WhatsApp Messenger is a freeware, cross-platform messaging and Voice over IP (VoIP)

service owned by Facebook.[45] It allows the sending of text messages and voice
calls, as well as video calls, images and other media, documents, and user
location.[46][47] The WhatsApp client application runs on mobile devices but is
also accessible from desktop computers while the mobile device is connected to the
Internet.[48] The service requires[49] users to provide a standard cellular mobile
number. Originally, users could communicate only with others individually or in
groups of individuals, but in September 2017, WhatsApp announced a forthcoming
business platform to enable companies to provide customer service to users at
scale.[43]

The client application was created by WhatsApp Inc. of Mountain View, California,
which was acquired by Facebook in February 2014 for approximately US$19.3 billion.
[50][51] By February 2018, WhatsApp had over one and a half billion users,[52][53]
making it the most popular messaging application at the time.[53][54] It has grown
in multiple countries, including Brazil, India, and large parts of Europe,
including the United Kingdom and France.[53]

Contents
1 History
1.1 2009�2014
1.2 Facebook subsidiary (2014�present)
1.3 Recent (2016�present)
2 SMB and Enterprise platforms
3 Platform support
3.1 WhatsApp Web
3.2 Microsoft Windows and Mac
4 Technical
4.1 End-to-end encryption
4.2 WhatsApp Payments
5 Reception and criticism
5.1 Hoaxes and fake news
5.1.1 Mob murders in India
5.1.2 2018 elections in Brazil
5.2 Security and privacy
5.2.1 Alleged vulnerability of encryption
5.3 Terrorism
5.4 Scams and malware
5.5 Bans
5.5.1 China
5.5.2 Iran
5.5.3 Turkey
5.5.4 Brazil
5.5.5 Sri Lanka
5.5.6 Uganda
6 User statistics
6.1 Specific markets
6.2 Competition
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
History
Further information: Timeline of WhatsApp
2009�2014
WhatsApp was founded in 2009 by Brian Acton and Jan Koum, former employees of
Yahoo!. After leaving Yahoo! in September 2007, they took some time off in South
America.[12] At one point, they applied for jobs at Facebook but were rejected.[12]
In January 2009, after purchasing an iPhone and realizing the potential of the app
industry on the App Store, Koum and Acton began visiting Koum's friend Alex Fishman
in West San Jose to discuss a new type of messaging app that would "[show] statuses
next to individual names of the people". They realized that to take the idea
further, they'd need an iPhone developer. Fishman visited RentACoder.com, found
Russian developer Igor Solomennikov, and introduced him to Koum.

Koum named the app WhatsApp to sound like "what's up". On February 24, 2009, he
incorporated WhatsApp Inc. in California. However, when early versions of WhatsApp
kept crashing, Koum considered giving up and looking for a new job. Acton
encouraged him to wait for a "few more months".[12]

In June 2009, Apple launched push notifications, allowing users to be pinged when
they were not using an app. Koum changed WhatsApp so that when a user's status is
changed, everyone in the user's network would be notified.[12] WhatsApp 2.0 was
released with a messaging component and the number of active users suddenly
increased to 250,000. Although Acton was managing another startup, he decided to
join the company.[12] In October 2009, Acton persuaded five former friends at
Yahoo! to invest $250,000 in seed funding, and Acton became a co-founder and was
given a stake. He officially joined WhatsApp on November 1.[12] After months at
beta stage, the application launched in November 2009, exclusively on the App Store
for the iPhone. Koum then hired a friend in Los Angeles, Chris Peiffer, to develop
a BlackBerry version, which arrived two months later.[12]

To cover the primary cost of sending verification texts to users, WhatsApp was
changed from a free service to a paid one. In December 2009, the ability to send
photos was added to the iPhone version. By early 2011, WhatsApp was one of the top
20 apps at Apple's U.S. App Store.[12]

In April 2011, Sequoia Capital invested about $8 million for more than 15% of the
company, after months of negotiation with Sequoia partner Jim Goetz.[55][56][57]

By February 2013, WhatsApp had about 200 million active users and 50 staff members.
Sequoia invested another $50 million, and WhatsApp was valued at $1.5 billion.[12]

In a December 2013 blog post, WhatsApp claimed that 400 million active users used
the service each month.[58]

Facebook subsidiary (2014�present)

On February 19, 2014, months after a venture capital financing round at a $1.5
billion valuation,[59] Facebook announced it was acquiring WhatsApp for US$19
billion, its largest acquisition to date.[51] At the time, it was the largest
acquisition of a venture-backed company in history.[50] Sequoia Capital received an
approximate 5000% return on its initial investment.[60] Facebook, which was advised
by Allen & Co, paid $4 billion in cash, $12 billion in Facebook shares, and
(advised by Morgan Stanley) an additional $3 billion in restricted stock units
granted to WhatsApp's founders Koum and Acton.[61] Employee stock was scheduled to
vest over four years subsequent to closing.[51] Days after the announcement,
WhatsApp users experienced a loss of service, leading to anger across social media.
[62]

The acquisition caused a considerable number of users to try and/or move to other
message services. Telegram claimed that it acquired 8 million new users;[63] and
Line, 2 million.[64]

At a keynote presentation at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February

2014, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook's acquisition of WhatsApp was
closely related to the Internet.org vision.[65][66] A TechCrunch article said this
about Zuckerberg's vision:
The idea, he said, is to develop a group of basic internet services that would be
free of charge to use � 'a 911 for the internet.' These could be a social
networking service like Facebook, a messaging service, maybe search and other
things like weather. Providing a bundle of these free of charge to users will work
like a gateway drug of sorts � users who may be able to afford data services and
phones these days just don�t see the point of why they would pay for those data
services. This would give them some context for why they are important, and that
will lead them to paying for more services like this � or so the hope goes.[65]

Just three days after announcing the Facebook purchase, Koum said they were working
to introduce voice calls. He also said that new mobile phones would be sold in
Germany with the WhatsApp brand, and that their ultimate goal was to be on all
smartphones.[67]

In August 2014, WhatsApp was the most globally popular messaging app, with more
than 600 million users.[68] By early January 2015, WhatsApp had 700 million monthly
users and over 30 billion messages every day.[69] In April 2015, Forbes predicted
that between 2012 and 2018, the telecommunications industry would lose $386 billion
because of OTT services like WhatsApp and Skype.[70] That month, WhatsApp had over
800 million users.[71][72] By September 2015, it had grown to 900 million;[73] and
by February 2016, one billion.[74]

