WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app with over 3 billion monthly active users worldwide and a revenue estimated to hit $3 billion in 2026.
The app's popularity has grown significantly in recent years, and it shows no sign of slowing down. As well as being the largest app, it is still the most-downloaded.
Read on for the latest data on instant messaging services, including specific stats related to the most popular apps.
Top Messaging App Statistics 2026 (Editor’s Picks)
- WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app with 3 billion monthly users
- In December 2025, whatsapp.com was visited 2.56 billion times
- WhatsApp is estimated to generate $3 billion in revenue in 2026.
- Snapchat generates more than double the next-biggest app when it comes to in-app purchases, bringing in $50.83 million per month
- Telegram has 1 billion users, including 81.7% of Russia's online population aged 16+
- WhatsApp is the leading messaging app in 70% of countries
Most Popular Messaging Apps
WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app, boasting approximately 3 billion monthly users. That’s over 1.5 billion more than the second most popular messenger app, WeChat (1.41 billion).
Here’s a breakdown of the most popular messaging services by active monthly users:
| Rank | Messaging Service | Number of Active Monthly Users |
| 1 | 3 billion | |
| 2 | 1.41 billion | |
| 3 | Facebook Messenger | 1.01 billion |
| 4 | Telegram | 1 billion |
| 5 | Snapchat | 932 million |
| 6 | 532 million | |
| 7 | Discord | 200 million+ |
In terms of monthly downloads, WhatsApp Messenger led the way again with 35.14 million (as of December 2025).
Telegram is a close second with over 28 million downloads per month.
Snapchat (26.92 million), Facebook Messenger (17.77 million) and Discord (11.37 million) round out the top 5.
Here’s a breakdown of monthly downloads for messaging apps:
|
Rank |
Messaging Service |
Monthly Downloads |
|
1 |
WhatsApp Messenger |
35.14 million |
|
2 |
Telegram |
28.14 million |
|
3 |
Snapchat |
26.92 million |
|
4 |
Facebook Messenger |
17.77 million |
|
5 |
Discord |
11.37 million |
|
6 |
|
5.54 million |
|
7 |
MAX |
4.79 million |
|
8 |
Signal Private Messenger |
4.03 million |
|
9 |
Zangi Private Messenger |
3.5 million |
|
10 |
Rakuten Viber Messenger |
3.48 million |
No messaging service generates more revenue per month in in-app purchases than Snapchat ($50.83 million).
In fact, Snapchat earns more than double its nearest competitor (Telegram) via in-app spending.
Here’s a closer look at the top messaging services for in-app purchase revenue:
|
Rank |
Messaging Service |
Monthly In-App Purchase Revenue |
|
1 |
Snapchat |
$50.83 million |
|
2 |
Telegram |
$19.91 million |
|
3 |
LINE |
$18 million |
|
4 |
Discord |
$14.69 million |
|
5 |
|
$13.23 million |
|
6 |
KakaoTalk |
$5.82 million |
|
7 |
TextNow |
$3.6 million |
|
8 |
|
$3.46 million |
|
9 |
Text Me |
$2.63 million |
|
10 |
Rakuten Viber Messenger |
$1.73 million |
Source: Data Reportal, Statista, Statista (2), Statista (3), Snap Inc, Discord, AppMagic, AppMagic (2)
With around 3 billion unique mobile users, WhatsApp is unrivaled as the top messaging service.
In 2025, the estimated revenue of WhatsApp reached $2.44 billion, representing an increase of 36.70% year-on-year.
The app delivers approximately 150 billion messages daily.
The WhatsApp website is one of the world's most popular sites, ranking #11 in December 2025.
According to DataReportal, 54% of internet users aged 16 or older have used WhatsApp at least once within the last month, as of Q1 2025. That's up from 51.4% in Q1 2023.
And that figure stands above 90% in 14 different countries, including Morocco, Brazil, Mexico, and Spain.
In the US, 30.1% of over-16s are monthly WhatsApp users.
