This article was published on April 2, 2014

WhatsApp hits new record after handling 64 billion messages in one day


WhatsApp hits new record after handling 64 billion messages in one day

As further proof of how WhatsApp remains the world’s most popular messaging app, it revealed today that it has hit a new record after processing 64 billion messages in just 24 hours.

That figure consists of 20 billion messages sent and 44 billion messages received. These figures don’t match because they include group messages, which means, for example that sending one message into a group chat of 10 people is 1:10 inbound:outbound.

Facebook announced in February that it was acquiring WhatsApp in a huge deal worth up to $19 billion. Subsequently, the messaging app went through a few rough patches. It came under scrutiny for privacy issues and suffered a prolonged outage which benefited rival messaging apps Telegram and Line. WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum had to reiterate in March that the Facebook purchase wouldn’t affect user privacy.

It seems like WhatsApp is keen to put those concerns to rest by announcing this new record. Less than a year ago, WhatsApp was processing 27 billion messages a day. Given that the new 64 billion figure is more than double that, it is proof of WhatsApp’s continued growth. WhatsApp also announced earlier this year that it has passed 465 million monthly active users — and that it would be adding voice calls this quarter as it seeks more avenues of growth.

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