WhatsApp (officially WhatsApp Messenger) is an instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by technology conglomerate Meta.[14] It allows users to send text, voice messages and video messages,[15] make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other content.[16][17] WhatsApp's client application runs on mobile devices, and can be accessed from computers.[18] The service requires a cellular mobile telephone number to sign up.[19] In January 2018, WhatsApp released a standalone business app called WhatsApp Business which can communicate with the standard WhatsApp client.[20][21]
Original author(s)
Meta Platforms, Will Cathcart (Head of WhatsApp)[1][2]
February 2009
24.6.77[3] 
/ March 25, 2024
24.6.77[3] / March 25, 2024
2.24.6.78[4] / March 25, 2024
2.2411.4.0[5] / March 25, 2024
2.24.5.76[6] / March 14, 2024
2.24.7.25[7] / March 29, 2024
2.24.7.25[7] / March 29, 2024
Android, iOS, iPadOS, KaiOS, macOS, Windows, Windows Phone, Wear OS, Web, Meta Quest (The latter two require one-time verification from the mobile app client.)
40 (iOS) and 60 (Android)[11] languages
Proprietary software with EULA
"European Region"[12]
"others"[13]
The service was created by WhatsApp Inc. of Mountain View, California, which was acquired by Facebook in February 2014 for approximately US$19.3 billion.[22][23] It became the world's most popular messaging application by 2015,[24][25] and had more than 2 billion users worldwide by February 2020,[26] confirmed four years later by new 200M registrations per month.[27] By 2016, it had become the primary means of Internet communication in regions including Latin America, the Indian subcontinent, and large parts of Europe and Africa.[24]
WhatsApp Timeline
WhatsApp 2.0 is released on the App Store for the iPhone.[29]
Brian Acton persuades five ex-Yahoo! friends to invest $250,000 in seed funding, and is granted co-founder status.[28]
WhatsApp support for Android OS is added.[30]
In Series A round, WhatsApp founders agree to take $7 million from Sequoia Capital on top of their $250,000 seed funding, after months of negotiation with Sequoia partner Jim Goetz.[28]
The WhatsApp support staff announce that messages were encrypted in the "latest version" of the WhatsApp software for iOS and Android (but not BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and Symbian), without specifying the cryptographic method.[35]
WhatsApp's user base grows to about 200 million active users and its staff to 50.[28]
Sequoia invests another $50 million in Series B round, valuing WhatsApp at $1.5 billion.[36]
WhatsApp introduces voice messaging.[40]
Facebook, Inc. announces its acquisition of WhatsApp for US$19 billion, its largest acquisition to date.[41] Facebook pays $4 billion in cash, $12 billion in Facebook shares, and an additional $3 billion in restricted stock units granted to WhatsApp's founders.[42]
Someone discovers a vulnerability in WhatsApp encryption on the Android application that allows another app to access and read all of a user’s chat conversations within it.[43]
WhatsApp introduces Read Receipts, which show when a message is read by a recipient. Within a week, WhatsApp introduces an update allowing users to disable this feature.[44]
WhatsApp launches WhatsApp Web, a web client which can be used through a web browser by syncing with the mobile device's connection.[45]
WhatsApp introduces its document-sharing feature, initially allowing users to share PDF files with their contacts.[55]
WhatsApp and Open Whisper Systems announce that they have added end-to-end encryption to "every form of communication" on WhatsApp, and that users could now verify each other's keys.[56][57][58]
WhatsApp launches WhatsApp Business, a platform for small enterprises where they can connect with customers.[60]
WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum announces he’s leaving the company after clashes with Facebook, saying “I sold my users’ privacy”.[61]
WhatsApp launches group audio and video calls.[62]
Features
In November 2010, a slate of improvements for the iOS version of WhatsApp were released: including the ability to search for messages in your chat history, trimming long videos to a sendable size, the ability to cancel media messages as they upload or download, and previewing photos before sending them.[134]
In March 2012, WhatsApp improved its location-sharing function, allowing users to share not only their location, but also the location of places, such as restaurants or hotels.[134]
In August 2013, WhatsApp added voice messages to their apps, giving users a way to send short audio recordings directly in their chats.[135][136]
In January 2015, WhatsApp launched a web client that allowed users to scan a QR code with their mobile app, mirroring their chats to their browser. The web client was not standalone, and required the user's phone to stay on and connected to the internet. It was also not available for iOS users on launch, due to limitations from Apple.[137][138]
Voice calls between two accounts were added to the app in March and April 2015.[139] By June 2016, the company's blog reported more than 100 million voice calls per day were being placed on WhatsApp.[140]
On November 10, 2016, WhatsApp launched a beta version of two-factor authentication for Android users, which allowed them to use their email addresses for further protection.[141] Also in November 2016, Facebook ceased collecting WhatsApp data for advertising in Europe.[100] Later that month, video calls between two accounts were introduced.[142]
On February 24, 2017, (WhatsApp's 8th birthday), WhatsApp launched a new Status feature similar to Snapchat and Facebook stories.[143]
In July 2017, WhatsApp added support for file uploads of all file types, with a limit of 100 MB. Previously between March 2016 and May 2017, only limited file types categorised as images (JPG, PNG, GIF), videos (MP4, AVI), and documents (CSV, DOC/DOCX, PDF, PPT/PPTX, RTF, TXT, XLS/XLSX), were allowed to be shared for file attachments.[144][145]
Later in September 2018, WhatsApp introduced group audio and video call features.[146][147] In October, the "Swipe to Reply" option was added to the Android beta version, 16 months after it was introduced for iOS.[148]
On October 25, 2018, WhatsApp announced support for Stickers. But unlike other platforms WhatsApp requires third-party apps to add Stickers to WhatsApp.[149]
In October 2019, WhatsApp officially launched a new fingerprint app-locking feature for Android users.[150]
In early 2020, WhatsApp launched its "dark mode" for iPhone and Android devices – a new design consisting of a darker palette.[151]
