WhatsApp Users Make A Collective 100 Million Voice Calls Every Day
It seemed like a crazy when a little over years ago Facebook announced it was purchasing WhatsApp for $19 billion. But the reason Facebook was wiling to pony up such an obscene sum is partly because of how wildly popular WhatsApp was at the time. It's only grown since then, and according to its developers WhatsApp users make over 100 million calls per day.
"Today, more than 100 million voice calls are made every day on WhatsApp - that's over 1,100 calls a second! We're humbled that so many people have found this feature useful, and we're committed to making it even better in the months to come," WhatsApp stated in a blog post announcing the 100 million calls per day milestone.
WhatsApp is primarily known as a cross-platform messaging service, one that now offers secure communication through end-to-end encryption, a feature that was recently added to the desktop app for OS X and Windows. Prior to rolling out for desktop, WhatsApp made end-to-end encryption available on mobile for both voice and chat, much to the U.S. government's chagrin.
The messaging service also remains popular because of its price, or lack of one. Prior to January of this year, WhatsApp was free to try for a full year, then ran just $1 for an annual subscription. Facaebook did away with the subscription fee altogether, and for the time being it also remains free of advertisements.
"Naturally, people might wonder how we plan to keep WhatsApp running without subscription fees and if today's announcement means we're introducing third-party ads. The answer is no. Starting this year, we will test tools that allow you to use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses and organizations that you want to hear from," WhatsApp explained in a blog post at the time. "That could mean communicating with your bank about whether a recent transaction was fraudulent, or with an airline about a delayed flight."
Where WhatsApp goes from here is anyone's guess. However one thing that's certain is that Facebook's large sum for the service no longer seems like such a crazy move.
"Today, more than 100 million voice calls are made every day on WhatsApp - that's over 1,100 calls a second! We're humbled that so many people have found this feature useful, and we're committed to making it even better in the months to come," WhatsApp stated in a blog post announcing the 100 million calls per day milestone.
WhatsApp is primarily known as a cross-platform messaging service, one that now offers secure communication through end-to-end encryption, a feature that was recently added to the desktop app for OS X and Windows. Prior to rolling out for desktop, WhatsApp made end-to-end encryption available on mobile for both voice and chat, much to the U.S. government's chagrin.
The messaging service also remains popular because of its price, or lack of one. Prior to January of this year, WhatsApp was free to try for a full year, then ran just $1 for an annual subscription. Facaebook did away with the subscription fee altogether, and for the time being it also remains free of advertisements.
"Naturally, people might wonder how we plan to keep WhatsApp running without subscription fees and if today's announcement means we're introducing third-party ads. The answer is no. Starting this year, we will test tools that allow you to use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses and organizations that you want to hear from," WhatsApp explained in a blog post at the time. "That could mean communicating with your bank about whether a recent transaction was fraudulent, or with an airline about a delayed flight."
Where WhatsApp goes from here is anyone's guess. However one thing that's certain is that Facebook's large sum for the service no longer seems like such a crazy move.