Here's WhatsApp penetration among over-16s by country. We've shown all 14 countries above 90%, plus selected other major nations and the global average:
|
Country |
WhatsApp MAUs as % of all 16+ population |
|
Morocco |
98.3% |
|
Nigeria |
98.3% |
|
Ghana |
97.3% |
|
South Africa |
94.5% |
|
Brazil |
93.3% |
|
Argentina |
92.6% |
|
Mexico |
92.6% |
|
Chile |
92.4% |
|
Portugal |
92.3% |
|
Malaysia |
92% |
|
Colombia |
91.7% |
|
Indonesia |
91.3% |
|
Spain |
90.4% |
|
Turkey |
90.4% |
|
India |
82.9% |
|
UK |
81% |
|
Russia |
73.8% |
|
Worldwide |
54% |
|
Australia |
49.1% |
|
Canada |
45.3% |
|
USA |
30.1% |
|
China |
6.9% |
|
Japan |
1.6% |
Male users make up 51.3% of all global WhatsApp users, while female users account for 48.6%.
The US is the leading country in terms of WhatsApp iOS downloads (6.99 million) with over 6x more downloads than any other nation in Q3 2025.
Here are the top 10 nations for WhatsApp iOS downloads:
|
Rank |
Country |
WhatsApp iOS Downloads (Q3 2025) |
WhatsApp iOS Downloads (Q4 2024) |
WhatsApp iOS Downloads (Q2 2024) |
WhatsApp iOS Downloads (Q1 2024) |
WhatsApp iOS Downloads (Q2 2022) |
|
1 |
US |
6.99 million |
4.37 million |
5.18 million |
4.88 million |
6.6 million |
|
2 |
Vietnam |
1.03 million |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
3 |
Philippines |
0.95 million |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
4 |
India |
0.9 million |
2.02 million |
1.41 million |
2.05 million |
1.26 million |
|
5= |
Canada |
0.57 million |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
5= |
Brazil |
0.57 million |
1.52 million |
2.03 million |
2.14 million |
0.93 million |
|
7 |
UK |
0.56 million |
0.62 million |
0.69 million |
0.75 million |
1.21 million |
|
8 |
Mexico |
0.54 million |
1.80 million |
2.11 million |
2.51 million |
1.46 million |
|
9 |
Russia |
0.52 million |
0.81 million |
1.07 million |
1.24 million |
- |
|
10 |
France |
0.44 million |
0.71 million |
0.62 million |
0.75 million |
0.93 million |
And here’s a breakdown of WhatsApp downloads via the Google Play Store in the Q3 2025:
|
Rank |
Country |
WhatsApp Google Play Store Downloads (Q3 2025) |
WhatsApp Google Play Store Downloads (Q4 2024) |
WhatsApp Google Play Store Downloads (Q2 2024) |
WhatsApp Google Play Store Downloads (Q1 2024) |
WhatsApp Google Play Store Downloads (Q2 2022) |
|
1 |
India |
20.72 million |
46.69 million |
34.03 million |
35.17 million |
5.81 million |
|
2 |
Nigeria |
6.95 million |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
3 |
Pakistan |
6.73 million |
10.91 million |
11.27 million |
7.99 million |
1.95 million |
|
4 |
Indonesia |
6.36 million |
19.30 million |
11.28 million |
8.51 million |
4.49 million |
|
5 |
Brazil |
5.37 million |
8.20 million |
7.38 million |
7.58 million |
4.53 million |
|
6 |
Egypt |
3.92 million |
4.20 million |
4.51 million |
4 million |
- |
|
7 |
Mexico |
2.41 million |
4.63 million |
5.05 million |
6.18 million |
4.99 million |
|
8 |
Philippines |
2.07 million |
3.39 million |
4.3 million |
5.26 million |
3.72 million |
|
9 |
Algeria |
1.78 million |
- |
2.85 million |
3.69 million |
- |
|
10 |
Russia |
1.76 million |
3.2 million |
3.32 million |
2.97 million |
2.1 million |
WhatsApp Business has seen significant growth over the past few years.
In 2018, 37.87 million people downloaded WhatsApp Business.
As of 2024, that figure had increased over 8x, reaching 311.2 million downloads.
Below is the number of WhatsApp Business downloads by year:
| Year | Number of WhatsApp Business Downloads |
| 2018 | 37.87 million |
| 2019 | 98.85 million |
| 2020 | 170.46 million |
| 2021 | 195.58 million |
| 2022 | 269.92 million |
| 2023 | 301.38 million |
| 2024 | 311.20 million |
Sources: Mobilesquared, SQ Magazine, DataReportal, AppMagic, AppMagic (2), AppMagic (3), Semrush, Statista
Facebook Messenger
Despite commanding a significant proportion of the global messaging app market, Facebook Messenger saw downloads drop from 794.61 million in 2015 to 262.53 million in 2023 – a fall of more than 66%.
