WhatsApp Now Has 1 Billion Monthly Active Users

WhatsApp said it will start testing tools to allow users to communicate with “businesses and organizations” and has hinted that one could see messages and alerts that we normally get on our phones appear on the messaging app itself.

Zuckerberg, in a post on Facebook, reiterated WhatsApp’s new focus on making money through business partnerships.

WhatsApp, which was acquired by Facebook for $19bn (£11.4bn) in 2014, is the most successful messaging app worldwide. “There are only a few services that connect more than a billion people”.

There are now over one billion active WhatsApp users, according to Facebook.

The company still is experimenting with how to make money from the app, Facebook Chief Financial Officer David Wehner said last week.

Prior to WhatsApp hitting the one billion mark messaging app statistics were released in January this year, showing WhatsApp out in front with 900 million. But WhatsApp is certainly the most internationally successful. “As one of WhatsApp’s largest countries, it’s not surprising that the second highest number of groups are here”, the company said. We’ve dropped the subscription fee and made WhatsApp completely free.

In contrast, Facebook has just one – its core Facebook app. Messenger has 800 million users, while Instagram has more than 400 million.

WhatsApp waived its annual subscription fee because it has not worked well. “This milestone is an important step towards connecting the entire world”, he posted on Facebook.

Also, it will not introduce any third-party ads for monetisation and is going to experiment with new models to stay ad-free, it had added.