WhatsApp Completes 12 Years, Says It Handles Over 1 Billion Calls Each Day

WhatsApp, the popular instant messaging app, on Thursday announced that it has completed 12 years of its journey. While announcing its 12th anniversary, the Facebook-owned company revealed that it handles more than one billion calls each day. WhatsApp debuted back in February 2009 and was originally designed to allow sharing of statuses between its users. It, however, expanded and evolved to become a full-fledged messaging solution and eventually started to replace traditional voice and video calls. The app also allows users to make payments and send stickers. It has also of late been criticised for its updated privacy policy that is scheduled to be implemented on May 15.

Through a tweet posted on Thursday, WhatsApp announced the completion of 12 years. The tweet talked about some of the previously announced statistics, including the user base of more than two billion monthly active users that sends 100 billion messages. However, it also mentioned that the app, known for its instant messaging experience, connects more than one billion calls on a daily basis.

WhatsApp added voice calling support to its app back in February 2015 and expanded that to video calling in November 2016. It also further enhanced the experience by enabling group voice and video calling support in August 2018.

Apart from calling, WhatsApp offers features including payments and sharing of stickers and GIFs to serve users as a one-stop instant messaging solution.

Co-founded by former Yahoo employees Brian Acton and Jan Koum back in 2009, WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in February 2014. The acquisition by the social media giant has helped the messaging app to scale further. However, it also raised questions on WhatsApp's privacy and how it is sharing user data with Facebook and its subsidiaries.

The debate on user privacy over WhatsApp reached new levels in the recent past, with the introduction of its new privacy policy — primarily aimed at business accounts — that was delayed from February 8 to May 15 due to a massive public outrage.

WhatsApp, however, claims in its latest tweet that it would continue to be committed to user privacy with end-to-end encryption. The encryption doesn't apply across the app, though. It also does not protect the identifiers that WhatsApp is going to share with businesses using its presence to personalise their selling experiences.

Does WhatsApp's new privacy policy spell the end for your privacy? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.