Popular messaging app WhatsApp has now two billion users worldwide. The Facebook-owned app made this revelation, making it the only second app from Mark Zuckerberg’s company to join the two billion users club. Facebook surpassed the two billion users mark way back in 2017. Facebook’s main app today has more than 2.5 billion users across the globe. WhatsApp also remains free of advertisements even after 11 years of its launch. Besides, the app’s services are completely free, meaning it does not charge its users any fee. The app uses a phone’s internet connection or WiFi connection to send and receive messages. This way, it doesn’t exhaust the voice and text plans offered by a mobile network.
WhatsApp in a blog post also put up a strong defense of its end-to-end encryption feature. The company said every message sent using the platform is secured by default with end-to-end encryption features. It noted that protecting conversations is important for the company. It vowed to continue safeguarding the privacy and protecting data of users in the future. The end-to-end encryption feature means only the sender and receiver can see a message. It said even WhatsApp cannot view its users’ messages. WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption is a crucial feature offered by the company. It is extended to all users. While it has been lauded by security experts, law enforcement agencies in many countries have criticized the feature.
WhatsApp surpassed one billion users mark in 2016. It took two years for the company to reach 1.5 billion users milestone. The messaging app was founded in May 2009 by Brian Acton and Jan Koum. Both Brian and Jan were former employees of Yahoo. Facebook in 2014 announced to acquire WhatsApp for USD 16 billion. WhatsApp gained immense popularity in markets such as India and Australia. The company spent very little on marketing as it was accepted by people in view of the non-availability of alternative. WhatsApp has around 70 million users in the United States. The company said India remains its biggest market. The messaging app has over 400 million users in the Southeast Asian country.