In November 30, 2015, the Android WhatsApp client made links to another message
service, Telegram, unclickable and uncopyable.[75][76][77] Multiple sources
confirmed that it was intentional, not a bug,[77] and that it had been implemented
when the Android source code that recognized Telegram URLs had been identified.[77]
(The word "telegram" appeared in WhatsApp's code.[77]) Some considered it an anti-
competitive measure,[75][76][77] but WhatsApp offered no explanation. In response
to the 2014 Facebook acquisition, Slate columnist Matthew Yglesias questioned
whether the company's business model of charging users $1 a year was viable in the
U.S.. It had prospered by exploiting a "loophole" in mobile phone carriers'
pricing. "Mobile phone operators aren't really selling consumers some voice
service, some data service, and some SMS service", he explained. "They are selling
access to the network. The different pricing schemes they come up with are just
different ways of trying to maximize the value they extract from consumers."[78] As
part of that, carriers sold SMS separately. This made it easy for WhatsApp to find
a way to replicate SMS using data, then sell that service to mobile customers for
$1 a year. "But if WhatsApp gets big enough, then carrier strategy is going to
change", he predicted. "You stop selling separate SMS plans and just have a take-
it-or-leave-it overall package. And then suddenly WhatsApp isn't doing
anything."[78] The situation may have been different in countries other than the
United States.

Recent (2016�present)
On January 18, 2016, WhatsApp's co-founder Jan Koum announced that it would no
longer charge users a $1 annual subscription fee, in an effort to remove a barrier
faced by users without credit cards.[79][80] He also said that the app would not
display any third-party ads, and that it would have new features such as the
ability to communicate with businesses.[74][81]

By June 2016, the company's blog reported more than 100 million voice calls per day
were being placed on WhatsApp.[82]

On November 10, 2016, WhatsApp launched a beta version of two-step verification for
Android users, which allowed them to use their email addresses for further
protection.[83] Also in November 2016, Facebook ceased collecting WhatsApp data for
advertising in Europe.[84]
On February 24, 2017, (WhatsApp's 8th birthday), WhatsApp launched a new Status
feature similar to Snapchat and Facebook stories.[85]

On May 18, 2017, it was reported that the European Commission would fine Facebook
�110 million for "misleading" it during the 2014 takeover of WhatsApp. The
Commission alleged that in 2014, when Facebook acquired the messaging app, it
"falsely claimed it was technically impossible to automatically combine user
information from Facebook and WhatsApp." However, in the summer of 2016, WhatsApp
had begun sharing user information with its parent company, allowing information
such as phone numbers to be used for targeted Facebook advertisements. Facebook
acknowledged the breach, but said the errors in their 2014 filings were "not
intentional."[84]

In September 2017, WhatsApp's co-founder Brian Acton left the company to start a
nonprofit group,[86] later revealed as the Signal Foundation.[87] WhatsApp also
announced a forthcoming business platform to enable companies to provide customer
service at scale,[43] and airlines KLM and Aerom�xico announced their participation
in the testing.[88][89][90][91] Both airlines previously launched customer services
on the Facebook Messenger platform.

In January 2018, WhatsApp launched WhatsApp Business for small business use.[92]

In April 2018, WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum announced he would be leaving
the company.[93] Facebook later announced that Koum's replacement would be Chris
Daniels.[10]

Later in September 2018, WhatsApp introduced group audio and video call features.
[94][95] In October, the "Swipe to Reply" option was added to the Android beta
version, 16 months after it was introduced for iOS.[96]

SMB and Enterprise platforms

Until 2017, WhatsApp was for individual use between two smartphones. This enabled
businesses to communicate with customers,[97] but not at scale (e.g. in a contact
center environment). In September 2017 WhatsApp confirmed rumors[98][99] that they
were building and testing two new tools for businesses:[91]

A free WhatsApp Business app for small companies[100]

An Enterprise Solution for bigger companies with global customer bases, such as
airlines, e-commerce retailers and banks, who would be able to offer customer
service and conversational commerce (e-commerce) via WhatsApp chat, using live
agents or chatbots. (As far back as 2015, companies like Meteordesk[101] had
provided unofficial solutions for enterprises to attend to large numbers of users,
but these were shut down by WhatsApp.)
Platform support
After months at beta stage, the official first release of WhatsApp launched in
November 2009, exclusively at the App Store for iPhone. In January 2010, support
for BlackBerry smartphones was added; and subsequently for Symbian OS in May 2010,
and for Android OS in August 2010. In August 2011, a beta for Nokia's non-
smartphone OS Series 40 was added. A month later, support for Windows Phone was
added, followed by BlackBerry 10 in March 2013.[102] In April 2015, support for
Samsung's Tizen OS was added.[103] Unofficial ports, Wazapp and Yappari, have also
been released for the MeeGo-based Nokia N9[104] and the Maemo-based Nokia N900,
respectively.[105]

The oldest device capable of running WhatsApp was the Symbian-based Nokia N95
released in March 2007. (As of June 2017, WhatsApp is no longer compatible with
it.)

In August 2014, WhatsApp released an Android update, adding support for Android
Wear smartwatches.[106]

In 2014, an unofficial open source plug-in, whatsapp-purple, was released for

Pidgin, implementing its XMPP and making it possible to use WhatsApp on PCs running
Microsoft Windows and Linux.[107][third-party source needed] WhatsApp responded by
blocking phone numbers that used the plug-in.[citation needed]

On January 21, 2015, WhatsApp launched WhatsApp Web, a browser-based web client
that could be used by syncing with a mobile device's connection.[108]

On February 26, 2016, WhatsApp announced they would cease support for BlackBerry
(including BlackBerry 10), Series 40, and Symbian S60, as well as older versions of
Android (2.2), Windows Phone (7.0), and iOS (6), by the end of 2016.[109]
BlackBerry, Series 40, and Symbian support was then extended to June 30, 2017.[110]
In June 2017, support for BlackBerry and Series 40 was once again extended until
the end of 2017, while Symbian was dropped.[111]

Support for BlackBerry and older (version 8.0) Windows Phone and older (version 6)
iOS devices was dropped on January 1, 2018, but was extended to December 2018 for
Nokia Series 40.[112] In July 2018, it was announced that WhatsApp would soon be
available for KaiOS feature phones.[113][114]

WhatsApp Web
WhatsApp was officially made available for PCs through a web client, under the name
WhatsApp Web, in late January 2015 through an announcement made by Koum on his
Facebook page: "Our web client is simply an extension of your phone: the web
browser mirrors conversations and messages from your mobile device�this means all
of your messages still live on your phone". The WhatsApp user's handset must still
be connected to the Internet for the browser application to function. All major
desktop browsers are supported except for Internet Explorer. WhatsApp Web's user
interface is based on the default Android one.[citation needed]

