WhatsApp hits TWO BILLION users as firm reveals ‘quarter of the world’ uses encrypted chat app
WHATSAPP has revealed more than two billion people now use the app.
The staggering figure represents roughly a quarter of the world's total population.
The surprise announcement puts WhatsApp just behind its own Facebook, which has 2.4billion active users.
"We are excited to share that, as of today, WhatsApp supports more than two billion users around the world," said WhatsApp in a blog post.
"Private conversations that once were only possible face-to-face can now take place across great distances through instant chats and video calling.
"There are so many significant and special moments that take place over WhatsApp and we are humbled and honored to reach this milestone."
WhatsApp – a quick history
Here's what you need to know...
- WhatsApp was created in 2009 by computer programmers Brian Acton and Jan Koum - former employees of Yahoo
- It's one of the most popular messaging services in the world
- Koum came up with the name WhatsApp because it sounded like "what's up"
- After a number of tweaks the app was released with a messaging component in June 2009, with 250,000 active users
- It was originally free but switched to a paid service to avoid growing too fast. Then in 2016, it became free again for all users
- Facebook bought WhatsApp Inc in February 2014 for $19.3billion (£14.64bn)
- The app is particularly popular because all messages are encrypted during transit, shutting out snoopers
- As of January 2018, WhatsApp has over 1.5billion users globally
By contrast, Facebook crossed the 2billion mark in June 2017.
The social media giant also doubled down on its controversial commitment to encrypted chats.
"Strong encryption is a necessity in modern life," WhatsApp said.
"We will not compromise on security because that would make people less safe.
"For even more protection, we work with top security experts, employ industry leading technology to stop misuse as well as provide controls and ways to report issues — without sacrificing privacy."
Facebook recently came under fire for its commitment to use encryption across WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger.
End-to-end encryption means your message is garbled into gibberish during transit, and can only be read in its true form by the sender and recipient.
That's because the contacts involved in the chat each have a "key" that decodes the message.
Anyone else (including Facebook) is unable to read the encrypted text.
It's an important privacy feature, and already one of the defining features of WhatsApp.
But some experts warn that encryption makes it more difficult to catch sexual predators and terrorists online.
WhatsApp user milestones
Here are the official figures confirmed by WhatsApp...
- June 2009 – launch
- April 2014 – 500million users
- August 2014 – 600million users
- February 2017 – 1.2billion users
- December 2017 – 1.5billion users
- February 2020 – 2billion users
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In other news, several Facebook privacy blunders in 2018 caused Zuckerberg's firm to lose about £180billion in value.
Furious Facebook employees even resorted to buying burner phones to badmouth Zuck's leadership.
And last year, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey revealed Mark Zuckerberg tried to feed him "some cold goat he knifed and killer with a laser gun".
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