Did they actually charge though? I remember hearing about that but it's been my sole method of messaging for years and I never remember setting up payments with them
IIRC it was 99 cents per year, and you could just keep "skipping" the payment. I don't think they ever cut anyone off from using it for not paying. A little bit like shareware (or nagware?).
yeah they did. 0,99€ was the purchase of my whatsapp back then