Yesterday, we covered the news that WhatsApp users using the WhatsApp Plus app, rather than the official WhatsApp app, were being temporarily banned from the service for a period of 24 hours. For those unfamiliar with WhatsApp Plus, it’s basically a third-party app that allows you to use the WhatsApp network with a little more freedom. Users can use the WhatsApp Plus app to customize their experience much more than they could with the official WhatsApp network. We should say that WhatsApp Plus was an app people could use to customize their experience, as the Facebook-owned company has delivered a Cease and Desist order to WhatsApp Plus, dealing what could be the final blow to the app.
It’s still unclear just what WhatsApp’s main gripe with the aftermarket app was, aside from the fact that using it is against their Terms of Service. Regardless, the team has been sent an official Cease and Desist order from WhatsApp, or at least that’s what Mounib Al Rifai has been saying on Google+. That means that download links need to be taken down and the Google+ community will need to be closed as well. Considering the use of WhatsApp Plus was against the company’s ToS we could say that this was only a matter of time, but it’s no less disappointing to see a third-party option go the way of the Dodo.
This has been a trend for some time where messaging apps and social media apps are concerned. There are third-party Facebook apps available, but they’re held back by the network, and as for Twitter, the social network has been choking third-party apps for quite some time now. We doubt that this is the absolute end for WhatsApp Plus, download links for older versions will still remain online, but with users being banned from the service we doubt the app is poised for a comeback, sadly. Were you a user of WhatsApp Plus? If so, let us know in the comments below!