Are WeChat service accounts going to disappear?

This week, WeChat released the long-awaited 2.0 version of their Mac OS client. The new interface brings a lot of cool features, but may well mean the death of WeChat service accounts…

What’s new with 2.0?

The new 2.0 version brings core improvements such as:

• Ability to send stickers from the Mac version of the APP
• You can now access your favorite articles and photos
• Quicker login by remembering account info
• Most importantly: the desktop APP will now store your conversation history… a game changer!

But one feature is causing a lot of drama in the WeChat community… The way the Mac APP displays Official Accounts.

The beginning of the end for WeChat service accounts

As you may know already if you are a frequent reader of this blog, there are two kinds of public accounts on WeChat: subscription and service accounts. Service accounts can only send four messages per month, but are more visible.

Well, that’s the way the Mac OS APP decided to display public accounts:

That’s it; there is no difference between Subscription and Service accounts together: they are all bundled together in one tab. This change might very well be a preview of what will soon be released on the mobile version of WeChat.

To put it shortly: Subscription accounts and Service accounts will be merged into one single type of WeChat Official Accounts.

How likely is the merge to happen?

The short answer is: extremely likely. There are numerous reasons for Tencent to merge Subscription and Service accounts, and here are a few of them:

1. Users are getting spammed by service accounts. What started with following a few accounts is now becoming dozens. The amount of promotional messages received by each user is becoming comparable to “true” messages from friends.
   WeChat has always tried to put user experience first and keeping service accounts from directly messaging users now sounds like a logical move.
2. The rumors of the merger of Subscription and Service account is not new. It is spreading for now more than a year, and it is getting more and more likely.
3. There has been a steady convergence between the functions of Subscription and Service accounts over the year. The number of messages from service account increased (it was initially limited to 1 message per month), and functions of Subscription accounts were extended (targeted messaging, bottom menus, wider access to WeChat payment, etc.)

4. The separation between Subscription and Service accounts has always been awkward to Tencent, by their own admission. A solution is necessary, and merging both types of accounts seems to be the logical move.

When will the merge happen?

Given this first release on the Mac OS client, we can expect a mobile release by the end of the year. Of course, this is only a forecast, but WalktheChat’s team is confident that the future will prove us right!

A big WeChat Public accounts revolution?

Tencent has announced earlier this year Application Account, a new type of account that works like Apps. The controversy has increased as a WeChat employee recently posted on Weibo a message implying WeChat APP accounts were just about to be released (thanks Matt from ChCh for pointing the tweet to us).

It is likely a big re-organization of WeChat Public accounts is about to happen. Service accounts would potentially disappear and be replaced by APP accounts as the main way to provide pure service to users.