In this article we are going to list the 5 most popular instant messaging apps. For a detailed coverage of this topic and a more comprehensive look, please take a look at the 15 most popular instant messaging apps.
5. Snapchat (NYSE:SNAP)
Total number of active monthly users in 2020 (in millions of people): 433
Snapchat was an overnight hit and has been one of the most popular apps over the past decade, especially for teenagers. The innovation of the app was the 24 hour snap option, where a picture uploaded would only be available for 24 hours and you couldn’t screenshot it without a notification being sent. The app’s popularity slowed down a bit once Facebook and more importantly, Instagram adopted the same idea.
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4. QQ
Total number of active monthly users in 2020 (in millions of people): 648
QQ is an instant messaging app developed by Tencent, which has another entry in this list too. The initial release of the app took place in 1999 though it has mainly increased users in the past decade or so, though it has been cited for security concerns are chats are not end to end encrypted.
3. WeChat
Total number of active monthly users in 2020 (in millions of people): 1,206
Living in China’s censorship is not easy. Most of the popular applications and websites in the world including Facebook and Whatsapp, are banned in China. To ensure that people still have a way to communicate in the country of over 1.4 billion and came up with WeChat, which was developed by Tencent, one of the biggest companies in China. The downside is that the app provides the information it tracks on users to Chinese authorities on request as part of their mass surveillance network. The app is also used in many countries across the world.
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2. Facebook Messenger (NASDAQ:FB)
Total number of active monthly users in 2020 (in millions of people): 1,300
Facebook’s instant messaging app is only one of two instant messaging apps in the world to have more than a billion users and I’m sure you’ll all know which apps is taking the first spot. It was initially developed as Facebook Chat in 2008 and was only available on the desktop version at the time, since as I mentioned before, smartphones weren’t really a thing back then. However, the most popular website in the world then developed the app and the rest of course, is history.
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1. Whatsapp
Total number of active monthly users in 2020 (in millions of people): 2,000
Easily topping the list of the 5 most popular instant messaging apps is WhatsApp, with a whopping 2 billion users. Despite the recent controversy and the many more which have engulfed the messaging app, it seems like there is no one even close to dethroning it from the top. While many thought Facebook was overpaying when it purchased WhatsApp in 2014 for $19.3, it now actually seems like a shrewd purchase.
Among the many controversies that WhatsApp has been engaged in was mob violence in India. There are no checks on WhatsApp for what’s real and what’s not. And so, people make big groups and one person can easily spread fake news with no checks and balances and no repercussions. This is what happened in 2018 in India where lynch mobs killed innocent people due to fake messages accusing the people of trying to abduct children. However, I do think that the responsibility is less on WhatsApp and more on the Indians and the lynch mob, who were ready to take lives without even verifying facts.
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