As of January 21, 2015, the desktop version was only available to Android,
BlackBerry, and Windows Phone users. Later on, it also added support for iOS, Nokia
Series 40, and Nokia S60 (Symbian).[115][116]

An unofficial derivative called WhatsAppTime has been developed, which is a

standard Win32 application for PCs and supports notifications through the Windows
notification area.[117] There are similar solutions for macOS, such as the open-
source ChitChat,[118][119][120] and multiple wrappers available in the App Store.
[citation needed]

Microsoft Windows and Mac

On May 10, 2016, the messaging service was introduced for both Microsoft Windows
and macOS operating systems. WhatsApp currently does not allow audio or video
calling from desktop operating systems. Similar to the WhatsApp Web format, the
app, which will be synced with a user's mobile device, is available for download on
the website. It supports OS versions of Windows 8 and OS X 10.9 and higher.[121]
[122]

Technical
WhatsApp uses a customized version of the open standard Extensible Messaging and
Presence Protocol (XMPP).[123] Upon installation, it creates a user account using
one's phone number as the username (Jabber ID: [phone number]@s.whatsapp.net).

WhatsApp software automatically compares all the phone numbers from the device's
address book with its central database of WhatsApp users to automatically add
contacts to the user's WhatsApp contact list. Previously the Android and Nokia
Series 40 versions used an MD5-hashed, reversed-version of the phone's IMEI as
password,[124] while the iOS version used the phone's Wi-Fi MAC address instead of
IMEI.[125][126] A 2012 update now generates a random password on the server side.
[127]

Some Dual SIM devices may not be compatible with WhatsApp, though there are some
workarounds for this.[128]

In February 2015, WhatsApp introduced a voice calling feature; this helped WhatsApp
to attract a completely different segment of the user population.[129][130] On
November 14, 2016, Whatsapp added video calling feature for users across Android,
iPhone, and Windows Phone devices.[131][132]

On November 2017, Whatsapp released a new feature that would let its users delete
messages sent by mistake within a time frame of 7 minutes.[133]

Multimedia messages are sent by uploading the image, audio or video to be sent to
an HTTP server and then sending a link to the content along with its Base64 encoded
thumbnail (if applicable).[134]

WhatsApp follows a "store and forward" mechanism for exchanging messages between
two users. When a user sends a message, it first travels to the WhatsApp server
where it is stored. Then the server repeatedly requests the receiver acknowledge
receipt of the message. As soon as the message is acknowledged, the server drops
the message; it is no longer available in the database of the server. The WhatsApp
server keeps the message only for 30 days in its database when it is not delivered
(when the receiver is not active on WhatsApp for 30 days).[135][self-published
source?]

End-to-end encryption
On November 18, 2014, Open Whisper Systems announced a partnership with WhatsApp to
provide end-to-end encryption by incorporating the encryption protocol used in
Signal into each WhatsApp client platform.[136] Open Whisper Systems said that they
had already incorporated the protocol into the latest WhatsApp client for Android,
and that support for other clients, group/media messages, and key verification
would be coming soon after.[137] WhatsApp confirmed the partnership to reporters,
but there was no announcement or documentation about the encryption feature on the
official website, and further requests for comment were declined.[138] In April
2015, German magazine Heise Security used ARP spoofing to confirm that the protocol
had been implemented for Android-to-Android messages, and that WhatsApp messages
from or to iPhones running iOS were still not end-to-end encrypted.[139] They
expressed the concern that regular WhatsApp users still could not tell the
difference between end-to-end encrypted messages and regular messages.[139] On
April 5, 2016, WhatsApp and Open Whisper Systems announced that they had finished
adding end-to-end encryption to "every form of communication" on WhatsApp, and that
users could now verify each other's keys.[39][140] Users were also given the option
to enable a trust on first use mechanism in order to be notified if a
correspondent's key changes.[141] According to a white paper that was released
along with the announcement, WhatsApp messages are encrypted with the Signal
Protocol.[142] WhatsApp calls are encrypted with SRTP, and all client-server
communications are "layered within a separate encrypted channel".[142] The Signal
Protocol library used by WhatsApp is open-source and published under the GPLv3
license.[142][143]

Cade Metz, writing in Wired, said, "WhatsApp, more than any company before it, has
taken encryption to the masses."[45]

WhatsApp Payments
WhatsApp Payments is a peer-to-peer money transfer feature that is set to launch in
India. WhatsApp has received permission from the National Payments Corporation of
India (NPCI) to enter into partnership with multiple banks in July 2017[144] to
allow users to make in-app payments and money transfers using the Unified Payments
Interface (UPI).[145] UPI enables account-to-account transfers from a mobile app
without having any details of the beneficiary's bank.[146]

On February 28, 2019, the New York Times reported that Facebook was �hoping to
succeed where Bitcoin failed� by developing an in-house cryptocurrency that would
be incorporated into WhatsApp. The project reportedly involves over 50 engineers
under the direction of former PayPal president David Marcus. This �Facebook coin�
will reportedly be a stablecoin pegged to the value of a basket of different
foreign currencies.[147]

Reception and criticism

Hoaxes and fake news
Mob murders in India
Main article: Indian Whatsapp lynchings
In July 2018, WhatsApp took action to encourage people to report fraudulent or
violent messages after a wave of murders carried out by mobs on people who were
falsely accused (via WhatsApp messages) of intending to abduct children.[148]

2018 elections in Brazil

In an investigation on the use of social media in politics, it was found that
WhatsApp was being abused for the spread of fake news in the 2018 presidential
elections in Brazil.[149] Furthermore, it has been reported US$3 million spending
in illegal off-the-books contributions related to this practice.[150] Researchers
and journalists have called on WhatsApp parent company, Facebook, to adopt measures
similar to those adopted in India and restrict the spread of hoaxes and fake news.
[149]

Security and privacy

Main article: Reception and criticism of WhatsApp security and privacy features

This article should include a summary of Reception and criticism of WhatsApp

security and privacy features. See Wikipedia:Summary style for information on how
to incorporate it into this article's main text. (January 2019)
Alleged vulnerability of encryption
On January 13, 2017, The Guardian reported that security researcher Tobias Boelter
had found that WhatsApp's policy of forcing re-encryption of initially undelivered
messages, without informing the recipient, constituted a serious loophole whereby
WhatsApp could disclose, or be compelled to disclose, the content of these
messages.[151] WhatsApp[152] and Open Whisper Systems[153] officials disagreed with
this assessment. A follow-up article by Boelter himself explains in greater detail
what he considers to be the specific vulnerability.[154] In June 2017, The Guardian
readers� editor Paul Chadwick wrote, "The Guardian was wrong to report in January
that the popular messaging service WhatsApp had a security flaw so serious that it
was a huge threat to freedom of speech."[155]

"In a detailed review I found that misinterpretations, mistakes and

misunderstandings happened at several stages of the reporting and editing process.
Cumulatively they produced an article that overstated its case."

