New Iran Messaging App Includes Payment Features

A new messaging application developed by Iranians students was unveiled last week. The app 'Bale' (yes in Farsi) and what distinguishes it from similar competitors is its banking and payment features.

Users can perform limited transactions such as paying bills. The financial transactions are said to be supervised by the Central Bank of Iran, Mehr News Agency said at the weekend.

The app is designed to resemble popular messaging application Telegram and has similar features such as file sharing, private messaging, creating channels and chat groups as well as searching users based on their names.

The app which has been released for Android and iOs is available for download on App Store and Google Play.

Though several local messaging apps have been developed and released in Iran, some with state funding, none have been able to replace or even compete with foreign applications such as Telegram and Whatsapp in terms of popularity.

In the hope that something new or unique would attract more users, local developers are struggling to win a bigger share of the app business by integrating fresh features such as mobile payments