The way we couldn’t imagine our life without phone calls a decade ago is the same way we can now hardly imagine it without instant messaging. Today it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t use chat apps at all or has never heard of them. Facebook Messenger, Telegram, WeChat, Snapchat – the chat market acquired some big players that already skimmed the cream off. The question of how to create a WhatsApp clone is really urgent today. Almost all smartphones have a chat app installed, usually more than one, and each minute their users send billions of text messages, memes, and funny videos to each other.
WhatsApp is one of the most influential and popular instant messaging apps. Founded in 2009, this app has already won the attention of a lot of users, more than 80% download it to stay in touch with their loved ones.
Several factors contributed to its fame, but the most important of them are the following:
- First of all, the app’s affordability – WhatsApp is free-to-use.
- Second, accessibility – the app is platform-agnostic and requires nothing more than an active internet connection.
- Finally, worldwide usage – it allows fee-free international calls and works almost all over the world.
The pandemic that started last year actually brought some positive changes to the market. Working from home and self-isolating played a huge role in chat apps popularity skyrocketing. The success of big players like WhatsApp made a lot of entrepreneurs nurture the idea of making a chat app. So, how do you enter the market successfully and make your idea likable for potential users? We are going to help you with that.
WhatsApp statistics for you to know
If you still have some hesitations about building a chat app like WhatsApp, here are some distinctive numbers that will show you what your idea can potentially turn into, other things being equal.
- First of all, the active users.
In 2020, this metric reached an incredible 2 billion monthly active users. Taking into account the previous 1.5 billion users milestone reached in 2018 and 1 billion reached in 2016, WhatsApp acquires half a billion users each two years. It’s slowly crawling up to Facebook, the most popular social media platform, which right now has 2.80 billion monthly active users. Impressive, isn’t it?
- Second, the number of downloads.
In March 2021, the app was downloaded 12 million times and ended up in the top five most installed non-gaming apps. WhatsApp goes ahead of Zoom, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger. Also, the platform preferences changed: compared to the previous March, iOS users started paying more attention to WhatsApp than Android users.
- The third metric is availability.
We already mentioned it as one of the leading factors that contributed to WhatsApp’s popularity, and here is the proof: this chat app is available in over 180 countries and 60 different languages. Africa seems to be the most popular region for WhatsApp market presence, with 97% in Kenya and 96% in South Africa. Then there is South America, where Argentina has 93% and Colombia has 92%. Europe is the third region that makes up the top 15 countries of WhatsApp’s penetration level, with 85% in the Netherlands and around 83% in Spain and Italy.
- The next statistics concern the app’s features and addons.
In 2017, WhatsApp introduced Status, which is quite similar to Instagram and Snapchat stories. Even though its launch may have been questionable, the popularity of this feature is growing: in 2019, around 500 million people were using Status daily, and now this number may be even higher.
WhatsApp Business is a messaging app that was launched in 2018 for allowing small businesses to establish smoother and more precise communication with their customers. It has labels, chat filters, automated messages, and catalogs for helping businesses organize their customer service. Only a year after its release, it reached the 5 million users mark. Also, for medium and large enterprises there is a WhatsApp Business API that connects businesses with their clients all over the world.
- Finally, the most notable metric that reveals WhatsApp’s success is its revenue.
Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion, and right now, its revenue is estimated to be from $5 billion to $15 billion. Also, it’s worth mentioning that before being acquired by Facebook, WhatsApp got two large investments from Sequoia Capital: $8 million in 2011 and $52 million in 2013.
Read more: https://yellow.systems/blog/create-a-chat-app-like-whatsapp
