WeChat's development history:
WeChat was planned and launched by Tencent Holdings Limited in October 2010, and built by the product team of Tencent's Guangzhou R&D Center. The team, led by team manager Zhang Xiaolong, has successfully developed Internet projects such as Foxmail and QQ mailbox. Tencent President Ma Huateng identified the name of the product as "WeChat" in the product planning email.
On October 19, 2013, WeChat's LBS graphic response was set up by the merchant to set the location of the store, and after the user submits their current location, they can find the nearest merchant's store and perform one-click navigation, one-click dialing, and also display the activity if the store is currently engaged in an activity (e.g., coupons, scratch cards).
October 13, 2013, Citywide Search aspires to help those who do not understand the technology to build their own interface program, so that completely non-technical individuals or enterprises can have powerful functions through simple configuration.
Enterprises using Citywide Search can realize intelligent customer service robot function at low cost, shopkeepers can easily realize the association and interaction of store goods and fans, and also will soon provide powerful management function module for WeChat local number operation and maintenance personnel of local operation and maintenance.
On January 21, 2011, WeChat released its 1.0 beta version for iPhone users. This version supported importing existing contact information via QQ numbers, but only had simple features such as instant messaging, sharing photos and changing avatars.
In the following three beta versions, 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3, WeChat gradually added support for reading cell phone address books, interoperability with Tencent's microblogging private messaging, and multi-conversation functionality, and by the end of April 2011, Tencent's WeChat had gained 4.5 million registered users.
On May 10, 2011, WeChat released version 2.0, which added a Talkbox-like voice messaging feature that allowed WeChat's user base to grow significantly for the first time, and in August 2011, WeChat added a stranger dating feature called "View Nearby People," which reached 15 million users. By the end of 2011, WeChat had more than 15 million users. By the end of 2011, WeChat had more than 50 million users.
On October 1, 2011, WeChat released version 3.0, which added the "Shake" and "Drift Bottle" functions, added support for the Traditional Chinese language interface, and added the ability to bind cell phone numbers for users in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, the United States, and Japan.
A Beijing-based cultural communication company applied to register the WeChat trademark on January 17, 2011, just a week after Tencent's WeChat trademark was filed for registration on January 24, 2011, just a week late.
In March 2012, the number of WeChat users surpassed the 100 million mark, and on April 19, WeChat released version 4.0 of its website. This version added a photo album feature similar to Path and Instagram, and the ability to share photo albums with friends.
In April 2012, Tencent began to make attempts to push WeChat into the international market, renaming its 4.0 English version "Wechat" for the purpose of European and Americanization of WeChat, and then launching multi-language support.
On July 19, 2012, WeChat version 4.2 added a video chat plug-in and released a web-based WeChat interface.
On September 5, 2012, WeChat version 4.3 added the Shake to Transfer feature, which makes it easy to transfer pictures from your computer to your phone. This version also added a voice search function and support for unbundling cell phone numbers and QQ numbers, further enhancing users' control over their personal information.
On September 17, 2012, Tencent's WeChat team released a news release stating that WeChat had surpassed 200 million registered users.
Late on January 15, 2013, Tencent's WeChat team announced on Weibo that the number of WeChat users had exceeded 300 million, making it the world's most downloaded and most used communications software, with influence across mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, overseas Chinese congregations, and a handful of Westerners.
On February 5, 2013, WeChat released version 4.5 of WeChat. This version supports real-time intercom and multi-person real-time voice chat, and further enriches the functions of "shake" and QR code, as well as support for searching, saving and migrating chat records. Meanwhile, WeChat 4.5 also includes voice reminders and navigation based on the location sent by the other party.
On April 11, 2013, Tencent's WeChat team issued an official statement to some users via WeChat, saying that the rumor circulating online that WeChat is charging users is a malicious rumor, and emphasizing that WeChat will never charge users.
At 7:30 a.m. on July 22, 2013, a large number of users reported that WeChat was experiencing a complete failure, including the inability to send WeChat messages, the inability to refresh the circle of friends, the inability to log in to the public account platform, and the inability to connect to the WeChat web version.
The incident had been disturbing until about 2 p.m., when the WeChat development team took to its Tencent microblogging site. It announced that WeChat could be used again, but some users still left messages saying that some functions had not been restored after entering WeChat, or that they had failed to connect at all.
