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* [[Comparison of instant messaging clients]]
* [[Comparison of instant messaging clients]]
* [[Tencent|Tencent Holdings]]
* [[Tencent|Tencent Holdings]]
* [[QQ Player]]
*[[Internet censorship in China]]
*[[Internet censorship in China]]


Revision as of 15:51, 13 July 2015

Not to be confused with WeeChat.
WeChat
Developer(s)Tencent
Initial releaseJanuary 2011 (2011-01)
Stable release
iOS8.0.4 / April 7, 2021; 3 years ago (2021-04-07)[1]
macOS3.0.1 / April 3, 2021; 3 years ago (2021-04-03)[2]
Android7.0.21 / January 6, 2021; 3 years ago (2021-01-06)[3]
Operating systemiOS, Android, Windows Phone, Symbian, BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, OS X, Windows
Available inEnglish, Chinese (Simplified & Traditional), Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Malay, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, Italian, Russian, Hindi, Turkish
TypeInstant messaging client
LicenceProprietary
Websitewww.wechat.com (International)
weixin.qq.com (China)

WeChat (Chinese: 微信; pinyin: Wēixìn; lit. 'micro message') is a mobile text and voice messaging communication service developed by Tencent in China, first released in January 2011.[4] It is the largest standalone messaging app by monthly active users.[5]

The app is available on Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Phone and Symbian phones, and there are also Web-based, OS X[6] and Windows[7] clients but these require the user to have the app installed on a supported mobile phone for authentication and neither message roaming nor 'Moments' is provided.[8] As of August 2014, WeChat has 438 million active users; with 70 million outside of China.[9]

WeChat provides text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, broadcast (one-to-many) messaging, sharing of photographs and videos, and location sharing. It can exchange contacts with people nearby via Bluetooth, as well as providing various features for contacting people at random if desired (if these are open to it) and integration with social networking services such as those run by Facebook and Tencent QQ.[10] Photographs may also be embellished with filters and captions, and a machine translation service is available.

History

WeChat began as a project at Tencent Guangzhou Research and Project center in October 2010.[11] The original version of the app, "Weixin", was invented by Xiaolong Zhang, and named by Ma Huateng, Tencent CEO.[12]

In April 2012, Weixin re-branded as WeChat for the international market.[13]

On 18 March 2015, Tencent revealed WeChat's the Monthly Active Users metrics to be 500 million.[14]

Features

Instant Messaging

Wechat supports different ways of instant message, including text message, voice message, walkie talkie and stickers. Users can send pictures, videos, namecards, coupons, lucky money packages or positions to one of his contacts, or share them with friends in a groupchat.

Public Accounts

Wechat supports users to register as a public account, which enables them to push feeds to subscribers, interact with subscribers and provide them with service. By the end of 2014, number of Wechat public accounts had reached 8 million.[15] Public accounts of organizations can apply for a verified official public accounts.

In China, Wechat public accounts have become a common service or promotion platform for government, news media and companies. Specific public account subscribers use the platform for service like hospital pre-registration,[16] visa renewal[17] or credit card service.[18]

Censorship

Global Censorship

Starting January 9, 2013 reports arose that Chinese language searches outside China were being keyword filtered and then blocked. This occurred both to China from foreign countries and from foreign countries to other foreign countries. WeChat already censors its communications within China. In this new international example of blocking, a message was displayed on users' screens reading “The message “南方周末” you sent contains restricted words. Please check it again.” The Chinese characters stand for a Guangzhou-based paper called Southern Weekly (or, alternatively, Southern Weekend). The next day Tencent released a statement addressing the issue saying “A small number of WeChat international users were not able to send certain messages due to a technical glitch this Thursday. Immediate actions have been taken to rectify it. We apologize for any inconvenience it has caused to our users. We will continue to improve the product features and technological support to provide better user experience.” WeChat has plans to build two different platforms to avoid this problem in the future; one for Chinese mainlanders and one for the rest of the world. The problem exists because WeChat's servers are currently all located in China and thus subject to its censorship rules.[19][20][21]

Restricting Sharing Websites in "Moments"

On Dec 12, 2014, WeChat announced that according to "related regulations,"domains of the web pages that want to get shared in WeChat Moments need to get an ICP license by Dec 31, 2014 to avoid being restricted by WeChat.[22]

Security concerns

WeChat operates from China under Chinese law, which includes strong censorship provisions and interception protocols. [23] WeChat as well contains the ability to access the text messages, contact books of its users and users’ location through the GPS feature.[23] Countries such as Taiwan, India, the United States, and China all fear that the app poses a threat to national security for various reasons.[23][24][25] In Taiwan, legislators were concerned that the potential exposure of private communications was a threat to national security.[23] In June 2013, the Indian Intelligence Bureau flagged WeChat for security concerns. India has debated whether or not they should ban WeChat for its possibility in collecting too much personal information and data from its users.[25][26][27]

China

Users in China also have expressed concern for the privacy issues of the app. Human rights activist, Hu Jia was jailed for three years for sedition. He speculates that the guobao officials, or the internal security bureau, listened to his voicemail messages that were directed to his friends, repeating the words displayed within the voice mail messages to Hu Jia. Chinese authorities have further accused the app of threatening individual safety. China Central Television (short CCTV), a state run broadcaster, featured a piece in which WeChat was described as an app that allows criminals an easy way in due to its location-reporting features. CCTV gave an example of such accusations through reporting the murder of Xu Xiaohong, a single woman who was murdered by a man she met on WeChat after he attempted to rob her. The location-reporting feature, according to reports, was the reason for the man’s knowing of the victim’s whereabouts. Authorities within China have linked WeChat to numerous crimes. The city of Hangzhou, for example, has reported over twenty crimes in the span of three months. [23][28]

