WeChat started in January 2011 as a messaging app. It now includes WeChat Pay, official accounts, mini programs and the short video platform Channels. Chinese Wikipedia calls it a super app, because users can handle daily life and work through its mini programs without downloading other apps.
Mini programs were launched on January 9, 2017. In October 2024, they had 949 million users. Life services, shopping and finance each had more than 860 million monthly active users.