In February 2009, former Yahoo employee, Jan Koum, established WhatsApp in California, US, and WhatsApp 2.0 was released on the iPhone platform in August of the same year. The month October 2009, co-founder Brian Acton invested US$ 250,000 as seed money, and in December of the same year WhatsApp was updated, and users could share images in this version. In August 2010, WhatsApp was supported on the Android Operating System Phone. In 2012, WhatsApp announced that messages were encoded in the “modern version” of the WhatsApp software for platforms supporting Android and iOS, without requiring the cryptographic method. The cross-platform communication application allows the exchange of unlimited text and multimedia messages, including audio, video, and photo messages without having to pay as is required for a short messaging service (SMS). The app is currently supported on iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Windows, Nokia, and Symbian platforms.
In 2013, WhatsApp was free for use with an annual subscription fee of US$ 1 after the first year. In August 2013, WhatsApp launched a voice messaging feature, followed by a newer feature in 2014 that enabled senders to know when their messages were read by recipients. New features such as WhatsApp Web, which is a web client that can be used through a web browser by syncing with a mobile device’s Internet connection, were also introduced. In 2016, WhatsApp announced that the service would no longer be charged, and in November of the same year, launched two-verification features for Android users. These features added a level of security as well as enabled users to add their email addresses. In February 2017, WhatsApp launched a new feature, i.e. new status feature that is similar to Snapchat and Facebook stories.
In February 2017, WhatsApp announced a new feature, which enables the deletion of a message that has been sent by mistake within seven minutes of being sent.
As of March 2020, WhatsApp had two billion monthly active users, up from over 1 billion MAU in February 2016. The service is one of the most popular mobile messaging apps worldwide and was acquired by social network Facebook for 19 billion U.S. dollars in February 2014.
WhatsApp is a cross-platform instant messaging service for smartphones that relies on the internet for the transmission of messages. Based on a low-cost subscription model, WhatsApp is a cheap alternative to carrier-billed text messaging via SMS, especially for international or group messaging. The mobile messaging app enables users to share text, image, and video messages. In the United States, the WhatsApp audience amounted to 68.1 million users in 2019 and is set to grow to 85.8 million users in 2023.
WhatsApp is especially popular in markets outside the United States while facing strong competition from Asia-based social messenger apps such as WeChat, LINE, or Kakaotalk. WhatsApp’s popularity in emerging mobile markets is not only based on its low-cost business model but many of its features.
As of July 2021, two billion users were accessing WhatsApp messenger on a monthly basis. The app’s reach is usage penetration is particularly strong in markets outside of the United States and it is one of the most popular mobile social apps worldwide.
WhatsApp Features Update for 2022
- The ‘Delete Account’ button will be replaced by the What’s app logout and support the multi-device feature.
- WhatsApp is speculated to get the Instagram Reels section to allow users to watch Instagram Reels directly from the messaging app.
WhatsApp is working on a ‘Read Later option’ feature, an improvised chat archival system to replace the existing Archived chats feature on Android and iOS. - Users will adjust their ‘Last Seen’ status on a contact-by-contact basis; this would enhance your privacy on the app.
- In the future, users will buy insurance policies through the What’s app in India. Through licensed financial service players, What’s app would roll out health insurance and micro-pension products in India.
- The contact card (how your name looks when someone touches it) would be redesigned.
WhatsApp’s Usage Among American Users As Of Q3 2020
- As of Mar 2021 US has 75.1 million users.
- Forecast projects an audience size of 86 million users in 2023.
- User engagement grows by 70% year-over-year.
- 27% of WhatsApp online users aged between 26-35 years in the 3rd quarter of 2020.
- As of 2018 26% of internet users in urban areas used the WhatsApp messenger app.
- In the third quarter of 2020 20% of male internet users use WhatsApp and 17 % of female users.
WhatsApp Global User’s Country Wise (March 2021)
- India has an estimated 390.1 million users as of 2021.
- Brazil is next in line following 108.4 million users as of 2021.
- The USA is third with 75.1 million users as of 2021.
