(light music) - [Narrator] On your way to the office, a message comes in from your boss. Can you grab them a coffee? They pay you back in a different app. You go to another app to place an order for pickup and your mobile wallet
needs to be updated. (camera shutters)
Okay, there. Now coffee, which took four apps to accomplish. But in China, it takes just one. WeChat, a super app. - You just don't have to
futz around with your phone, remembering different passwords, opening and closing different apps. It just makes it easy. - [Narrator] So why isn't
there a super app in the US? - My idea would be like, how about if we just copy WeChat? - [Narrator] Though some
apps have multiple functions, creating a super app in the US is the holy grail for some tech CEOs, and for good reason. Take another look at WeChat. The app launched in 2011 as a social media and messaging service. By the next year, it added a
PayPal-like payment option. And in the following years
it would integrate a slew of other features,
including games, shopping, food delivery, healthcare, and mini apps. - It really sort of does everything. In some ways, it's a stand-in
for the internet itself. - [Narrator] And users like it. By 2022, WeChat had 1.3
billion active users and helped its parent
company bring in a revenue of about $81 billion. - The beauty of a super app is that you're able to move seamlessly between different functions, share information and data between the different
parts of that super app. That's what makes it work. - [Narrator] And that data is
the big draw for companies. Let's look back at the apps you used to make that coffee order again. Apps in the US are largely restricted from tracking you across your phone. So each company is only collecting data while their app is open. But with WeChat, you
don't have to leave it to make that order or message your boss, or even post a photo of
that coffee on social media. That one company gets
your data for all of it. - Having a better
understanding of what people are purchasing when they're
purchasing those things, you know, that becomes
invaluable for a business. Or if you're a government
for, you know, tax purposes. - [Narrator] That's one of the reasons why companies from multiple
industries in the US have made attempts at
creating a super app, but their growth has been
slowed by several things. A super app in the US would have to contend against
thousands of other apps, and changing consumer
behavior can be difficult. - We're not really used to
using one app for everything. And that's why when companies
like Facebook in the past have tried to launch singular apps that do more than one thing at a time, consumers have largely rejected them. - [Narrator] Facebook Messenger
said it would simplify its app back in 2018 after
adding features like games. Its head, at the time, said that the app had become too cluttered. Another key issue is
incorporating a payment system. Take Snap for example. Its payment system, Snapcash,
shut down after four years, while apps like Venmo
and Zelle are growing. - If you can integrate that
payment system into a super app, it just makes that app much more sticky. But it also means, in most cases, that you can control
the transaction costs. Maybe you're making a better
margin in the transaction and as your user base grows, you start to scale. - [Narrator] But integrating
that payment system is a big lift in the US. - A lot of tech companies aren't also a financial services company
right out of the box. It's complicated. There's regulations involved. There's different international
rules and things like that. - [Narrator] Facebook's
attempt at integrating a crypto payment system failed in part because lawmakers and
regulators were concerned about payments being used
for illicit activity. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has cracked down on big tech platforms using payment systems in recent years. And data privacy can also become a concern for consumers and lawmakers. - Right now, a lot of people distrust the big tech companies, and the idea of a single tech company, like a Meta or an Amazon or a Google, offering us an app that really houses so many different things from online payments to bill management to health records, you know, is kinda scary to people. - [Narrator] And that becomes
an issue for companies. - I don't think at this point technology companies are interested in making it look like
they are consolidating their control over our digital lives any more than they already have. I mean, that would just
invite regulatory scrutiny. - [Narrator] Some experts and analysts think the future for super apps in the US may look different than WeChat. - I think the path forward for the super app concept
in the United States has more to do with verticals than sort of a one ring to rule them all. - [Narrator] So for example,
a single healthcare app might house your medical information, as well as features for making
appointments and payments. - [Narrator] The first
champion that emerges and creates a seamless,
frictionless super app-like program that allowed doctors
to plug in their data, you know, electronic health records stuff, I think that that is gonna
be a huge, huge game changer. A massive disruptor. (upbeat music)
