Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Thursday that WhatsApp now boasts over 100 million monthly active users in the United States, a country where SMS and text messaging are traditionally popular.
This announcement marks the first time WhatsApp has shared user statistics specifically for the U.S. The company also revealed that more than 50% of its U.S. users are on iPhones, reflecting iOS’s majority market share in the country.
Globally, WhatsApp is immensely popular with over 2 billion monthly active users. The app has traditionally focused on markets like India, its largest user base with over 500 million monthly active users, as well as Brazil and Indonesia.
Recently, WhatsApp has intensified its marketing efforts in the U.S. Over the past few years, the app has launched ad campaigns, secured placements in Times Square, and aired TV spots emphasizing privacy and end-to-end encryption. Most notably, it initiated a national campaign featuring the cast of the TV show “Modern Family.”
Similar to Google’s strategy, Meta has highlighted the differences between the green bubble and blue bubble messaging interfaces, a distinction driven by Apple’s iMessage. However, with Apple’s adoption of Rich Communication Services (RCS), Android users can now send and receive high-quality media files and access features like typing indicators and read receipts. Despite these updates, messages still appear in green bubbles, according to screenshots from Apple’s website.
Meta continues to promote WhatsApp as a superior cross-platform messaging app by emphasizing additional features such as polls, high-quality video calling, and reactions. The company is concluding this announcement with another marketing campaign, placing a 200-foot bubble between the Apple and Samsung stores in The Americana Mall in Los Angeles.
By spotlighting these features and its vast user base, WhatsApp aims to strengthen its position in the competitive U.S. messaging market.