�?Paul Chadwick, The Guardian[155]

Chadwick also noted that since the Guardian article, WhatsApp has been "better
secured by the introduction of optional two-factor verification in February."[155]

NHS

In 2018 it was reported that around 500,000 NHS staff used WhatsApp and other
instant messaging systems at work and around 29,000 had faced disciplinary action
for doing so. Higher usage was reported by frontline clinical staff to keep up with
care needs, even though NHS trust policies do not permit their use.[156]

Terrorism
In December 2015, it was reported that Islamic State terrorists had been using
WhatsApp to plot the November 2015 Paris attacks.[157] ISIS also uses WhatsApp to
traffic sex slaves.[158]

In March 2017, U.K. Secretary of State Amber Rudd said encryption capabilities of
messaging tools like WhatsApp are unacceptable, as news reported that Khalid Masood
used the application several minutes before perpetrating the 2017 Westminster
attack. Rudd publicly called for police and intelligence agencies to be given
access to WhatsApp and other encrypted messaging services to prevent future terror
attacks.[159]

In April 2017, the perpetrator of the Stockholm attack reportedly used WhatsApp to
exchange messages with an ISIS supporter shortly before and after the 2017
Stockholm attack. The messages involved discussing how to make an explosive device
and a confession of the perpetration the attack.[160]

Scams and malware

It has been asserted that WhatsApp is plagued by scams invites hackers to spread
malicious viruses or malware.[161][162] In May 2016, some WhatsApp users were
reported to have been tricked into downloading a third-party application called
WhatsApp Gold, which was part of a scam that infected the users' phones with
malware.[163] A message that promises to allow access to their WhatsApp friends'
conversations, or their contact lists, has become the most popular hit against
anyone who uses the application in Brazil. Since December, 2016, more than 1.5
million people have clicked and lost money[164]

Another application called GB Whatsapp is considered malicious by cybersecurity

firm Symantec because it usually performs some unauthorized operations on end-user
devices.[165]

Bans
China
In 2017, security researchers reported to The New York Times that the WhatsApp
service had been completely blocked in China.[166] WhatsApp is owned by Facebook,
whose main social media service has been blocked in China since 2009.[167]

Iran
On May 9, 2014, the government of Iran announced that it had proposed to block the
access to WhatsApp service to Iranian residents. "The reason for this is the
assumption of WhatsApp by the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is an American
Zionist," said Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, head of the country's Committee on Internet
Crimes. Subsequently, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani issued an order to the
Ministry of ICT to stop filtering WhatsApp.[168][169]

Turkey
Turkey temporarily banned WhatsApp in 2016, following the assassination of the
Russian ambassador to Turkey.[170]

Brazil
On March 1, 2016, Diego Dzodan, Facebook's vice-president for Latin America was
arrested in Brazil for not cooperating with an investigation in which WhatsApp
conversations were requested.[171] On March 2, 2016, at dawn the next day, Dzodan
was released because the Court of Appeal held that the arrest was disproportionate
and unreasonable.[172]
On May 2, 2016, mobile providers in Brazil were ordered to block WhatsApp for 72
hours for the service's second failure to cooperate with criminal court orders.
[173][174] Once again, the block was lifted following an appeal, after nearly 24
hours.[175]

Sri Lanka
WhatsApp, one of the most activated messaging apps along with other social media
networks such as Facebook and Instagram were temporarily blocked, banned and had
been unavailable for about two days (7�8 March 2018) in certain parts of the
country to eradicate communal violence, especially the anti-Muslim riots.[176] This
was probably the first such instance where social media platforms had been banned
in Sri Lanka. The ban was finally lifted on the 14th of March, 2018 around midnight
time in Sri Lanka.[177]

Uganda
The government of Uganda banned WhatsApp and Facebook.[178] Users are to be charged
200 shilling according to the new law set by parliament.[179]

User statistics
As of April 22, 2014, WhatsApp had over 500 million monthly active users, 700
million photos and 100 million videos were being shared daily, and the messaging
system was handling more than 10 billion messages each day.[180][181]

On August 24, 2014, Koum announced on his Twitter account that WhatsApp had over
600 million active users worldwide. At that point WhatsApp was adding about 25
million new users every month, or 833,000 active users per day.[68][182] With 65
million active users representing 10% of the total worldwide users, India has the
largest number of consumers.[183]

In May 2017, it was reported that WhatsApp users spend over 340 million minutes on
video calls each day on the app. This is the equivalent of roughly 646 years of
video calls per day.[184]

As of February 2017, WhatsApp had over 1.2 billion users globally,[185] reaching
1.5 billion monthly active users by the end of 2017.[186]

Specific markets
India is by far WhatsApp's largest market in terms of total number of users. In May
2014, WhatsApp crossed 50 million monthly active users in India, which is also its
largest country by the number of monthly active users.[187], then 70 million in
October 2014, making users in India 10% of WhatsApp's total user base.[188] In
February 2017, WhatsApp reached 200 million monthly active users in India.[189]

Israel is one of WhatsApp's strongest markets in terms of ubiquitous usage.

According to Globes, already by 2013 the application was installed on 92% of all
smartphones, with 86% of users reporting daily use.[190] WhatsApp's group chat
feature is reportedly used by many Israeli families to stay in contact with each
other.[191]

