WhatsApp pulled from the Windows Phone Marketplace? [Update #2]

Many Windows Phone owners noticed this morning they could no longer see WhatsApp, the popular messaging service, in the Marketplace. WhatsApp was bumped to version 2.0 back in May earlier this year and we can't think of a reason why it would vanish from view without prior warning - though we've almost grown used to this occurring with many other apps disappearing.
We've reached out to the WhatsApp team and will update this article accordingly. Of course, in the meantime there are plenty of alternative apps on the Marketplace, Kik being a popular alternative. Should you already have the app installed, fear not as the service works as one would expect. As for those who don't and wish to download it, we'll hopefully have more information for you soon.
Update: The app has not been completely pulled from the Marketplace as the hard link still links to it. Instead, the app has been marked as 'private' probably on error by someone--that mode is for when it is in closed-beta testing. WhatsApp could be re-working the app and may have another version going live soon (this is what happened with the CNN app the other day). We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, you can still see the app from this link though downloading is not allowed due to the 'private' status.
Update 2: WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton responded to the fan site WhatsAppen.com noting that their team hopes to submit a new version to the Marketplace soon. No other details were given but this sounds like an execution error rather than something more deleterious.
We're starting to suspect that WhatsApp will begin charging for the app (it's $0.99 on other platforms) and this is the changeover period.
Thanks to everyone who tipped us!
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Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.
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I'm a fan of "Viber". Nice, neat app and ads free. It features push notifications and sending photos. If they'd still bump the voice call feature, it'll make it a greate app.
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i contacted viber on twitter n they said an update is in the works but i'm not sure if voice call is in that update as viber for ios/android got an update few days ago featuring group messaging i think that will be ther in the next update for wp version
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They don't give a damn about their windows phone customers.
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I would assume this has to do with the 2.2.3 update which seems to be available for Symbian devices now
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are you new to symbian ? are you reffering to the whatsapp available on nokia store? coz man go check whatsapp dot com as whatsapp for symbian is at v2.8.8 ... update n enjoy :)
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I'm a fairly heavy user and fan of What'sApp, all my iPhone hipster friends use it, so I have no choice really...
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Another reason for having local backup of apps like iPhone does. Can't imagine having had paid for an app then it's mysteriously pulled.
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That's what happened to us with PES2011. We paid for it and then it disappeared.
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I just hope it gets heavily updated or integrated with messages hub. Its one app that wp must have and working flawlessly if microsoft want wp to go big.
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+1 I hope so too
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+1 there is no successfull wp8 without whatsapp. Here in germany is whatsapp more important than any other app. All people here are texting with whatsapp.
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Netherlands too, a lot of people buy a Smartphone only for WhatsApp!
And all people complaining about WhatsApp probably don't know how a WP should be used! You shouldn't start WhatsApp each time, because then it has to check if you have new phone numbers or contacts and download all information from their servers! You should only resume it from the background, using multitasking!! Try it and your experience will improve drastically! -
I'm dutch and i use it alot, but I use kik messenger too.
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I personally used it once and haven't touched it since. But I don't really have a need for an app like that, that's just me
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I prefer eBuddy XMS and Kik Messenger, but no one use it..
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WhatsApp is NOT the best app, but users made it indispensable...
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XMS ebuddy is crap, it doesn't have all the features of whatsapp for one nor does kik. Location sharing, photos, video, voice and group chat whatsapp is only comparable to apps like Line and kakaotalk. Maybe viber which I won't be using until they turn on the voip of the two, I prefer Line I think it has the slickest interface and hilarious emoticons and stickers. ^^
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OMFG!!! Everyday I feel more and more stupid for choosing this platform, I thought I was smarter than my iPhone friends. The current whatsapp experience on WP is bullsh*t I miss my symbian phone, f*ck this. who gives me 100 euros for a black lumia 800 FEATURE phone?
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This is ridiculous. Just because it has been temporarily pulled from the store, you can still use the app already installed on your phone. The current whatsapp experience on WP is almost identical to the iPhone, as far as I can see - what is it you feel you are missing?
The comparison with Symbian is ludicrous, since Symbian doesn't even have push notification and has to stay connected 24/7 for whatsapp to work... it drained my old Symbian battery like nothing else, so was rendered more or less unusable.