On August 5, 2013, WeChat 5.0 for ios went live, adding an emoji store and a game center, and a new upgrade of the sweep (313 for short) function, which allows you to sweep street scenes, barcodes, two-dimensional barcodes, word translations, and covers, and on August 9 of the same year, WeChat 5.0 for Android went live.
On August 15, 2013, WeChat's overseas version (WeChat) registered users exceeded 100 million, with 30 million new users in a month.
On October 24, 2013, Tencent's WeChat had more than 600 million users and 100 million daily active users.
On December 31, 2013, WeChat 5.0 for Windows Phone went live , adding features such as an emoji store, binding a bank card, favorites feature, binding an email address, and sharing a message to a friend circle.
On January 4, 2014, WeChat added the taxi function provided by "Tic-Tic Taxi" to the product. on January 28, 2014, WeChat was upgraded to version 5.2, and the interface of the Android version was completely revamped. in March 2014, WeChat's payment function was opened. on March 24, 2014, WeChat's payment function was opened. on March 24, 2014, WeChat's payment function was launched. Computer Butler hand in hand with WeChat on-line chat record backup function.
January 21, 2015, WeChat in the App Store was the first on-line version 6.1, the new version added "attachment column to send WeChat red envelopes", "change the phone, custom expression will not be lost", The new version adds three major features: "send WeChat red envelopes from the attachment bar", "customized emoticons won't be lost when you change phones", and "you can search the contents of your circle of friends and nearby restaurants". There's also an opening slideshow after installation that counts the number of likes you've sent and received over the past year.
August 28, 2014, WeChat Pay officially announced the "WeChat Smart Life" industry-wide solution. It is based on WeChat Public Number + WeChat Pay, which helps traditional industries to "transplant" their original business model to the WeChat platform.
The closed-loop mobile Internet business solutions provided by WeChat include service capabilities such as mobile e-commerce entry, user identification, data analysis, payment and settlement, customer relationship maintenance, after-sales service and rights protection, and social promotion. This also signals that WeChat is once again increasing the pace of commercialization and opening up to provide partners with the ability to connect and boost the mobile Internet transformation of business models for enterprise users.
By providing partners with the ability to "connect everything", WeChat is forming a new "smart" lifestyle. It has already penetrated into the following traditional industries, such as WeChat Taxi, WeChat Electricity, WeChat Shopping, WeChat Healthcare and WeChat Hotel. It provides standard solutions for dozens of industries such as medical, hotel, retail, department store, catering, ticketing, express delivery, university, e-commerce, and livelihood.
January 11, 2016, the father of WeChat, Zhang Xiaolong, made a public appearance after many years, explaining the four values of WeChat. Bruce Zhang pointed out that more and more products are made through the public number, because the cost of development, user acquisition and dissemination is lower here. The service number split out does not provide a better service, so WeChat is internally studying a new form called 'WeChat small program'.
From March 1, 2016, WeChat Pay stopped charging handling fees for the transfer function. On March 10, WeChat officially announced the details of "Enterprise WeChat" for the first time, and officially released the Android version through the App Store on April 18.In August, WeChat and Alipay were awarded the first batch of payment licenses in Hong Kong.
September 21, 2016, WeChat small program officially opened internal testing. Under the WeChat ecosystem, the WeChat small program, which is at your fingertips and ready to use, has attracted widespread attention. Tencent Cloud officially launched the WeChat small program solution, providing a technical solution for small programs in the cloud server.
At 0:00 on January 9, 2017, the much-anticipated WeChat first batch of small programs were officially launched in a low-profile manner, and users could experience the services provided by a variety of small programs.
In February 2017, Brand Finance released its 2017 list of the world's top 500 brands, and WeChat ranked 100th.
On the evening of March 23, 2017, WeChat officially launched the "WeChat Index" function, which Tencent defined as a mobile index based on the analysis of WeChat's big data that WeChat officially provides. data analysis of the mobile index.
April 19, 2017, WeChat announced that due to the introduction of Apple's new rules, the in-app payment rules have been changed, the iOS version of the WeChat public platform and emoji platform appreciation function from the same day 17:00 onwards was shut down, Android and other versions of WeChat appreciation function is not affected. In addition, Tencent sources said that the red envelope is not in this category, will not be affected.
The reason for WeChat's adjustment of the appreciation function of the public platform and emoji platform is that Apple updated its 3.1.1 clause on June 13, 2016, which more strictly requires that the App shall not contain buttons, external links or other call-to-action phrases that guide customers to make purchases using non-IAP mechanisms.
