As of today, Whatsapp has 1 billion users worldwide. To bring this into perspective, about 1 in 7 people on earth are using Whatsapp. The announcement was made on the Whatsapp blog
We are proud of this milestone, and we’re humbled by the extraordinary ways all of you have used WhatsApp. Whether it’s sharing vital information during natural disasters or health emergencies, finding a date, growing a small business, buying an engagement ring, or seeking a better life – we’re honored to be a small part of what people are doing to make their lives and the lives of those around them better.
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Image: Jan Koum
Phenomenal growth
When Whatsapp was bought by Facebook in 2014, it had a little over 450M users. Since then Whatsapp has been on an upward growth trajectory adding up to a million users a day. It’s no surprise that today it has made a billions users worldwide.
Features Added
Over the years Whatsapp has added multiple features that have seen it morph into the messaging king that it is now. Whatsapp for Web, Whatsapp Voice, Whatsapp backup via Google Drive among others
Whatsapp made free
Early this year, Whatsapp was declared free forever and the $0.99 annual fee lifted (Though I know no Ugandan who ever paid for whatsapp). This seemed the logical decision because it can be safely assumed that a god majority of whatsapp users wouldn’t be able to pay for the service even if they wanted to. If payment was via VISA that would cut out a lot of users in Africa and the developing world.