Still, if you honestly want to sell your Lumia, my boyfriend is desperate to sell his Blackberry Torch and is constantly jealous of my Lumia 800, so contact me privately and we'll do a deal ;) -
That's the reason why it worked so flawlesly. Always on-line and the battery lasting more than 36 hours. I'd like to see our lumias surviving more than 12 hours always online.
And you cannot compare the program experience with the iPhone or Android, in WP it takes thousand of years to populate the message and that's when is not opening the program that it also takes a gazillion years and it open it every single time. C'mon, WE'RE IDIOTS WE'VE BEEN CONNED by Microsoft and Nokia, it's time to recognize it, what do we have?
-A whatsapp that is broken?
-A years old angrybrids?
-A new startscreen?
-A viber that does not have voice call?
and on and on and on and on...we know this is just the tip of the iceberg, an iceberg full of crap.
Of course, I will never tell this to my iPhone or Android friends who think I'm an idiot for choosing WP. But I have it all planned, I'm already saving for the iPhone 5 when the time come I'll drop my lumia to the crapper (where it belongs) and buy the iPhone then I will tell my friends that it was a present from an undisclosed rich uncle and I will tell them how miserable I am with that iPhone and how much I miss my Lumia, but in the inside I'll be finally happy, I will sleep Ok in the nights and I would play with them all of the games or I will use any IM service that is cool at the time, with voice with video with whatever, because for sure it will suport it. And then when apple release iOS7 my iPhone will be a little more slow, but I will keep on playing and comunicating with my friends, because that's the idea right: put people first. I'm such an ass and so are you.
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i think you've got some issues you need to get checked out dude.
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We all have issues. We comment and respond on an specialized tech news site. Why is the true so offensive I don't get it.
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What a drama queen
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Oh! You are definetly an ass. Making an ass of yourself as well. Please do move on to your iOS & when WP8 rolls out, you will fell much more like an ass for not sticking to WP.
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@migueltoro...Lol! 'IF' you did have a Symbian device, you must have been using a very low end Nokia device, because Whatsapp on my N8 drained my battery with the quickness! I unistalled that app almost as soon as I installed it.
And you're saving up for the iPhone, when Symbian gave you 36 hours using Whatsapp? And your iPhone/Android friends ridicule you for having a WP, but not a Symbian device??? Hard to believe.... -
I wouldn't call an e72 a low end device. And they didn't mock me back then cause they had BB, they just said that I had a fake BB. And yes, with the latest update I got a day a a half. Don't get me wrong dude, I'm not just whining or trolling is my experience as an user and I think there's more people that think the same. I know it's hard to accept that we choose the wrong "exobrain" but we did it. The only thing that Elop got right is that this is an ecosystem war and BB and WP were KIA long ago and MS was the one that shot the bullet killing nokia in the way.
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I think I speak for the whole wp7 community when I say you moving to iPhone is no real loss for WP. Don't like what you got, stop bitching and just move on!
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I think you wrong. I used to visit this site long before I had my windows phone because I wanted to be part of the community I like nokia products a lot and I think that the lumia devices are beautiful. I also think that there's things that WP do very very well. Mail, browsing, calling, texting. But you have to recognize that the third party apps don't work like they should, mainly because there's no actual multitasking and the apps cannot run in the background, that they will in WP8 you say, but current devices won't get that.
I'm in Spain (you may have notice by my poor grammar and silly mistakes) and you know that the things here regarding economy are not in the greatest moment right now, like in the rest of the world, but here the things are getting nasty, why do I say that, because not all people can change devices at will, we have to live with our devices the time the contract lasts (Two years in Spain) and though the device is "free" we all know that is paid month by month. Why do I say that, because I know that a lot of cool things are getting to WP8 and that MS is not giving this to us just because of money. We all have read about how this new kernel will run faster than WP 7 on the same hardware so we know is possible. Of course that you cannot have another core or nfc magically, I'm not an idiot, but all the software things are possible and they are not doing it because of money, but not for a lack of it but out of gredineess.
I'm just saying, there's good things about WP (I love the foreknown as metro UI) , but there's also very bad things and we should talk about that too. There might be another guy like me and maybe he will think twice before getting into this community.
