Messaging app WhatsApp said on Wednesday it now has over 2 billion users worldwide, making it the largest social media platform after Facebook, its parent company.
Facebook had about 2.50 billion monthly active users as of Dec. 31, the company said.
“WhatsApp started with the goal of creating a service that is simple, reliable, and private for people to use. Today we remain as committed as when we started, to help connect the world privately and to protect the personal communication of two billion users all over the world,” a blog posted by WhatsApp reads.
WhatsApp started as an alternative to SMS. The app now supports sending and receiving a variety of media: text, photos, videos, documents, and location, as well as voice calls. The messages and calls are secured with end-to-end encryption, meaning that no third party including WhatsApp can read or listen to them.
WhatsApp was founded by Jan Koum and Brian Acton who had previously spent 20 years combined at Yahoo. WhatsApp joined Facebook in 2014, but continues to operate as a separate app.
