WeChat

WeChat is the clearest proof that a messaging app can become a platform. The chat list and threads look conventional, but the app embeds mini-programs, full sub-applications for payments, transit, shopping, and bookings, that launch inside the messaging shell with no install. The QR code is the connective tissue, scanned to add friends, pay a merchant, or open a service, turning the camera into a universal entry point. Moments, the friends-only feed, sits behind the Discover tab and deliberately limits reach. WeChat Pay threads commerce through ordinary conversation, so sending money feels like sending a message. The interface is dense and unglamorous, prioritizing function over polish, and its everything-in-one-app ambition is both the marvel and the lock-in critics name.