Some time in 2013 WhatsApp acquired Santa Clara–based startup SkyMobius, the developers of Vtok, a video and voice calling app. By February 2013, WhatsApp had about 200 million active users and 50 staff members. To cover the cost of sending verification texts to users, WhatsApp was changed from a free service to a paid one. This new facility, to Koum’s surprise, was used by users to ping “each other with jokey custom statuses like, ‘I woke up late’ or ‘I’m on my way.'” Fishman said, “At some point it sort of became instant messaging”.
On November 10, 2016, WhatsApp launched a beta version of two-factor authentication for Android users, which allowed them to use their email addresses for further protection. In June 2024, improvements were made to voice and video calls, allowing up to 32 participants in video calls, adding audio to screen sharing, and introducing a new codec to increase call reliability. 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.
Local users can text special numbers in the app to launch an in-app shopping process, where they can order groceries. Facing criticism, WhatsApp postponed the update to May 15, 2021, and had no plans to limit functionality of users, nor nag users who did not approve the new terms. This led many users to delete WhatsApp and instead use services such as Signal and Telegram. 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.
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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. Further, the Cabinet Office had claimed that since many messages were not relevant to the inquiry, it only needed to hand over material it had selected as being relevant. A personal device of the former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, had been compromised by a security breach, and it was claimed that it could not be switched on to recover messages. The researchers notified, Meta (who updated the enumeration problem in October), and deleted their copy of the phone numbers.
- This ability (named multi-device support) began testing in July 2021 and rolled out to all users in April 2023.
- WhatsApp was initially criticized for its lack of encryption, sending information as plaintext.
- In December 2024, WhatsApp introduced a reverse image search feature, allowing users to verify image authenticity directly within the app using Google Search.
WhatsApp calls are encrypted with SRTP, and all client-server communications are “layered within a separate encrypted channel”. According to a white paper that was released along with the announcement, WhatsApp messages are encrypted with the Signal Protocol. When a user sends a message, it is stored on a WhatsApp server, which tries to forward it to the addressee, and repeatedly requests acknowledgement of receipt.
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.
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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. Days after the announcement, WhatsApp users experienced a loss of service, leading to anger across social media.
User statistics
WhatsApp uses a “store and forward” mechanism for exchanging messages between two users. 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.
By default, it is set to disappear in 24 hours, but it can be set for a longer amount of time and can be restricted for viewing by other contacts in the Settings menu. Unlike messages in groups or private chats, channels are not end-to-end encrypted. Users are able to use an avatar as their profile picture or use it for stickers during instant messaging, similar to those offered by Bitmoji or Memoji.
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In November 2023, WhatsApp also began rolling out support for sending login codes to a linked email address, rather than via SMS. This was implemented only on Samsung phones, with plans to expand to Android and iOS “soon”. In August 2021, WhatsApp launched a feature that allows chat history to be transferred between mobile operating systems.
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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. In July 2021, WhatsApp announced forthcoming support for end-to-end encryption for backups stored in Facebook’s cloud.
Features
WhatsApp’s voice codec is Opus, which uses the modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) and linear predictive coding (LPC) audio compression algorithms. Some devices using dual SIMs may not be compatible with WhatsApp, though there are unofficial workarounds to install the app. Similarly to WhatsApp for web, Windows, Mac, and smartwatches, the iPad is a type of linked device that connects and syncs to WhatsApp running on a smartphone. WhatsApp has been officially supported for iPads and its iPadOS since May 27, 2025.
The desktop version was first only available to Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone users. 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.
This allows users to send messages between other messaging apps and WhatsApp while maintaining end-to-end encryption. 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. Since the complete roll out of this feature, users cannot check old messages before this period on the Web version anymore. The company also announced plans to implement reactions, the ability for administrators to delete messages in groups and voice calls up to 32 participants. In July 2021 the company was also testing multi-device support, allowing computer users to run WhatsApp without an active phone session.
Edited messages were tagged as “edited” to inform recipients that the content had been modified. In October 2018, the “Swipe to Reply” option was added to the Android beta version, 16 months after it was introduced for iOS. In December 2021, WhatsApp changed the default setting from “everyone” to only people in the user’s contacts or who have been conversed with (“nobody” is also an option). On February 24, 2017, WhatsApp launched a new Status feature similar to Snapchat and Facebook stories. However, the WhatsApp privacy policy does not apply in the EU, since it violates the principles of GDPR. In March 2020, WhatsApp partnered with the World Health Organization and UNICEF to provide messaging hotlines for people to get information on the COVID-19 pandemic.
In March 2021, WhatsApp started rolling out support for third-party animated stickers, initially in Iran, Brazil and Indonesia, then worldwide. Unlike other platforms, WhatsApp requires third-party apps to add Stickers to WhatsApp. Since then, linked devices support has expanded and more information is written in the Platform Support part of this article.
- Koum updated WhatsApp so that everyone in the user’s network would be notified when a user’s status changed.
- WhatsApp is owned by Meta, whose main social media service Facebook has been blocked in China since 2009.
- Rudd publicly called for police and intelligence agencies to be given access to WhatsApp and other encrypted messaging services to prevent future terror attacks.
- In October 2020, Facebook announced the introduction of pricing tiers for services offered via the WhatsApp Business API, charged on a per-conversation basis.
- Sequoia Capital received an approximate 5,000% return on its initial investment.
The bug was discovered by Check Point in August 2019 and reported to WhatsApp. WhatsApp released a statement saying that “the feature is working properly”, and that images stored in the camera roll cannot be deleted due to Apple’s security layers. In September 2019, WhatsApp was criticized for its implementation of a ‘delete for everyone’ feature. In 2016, WhatsApp was widely praised for the addition of end-to-end encryption and earned chicken road download a 6 out of 7 points on the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s “Secure Messaging Scorecard”. End-to-end encryption was only fully implemented in April 2016 after a two-year process. WhatsApp was initially criticized for its lack of encryption, sending information as plaintext.
On May 18, 2017, the European Commission announced that it was fining Facebook €110 million for “providing misleading information about WhatsApp takeover” in 2014. (The word “telegram” appeared in WhatsApp’s code.) Some considered it an anti-competitive measure; WhatsApp offered no explanation. In April 2015, Forbes predicted that between 2012 and 2018, the telecommunications industry would lose $386 billion because of “over-the-top” services like WhatsApp and Skype. 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. This would give them some context for why they are important, and that will lead them to pay for more services like this – or so the hope goes. 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”.
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And what’s more, you can easily link your other devices, including iPads, for seamless connectivity.High quality voice and video callsEnjoy free, secure video and voice calls with up to 32 people for free. With end-to-end encryption, you can be sure that your personal messages and calls stay between you and who you send them to. In 2016, WhatsApp was accused of copying features from a then-unreleased version of iMessage. On June 13, 2013, WhatsApp announced that they had reached their new daily record by processing 27 billion messages. In October 2020, Facebook announced the introduction of pricing tiers for services offered via the WhatsApp Business API, charged on a per-conversation basis.
Owned by Meta Platforms, the service 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. In May 2017, it was reported that WhatsApp users spend over 340 million minutes on video calls each day on the app. By 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. When this multi-device feature was first introduced to Android and iOS users, it could only show messages for the last three months on the Web version, because the Web version was syncing with the phone. Similar to voice messages, this feature allows users to record and send short videos directly in a chat.