Competition
WhatsApp competes with a number of Asian-based messaging services (that as of 2014,
were services like WeChat (468 million active users), Viber (209 million active
users[192]) and LINE (170 million active users[193]), WhatsApp handled ten billion
messages per day in August 2012,[194] growing from two billion in April 2012,[195]
and one billion the previous October.[196] On June 13, 2013, WhatsApp announced
that they had reached their new daily record by processing 27 billion messages.
[197] According to the Financial Times, WhatsApp "has done to SMS on mobile phones
what Skype did to international calling on landlines."[198]
See also
Comparison of instant messaging clients
Comparison of VoIP software
List of most downloaded Android applications
List of virtual communities with more than 100 million active users
References
WhatsApp Inc. (14 January 2019). "WhatsApp Messenger". App Store. Apple. Retrieved
14 January 2019.
WhatsApp Inc. (14 December 2018). "WhatsApp Messenger". Apkmirror.com. Android
Police. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
WhatsApp Inc. "WhatsApp Messenger". Windows Store. Microsoft. Retrieved 7 April
2018.
WhatsApp Inc. "WhatsApp for Nokia S60". whatsapp.com. WhatsApp Inc. Retrieved 4
April 2017.
WhatsApp Inc. (26 June 2017). "WhatsApp Messenger". BlackBerry World. BlackBerry.
Retrieved 7 August 2017.
"WhatsApp Messenger APKs". APKMirror. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
"WhatsApp Beta � Windows Apps on Microsoft Store". Microsoft Store. Retrieved
August 7, 2018.
Ainsley O'Connell (February 21, 2014). "Inside Erlang, The Rare Programming
Language Behind WhatsApp's Success". fastcompany.com. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
"Whatsapp.com Traffic, Demographics and Competitors - Alexa". www.alexa.com.
Retrieved 4 February 2019.
Wagner, Kurt (8 May 2018). "WhatsApp has a new boss: Chris Daniels, the guy who's
been running Internet.org". Recode. Vox Media. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
Metz, Cade (15 September 2015). "Why WhatsApp Only Needs 50 Engineers for Its 900M
Users". Wired. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
Parmy Olsen (February 2, 2014). "Exclusive: The Rags-To-Riches Tale Of How Jan
Koum Built WhatsApp Into Facebook's New $19 Billion Baby". Forbes. Retrieved
January 14, 2015.
"WhatsApp 2.0 is submitted - WhatsApp Blog". Retrieved June 5, 2016.
"Three-quarters of WhatsApp users are on Android, 22% on iOS (study)".
Venturebeat.com. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
"5 years of WeChat". Retrieved June 5, 2016.
"Snapchat". Retrieved June 5, 2016.
Schellevis, Joost (January 12, 2012). "What's app status: van Anderen os nog
steeds te w?zigen" (in Dutch). Tweakers. Retrieved January 12, 2012.
rvdm (January 12, 2012). "How What's app net works". Wire trip. Retrieved April 7,
2013.
"Are my messages secure?". WhatsApp (FAQ). Zendesk. August 15, 2012. Retrieved
January 29, 2013.
"PrivCo". Privco.com. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
"The Granddaddy Of Messaging Apps, WhatsApp, Finally Goes For A Subscription Model
on iOS". Techcrunch.com. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
"WhatsApp, the Internet Messenger, to Become Free". The New York Times. Retrieved
August 28, 2016.
"Russia's Zuckerberg launches Telegram, a new instant messenger service".
Reuters.com. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
"Voice Messaging Comes To Whatsapp". Techcrunch.com. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
"WhatsApp Was Valued At ~$1.5B In Final Round Before Sale". Techcrunch. Retrieved
February 22, 2014.
"Facebook to Buy WhatsApp for $19 Billion". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved
August 28, 2016.
"Hole In WhatsApp For Android Lets Hackers Steal Your Conversations".
Techcrunch.com. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
"Whatsapp now lets you disable Read notifications". November 15, 2014.
"WhatsApp Web". January 21, 2015.
"(Updated) WhatsApp begins crackdown on unlicensed 3rd party clients".
Androidauthority.com. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
 "WhatsApp Says It's Not "Permanently" Banning Users From Its Service, Just
Blocking Third-Party Clients". Techcrunch.com. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
"Brazil Restores WhatsApp Service After Brief Blockade Over Wiretap Request". The
New York Times. December 17, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
"WhatsApp Is Briefly Shut Down in Brazil for a Third Time". The New York Times.
July 19, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
Ina Fried (January 18, 2016). "Facebook's Whatsapp is Now Free". Re Code. Vox
Media, Inc. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
"Whatsapp to Drop Subscription Fee". Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company,
Inc. January 18, 2016. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
"No Subscription Charges For WhatsApp: Does Facebook Have A Monetization Strategy
In Place?". Forbes. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
"Brazil Arrests Facebook Executive in WhatsApp Data Access Case". The New York
Times. March 1, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
"WhatsApp adds support for document sharing, but only PDFs at launch". TechCrunch.
March 2, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
Metz, Cade (April 5, 2016). "Forget Apple vs. the FBI: WhatsApp Just Switched on
Encryption for a Billion People". Wired. Cond� Nast. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
Lomas, Natasha (April 5, 2016). "WhatsApp completes end-to-end encryption
rollout". TechCrunch. AOL Inc. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
"WhatsApp Introduces End-to-End Encryption". The New York Times. April 5, 2016.
Retrieved August 28, 2016.
"Introducing WhatsApp's desktop app", WhatsApp Blog, 10 May 2016, retrieved 11 May
2016
"Building for People, and Now Businesses". WhatsApp.com.
http://news.klm.com/klm-first-airline-with-verified-whatsapp-business-account/
Metz, Cade (5 April 2016). "Forget Apple vs. the FBI: WhatsApp Just Switched on
Encryption for a Billion People". Wired. Cond� Nast. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
Voice calling, March 12, 2015
"WhatsApp Voice Calling". April 4, 2015.
"Why does WhatsApp for web/desktop require your phone to be connected to the
internet (and times out frequently), while Telegram web/desktop doesn't? - Quora".
www.quora.com. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
"WhatsApp FAQ - Using one WhatsApp account on multiple phones, or with multiple
phone numbers". WhatsApp.com.
Albergotti, Reed; MacMillan, Douglas; Rusli, Evelyn M. (February 20, 2014).
"Facebook's $18 Billion Deal Sets High Bar". The Wall Street Journal. pp. A1, A6.
"Facebook to Acquire WhatsApp" (Press release). February 19, 2014.
Constine, Josh (31 January 2018). "WhatsApp hits 1.5 billion monthly users. $19B?