However, downloads did rally in 2024, rising by nearly 40 million.
These are the figures for Facebook Messenger downloads since 2015:
| Year | Facebook Messenger Downloads | Change Over Previous Year |
| 2015 | 794.61 million | - |
| 2016 | 743.03 million | ↓ 51.58 million |
| 2017 | 768.37 million | ↑ 25.34 million |
| 2018 | 782.31 million | ↑ 13.94 million |
| 2019 | 702.09 million | ↓ 80.22 million |
| 2020 | 485.63 million | ↓ 216.46 million |
| 2021 | 336.57 million | ↓ 149.06 million |
| 2022 | 329.28 million | ↓ 7.29 million |
| 2023 | 262.53 million | ↓ 66.75 million |
| 2024 | 302.09 million | ↑ 39.56 million |
Semrush reports that messenger.com was visited 211 million times in September 2025.
In terms of nations, India has the largest total Messenger ad reach, with 111.85 million people.
The Philippines is in second place with 64.1 million, making up around 82% of its adult population.
Here are the top countries by Facebook Messenger ad reach:
|
Country |
Facebook Messenger Users* |
Proportion of Adult Population |
|
India |
111.85 million |
10.8% |
|
Philippines |
64.1 million |
82% |
|
Mexico |
57.45 million |
61.5% |
|
Vietnam |
57.2 million |
77.5% |
|
Brazil |
49.2 million |
30.2% |
|
Thailand |
37.1 million |
63.1% |
|
Egypt |
36.8 million |
49.6% |
|
Bangladesh |
34.15 million |
29.2% |
|
UK |
26.3 million |
47.6% |
|
Indonesia |
24.95 million |
12.3% |
*based on ad reach
Sources: AppMagic, Data Reportal, Semrush
Snapchat
The number of daily active users on Snapchat has steadily grown over the last decade.
In fact, since Q1 2014 (46 million) the number of Snapchat users has increased 10x (469 million in Q2 2025).
Here’s a breakdown of active Snapchat users over time:
|
Quarter, Year |
Number of Daily Active Snapchat Users |
North America |
Europe |
Rest of World |
|
Q1 2014 |
46 million |
26 million |
14 million |
6 million |
|
Q2 2014 |
57 million |
30 million |
18 million |
9 million |
|
Q3 2014 |
62 million |
32 million |
20 million |
11 million |
|
Q4 2014 |
71 million |
35 million |
23 million |
13 million |
|
Q1 2015 |
80 million |
38 million |
27 million |
16 million |
|
Q2 2015 |
86 million |
40 million |
29 million |
18 million |
|
Q3 2015 |
94 million |
44 million |
30 million |
20 million |
|
Q4 2015 |
107 million |
48 million |
34 million |
24 million |
|
Q1 2016 |
122 million |
54 million |
39 million |
29 million |
|
Q2 2016 |
143 million |
61 million |
46 million |
36 million |
|
Q3 2016 |
153 million |
65 million |
49 million |
39 million |
|
Q4 2016 |
158 million |
68 million |
52 million |
39 million |
|
Q1 2017 |
166 million |
71 million |
55 million |
40 million |
|
Q2 2017 |
173 million |
75 million |
57 million |
42 million |
|
Q3 2017 |
178 million |
77 million |
57 million |
44 million |
|
Q4 2017 |
187 million |
80 million |
60 million |
47 million |
|
Q1 2018 |
191 million |
81 million |
62 million |
48 million |
|
Q2 2018 |
188 million |
80 million |
61 million |
47 million |
|
Q3 2018 |
186 million |
79 million |
59 million |
47 million |
|
Q4 2018 |
186 million |
79 million |
60 million |
47 million |
|
Q1 2019 |
190 million |
80 million |
61 million |
49 million |
|
Q2 2019 |
203 million |
83 million |
64 million |
56 million |
|
Q3 2019 |
210 million |
84 million |
65 million |
61 million |
|
Q4 2019 |
218 million |
86 million |
67 million |
64 million |
|
Q1 2020 |
229 million |
88 million |
70 million |
71 million |
|
Q2 2020 |
238 million |
90 million |
71 million |
77 million |
|
Q3 2020 |
249 million |
90 million |
72 million |
87 million |
|
Q4 2020 |
265 million |
92 million |
74 million |
99 million |
|
Q1 2021 |
280 million |
93 million |
77 million |
111 million |
|
Q2 2021 |
293 million |
95 million |
78 million |
120 million |
|
Q3 2021 |
306 million |
96 million |
80 million |
130 million |
|
Q4 2021 |
319 million |
97 million |
82 million |
140 million |
|
Q1 2022 |
332 million |
98 million |
84 million |
150 million |
|
Q2 2022 |
347 million |
99 million |
86 million |
162 million |
|
Q3 2022 |
363 million |
100 million |
88 million |
175 million |
|
Q4 2022 |
375 million |
100 million |
92 million |
