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WhatsApp Reaches 100 Million Monthly Users in the United States
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Apple doesn’t need to open iMessage, they just need to support RCS which is what iOS 18 does. Making it so everyone can use blue bubbles doesn’t make everything perfect. You mean messages app on the iPhone. The messages app and iMessage are two different things. iMessage is never going cross platform. Opening up messages to work cross platform more seemlessly, that’s coming.
Why did she use it in Europe? It‘s not like iMessage and SMS don’t work outside of the US!
The huge success of WhatsApp is why any legal action against iMessage is moot. WhatsApp is massively popular in most of the world outside of North America except parts of eastern Asia, where WeChat and LINE dominate.
Besides, WhatsApp usually isn't subject to the limitations of SMS/RCS chats in countries where such montly limitations are still used.
Besides, WhatsApp usually isn't subject to the limitations of SMS/RCS chats in countries where such montly limitations are still used.
It's not really free. Neither iMessage or WhatsApp is. iMessage is paid for by your purchase price, it's included. Which is why from a financial standpoint it doesn't necessarily make sense to offer it on other devices (perpetual loss leader?). WhatApps is monetized in a variety of ways, but the time tested concept almost always holds true, "If you aren't paying for the product, you are the product". Meta is not providing WhatsApp as a community service. If my understanding is correct, Meta made almost a billion dollars off WhatsApp last year.
Yeah, iMessage is like SMS - boring. Users want a more personal experience
Yes that’s the point. Green doesn’t matter other than differentiating it as RCS and iMessage. Apple will never change this. They want to keep iMessage separate for Apple to Apple communication. That doesn’t change its functionality. I have no issue with this at all. Apple should be able to give its users some indication.
Where? From experience I know that providers in Europe are both cheaper and with more functionality.
For example in France for 15$ per month you get 300 GB data per month, unlimited calls and sms/mms to all landlines and cellphones in France + all landlines in 150 countries + 10 GB roaming within the EU and dozens countries outside the EU.
People implying that iMessage is somewhat stealing as much data as that disaster that is WhatsApp are ridiculous.
Sure, Meta can't see your actual messages. But it can see:
What groups you're a member of
How actively you participate in them
Who you IM and how often
What groups all of the people you IM are members of
All of your contacts*
All of their phone numbers/contact details*
*If you allow it, which the majority of users will do without a second thought. So it doesn't matter what lengths you personally go to to keep your own contact details out of Meta's hands (including not using WhatsApp at all), all it needs is for a friend or colleague to be using WhatsApp and they've got it.
Leaving aside the (important) debate on privacy protections, one point I don't think is being emphasised enough is that the choice of messaging app is often not yours.
I don't use WhatsApp through free choice. I would prefer to use Signal (not Telegram). But my family, friends, and work colleagues nearly all use WhatsApp, and they aren't switching just because I want them to. Their own friends, families, and colleagues are mostly using WhatsApp too. You either use the tool everyone else does, or stick to your principles and lose access to the same group comms.
My employer banned WhatsApp for business use a few years back. Pushed Signal as an alternative. Completely broke down because most clients and suppliers use WhatsApp, and they're not moving to our preferred platform.
WhatsApp's foothold in the US may not be enough to reach that critical mass. That's not necessarily a bad thing; I don't like the idea of a single, closed messaging platform with a global monopoly. But if it does trip over, whether people want to use WhatsApp or not may become academic (or at least a matter of principle vs convenience).
I don't use WhatsApp through free choice. I would prefer to use Signal (not Telegram). But my family, friends, and work colleagues nearly all use WhatsApp, and they aren't switching just because I want them to. Their own friends, families, and colleagues are mostly using WhatsApp too. You either use the tool everyone else does, or stick to your principles and lose access to the same group comms.
My employer banned WhatsApp for business use a few years back. Pushed Signal as an alternative. Completely broke down because most clients and suppliers use WhatsApp, and they're not moving to our preferred platform.
WhatsApp's foothold in the US may not be enough to reach that critical mass. That's not necessarily a bad thing; I don't like the idea of a single, closed messaging platform with a global monopoly. But if it does trip over, whether people want to use WhatsApp or not may become academic (or at least a matter of principle vs convenience).
It’s kind of funny to see people saying the rest of the world outside the US uses WhatsApp. In my experience that isn’t true in Asia. I’ve heard it is the case in Europe, but I have no idea about the “rest of the world.” And I don’t think many people stating it know either.
Agree that there’s a lot of supposition going on, but the idea that WhatsApp is preeminent in some regions (not all!) isn’t entirely speculative…
Most popular messaging apps 2025| Statista
As of February 2025, approximately two billion users were accessing Meta's WhatsApp messenger on a monthly basis.
www.statista.com
100 million is still just 1/3 of the US population. So, it’s like someone in the EU saying they’ve never used an iPhone. Actually, the iPhone marketshare is way less than 33% in the EU…
As far as numbers, Asia has the most WhatsApp users with around 800 to 900 million thanks largely to its popularity in India (around 536 million). However, not so much in market penetration since the continent population is so large and the fact that WhatsApp is banned in China.
Well when texting/sms is costly in the us as some people pointed out… why not use a service what’s free of cost?
I think few people use SMS in Europe anymore because we’ve found better alternatives. SMS died since 2016 over here I believe. To many restrictions in the SMS protocol.
iMessage is one alternative, but since it’s only available on Apple devices and does not play well with others… WhatsApp is a good alternative and has become the standard in whole Europe.
It’s a pity Facebook bought WhatsApp. Apple could have been as big as WhatsApp as it played nice with other open standards.
Remember iChat??? It was there before iMessage and was able to communicate with AOL messenger and Google messenger and the one from Microsoft as well. I don’t know why Apple stopped supporting it but it’s been a stupid decision.
There is no messaging war. I think some in the US want there to be one maybe? Someone with an iPhone and messaging via WhatsApp is still as much of an iPhone sale as someone with an iPhone using iMessage. And, while Apple doesn’t make anything on iMessage, I’m sure WhatsApp’s digital payments are covered by Apple’s App Store fees, so they’re actually making money on it.
Thanks to “people wanting to continue using what they’re familiar with”, really. Apple could open iMessage tomorrow and folks using WhatsApp with all their contacts, group chats, etc. in WhatsApp aren’t going to change. And, anyone signing up for a service are going to look at what their friends/family are using. If they’re using WhatsApp, that’s what they’re going to use. Not because they don’t like iMessage, because iMessage is NOT where the people they want to chat with are.