Not so bad". TechCrunch. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
Metz, Cade (April 5, 2016). "Forget Apple vs. the FBI: WhatsApp Just Switched on
Encryption for a Billion People". Wired. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
Leo Sun (September 11, 2015). "Facebook Inc.'s WhatsApp Hits 900 Million Users:
What Now?". The Motley Fool.
Levy, Ari (19 February 2014). "Sequoia Said to Reap $3.5 Billion in Deal".
Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
McBride, Sarah (21 February 2014). "With WhatsApp deal, Sequoia Capital burnishes
reputation". Reuters. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
Wauters, Robin. "Sequoia Invests $8 Million In Messaging App Maker WhatsApp".
TechCrunch.com. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
Jan Koum (December 19, 2013). "400 Million Stories". WhatsApp Blog. WhatsApp.
Retrieved January 17, 2014.
Tsotsis, Alexia (February 22, 2014). "WhatsApp Was Valued At ~$1.5B In Final Round
Before Sale". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
Neal, Ryan W. (February 20, 2014). "WhatsApp Investors Make Billions From Facebook
Acquisition: Sequoia Capital Sees 50x Return on $1.3 Billion Investment".
IBTimes.com. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
"WhatsApp's Founder Goes From Food Stamps to Billionaire". Bloomberg News.
Retrieved February 20, 2014.
 Dassanayake, Dion (2014-02-23). "Twitter outrage as users claim WhatsApp has gone
down days after Facebook purchase". Daily Express. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
Tsotsis, Alexia (February 25, 2014). "Telegram Saw 8M Downloads After WhatsApp Got
Acquired". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
Lomas, Natasha (February 25, 2014). "Line saw 2m new users after the outage of
Whatsapp". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
Lunden, Ingrid (February 24, 2014). "WhatsApp Is Actually Worth More Than $19B,
Says Facebook's Zuckerberg, And It Was Internet.org That Sealed The Deal".
TechCrunch. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
Fitzsimmons, Michelle (February 24, 2014). "Mark Zuckerberg: WhatsApp is worth
more than $19 billion". Techradar. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
"WhatsApp permitir� llamadas de voz". Expansi�n (in Spanish). February 24, 2014.
Retrieved July 2, 2014.
Olsen, Parmy (August 25, 2014). "WhatsApp Hits 600 Million Active Users, Founder
Says". Forbes. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
Kim, Eugene (January 7, 2015). "WhatsApp's Insane Growth Continues: 100 Million
New Users in 4 Months". Business Insider. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
Parmy Olsen (April 7, 2015). "Facebook's Phone Company: WhatsApp Goes To The Next
Level With Its Voice Calling Service". Forbes. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
Seetharaman, Deepa (April 17, 2015). "WhatsApp Hits 800 Million Users � 1 Billion
by Year-End?". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company. Archived from the
original on 2017-10-18. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
Nate Ralph (April 18, 2015). "WhatsApp touts 800M monthly active users". CNET.
Retrieved April 20, 2015.
Guynn, Jessica (September 4, 2015). "Facebook's WhatsApp hits 900 million users,
aims for 1 billion". USA Today.
Statt, Nick (February 1, 2016). "WhatsApp has grown to 1 billion users". The
Verge. Vox Media, Inc. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
Lomas, Natasha (December 1, 2015). "WhatsApp Is Blocking Links To Rival App
Telegram On Android". TechCrunch. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
Brandom, Russell (November 30, 2015). "WhatsApp is blocking links to a competing
messenger app". The Verge. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
Lobao, Martim (December 1, 2015). "[Update: Smoking Gun] WhatsApp Is Blocking
Telegram Links In Its Android App". Android Police. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
Yglesias, Matthew (February 19, 2014). "What's the WhatsApp Endgame?". Slate.
Retrieved February 22, 2014.
Ina Fried (January 18, 2016). "Facebook's Whatsapp is Now Free". Re Code. Vox
Media, Inc. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
Drozdiak, Natalia (January 18, 2016). "Whatsapp to Drop Subscription Fee". Wall
Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2016-01-18. Retrieved January 18,
2016.
"Finally! Whatsapp removes $1 annual subscription fee". Phonearena.com. Phone
Arena. January 18, 2016.
Perez, Sarah (June 24, 2016). "WhatsApp hits 100 million calls per day".
TechCrunch. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
"WhatsApp brings Two-step verification for Android 'beta' users: How to enable".
November 11, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
Madhumita, Murgia (May 18, 2017). "Facebook fined �110m by European Commission
over WhatsApp deal". Financial Times. Retrieved May 18, 2017. (Subscription
required (help)).
"WhatsApp Status: What is This New Snapchat-Like Feature?". February 24, 2017.
Russell, Jon (13 September 2017). "WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton is leaving to
start a non-profit". TechCrunch. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
Greenberg, Andy (21 February 2018). "WhatsApp Co-Founder Puts $50M Into Signal To
Supercharge Encrypted Messaging". Wired. Cond� Nast. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
"KLM claims airline first with WhatsApp Business Platform". tnooz. September 5,
2017.
"Aerom�xico te atender� por WhatsApp durante 2018". Forbes M�xico (in Spanish).
October 26, 2017. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
 Redacci�n (October 27, 2017). "Podr�s hacer 'check in' y consultar tu vuelo con
Aerom�xico a trav�s de WhatsApp". Huffington Post. Retrieved March 10, 2018 � via
Huff Post.
"Building for People, and Now Businesses". WhatsApp Blog. September 5, 2017.
Retrieved March 10, 2018.
Ong, Thuy (January 19, 2018). "WhatsApp launches a separate app for small
businesses". The Verge. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
Dwoskin, Elizabeth (30 April 2018). "WhatsApp founder plans to leave after broad
clashes with parent Facebook". The Washington Post. The Washington Post. Retrieved
18 October 2018.
Chowdhry, Amit. "WhatsApp's Group Audio And Video Calling Features Arrive On
iPhone And Android". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
"WhatsApp group video call feature finally rolls out; step by step guide for
beginners". www.businesstoday.in. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
Singh, Jagmeet (October 3, 2018). "WhatsApp for Android Gets 'Swipe to Reply'
Gesture Support; Ability to Download External Sticker Packs Tipped". NDTV.
Retrieved October 7, 2018.
Burn-Callander, Rebecca (March 10, 2018). "WhatsApp: the secret weapon for small
businesses". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
Mitter, Sohini (March 2, 2017). "WhatsApp might be testing a business feature in