183 million |
|
Q1 2023 |
383 million |
100 million |
93 million |
190 million |
|
Q2 2023 |
397 million |
101 million |
94 million |
202 million |
|
Q3 2023 |
406 million |
101 million |
95 million |
211 million |
|
Q4 2023 |
414 million |
100 million |
96 million |
218 million |
|
Q1 2024 |
422 million |
100 million |
96 million |
226 million |
|
Q2 2024 |
432 million |
100 million |
97 million |
235 million |
|
Q1 2025 |
460 million |
105 million |
99 million |
256 million |
|
Q2 2025 |
469 million |
98 million |
100 million |
271 million |
|
Q3 2025 |
477 million |
98 million |
100 million |
280 million |
India has the most total Snapchat users with 213.94 million.
Combined, India (213.94 million) and the US (104.52 million) have more Snapchat users (318.46 million) than the rest of the top 20 countries put together:
|
Rank |
Country |
Snapchat Audience |
|
1 |
India |
213.94 million |
|
2 |
US |
104.52 million |
|
3 |
Pakistan |
41.855 million |
|
4 |
France |
28.77 million |
|
5 |
Saudi Arabia |
25.315 million |
|
6 |
UK |
23.865 million |
|
7 |
Nigeria |
22.03 million |
|
8 |
Germany |
21.615 million |
|
9 |
Egypt |
20.825 million |
|
10 |
Iraq |
19.375 million |
|
11 |
Turkey |
16.515 million |
|
12 |
Mexico |
15.325 million |
|
13 |
Canada |
13.145 million |
|
14 |
Algeria |
9.885 million |
|
15 |
Australia |
7.97 million |
|
16 |
Netherlands |
7.96 million |
|
17 |
Russia |
7.335 million |
|
18 |
Morocco |
7.12 million |
|
19 |
Brazil |
6.01 million |
|
20 |
Spain |
5.995 million |
Sources: Snap Inc, Data Reportal
Telegram
There are 1 billion Telegram users. That figure accounts for around 12.1% of the world’s population.
Its website, telegram.org, got 474.6 million visitors in December 2025.
Males make up 56.6% of all Telegram users.
Instant messaging app Telegram has seen a steady increase in quarterly downloads over time.
In Q3 2024, Telegram reached a peak of 134.48 million downloads – more than double Q1 2020’s 55.81 million.
Regionally, Asia-Pacific leads the way in Q3 2025, with 30.4 million combined downloads.
Here’s a look at Telegram’s download figures over time:
|
Quarter, Year |
Telegram Downloads |
Asia-Pacific |
Europe, the Middle East, and Africa |
North America and Latin America |
|
Q1 2020 |
55.81 million |
21.99 million |
24.5 million |
9.32 million |
|
Q2 2020 |
82.77 million |
37.55 million |
29.03 million |
16.19 million |
|
Q3 2020 |
88.09 million |
42.38 million |
26.8 million |
18.91 million |
|
Q4 2020 |
97.83 million |
53.82 million |
29.92 million |
14.09 million |
|
Q1 2021 |
166.83 million |
61.77 million |
51.25 million |
53.81 million |
|
Q2 2021 |
79.56 million |
35.61 million |
26.34 million |
17.61 million |
|
Q3 2021 |
84.77 million |
40.16 million |
26.7 million |
17.91 million |
|
Q4 2021 |
98.59 million |
46.94 million |
32.48 million |
19.17 million |
|
Q1 2022 |
98.39 million |
42.92 million |
35.05 million |
20.42 million |
|
Q2 2022 |
96.82 million |
41.45 million |
34.79 million |
20.58 million |
|
Q3 2022 |
91.51 million |
38.73 million |
32.15 million |
20.63 million |
|
Q4 2022 |
94.69 million |
40.18 million |
34.56 million |
19.95 million |
|
Q1 2023 |
96.88 million |
39.39 million |
35.25 million |
22.24 million |
|
Q2 2023 |
100.54 million |
40.81 million |
36.42 million |
23.31 million |
|
Q3 2023 |
113.52 million |
46.73 million |
42.41 million |
24.38 million |
|
Q4 2023 |
114.55 million |
44.45 million |
46.17 million |
23.93 million |
|
Q1 2024 |
104.02 million |
37.34 million |
44.02 million |
22.66 million |
|
Q2 2024 |
131.66 million |
48.39 million |
54.36 million |
28.91 million |
|
Q3 2024 |
134.48 million |
59.8 million |
52.63 million |
22.05 million |
|
Q4 2024 |
85.19 million |
35.17 million |
33.01 million |
17.01 million |
|
Q1 2025 |
73.17 million |
29.55 million |
26.51 million |
17.11 million |
|
Q2 2025 |
72.94 million |
31.88 million |
23.79 million |
17.27 million |
|
Q3 2025 |
72.43 million |
30.4 million |
23.88 million |
18.15 million |
Telegram has the highest penetration in Russia, where 81.7% of internet users aged 16+ say they have used Telegram within the past month.