I love summer vacation! :)
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Spot on. All 4 of your posts. Many here don't want to see or admit it, but that's just the way it is. I was defending Windows Phone (and the Zune software requirement, and Windows 7, and Windows 8, and the hundred things that are wrong with all 4) heavily and everywhere, but now the accumulation of small frustrations has reached my head and made me realize how much is wrong with all of it. I for one am able to see all the faults, now more clear than ever. I've defended it very often, but now that I have to switch off my data connection every time for the wifi to be able to work, and that it still hasn't been fixed even though I installed the Tango update, has really killed the bird.
And because, as you accurately described it, I feel "conned" by MS, it is now very hard for me to trust WP8 and Microsoft as a company, and I don't really look forward to being disappointed again, and a lot of the things that made the UI good (not only in looks but in useablity) in WP7, were destroyed in WP7.5 (the letter boxes for example, now I only have effectively half the screen...wtf...it's like I have a 2.2 inch dumbphone again, instead of a large and high screen...scrolling for names or albums has become a pain because you have to do it very slow because you only see a few at a time and you easily miss something, especially when scrolling through album covers. I also feel that there was a search for the music before that is now gone, but I could be wrong on the last part.
A lot of things don't work the way they should on a Smartphone (they work like on a S40, and I don't mean battery eating multitasking like Android's, there's literally dozens of other things), and I as a user who has paid money and bought a Smartphone, don't really give a rats ass about their Kernel excuses, WP7 was supposed to be all new and without the baggage of WP6.5. I also don't care about their "but we haven't announced the user features yet!", that was okay with me when it was the developer conference, and I used to write that to people who were mocking wp 7.8, but now it's months after, they should've had made a presentation by now if they really had anything more than the new startscreen planned for WP7.8...at least IE10 and some other things, but they haven't so I assume they won't have that to force people to buy a new WP8 phone because they figure if someone has bought a WP in the first place, he must really want it (and really not want a Google or Apple phone) so over 90% will buy...but I guess they haven't figured that they really want me to purchase a phone from someone else. So that everyone knows what WP8 and WP7.8 will have, but they are greedy (as you also accurately described) and want to con more people into buying a current outdated phone without knowing what they will or will not get in the Update. Let's not kid ourselves, the phones won't be on the shelves the day after they introduce them, and they need the forerun for word-to-mouth.
They also marketed it with Xbox in mind, but really there is nothing there. There should be something like the ability to play games like Words with Friends or Draw Something with your Xbox Live friends or something. (I don't have an xbox and don't use Xbox live, but I think that should be a minimum...when everyone started playing the new popular iOS/Android multiplayer game, I don't have it. I don't play games for myself, I'm not a teenager anymore, but something like a multiplayer fun game with friends would be cool, but that doesn't exist for WP with other platforms.)
Also, wtf is up with zune...it screwed up my whole music library ON MY COMPUTER, even though I turned off auto-tagging, it didn't recognize my album covers, deleted them, often not even the correct names of songs, album and artist, it doesn't pull the artist backgrounds like it is supposed to do (not even when I spend a lot of time linking them all in the Zune Social Tagger program, it just doesn't), even though everything is tagged perfectly. There's a million other things.
I have a first gen WP, and am glad that I haven't bought a Lumia for myself at the beginning of the year. I made the mistake and bought one for my sister, for now it satisfies her WhatsApp needs, but in 6 months, I guarantee she will be fed up with it because it won't be able to do what her friends iPhones do, or not have the App that they are all using. Also she won't be getting WP8 (which I thought was a given because Microsoft specifically advertised that all Windows Phones would always get the new versions), so none of the new (probably will never come just like they didn't for WP7...) Apps that are made for WP8/WRT/W8 will make it to her phone. I'm glad I only paid 150€'s for these phones (mine and hers), they are just better S40 phones.
