I was a relatively early adopter of Whatsapp and although the banner to pay 1 USD/year was shown to me, I just pressed the "use whatsapp free for a year" button

I was a relatively early adopter of Whatsapp and although the banner to pay 1 USD/year was shown to me, I just pressed the "use whatsapp free for a year" button whenever the popup reappeared. I never ended up paying anything to WA.