WhatsApp serving over 200m users monthly, processing 20bn messages daily

16 Apr 2013

Onstage at the AllThingsD Dive Into Mobile conference today, WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum revealed that the cross-platform mobile messaging app has more monthly active users than Twitter, processing 8bn inbound and 12bn outbound messages per day.

Twitter may have hit the 200m monthly active user milestone by the close of last year, but Koum claims that WhatsApp is now serving more than that on a monthly basis.

At the start of this year, it was reported that the app had processed a record 18bn messages on New Year’s Eve, but since then it has surpassed even this holiday-driven total to 20bn messages processed on an average day.

Last week, WhatsApp quashed rumours that Google was seeking to buy up the company for US$1bn, and there have also previously been rumours that Facebook was eyeing it up for acquisition. However, Koum further put paid to such rumours at the New York City event, stating that the company is not entertaining any acquisition offers.

Founded in 2009 by former Yahoo employees Koum and Brian Acton, WhatsApp has seen more than 100m downloads across all platforms and allows users to send text, picture, video and audio messages one-to-one or to groups.

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com