Looking back, my best phones were always the ones where I followed the herd and bought what everyone had or liked at the time. Every since I didn't want to support Apple and Google I've been sht outta luck in Smartphones and basically had touchscreen-featurephones. But now...what's there for me to stop? The avalanche has already destroyed the village, it won't make a difference wether I now buy one or not, they have successfully established themselves, made money and are selling more and more, my boycott won't change anything and won't make a dent in their greedy earnings, but which they have earned considering they have made a good product that solves the needs of hundreds of millions of people...they are the new Nokia 5110/3210/3310/S40/S60/N95..and with one product...not 50 where every thing is lacking something and is in one way or another half-assed to save money and steal money from people, they really just use the best components available.
WP8 would have to be A LOT better than the next iPhone for me to really get it...if what we saw is the next iPhone, I like it more than the predecessors and it adresses the main gripes that I had with the 4S, a larger screen but still one-hand friendly*, plastic border instead of metal, and a non-glass backside.
*(Without a penalty of crappy resolution or slower processor, like all the WP and Android manufacturers seem to think, that only their largest 4.7inch monster-tablet-phones deserve the high end hardware (screen and chip) and everything below 4.3" should only have cheaper crappy components and that no one who wants a phone which they can actually use with their hand wants good hardware...offering different sizes is good, but don't penalize those who want a normal sized phone, with worse hardware components, make them all the same good quality and only different sizes... -.- )
I'm also in the market for a new Laptop, and I want a thin and light, I really wanted an AMD Trinity powered Ultrathin, with a good IPS Display and an SSD, but there is nothing on the market, they just sell Trinity in crappy laptops with 768 Displays in the worst format (16:9), normal hard drives and only one stick of memory...I surely won't pay over 1000€'s for an Intel Ultrabook, they are all very cheaply built (just check comparison pictures next to an Apple laptop) and you can see the PC manufacturers being greedy and trying to save every dollar they can. The trackpads are small and horrible, that's a given, funny how they can not build in a good one in 5 years, just like they can't build in a good screen... Yesterday I searched for laptops with a proper 16:10 screen, and guess who was the only one who has it...Apple. I compared the screen size on a website between a 13" 16:10 and a 15.6" 16:9, and the 13" 16:10 is just as large, and just lacks some space on the side, which I don't need anyway, the sides are always white and empty anyway. And since Windows 8 (contrary to what I would like to believe when people write it, and I just consider them idiots) seems to be horrible to use on a non-touch device, and since touchscreen-ultrabooks will be expensive as hell, I don't see why I should pay as much (or more) for a cheapish product with a bad screen and trackpad where they don't hide how they have been saving to increase their profit, when for the same or less money I can get a overall MUCH better product. And Macintosh is not what it used to be anymore, now they have plenty of programs/apps which are probably of higher quality than crappy Windows programs which are mostly from the early XP age, together with their look like Windows 98. And don't mention games, why do you people always assume that everyone is playing games and has that as important for them when buying a laptop...I don't know anyone who plays computer games, and I'm not old. If anything, you'll get laughed at when you have games on your computer like a 14 year old. If I ever feel the need to play games (for with friends mostly), I'll just buy a PS3/Xbox/WiiU, they'll only cost around 100-200 anyway, which is cheap enough and shouldn't determine one's laptop or computer choice.
A few weeks ago, I was really looking forward to a new WP8 and a W8 laptop, maybe even a WinRT tablet like the Asus transformer, but now...it's gone. Too much disappointment and frustration, too much works required from me to keep the sht running and in order properly the way I want it, too much wrong with everything, there just much better products available. Maybe I'll revisit Microsoft for WP9 or 10 and W9 or 10, but I think my next purchase could very well be Apple from where I am writing this right now, as much as I hate that company. We'll see, there's still 2-3 months before I really actually purchase anything. -
Behold the great wall of text!
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I knew I wasn't the only one. You completely nailed it man. You cannot support a community or ecosystem that treat you like shit, is sick. But what people have to say?
-i think you've got some issues you need to get checked out dude.
-What a drama queen
-Oh! You are definetly an ass. Making an ass of yourself as well. Please do move on to your iOS & when WP8 rolls out, you will fell much more like an ass for not sticking to WP.
-...you must have been using a very low end Nokia device...hard to believe...
-I think I speak for the whole wp7 community when I say you moving to iPhone is no real loss for WP. Don't like what you got, stop bitching and just move on!
-Behold the great wall of text!