its biggest market". Mashable. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
Heath, Alex (January 12, 2017). "WhatsApp's upcoming 'enterprise' platform for
businesses is already hidden in the app". Business Insider. Retrieved March 10,
2018.
Lin, Jave (March 8, 2018). "WhatsApp Business App: The Definitive Guide (2018)".
LinkedIn. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
D�as, Ediciones Cinco (September 1, 2015). "MeteorDesk o c�mo atender mejor al
cliente a trav�s de Whatsapp".
"WhatsApp messenger for BlackBerry � Free Download". GetSpool � Jailbreak Tweaks,
iOS News. 2015-05-22.
Ash (April 9, 2015). "[Application] NEW Native WhatsApp clients hits the Tizen
Store, Goodbye ACL WhatsApp Messenger". Tizen Experts.
Vasile, Cosmin (November 8, 2012). "Download Wazapp 0.9.12 for Nokia N9".
Softpedia.
Mike Bowen (January 2013). "Yappari v0.0.28. is Whatsapp on my Nokia N900". My
Nokia N900.
Page, Carly (August 5, 2014). "Whatsapp update adds support for Android Wear
smartwatches". The Inquirer.
"WhatsApp for Pidgin". gosell.it.
"WhatsApp Web". WhatsApp Blog. January 21, 2015.
"WhatsApp support for mobile devices". WhatsApp Blog. February 26, 2016. Retrieved
July 16, 2016.
"WhatsApp support for mobile devices". WhatsApp Blog.
"WhatsApp extends Nokia S40, BlackBerry support till end of 2017, drops Symbian
support". Nokiapoweruser. June 16, 2017. Archived from the original on 2018-08-01.
"WhatsApp FAQ - Support for older operating systems". WhatsApp.com.
Snelling, David (July 11, 2018). "The WhatsApp news we have been waiting for will
transform these popular phones".
"*Update* KaiOS officially getting Whatsapp". July 5, 2018.
Kashmira Gander (January 21, 2015). "WhatsApp web: messaging client now available
on internet browsers". The Independent. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
Tweedie, Steven. "WhatsApp Is Now Accessible On The Web, But iPhone Users Are Out
Of Luck". Business Insider. Business Insider. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
"WhatsappTime Desktop Version With Superb Features". TricksWay.com. July 2015.
stonesam92 (2018-10-02). "Chit Chat A Mac app wrapper around WhatsApp's web
client". GitHub.
"WhatsApp for Mac". OSXDaily. May 25, 2015.
"ChitChat for Mac". MacUpdate. October 5, 2015.
"Introducing WhatsApp's desktop app". WhatsApp Blog. May 10, 2016. Retrieved May
11, 2016.
Swanner, Nate (May 11, 2016). "WhatsApp now has an official desktop app for
Windows and Mac". The Next Web. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
Shakal (March 22, 2011). "WhatsApp? Nicht ohne Risiken" [WhatsApp? Not without
risks] (World Wide Web log) (in German). DE. Archived from the original (Google
Translate) on June 26, 2015. Retrieved January 29, 2013..
Team Venomous (venomous0x) (2018-09-29). "Interface to WhatsApp Messenger". GitHub
(blog). Retrieved January 26, 2013.
Amodio, Ezio (September 11, 2012). "Whatsapp � iOS password generation". IT.
Archived from the original on January 29, 2013. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
Granger, Sam (September 5, 2012). "WhatsApp is using IMEI numbers as passwords".
Archived from the original on September 11, 2012. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
"Wassapp login issues" (blog). Lowlevel Studios. December 11, 2012. Retrieved
January 29, 2013. Wassapp is a PC application developed to be a non-official client
for WhatsApp Messenger
Emenike, Kelechi (September 16, 2013). "Download WhatsApp on non-compatible Dual-
SIM Phones" (blog). NG: ECHO. Archived from the original on October 26, 2013.
Retrieved September 29, 2013.
Chowdhry, Amit (26 March 2015). "WhatsApp For iOS Will Receive Voice Calling
Feature In A Few Weeks". Forbes. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
Perez, Sarah (2 February 2015). "WhatsApp Voice-Calling Feature Spotted In The
Wild". TechCrunch. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
"Whatsapp Video Calling" (blog). November 14, 2016. Retrieved Nov 18, 2016.
Alawadhi, Neha (November 15, 2016). "Whatsapp Video Calling". The Economic Times
(News). Retrieved Nov 18, 2016.
"WhatsApp Now Lets You Delete Messages Sent by Mistake". Smatt Geeks Media. 2017-
11-01. Retrieved 2018-03-08.
Team Venomous (venomous0x) (November 28, 2012) [May 29, 2012]. "WhatsAPI /
README.md" (blog). GitHub. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
Gaurav Rathee (June 25, 2015) [June 25, 2015]. "How WhatsApp Works" (blog).
Retrieved June 25, 2015.
Evans, Jon (November 18, 2014). "WhatsApp Partners With Open WhisperSystems To
End-To-End Encrypt Billions Of Messages A Day". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 19,
2014.
"Open Whisper Systems partners with WhatsApp to provide end-to-end encryption".
Open Whisper Systems. November 18, 2014. Retrieved November 18, 2014.
Snyder, Benjamin (November 18, 2014). "Facebook's messaging service WhatsApp gets
a security boost". Forbes. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
Scherschel, Fabian A. (April 30, 2015). "Keeping Tabs on WhatsApp's Encryption".
Heise Security. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
Lomas, Natasha (April 5, 2016). "WhatsApp completes end-to-end encryption
rollout". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
Budington, Bill (April 7, 2016). "WhatsApp Rolls Out End-To-End Encryption to its
Over One Billion Users". Deeplinks Blog. Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved
April 21, 2016.
"WhatsApp Encryption Overview � Technical white paper" (PDF). WhatsApp Inc. April
4, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
Open Whisper Systems (2018-10-04). "libsignal-protocol-java". GitHub. Retrieved
April 6, 2016.
Mishra, Digbijay (July 11, 2017). "WhatsApp gets nod for UPI payments through
multi bank partnerships". The Times of India. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
Mishra, Digbijay (July 11, 2017). "WhatsApp gets nod for UPI payments". The Times
of India. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
Russell, Jon (April 4, 2017). "WhatsApp will reportedly launch peer-to-peer
payments in India within 6 months". TechCrunch. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
Popper, Nathaniel; Isaac, Mike (28 February 2019). "Facebook and Telegram Are
Hoping to Succeed Where Bitcoin Failed". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 March
2019.
Bassi, Simi; Sengupta, Joyita (July 8, 2018). "WhatsApp cracks down on fake
content after child-kidnap rumours spark killings across India". CBC News.
"Opinion - Fake News Is Poisoning Brazilian Politics. WhatsApp Can Stop It". The
New York Times. 2018-10-17. Retrieved 2018-10-18.
"Businessmen Fund WhatsApp Campaign Against PT". Folha de S.Paulo. 2018-10-18.
Retrieved 2018-10-18.
Manisha, Ganguly (January 13, 2017). "WhatsApp vulnerability allows snooping on
encrypted messages". The Guardian. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
Dan, Goodin (January 13, 2017). "Reported "backdoor" in WhatsApp is in fact a
