It became the world’s most popular messaging application in 2015, with 900 million users, and had more than 2 billion active users worldwide in February 2020. As of May 2025, the service had 3 billion monthly active users, making it the most used messenger app. It allows users to send text messages, voice messages, and video messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other content. According to Globes, already by 2013 the application was installed on 92% of all smartphones, with 86% of users reporting daily use. In May 2025, Meta reported WhatsApp had over 3 billion monthly active users globally.
- In October 2018, the “Swipe to Reply” option was added to the Android beta version, 16 months after it was introduced for iOS.
- WhatsApp 2.0, released for iPhone in August 2009, featured a purpose-designed messaging component; the number of active users suddenly increased to 250,000.
- The Bing search URL found at images.webSearchUrl in the official API can be found at inline_images.see_more_link in ours.
- Koum named the app WhatsApp to sound like “what’s up” and it was published on the Apple App Store and BlackBerry App World in May and June 2009 respectively.
- Researchers and journalists called on WhatsApp’s parent company, Facebook, to adopt measures similar to those adopted in India and restrict the spread of hoaxes and fake news.
Messages would still be end-to-end encrypted.WhatsApp officially rolled out the Companion mode for Android users, allowing linking up to five Android phones to a single account. In April 2023, the app rolled out a feature that would allow account access across multiple phones, in a shift that would make it more like competitors. In January 2015, WhatsApp launched a web client that allowed users to scan a QR code with their mobile app, mirroring their chats to their browser. On November 10, 2016, chicken road app WhatsApp launched a beta version of two-factor authentication for Android users, which allowed them to use their email addresses for further protection.
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The messages involved discussing how to make an explosive device and a confession to the attack. In December 2015, it was reported that terrorist organization ISIS had been using WhatsApp to plot the November 2015 Paris attacks. In 2021, an FBI document obtained through a Freedom of Information request by Property of the People, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, revealed that WhatsApp and iMessage are vulnerable to law-enforcement real-time searches. In its revelation via documents received via court, the group claimed that the lawsuit brought against the company by WhatsApp threatened to infringe on its clients’ “national security and foreign policy concerns”. In May 2019, WhatsApp was attacked by hackers who installed spyware on a number of victims’ smartphones. Higher usage was reported by frontline clinical staff to keep up with care needs, even though NHS trust policies do not permit their use.
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Another application called GB WhatsApp is considered malicious by cybersecurity firm Symantec because it usually performs some unauthorized operations on end-user devices. Rudd publicly called for police and intelligence agencies to be given access to WhatsApp and other encrypted messaging services to prevent future terror attacks. The message reportedly contained a malicious file, the receipt of which resulted in Bezos’ phone being hacked. According to WhatsApp, the exploit “targeted at least 100 human-rights defenders, journalists and other members of civil society” among a total of 1,400 users in 20 countries.
SerpApi Weekly Changelog: November 17-23, 2025
Researchers and journalists called on WhatsApp’s parent company, Facebook, to adopt measures similar to those adopted in India and restrict the spread of hoaxes and fake news. In November 2020, UPI payments via WhatsApp were initially restricted to 20 million users, and to 100 million users in April 2022, and became generally available to everyone in August 2022. The application can store encrypted copies of the chat messages onto the SD card, but chat messages are also stored unencrypted in the SQLite database file “msgstore.db”. The feature has to be turned on by the user and provides the option to encrypt the backup either with a password or a 64-digit encryption key.
- The project reportedly involved more than 50 engineers under the direction of former PayPal president David A. Marcus.
- The company also reported that Windows Phone operating systems would no longer be supported after December 31, 2019.
- The desktop version was first only available to Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone users.
- Visual effects also became available, adding visual filters to a user’s video feed.
SerpApi Weekly Changelog: November 10-16, 2025
In December 2023, WhatsApp’s “View Once” feature expanded to include voice messages. This lets users share videos of themselves more quickly, and without adding anything to their device’s gallery. By June 2016, the company’s blog reported more than 100 million voice calls per day were being placed on WhatsApp.