- Indonesia comprises about 68.8 million users according to 2021 stats.
- Mexico with a number of 62.3 million users in 2021.
- Russia with a no. 5 of 64.7 million in 2021.
- Germany being 7th holds a number of 48.3 million users as of 2021.
- Italy comprises 32.9 million users in 2021.
- Spain has a total of 33.0 million users as of 2021.
- The United Kingdom has the least no. of users 30.1 million in total as of 2021.
Fun Facts
- WhatsApp founder Jan Koun and Brian Acton strongly disregard advertisements and which is why they neither did invest in the ad since the beginning of the app.
- 2018 was a productive year for WhatsApp and data shows that around 29 million messages are shared every minute by the users. This massive figure does not include images, videos, and audio recordings and complies only with text messages.
- The net worth of What’s app is more than the GDP of several countries. It might come as no surprise to you for some of the struggling nations. But, surprisingly, a mobile app development company has solitarily surpassed some of the developed countries’ GDP, including Japan and Iceland.
- WhatsApp founders knew its worth, and that made them reject Google’s acquisition offer of 10 million US dollars in 2014. Later, Facebook acquires the company for almost double Google’s offer.
- On February 19, 2014, the popular social networking website “Facebook” finally acquired the What’s app. That day WhatsApp became the biggest purchase of the Facebook company by spending an amount of $19 billion.
- WhatsApp is banned in 12 countries around the globe and this makes What’s app the most banned app in the world. Along with WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter are not available in seven countries. YouTube is also not accessible for users of six countries in the world. These banns have different governmental concerns of the respective countries. UAE, China, North Korea, Syria, Bangladesh, Iran, and a few other countries do not allow What’s app in their countries.
- WhatsApp ranked the third most downloaded mobile app in the Google play store. On the other hand, it ranked among the top list in the Apple app store. Statistics show that this mobile app development company reached a breakthrough of one billion downloads in December 2015. The figure was reached by only two apps before WhatsApp did; namely Facebook and YouTube. Provided that YouTube comes preinstalled on most Android smartphones and other devices.
- WhatsApp revealed its official figures that, on average WhatsApp users open the app 23 times or more per day. This implies that WhatsApp users open the app roughly once every hour.
- WhatsApp on Android Provides Support to a Total of 60 Languages to provide the messaging solution to its worldwide audience. Supporting 60 languages with a single app can be marked as a marvel in the history of mobile app development.
- As of February 2018, WhatsApp had a user base of over 1.5 billion globally.
- In January 2018, WhatsApp launched WhatsApp Business for use by small businesses.
- In September 2018, WhatsApp presented a group video and audio call feature, in which four users can be connected simultaneously.
- In October 2018, the Swipe to Reply option was made available for the Android beta version, 16 months after it was introduced for iOS.
- In January 2019, WhatsApp launched various new features, which include Dark Mode, Media Preview, and more.
- In 2019, WhatsApp launched a fingerprint lock feature, sticker search feature, and consecutive voice messages.
WhatsApp’s Status Usage
- The feature is similar to the stories feature of other social media apps like Snapchat and Instagram, allowing users to share photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours. It also includes a privacy feature by which you can select who you want to see your Whatsapp story.
- It also includes the privacy feature of disabling read receipts; by doing so u can see other people’s status without letting them know, but you also cannot see who has seen your status.
- What’s app status feature is used by more than half a billion daily users
- What’s app status usage increased from 450 million global DUA in the second quarter of 2018 to half a billion in 2020
WhatsApp’s Pay Feature
- It seeks to roll out its payment feature in most countries in the next 6 months. Even though the payment license remains stuck in India.
- The parent company of What’s app Facebook is working on building the technology infrastructure to make WhatsApp easy for sending money to people as easy as sending a photo.
- In India, What’s app pay is designed to run on a unified payments interface – (UPI) developed by the Nations Payments Corporation of India which allows users to pay others or do business transactions directly from bank accounts. If the company gets a full-fledged license in India, then other players in the market such as G-Pay and Paytm will face competition.