feature, defenders say". Ars Technica. Retrieved February 21, 2017. WhatsApp does
not give governments a "backdoor" into its systems and would fight any government
request to create a backdoor. The design decision referenced in the Guardian story
prevents millions of messages from being lost, and WhatsApp offers people security
notifications to alert them to potential security risks. WhatsApp published a
technical white paper on its encryption design and has been transparent about the
government requests it receives, publishing data about those requests in the
Facebook Government Requests Report.
"There is no WhatsApp 'backdoor'". OWS Blog. January 13, 2017. Retrieved January
15, 2017.
Boelter, Tobias (January 16, 2017). "WhatsApp vulnerability explained: by the man
who discovered it". The Guardian. Archived from the original on January 18, 2017.
Retrieved January 17, 2017.
Chadwick, Paul (28 June 2017). "Flawed reporting about WhatsApp". The Guardian.
Retrieved 6 October 2017.
"NHS staff disciplined due to reliance on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and other
apps". Practice Business. 13 March 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
Perez, Evan; Prokupecz, Shimon (December 17, 2015). "First on CNN: Paris attackers
likely used encrypted apps, officials say". CNN. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
Agerholm, Harriet (July 7, 2016). "Isis is using Whatsapp to sell 12 year old sex
slaves alongside kittens". The Independent. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
Sparrow, Andrew (March 26, 2017). "WhatsApp must be accessible to authorities,
says Amber Rudd". The Guardian. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
Osborne, Samuel (April 10, 2017). "Stockholm suspect Rakhmat Akilov 'exchanged
Whatsapp messages with Isis supporter before and after attack'". The Independent.
Retrieved April 10, 2017.
"Most Common WhatsApp Scams". techadvisor.co.uk/. June 15, 2018.
"Malware Virus Dangerous in Whats andApp". medium.com. 2018-05-14.
Bolton, Doug (May 24, 2016). "WhatsApp Gold: Scammers trick mobile phone users
into downloading malware". The Independent. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
Novo golpe de Whatsapp atinge 1,5 milh�o de v�timas em 3 meses by Eduardo F. Filho
(2017)
"Case Study: The Dangerous Journey of a Fake WhatsApp App on OneDrive".
symantec.com. March 13, 2018.
Mozur, Paul (July 18, 2017). "China Disrupts WhatsApp Service in Online
Clampdown". The New York Times. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
Bradsher, Keith (September 25, 2017). "China Blocks WhatsApp, Broadening Online
Censorship". The New York Times. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
"President Hassan Rouhani issued order to 'hold WhatsApp service filteration'".
BBC Persian (in Persian). Retrieved May 27, 2014.
Daftari, Lisa (May 4, 2014). "Iran bans WhatsApp because of link to 'American
Zionist' Mark Zuckerberg". Fox News. Retrieved May 13, 2014.
McGoogan, Cara (December 20, 2016). "Turkey blocks access to Facebook, Twitter and
WhatsApp following ambassador's assassination". The Telegraph. Retrieved March 10,
2018 � via www.telegraph.co.uk.
"PF prende executivo do Facebook por empresa n�o liberar dados do WhatsApp" (in
Portuguese). Folha de S�o Paulo. March 1, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
"'Felizes', diz Facebook sobre soltura de vice-presidente preso em SP". March 2,
2016.
Connors, Will; Jelmayer, Rogerio (May 2, 2016). "Brazilian Judge Puts Temporary
Ban on WhatsApp". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2016-05-
02. Retrieved May 2, 2016. (Subscription required (help)).
Leite, Julia (May 2, 2016). "WhatsApp Ordered Blocked Again in Brazil Over Data
Dispute". Bloomberg News. Retrieved May 2, 2016. (Subscription required (help)).
Farivar, Cyrus (May 3, 2016). "Brazilian appellate judge rescinds WhatsApp block".
Ars Technica. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
Kozlowska, Hanna (March 7, 2018). "Social media platforms currently banned in Sri
Lanka". Quartz. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
"Ban on social medias including WhatsApp to be removed around 14 March, 2018 in
Sri Lanka". Lankabusinessonline. 2018-03-14. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
Shaikh, Rafia (May 31, 2018). "Uganda Imposes Daily Social Media Tax to Stop
"Gossip" on WhatsApp". Wccftech. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
"Uganda imposes WhatsApp 'gossip' tax". BBC News. May 31, 2018. Retrieved June 5,
2018.
"WhatsApp crosses half-a-billion user mark; strong growth in India and Brazil".
The Indian Express. April 23, 2014.
Amit Chowdhry, "WhatsApp Hits 500 Million Users", Forbes, retrieved May 14, 2014
Christian de Looper (September 6, 2014). "WhatsApp to reach 3 billion users,
Zuckerberg to invest billions". Daily Digest News. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
Jayadevan PK (October 3, 2014). "Google planning to launch own mobile messaging
app similar to WhatsApp". The Economic Times. Retrieved October 3, 2014.
"Whatsapp users spend an average of 646 years on video calls". Smatt Geeks Media.
2017-05-09. Retrieved 2018-03-08.
Statt, Nick (2016-02-01). "WhatsApp has grown to 1 billion users". The Verge.
Retrieved 2016-05-23.
Josh Constine (January 31, 2018). "WhatsApp hits 1.5 billion monthly users. $19B?
Not so bad".
Rajat Agrawal (2014-05-10). "WhatsApp crosses 50 million monthly active users in
India, ties up with Airtel for special data plans". Retrieved May 11, 2014.
PTI News (2014-11-03). "WhatsApp user-base crosses 70 million in India". The
Economic Times. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
"WhatsApp user-base crosses 200 million in India". Retrieved March 2, 2017.
Tzahi Hoffman (November 14, 2013). "92% ????? ??????????? ?????? ??????? ????????"
[92% of Israel's smartphones use WhatsApp]. Globes (in Hebrew).
Nurit Canetti (March 19, 2015). "Israel's cellphone addiction". Al-Monitor.
Corbin, David (November 5, 2014). "Surprise! Viber surpasses Line in monthly
active users".
Horwitz, Josh (October 9, 2014). "Line finally reveals it has 170 million monthly
active users".
Olanof, Drew (August 23, 2012). "WhatsApp hits new record with 10 billion total
messages in one day". The Next Web. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
Sushma, Parab (April 4, 2012). "WhatsApp founder to operators: 'We're no SMS-
killer, we get people hooked on data'". The Next Web. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
Olanoff, Drew (October 31, 2011). "WhatsApp users now send over one billion
messages a day". TheNextWeb. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
WhatsApp (2013-06-12), 27 Billion msgs handled in just 24 hours! (�blog), Tweeter,
New daily record: 10B+ msgs sent (inbound) and 17B+ msgs received (outbound) by our
users
Bradshaw, Tim (November 14, 2011). "WhatsApp users get the message". The Financial
Times. London. Retrieved January 29, 2013.