it's still rolling out at the current time. It will be available in Brazil, Germany, Indonesia, India, Mexico, the UK and the United States, with WhatsApp planning to bring it to additional countries in the near future. [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

Apple_Robert Avatar
66 months ago
Facebook-owned WhatsApp today expanded its tentacles with the WhatsApp Business app ('https://www.whatsapp.com/business/'), so that it could query more personal information from businesses and customers, under the guise of better customer support. MR reached out to "hear no evil," see no evil, speak no evil; otherwise known as "the beast" or Facebook to those who are still in the Matrix for comment, and a spokesman for Facebook responded by saying it is looking forward to working with (read: manipulating) new data.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C DM Avatar
66 months ago
are people running their entire business on mobile phones? I can't stand to type a one sentence long text message to my mom and generally just go over to my Mac. Does WhatsApp have a desktop component these business owners can use or do they just spend all day mashing out garbage with their fingers? Just seems like this would be a real waste of time versus a traditional keyboard setup in a real web browser.
From the article:
WhatsApp Business also includes a desktop website component, so businesses can use a smartphone, tablet, or desktop machine to contact customers.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tridley68 Avatar
66 months ago
Been using what's app to communicate with my daughter while she is studying in New Zealand this semester and it works very nicely so I'm sure the business one will be great also.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Allthings-I Avatar
66 months ago
Finally solved the 2 numbers, 1 phone. Thank you WhatsApp....only took you like 10 years.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple_Robert Avatar
66 months ago
Given the fact that the app is a Facebook product, I won't be putting it on my phone. Facebook cannot and should not be trusted with any of your information and or personal use of this app.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C DM Avatar
66 months ago
If Apple is going full out on services, I hope they can figure out how to bring iMessage and FaceTime to Android and Windows. So much potential to use their reputation for privacy to disrupt messaging for businesses.
Does that bring revenue?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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