WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app, boasting approximately 2 billion monthly users. That's over 600 million more than the second most popular messenger app, WeChat (1.34 billion).
Here's a breakdown of the top 7 most popular messaging services by active monthly users:
| Rank | Messaging Service | Active Monthly Users |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 Billion | |
| 2 | 1.34 billion | |
| 3 | Facebook Messenger | 1.01 billion |
| 4 | Telegram | 900 million |
| 5 | Snapchat | 800 million |
| 6 | 554 million | |
| 7 | Discord | Discord |
In terms of monthly downloads, Telegram now leads the way with almost 50 million.
Breakdown of monthly downloads:
| Rank | Messaging Service | Monthly Downloads |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Telegram | 48.36 million |
| 2 | WhatsApp Messenger | 46.38 million |
| 3 | Facebook Messenger | 25.96 million |
| 4 | Snapchat | 25.41 million |
| 5 | WhatsApp Business | 23.67 million |
| 6 | 5.56 million | |
| 7 | 3.05 million | |
| 8 | Signal Private Messenger | 2.68 million |
| 9 | LINE | 2.64 million |
| 10 | Rakuten Viber Messenger | 2.28 million |
No messaging service generates more revenue per month in in-app purchases than Snapchat ($24.77 million).
Together with second-placed LINE ($12.92 million), the two messaging apps generate more in-app revenue ($37.69 million) than the rest of the top 10 messaging apps merged ($31.65 million).
Here's a closer look at the top messaging services for in-app purchase revenue where OrderLemon is currently focus with WhatsApp:
| Monthly In-App Purchase Revenue | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Snapchat | $24.77 million |
| 2 | LINE | $12.92 million |
| 3 | Telegram | $8.08 million |
| 4 | $6.97 million | |
| 5 | $4.51 million | |
| 6 | KakaoTalk: Messenger | $3.71 million |
| 7 | Skype | $2.56 million |
| 8 | Text Me - Phone Call + Texting | $2.35 million |
| 9 | Text Now – Call + Text Unlimited | $2.16 million |
| 10 | Marco Polo – Video Messenger | $1.31 million |
With around 3 billion unique mobile users, WhatsApp is unrivaled as the top messaging service. And according to GWI, only Instagram (16.5% of the vote) is a more popular social media platform among 16 to 64-year-olds than WhatsApp (16.1%).
The app delivers approximately 1 billion messages daily.
According to DataReportal, around 1 in 4 people (24.7%) now use WhatsApp. That number is close to 1 in 3 (31.6%) when accounting for only over 13 seconds.
Male users make up 52.3% of all users, while female users account for 47.6%.
On average, WhatsApp users partake in 929.9 app sessions per month – an increase on 2023's 922.6 sessions.
Users in Argentina open the app the most, making 1,502.4 visits per month. In the US, the average number of sessions per month is 242.4. UK users average 373.7 sessions per month.
Here's how often users in selected countries use WhatsApp:
| Country | Average user WhatsApp sessions / month |
|---|---|
| Argentina | 1,502.4 |
| Indonesia | 1,347.8 |
| Colombia | 1,221.8 |
| Brazil | 1,203.3 |
| South Africa | 1,058.9 |
| Mexico | 1,037.7 |
| India | 962.4 |
| Global | 929.9 |
| Germany | 588.9 |
| UK | 363.6 |
| US | 233.6 |
| France | 241.1 |
| Australia | 205.6 |
| Philippines | 116.7 |
The US is the leading country in terms of Whats App iOS downloads (5.18 million) with over 2x more downloads than any other nation in Q2 2024.
Here are the top 10 nations for WhatsApp iOS downloads:
| Rank | Country | WhatsApp iOS Downloads (Q2 2024) | WhatsApp iOS Downloads (Q1 2024) | WhatsApp iOS Downloads (Q2 2022) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US | 5.18 million | 4.88 million | 6.6 million |
| 2 | Mexico | 2.11 million | 2.51 million | 1.46 million |
| 3 | Brazil | 2.03 million | 2.14 million | 0.93 million |
| 4 | Indonesia | 1.57 million | 1.66 million | 0.95 million |
| 5 | Turkey | 1.47 million | 1.67 million | 0.88 million |
| 6 | India | 1.41 million | 2.05 million | 1.26 million |
| 7 | Russia | 1.07 million | 1.24 million | - |
| 8 | UK | 0.69 million | 0.75 million | 1.21 million |
| 9 | France | 0.62 million | 0.75 million | 0.93 million |
| 10 | Nigeria | 0.6 million | - | - |
And here's a breakdown of WhatsApp downloads via the Google Play Store in the same quarters:
| Rank | Country | WhatsApp Google Play Store Downloads (Q2 2024) | WhatsApp Google Play Store Downloads (Q1 2024) | WhatsApp Google Play Store Downloads (Q2 2022) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 34.03 million | 35.17 million | 5.81 million |
| 2 | Indonesia | 11.28 million | 8.51 million | 4.49 million |
| 3 | Pakistan | 11.27 million | 7.99 million | 1.95 million |
| 4 | Brazil | 7.38 million | 7.58 million | 4.53 million |
| 5 | Mexico | 5.05 million | 6.18 million | 4.99 million |
| 6 | Egypt | 4.51 million | 4 million | - |
| 7 | US | 4.3 million | 5.26 million | 3.72 million |
| 8 | Russia | 3.32 million | 2.97 million | 2.1 million |
| 9 | Colombia | 3.03 million | 4.11 million | 1.66 million |
| 10 | Algeria | 2.85 million | 3.69 million | - |
WhatsApp Business has seen significant growth over the past few years.
In 2018, just under 40 million people downloaded WhatsApp Business.
As of 2023, that figure had increased almost 8 times, reaching 316.16 million downloads.
Despite commanding a significant proportion of the global messaging app market, Facebook Messenger has seen downloads drop from 794.61 million in 2015 to 262.53 million in 2023 – a fall of more than 66%.
WhatsApp is the leading messaging app in 63 countries including:
Facebook Messenger is the most popular messaging app in 16 nations including:
Telegram is the top messaging app in 10 countries.
Viber is top in 4 countries.
Line is the most popular messaging app in Japan and Thailand.
WeChat is number one in China, KakaoTalk is top in South Korea, and Zalo is the market leader in Vietnam.
Sources
Data Reportal, Business of Apps, AppMagic, AppMagic (2)
Author: Ruvenss G. Wilches
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