[verst]

WeChat is many things all in a single app:

  - A payments platform called WeChat Pay (think PayPal, Venmo, Apply Pay, Android Pay all combined)

  - A consumer messenger platform with voice and video chat (think Facebook Messenger + WhatsApp)

  - A friends newsfeed called Moments with audio and video support, external links but visibility of 
 content is timeboxed in days, weeks or months (think Facebook News Feed with a touch of Instagram Stories)

  - An e-commerce store platform called WeChat Store (think Shopify)

  - A business platform called "Official Accounts" with many features:

    * A business / bot messaging platform (think Facebook Messenger for Business)

    * An advertising platform

    * A content distribution platform, primarily through Official Account Subscription Accounts (like blogs, news, think Medium). WeChat offers this through "Channels", "Top Stories", "Official Accounts" and "Mini Programs".

    * WeChat Official Accounts Service Accounts can create "Mini Programs" which are rich integrations and tightly integrate with your linked WeChat Payments account, for example:

      1. Didi Chuxing for Ridesharing (Uber)

      2. Mobike for Bike Rental (Lime Bike etc)

      3. Meituan Dianping for e-commerce and food delivery

      4. Douban, Yishenghuo, Yoopay etc for Event / Concert Tickets (think Eventbrite, Ticketmaster)

Most noteworthy is that WeChat Mini Programs are standalone and don't deeplink to other apps. No aspect of WeChat does Deeplinking to any other app. You always stay in WeChat.