Here’s a closer look at Telegram penetration by country among those aged 16+:
| Rank | Country | Penetration (internet users aged 16+) |
| 1 | Russia | 81.7% |
| 2 | Nigeria | 71.4% |
| 3 | Malaysia | 64.5% |
| 4 | Saudi Arabia | 61.9% |
| 5 | Indonesia | 60.6% |
| 6 | Egypt | 58.3% |
| 7 | India | 56.4% |
| 8 | Philippines | 56.3% |
| 9 | Turkey | 55.3% |
| 10 | Brazil | 55.1% |
| - | Worldwide | 33.3% |
| - | UK | 16.3% |
| - | US | 12.9% |
Sources: Data Reportal, AppMagic, Semrush
As of October 2025, WeChat has 1.41 billion monthly users.
That figure makes up 17% of the global population, rising to 21.6% of the 13+ population.
There are slightly more males (52%) than females (48%) using WeChat.
WeChat added 43 million users in the last year.
Source: Data Reportal
Tencent QQ
The latest data shows that there are approximately 534 million monthly active QQ users in July 2025. That's a year-on-year drop of 19 million users.
That’s 6.5% of the global population or 8.2% if discounting under 13s.
Just under half (47.9%) of QQ users are female.
Source: Data Reportal
Discord
There are around 200 million monthly active users on Discord. In September 2025, its website was visited more than 715 million times.
Discord users make up 2.4% of the world’s population. If only counting those aged 13+, that figure grows to 3.1%.
Males outnumber females by over 2:1 on Discord (66.6% vs 32.8%).
Source: Data Reportal
How Many People Use Messaging Apps?
More than 3 billion people actively use messaging apps. A previous estimate has predicted that the figure could rise to over 3.5 billion in 2025.
Current data is lacking. But with WhatsApp attracting 3 billion users on its own, a figure of 3.5 billion looks conservative.
Here’s a breakdown of how the number of messaging app users has changed over time:
| Year | Messaging App Users | Change Over Previous Year |
| 2016 | 2.11 billion | - |
| 2017 | 2.38 billion | +270 million |
| 2018 | 2.52 billion | +140 million |
| 2019 | 2.81 billion | +290 million |
| 2020 | 3.19 billion | +380 million |
| 2021 | 3.32 billion | +130 million |
Sources: Business of Apps, eMarketer
Regional Messaging App Stats
WhatsApp is the leading messaging app in 70 countries out of the 100 examined by SimilarWeb, including:
- Argentina
- Brazil
- Canada
- Germany
- India
- Mexico
- United States
- United Kingdom
Telegram is the most popular messaging app in a handful of nations, including:
- China
- Russia
- Belarus
- Kazakhstan
- Moldova
- Uzbekistan
- Cambodia
Snapchat is the top messaging app in 5 countries.
Line is top in 3 countries.
Signal is the most popular messaging app in the Netherlands and Sweden.
Source: SimilarWeb
Key Takeaways
Messaging apps continue to go from strength to strength with WhatsApp firmly leading the way.
For more related content, take a look at our other blog posts:
- Top Social Media Platforms
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