Jeff Bezos phone hack
The army recommended that all army personnel use Threema instead, as the service is based in Switzerland. Once again, the block was lifted following an appeal, after less than 24 hours. 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.
WhatsApp Web is accessed through web.whatsapp.com and access is granted after the user scans their personal QR code through their mobile WhatsApp client. This ability (named multi-device support) began testing in July 2021 and rolled out to all users in April 2023. In September 2024, WhatsApp expanded support for Meta AI, allowing users to send text and photos to Meta AI to ask questions, identify objects, translate text or edit pictures. In June 2023, a feature called WhatsApp Channels was launched which allows content creators, public figures and organizations to send newsletter-like broadcasts to large numbers of users. Now, the feature is also made available to iOS users, allowing them to link up to four iPhones.
However, when early versions of WhatsApp kept crashing, Koum considered giving up and looking for a new job. Koum named the app WhatsApp to sound like “what’s up” and it was published on the Apple App Store and BlackBerry App World in May and June 2009 respectively. A month earlier, after Koum purchased an iPhone, he and Acton decided to create an app for the App Store. In January 2018, WhatsApp released a standalone business app called WhatsApp Business which can communicate with the standard WhatsApp client. Privacy practices may vary based, for example, on the features you use or your age. The developer, WhatsApp Inc., indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below.
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. On November 14, 2016, WhatsApp added video calling for users using Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone devices. WhatsApp 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. The desktop version was first only available to Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone users.
Linked and multi-device support
WhatsApp has been officially supported for iPads and its iPadOS since May 27, 2025. The Windows version is based on UWP while the Mac version is a port of the iOS version using Catalyst technology. Later on, it also added support for iOS, Nokia Series 40, and Nokia S60 (Symbian). Originally it was required for the primary phone to keep an online connection to WhatsApp for linked devices to work, but now WhatsApp can run on linked devices without such requirement. Linked devices automatically log out after 14 days of inactivity on the primary phone. As of 2025, the software requires at least Android version 5.0 or iOS version 15.1 respectively.
At that point WhatsApp was adding about 25 million new users every month, or 833,000 active users per day. In September 2017, security researchers reported to The New York Times that the WhatsApp service had been completely blocked in China. In April 2017, the perpetrator of the Stockholm truck attack reportedly used WhatsApp to exchange messages with an ISIS supporter shortly before and after the incident.
In the same month, WhatsApp began testing a feature to help users find out more information and context about information they receive to help combat misinformation. WhatsApp was announced to be the 3rd most downloaded mobile phone app of the decade 2010–2019. The company also reported that Windows Phone operating systems would no longer be supported after December 31, 2019. 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 payment cards. By early January 2015, WhatsApp had 700 million monthly users and over 30 billion messages every day. These could be a social networking service like Facebook, a messaging service, maybe search and other things like weather.
It was also not available for iOS users on launch, due to limitations from Apple. The web client was not standalone, and required the user’s phone to stay on and connected to the internet. In a later update on November 30, WhatsApp added a Secret Code feature, which allows those who use locked chats to enter a unique password that hides those chats from view when unlocking the app. In October 2023 they also introduced passkey support, where a user can verify their login with on-device biometrics, rather than SMS. In July 2021, WhatsApp announced forthcoming support for end-to-end encryption for backups stored in Facebook’s cloud.
In January 2021, WhatsApp announced a controversial new privacy policy allowing WhatsApp to share data with its parent company, Facebook. In April 2018, WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum announced he would be leaving the company. WhatsApp also announced a forthcoming business platform to enable companies to provide customer service at scale, and airlines KLM and Aeroméxico announced their participation in the testing. 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. Sequoia Capital received an approximate 5,000% return on its initial investment. At the time, it was the largest acquisition of a venture-capital-backed company in history.