WEBTOON has reportedly scrapped its Daily Pass option, leaving many readers frustrated and confused.
Fans discovered the change over the past few days when they opened the WEBTOON app, ready to catch up on their favorite series, only to find that chapters previously unlocked with Daily Pass now required coins.
On the app, the “Daily Pass” icon still appears—but it’s now grayed out, replaced by the Ad Pass symbol. Tapping the info icon confirms the news: the Daily Pass is no longer available.
With this change, readers must now purchase coins to unlock episodes. Each episode costs three coins, meaning a reader could spend at least $9.99 a month just to follow a single series, assuming they haven’t previously unlocked any chapters. Longer series will, of course, cost more.
Previously, the Daily Pass allowed users to unlock one episode per day from eligible series, with each unlocked chapter available for 14 days. WEBTOON introduced the Daily Pass for completed series in 2020 and later extended it to some ongoing series in 2022. As of this writing, the removal appears to affect only completed series.
While not perfect—some users found it clunky for ongoing reads or frustratingly slow for bingeing—Daily Pass gave readers a chance to explore new titles before deciding to spend money.
As of now, WEBTOON still offers Ad Passes for select series, letting users watch ads to unlock chapters. However, those passes expire after only three days, compared to the Daily Pass’s 14. The platform also continues to offer Fast Pass, which lets readers access the latest chapters early. Fast Pass episodes don’t expire once unlocked.
WEBTOON has yet to issue a statement explaining the removal of the Daily Pass feature.
UPDATE on May 30, 2025, at 9:41 PM PST
Editor’s Note: WEBTOON released its official announcement on May 30, after our article was published on May 29, 2025, at 1:45 AM ET.
WEBTOON has yet to issue a formal statement on its social media pages or official website, but users who update the app will now see that the Daily Pass feature has been removed. The platform quietly announced the change in a notice titled “Product Change,” issued on May 30, which stated that WEBTOON “will no longer offer the Daily Pass feature as of 5/29.”
The announcement explained that the platform is “expanding new ways” to access episodes from completed series. These new options include watching ads to unlock select episodes for free for three days or using coins to unlock an entire series. WEBTOON implied that removing Daily Pass eliminates the need to wait a full day to access the next episode.
The announcement concluded with: “Our paid experiences continue to support the work of our valued creators, and we thank our readers for their continued support.”
Source: WEBTOON
Okay WEBTOON just crossed the line. This seems like a really stupid move for them given how many anime and manga fans, most of their readers, know how to find pirated sites.
This is what happens when people let greed take over. I remember when it used to be a platform where reader could still read for free and webtoon would still afford to pay artists by using diffdrent systems but now, it’s all about money. That kind of greed is exactly how you lose your audience.
This is really stupid for some exec who wants to make passive Google ad money while not respecting customers who helped the daily active user count by reading those series. Just be ready for the next webtoon financial report to investors where they lost a lot of money
this is why i sail the high seas smh…
You may want to update your article; there is a notice on the app about it now. Personally, I think this change is fine. Daily Pass was restrictive (only 1 episode a day per series); this update allows for the option to watch ads and read *several* episodes for free or use Coins. Not sure what all the fuss is about tbh; it’s likely that creators earn revenue from this and it’s more accessible for readers.
Well there are also series who can now only be unlocked with coins. Not every series has the watch-ads option so this is a very big deal to not be able to read this without paying actual money
But from what I remember you could always watch ads to get further ahead (it just used to be only 4 I think rather than 10)
Me after reading article:” haist the sail it is time to sail the high seas the one piece is real i will become the king of pirates”
IF BUYING IS NOT OWNING THEN PIRACY IS NOT STEALING
1. It has effected ongoing series that previously had daily pass
2. Once the app has been updated, the daily pass section under recent and the daily pass category are removed. The message displayed when clicking the information button is also changed, removing any mention of daily pass.
3. They did issue a notice, it’s in the note that appears above a finished comic with the paywall, in “details.” To quote the notice, “we’re expanding new ways to access episodes of an entire series,” implying the “unlock the whole series deals” that they have. Further below they say, “no more waiting until the next day to read the next episode.” I think (though I do not know) that they took the complaints of daily pass and instead of fixing the issue, they made it worse.
As I’ve said to others before, Webtoon only cares about those who buy coins. That’s why ongoing daily pass did so well, and this new update will do well. Webtoon has made it so they can get money out of the free readers too, with the ad pass. It’s a shame, really.
Hello! Thank you so much for your comment. Our article was published on May 29 at 1:45 AM ET (technically still May 28 when I was working on it, but the site uses Eastern Time). This was before WEBTOON released their official notice. We really appreciate you pointing that out and taking the time to comment!
This is why people pirate things, because you have yo spend a bunch of money just to enjoy the things you enjoy (specifically us anime and manga fans)
This is why manta is better. I hate the paywall webtoon has created. I haven’t read any series on webtoon since lore Olympus ended.
This does hamper the bots and piracy quite a bit. But is also annoying for those that aren’t financially able to buy coins. Which in turn sends them straight to pirate sites. Can’t win.