The most popular messaging apps by country

It is becoming increasingly common for people to use messaging apps rather than traditional text messaging, largely because of two major benefits: They’re free to use, excluding voluntary in-app purchases, and they don’t require cellular data like SMS messages. You only need your phone, the app and an internet connection. This low barrier to entry makes messaging apps the most accessible option available to many populations all over the world, especially compared to the cost of monthly cell phone plans.

To examine which messaging apps are most used around the globe, the team at Ooma has collected data on the popularity of messaging apps in 143 countries, examining the percentage of people in each country using a specific messaging app compared to the population as a whole.

WhatsApp is a messaging app that offers all the benefits of a mobile service: chat; video and voice calls; and the ability to exchange images, data files and other media. Beyond that, the app is great for communication between families, groups and communities. With almost 3 billion unique active users, it is one of the top messaging apps out there. Meta Platforms, more commonly known as Facebook, owns WhatsApp, which the company purchased a decade ago for $19 million. Between Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, Meta boasts the majority of messaging app usage worldwide. These platforms are also some of their most profitable. WhatsApp is used mainly in India, with 615.9 million active users hailing from the country, though that is only 42.8 percent of the country’s population.

Some social networks feature a direct messaging capability, which makes them double as both a social media platform and a messaging app. This category is where Facebook Messenger falls. Part of Messenger’s popularity is due to its wide range of uses beyond basic messaging and voice calls, including sending and receiving money, creating photo albums, curating shared music playlists, and watching videos with other people. Facebook Messenger is used heavily in the United States, with a user base of 271.7 million, or a whopping 79.1 percent of the 337 million population. As you can probably guess, Facebook is also the most popular social network in the U.S.

WeChat, a messaging service developed by the Chinese company Tencent, has more than 1.3 billion active users and revolutionized the landscape of messaging in China. WeChat is by far the most popular choice for messaging in China, with nearly 857 million active users in its home country. This is 60.2 percent of China’s population of 1.4 billion. WeChat has grown from a modest messaging platform to an all-purpose app by adding many features, such as food delivery, shopping, gaming, reading and even paying bills. Another reason for WeChat’s dominance is that competitors like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp are banned in mainland China, though some individuals have workarounds to access these apps.

Similar to WeChat, KakaoTalk is hugely popular in its country of origin and offers a wide variety of features, such as food delivery, payment services and gaming. The app’s 47.6 million users translate to a staggering 92.1 percent of the entire population of South Korea. South Korea is one of the most technologically attuned countries, so it is not all that shocking that both young and old rely on this messaging app.

Telegram, owned by Russian brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov, sets itself apart from other messaging apps with its privacy protection features, allowing users to hide their phone numbers or forgo using a phone number to register. Another great feature of Telegram is its unlimited cloud storage, which makes it very popular with businesses.

Telegram’s efforts to maintain users’ privacy and anonymity have received both praise and criticism. Telegram protects political adversaries and whistleblowers in locations where they may not otherwise feel safe, as well as any users concerned about data security. However, the nature of the app also lets crime, misinformation, abuse and other illegal activities fester. It is also incredibly difficult for law enforcement to track activity through it.

Other notable messaging apps include LINE, the most popular app in Taiwan, Japan, and Thailand, and Zalo, which is the most popular messaging app in Vietnam.

The future of messaging apps

Messaging apps have boomed in popularity in the past few decades, and there seems to be no sign of them slowing down anytime soon. Businesses will expand through messaging in large part due to consumers increasingly preferring it, with other benefits including convenience and the ability to leave behind a paper trail at every step. Some apps have even started offering features specifically for business, such as WhatsApp’s WhatsApp Business suite. You can also expect to see more and more AI integration, such as Meta AI being baked into WhatsApp.

The most popular messaging app by country