WhatsApp delivering close to 100 billion messages a day

The popular instant messaging app, WhatsApp is now delivering around 100 billion messages a day. This was revealed by the chief executive of the company Mark Zuckerberg.

According to the report, for some perspective, users exchanged 100 billion messages on WhatsApp last New Year’s Eve. That is the day when WhatsApp tops its engagement figures, and as many of you may remember, also the time when the service customarily suffered glitches in the past years.

Currently, WhatsApp is just competing with itself. Facebook Messenger  and WhatsApp together were used to exchange 60 billion messages a day as of early 2016. Apple chief executive Tim Cook said in May that iMessage and FaceTime were seeing record usage, but did not share specific figures. The last time Apple did share the figure, it was far behind WhatsApp’s then usage (podcast). WeChat, which has also amassed over 1 billion users, is behind in daily volume of messages, too.

In early 2014, WhatsApp was being used to exchange about 50 billion texts a day, its then chief executive Jan Koum revealed at an event.

Also read: WhatsApp to soon permit use from ‘linked devices’

At the time, WhatsApp had fewer than 500 million users. WhatsApp now has more than 2 billion users and at least in India, its largest market by users, its popularity surpasses those of every other smartphone app including the big blue app.

The head of WhatsApp Will Cathcart said, “This year we’ve all relied on messaging more than ever to keep up with our loved ones and get business done.”

Adding, “We are proud that WhatsApp is able to deliver roughly 100B messages every day and we’re excited about the road ahead.”