The social giant Facebook is no doubt the most popular app in a lot of major markets around the globe. However, WhatsApp has surpassed it in terms on monthly active users.
WhatsApp that Facebook has acquired, according to analytics firm App Annie, overtook Facebook in September 2018, with a recorded growth of 30 percent in the past 24 months.
The majority of its users come from India, followed by Brazil, Mexico, Turkey and Russia. This was measured by average monthly sessions per user.
WhatsApp’s growth is not just in developing countries, as its end-to-end encrypted and the service benefits from "a simple users interface, ease of use to add contacts and interest in encrypted messaging," the report notes. Then there is free calls and messages that has helped WhatsApp grow immensely in both U.S. and Canada.
In January 2018, Facebook‘s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said WhatsApp has nearly 1.5 billion monthly active users at that time.
According to App Annie's The State of Mobile in 2019 report:
WhatsApp in surpassing Facebook's monthly active users isn't without some challenges.
Previously, the chat app faced backlash in India, and both of its founders have left Facebook due to conflict with Zuckerberg's vision. But still, the app's popularity continues to rise rapidly.
WhatsApp has also managed to take some corrective steps in some countries, like limiting the number of messages users can forward, in order to fight fake news and misinformation problems that damaged its reputation.
While WhatsApp dominated the markets in Brazil, Canada, Germany, India and UK, Snapchat ruled in the U.S. and France. WeChat, Line, and KakaoTalk topped the chart in China, Japan, and South Korea, respectively.
Instagram, which is also owned by Facebook, also recorded a strong 35 percent growth globally from January 2017 to December 2018. Facebook and Facebook Messenger grew 20 percent in and 15 percent in the last 24 months, respectively.
The report by App Annie also notes that the total time spent on 'Social and Communication' category apps in 2018 increased 35 percent from 2016.
This suggests an increase in the importance of mobile devices, with major players like Instagram, Snapchat and Tik Tok.
The decline in Facebook's worldwide popularity can be attributed to a series of privacy issues concerning data of users on the platform. The social media giant is also under scrutiny in many countries for issues like how it manages the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