WeChat also said that after the appreciation function is closed, WeChat public number operators can display QR codes in their articles and get support through personal transfers. In order to protect the user's funds, such transfers of funds will take T + 7 settlement cycle, such as the generation of funds frozen or refunded, you can view the relevant water in the background of the WeChat public platform.
On May 4, 2017, WeChat Pay announced its official entry into the United States in partnership with CITCON. After WeChat Pay officially entered the United States, people going to the United States can enjoy the convenience of cashless payment in the United States. Through WeChat Pay, clothing, food, housing and transportation in the United States can be directly settled in RMB.
Starting from the morning of May 5, 2017, some WeChat users in Russia have been experiencing restrictions on their use one after another, and the web version of the function cannot be used. The Russian government asked the service providers to provide information on business registration in the country where they are located, the address of their servers, and a description of the software's functions. The Russian side assured that the blocking of WeChat would be lifted after the provision of the above information.
On May 18, 2017, WeChat ushered in an update that added the 'WeChat Labs' feature. Currently, the enabled experiments are 'Take a look' and 'Search' functions.
In the afternoon of August 21, 2017, WeChat had a large-scale failure, other app content can not be shared to friends and the circle of friends; WeChat transfer function is also temporarily disabled, the red envelope function is normal.
Four days from 17:00 on September 25, 2017 - 17:00 on September 28, 2017, the mobile WeChat start page display of the Earth's picture will also be replaced from the previous NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in the world-wide public of the first complete picture of the Earth, to the Wind and Cloud IV imaging map. This is the first time in six years that the WeChat launch page has been changed.
On November 8, 2017, WeChat was named to the TOP 30 list of business cases in China.
On December 28, 2017, WeChat's updated version 6.6.1 suddenly opened up small games, and the WeChat start page also highlighted the small game "Jump One Jump".
On January 10, 2018, on the occasion of the 32nd National 110 Awareness Day, the Yantai Municipal Public Security Bureau and Tencent jointly developed a new type of live interactive alarm method - "@110", which was first launched in the country.
On January 31, 2018, WeChat released a new version 6.6.2 for iOS, which supports one-key switching of login for two accounts, as well as a discovery page management function.
On February 9, 2018, the WeChat team announced that it adheres to zero tolerance for online gambling, and that the WeChat team, through user-reported data, after verifying and collecting evidence,*** counted more than 2,300 WeChat groups involved in gambling for the restriction of the group function, and more than 30,000 accounts for the restriction of the function of the use of or restriction of the log-in of the ladder of penalties.
On the evening of February 10, 2018, in response to the malicious violations and confrontational behavior in the WeChat circle of friends, the WeChat team issued a heavy announcement.
In February 2018, the number of WeChat's monthly global user activity exceeded the 1 billion mark for the first time.
April 1, 2018 onwards, Alipay, WeChat static barcode payment, a daily limit of 500 yuan.
From April 9, 2018, the Tianjin Municipal Market Supervision Commission in the China (Tianjin) Pilot Free Trade Zone Dongjiang Port Area, and the Jiangsu Provincial Administration for Industry and Commerce in Nanjing, Zhenjiang, Suqian, Lianyungang, four cities, at the same time to start the "enterprise through the WeChat small program to download and use the electronic business license" service.
May 11, 2018, the WeChat public number subscription assistant iOS version was released, can edit graphics, handle messages and so on.
In May 2018, in order to protect the privacy and security of users and optimize the experience of external links on WeChat, the WeChat team further upgraded the rules related to the "WeChat External Link Content Management Specification", and the new regulations will officially come into effect on May 29th.
On May 23, 2018, WeChat iOS was updated to version 6.6.7.
In May 2018, WeChat and Hilton Group*** jointly created the "Hilton" app, which provides guests with a series of new online services, including the industry's first invoicing booking, hotel information guides, and exploring the surrounding area.
On May 29, 2018, the new regulation of "WeChat External Link Content Management Standards" came into effect.
On June 4, 2018, WeChat took down the "friend message" function.
On June 6, 2018, the "WeChat Simultaneous Translation" plug-in was released.
In June 2018, WeChat launched the "Relative Card" function, which allows users to open (gift) a relative card to their parents or children on WeChat, and when using the relative card for consumption, the consumption funds will be automatically deducted from the payment account of the payer.