Supporters

Supporters of the app argue that WeChat is overall safe. Martin Johnson, a founder of the anti-censorship site GreatFire.org, states that WeChat is a less potential threat than the app Weibo based on WeChat’s focus on messaging between well-known acquaintances and social groups. Doug Young, a Shanghai-based author of the Party Line, notes that while the app may practice self-censorship within China, it will not, however, practice the same censorship ideals outside of China. Doing so, according to Doug Young, would affect the apps image and possibility hamper its global expansion.[29]

Indiatimes had an article on why they thought WeChat had plentiful features and was a good alternative.[30]

Web client

WeChat provides a Web-based client, with messaging and file transfer capabilities, but not other functions such as the detection of nearby people. To use the Web-based client, it is necessary to first scan a QR code using the phone app. This means it is not possible to get onto the WeChat network if you do not possess a suitable smartphone with the app installed.[31]

Wechat could be accessed on Windows using Bluestacks until December 2014.[32][33]Beginning then, WeChat blocks Android emulators and accounts that have signed in from emulators may be frozen.[34]

Collaborations

In 2015 WeChat collaborated with Cogobuy's subsidiary IngDan for the "WeChat Hardware Competition". Cogobuy and WeChat successfully established an IoT ecosystem partnership with over one million followers as of February 2015.[35] By forming a closed loop ecosystem, Cogobuy serves each entrepreneur and innovator, even the entire IoT industry. IngDan provides the consolidated support with supply chain services and resource connectivity to assist hardware innovators to produce their products, as well as the platform to promote their products to there over one million WeChat followers through the collaboration.[36]

See also

References

  1. ^ Tencent Inc. (June 25, 2014). "WeChat". App Store. Apple. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
  2. ^ Tencent Inc. (March 17, 2014). "WeChat". Mac App Store. Apple. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  3. ^ Tencent Inc. (November 16, 2017). "WeChat". Google Play hihi ijjnjiinjiiqwe teuwtwb 978u79798678868g769. Google. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  4. ^ "Weixin (微信) – Tencent's Bringing the Mobile IM Revolution to theMainstream". TechRice. September 21, 2011. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  5. ^ It’s time for messaging apps to quit the bullshit numbers and tell us how many users are active. techinasia.com. January 23, 2014. Steven Millward.
  6. ^ Mittal Mandalia (2014-02-28). "WeChat announces native Mac client; Windows version may follow soon". techienews.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-03-06.
  7. ^ "WeChat for Windows".
  8. ^ Sohu IT page (in Chinese) "登陆依然需要手机扫描二维码" (registration still requires having your mobile scan a code)
  9. ^ "Tencent - Investor Relations - Financial Releases - 2014". Tencent. 14 August 2014.
  10. ^ "WeChat - Features". wechat.com. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  11. ^ Loretta Chao , Paul Mozur (Nov 19, 2012). "Zhang Xiaolong, Wechat founder". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2012-12-02.
  12. ^ "微信进行时：厚积薄发的力量". 环球企业家. 2012-01-13. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
  13. ^ 陈小蒙 (2012-11-07). "微信：走出中国，走向世界？". 36氪. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
  14. ^ "WeChat now has 500 million monthly active users". March 18, 2015.
  15. ^ 方雨 (2014-11-04). "微信公众号已经进入标配期".
  16. ^ 3139. "北京8家医院年内推出微信挂号服务 可挂专家号". people.com.cn. Retrieved 28 March 2015. {{cite web}}: |author= has numeric name (help)
  17. ^ "港澳通行证续签新"技能"：微信续签送红包！". tongyue.com. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  18. ^ 信用卡智能“微客服”
  19. ^ Millward, Steven (10 January 2013). "Now China's WeChat App is Censoring Its Users Globally". TECHINASIA. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ Millward, Steven (11 January 2013). "Tencent Responds in Case of Apparent WeChat Censorship". TECHINASIA. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. ^ Muncaster, Phil (11 January 2013). "China censors chat users outside China". The Register. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. ^ "WeChat: Domains Need ICP License Before Being Shared (Chinese)". QQ.com. 12 December 2014. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  23. ^ a b c d e Nicola Davison. "WeChat: the Chinese social media app that has dissidents worried". the Guardian. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  24. ^ "The WeChat revolution: China's 'killer app' for mass communication". NDTV Gadgets. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  25. ^ a b "WeChat is a threat to national security claim researchers - ParityNews". ParityNews. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  26. ^ "Chinese Mobile Messaging App WeChat Still A Big Worry For The Indian Government". lighthouseinsights.in. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  27. ^ "WeChat aims to grow in US despite obstacles - Global Times". globaltimes.cn. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  28. ^ "Tencent's WeChat is a Threat to Everyone". Tech in Asia. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  29. ^ "China's hot messaging app WeChat may be good news for censors". Reuters. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  30. ^ "10 Reasons Why WeChat is Better than Whatsapp". indiatimes.com. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  31. ^ "Web WeChat". qq.com. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  32. ^ "WeChat for PC Download or WeChat for Computer (Windows 7/8 & Mac)". WeChat for PC Download or WeChat for Windows 7/8. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  33. ^ Gaurav. "Wechat For PC – Download Wechat For Windows 7/8/". extraneous-kickassery.com. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  34. ^ "安卓模拟器被全面封杀 微信开放性再引质疑".
  35. ^ "Cogobuy - INGDAN.com Followers Hit Million Mark". Fox News. 2015.
  36. ^ "Cogobuy Announces Unaudited Operation Summary for 2014 Q3". Stock House News. 2015.
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