WeChat, China's most popular chat app, launched its new WeChat Phonebook feature Wednesday. However, the new addition reportedly already crashed and was experiencing technical problems, leaving the company to apologize to its users.

In what was originally a feature that simply managed contact lists and screened calls, the new WeChat Phonebook feature now allows users to make phone calls from their smartphone to other users with the app via the Internet.

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Instead of having to pay for standard phone charges when making calls, users will pay far less in Internet data rates. According to CaixinOnline, the average charge for data is around 0.1 yuan for every megabyte of data usage. If the phone is connected to WiFi, the user doesn't need to pay for data usage and can essentially make phone calls for free.

The new WeChat Phonebook feature was released on China's Android and iOS app stores Nov. 11. Although the app quickly generated a lot of popularity, it also immediately began experiencing technical problems.

There have been multiple reports from users claiming to have issues with basic function, such as registering, logging in and receiving confirmation text messages. But more importantly, users are even running into issues when attempting to make phone calls - a major problem considering that's the main purpose of the app.

WeChat apologized to the public the following day for any issues that its users experienced. The company blames the technical problems on a systems crash that it says was caused by too many users trying to make calls at the same time.

With nearly 500 million users a part of the main WeChat app, the company surely should have prepared their servers for the release. But according to reports, WeChat's service has been fixed and users should now be able to make phone calls to each other without any issues. 

TagsWeChat Phonebook, internet data rates, data usage, iOS app stores