WhatsApp, the mobile messaging service acquired by Facebook for $22 billion, announced Tuesday it has grown to 700 million monthly active users, up from the 600 million users it had in August.
This puts WhatsApp once again ahead of the pack, surpassing Facebook Messenger’s COUNT and showing that the app has not slowed its growth despite Facebook’s acquisition nearly a year ago and the resulting privacy issues that ensued. Recently, Facebook launched encryption on WhatsApp to help curb these issues. Since Facebook’s purchase, WhatsApp has grown by 300 million users.
Facebook wants WhatsApp to be even bigger
Despite its already impressive user count, Facebook wants it to be even bigger, with Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he expects WhatsApp to contribute to Facebook’s income, but not until it reaches roughly a billion users. Facebook revealed last year that WhatsApp lost about $230 million in the first half of last year on revenue of about $15 million. The company’s CEO also said he sees a future with up to 3 billion users using the service.
WhatsApp is one of the few calling and messaging services that is truly cross platform. It is available on most major mobile operating systems.