Not even a single counterargument (is that a word?) just insults. And the worst part is like you said: they keep rolling current hardware that we already know will not get the updates in places like brazil or argentina and WPCENTRAL seems to think this is right, I think is wrong Daniel Rubino. Advertising Samsung Focus II, Lumia 900 or Lumia 610 is plain wrong.
Regarding your S40 analogy...it made me feel like shit, which means you're probably right. Because I don't know where I read that Nokia plans on keep rolling devices with 7.8 even when 8 is out, this is definetely the new feature phones. -
There are a lot of things to be annoyed about with WP or any platform. I think a pulled app (in which we don't know completely why) warrants a wait and see response.
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Me
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I give 120 euro, if it's unbranded. Email for details to miiiiguel@gmail.com.
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Deja con sus quejas ,y amenazas malagradecido
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yesterday i reinstalled the application
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you know what it would be incredibly scummy for them to pull the current version just for them to create a new version and charge. It would orphan LOTS of people unknowingly from future updates. To me this is one of the scummiest things app developers can do, I remember when Shazam did this, I uninstalled that and refuse to ever support them again.
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On my hd7 whattsapp has not worked for some time just kept bombing out
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Damn I knew I should've installed it weeks ago :/
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They said you can still download via the direct link
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I reset my phone a few days, glad i got this on before this happened.
If they start charging, i wouldnt care, id gladly pay the .99 for the app. Worth it and supports the developers. I did so when i had an iPhone.
People can complain all they want about how they are charging, but those same people probably spend $200 on fuggin dinners or drop large bills on unneccesary skinny jeans. Go to your couch cushions or under your car seat, find .99, paid for!
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i don't care if they want to charge going forward, just don't punish us early adopters by breaking the app model and leaving us stranded without updates on the current version we have.
wiping the slate clean and charging all users with a new published vesion of the app is crap. It is scumtastic and greedy. It sets a precedent that any time a developer has a popular free app, they can just remove it and stick up a pay version that everyone has to reinstall. -
For me, i wouldnt care, this app is 0.99 cents and everybody has gotten the app for free to this point.
If developers want to do the bait and switch tactic, i have no issues with that either, they are the ones putting their efforts to creating an app and if they need to charge to support, then so be it. If it comes to the point where i need to find another alternative, i will. I have a choice just like everybody else.
Tomorrow, if they say, pay us 99 cents to get the new and improved version, ill do it. no question asked.
I would understand and agree on your point if you paid for an app, they pulled and submitted a new app and you had to pay again with a higher price, i would get why anybody would be angry.
Considering that nobody paid for whatsapp at all up until now on WP7, i dont see an issue if they want to monetize their app.
I could be wrong, but if this is what htey are doing, i would suspect early adopters will be able to download a new version for free and charge for new users. Or they go the skydrive route, you have up to a certain day to get for free, after it is a charge. Of course, skydrive deal with storage and not dollars.
We'll see how it goes. -
Mine wont expire until 2021 :)
Besides, this is an excellent app even though it does not have voice calls, there is always skype for that... smh -
Only problem, if they are going to do this you won't get any updates anymore :-(
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EXACTLY!
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Mine says 2022 I have no idea why I have 10 year subscription, I never paid for it; oh well, as previous people have said I can afford 99p if they make me pay, use it every day for the group chats so it's worth it =)
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Test
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My what's app is working fine...no issues whatsoever
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Both notification (live tiles n toast) sometimes not working. :-(
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If they make it $0.99 does it mean all the users that have already downloaded the app have to pay?
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Any idea when it will be back or any other means I can download it? Had to reset my phone now im stuck!
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On another site though, it states that whatsapp has been pulled for security issues i.e. messages sent as plaintext and being hackable.
http://wmpoweruser.com/whatsapp-withdrawn-from-marketplace-due-to-security-issues/
I'm yet to see this mentioned on this site, is there a reason? -
Is it just me or is anyone else having trouble updating whatsapp... :/ When I woke up this morning I had 3 update available, Flashlight, Translator from Microsoft and Whatsapp, Whatsapp and Translator failed. And Broke my app... I had to uninstall it, and now am Whatsapp-less... Can someone get back at me... as whatsapp is super important for me.. Since I use it to communicate with everyone back home... I'm on Dell Venue Pro