In October 2020, WhatsApp rolled out a feature allowing users to mute both individuals and group chats forever. The mute options are "8 hours", "1 week", and "Always". The "Always" option replaced the "1 year" option that was originally part of the settings.[152][153]
In March 2021, WhatsApp started rolling out support for third-party animated stickers, initially in Iran, Brazil and Indonesia,[154] then worldwide.[155]
In July 2021, WhatsApp announced forthcoming support for sending uncompressed images and videos in 3 options: Auto, Best Quality and Data Saver,[156] and end-to-end encryption for backups stored in Facebook's cloud.[157] The company was also testing multi-device support, allowing Computer users to run WhatsApp without an active phone session.[158]
In August 2021, WhatsApp launched a feature that allows chat history to be transferred between mobile operating systems. This was implemented only on Samsung phones, with plans to expand to Android and iOS "soon".[159]
WhatsApp has the facility to hide users' online status ("Last Seen"). In December 2021, WhatsApp changed the default setting from "everyone" to only people in the user's contacts or who have been conversed with ("nobody" is also an option).[160]
In April 2022, WhatsApp announced undated plans to roll out a Communities feature allowing several group chats to exist in a shared space, getting unified notifications and opening up smaller discussion groups. The company also announced plans to implement reactions, the ability for administrators to delete messages in groups and voice calls up to 32 participants.[161]
In May 2022, the file upload limit was raised from 100 MB to 2 GB, and maximum group size increased to 512 members.[162]
In April 2023, the app rolled out a feature that would allow account access across multiple phones, in a shift that would make it more like competitors. Messages would still be end-to-end encrypted.[163]
WhatsApp officially rolled out the Companion mode for Android users, allowing you to link up to five Android phones to a single account. Now, the feature is also made available to iOS users, allowing them to link up to four iPhones.[164]
In May 2023, WhatsApp allowed users to edit messages, aligning itself with competitors such as Telegram and Signal which already offered this feature. According to the company, messages could be edited within a 15-minute window after being sent. Edited messages were tagged as "edited" to inform recipients that the content had been modified.[165] WhatsApp has rolled out a feature called 'Voice Status Updates', which allows users to record voice notes and share them as their status on the app.[166]
In June 2023, a feature called WhatsApp Channels was launched which allows content creators, public figures and organizations to send newsletter-like broadcasts to large numbers of users. Unlike messages in groups or private chats, channels are not end-to-end encrypted.[167] Channels were initially only available to users in Colombia and Singapore, then later Egypt, Chile, Malaysia, Morocco, Ukraine, Kenya and Peru before becoming widely available in September 2023.[168][169][170][171]
In July 2023, video messages were added to WhatsApp. Similar to voice messages, this feature allows users to record and send short videos directly in a chat. This lets users share videos of themselves more quickly, and without adding anything to their device's gallery. Currently, video messages are limited to 60 seconds.[172][173]
In October 2023, support for logging in to multiple accounts was added, allowing users to switch between different WhatsApp accounts in the same app. They also introduced passkey support, where a user can verify their login with on-device biometrics, rather than SMS. Text formatting options like code blocks, quote blocks, and bulleted lists and became available for the first time.[174]
In November 2023, WhatsApp added a "voice chat" feature for groups with more than 32 members. Unlike their 32-person group calls, starting a voice chat doesn't call all group members directly; they instead receive a notification to join the voice chat.[175] WhatsApp also began rolling out support for sending login codes to a linked email address, rather than via SMS.[176] In a later update on November 30, WhatsApp added a Secret Code feature, which allows those who use locked chats to enter a unique password that hides those chats from view when unlocking the app.[177][178]
In December 2023, WhatsApp's "View Once" feature expanded to include voice messages. Voice messages sent this way are deleted after the recipient listens to them the first time.[179][180]
In April 2024, an AI-powered "Smart Assistant" became widely available in WhatsApp, allowing users to ask it questions or have it complete tasks such as generating images. The assistant is based on the LLaMa 3 model, and is also available on other Meta platforms like Facebook and Instagram.[181][182]
Platform support
Platform history
After months at beta stage, the official first release of WhatsApp for iOS launched in November 2009. In January 2010, support for BlackBerry smartphones was added; and subsequently for Symbian OS in May 2010, and for Android OS in August 2010. In August 2011, a beta for Nokia's non-smartphone OS Series 40 was added. A month later, support for Windows Phone was added, followed by BlackBerry 10 in March 2013.[183] In April 2015, support for Samsung's Tizen OS was added.[184] The oldest device capable of running WhatsApp was the Symbian-based Nokia N95 released in March 2007, but support was later discontinued.
In August 2014, WhatsApp released an update, adding support for Android Wear smartwatches.[185]
On January 21, 2015, WhatsApp launched WhatsApp Web, a browser-based web client that could be used by syncing with a mobile device's connection.[186]
On February 26, 2016, WhatsApp announced they would cease support for BlackBerry (including BlackBerry 10), Nokia Series 40, and Symbian S60,[187][188] as well as older versions of Android (2.2), Windows Phone (7.0), and iOS (6), by the end of 2016.[189] BlackBerry, Nokia Series 40, and Symbian support was then extended to June 30, 2017.[190] In June 2017, support for BlackBerry and Series 40 was once again extended until the end of 2017, while Symbian was dropped.[191]
Support for BlackBerry and older (version 8.0) Windows Phone and older (version 6) iOS devices was dropped on January 1, 2018, but was extended to December 2018 for Nokia Series 40.[192] In July 2018, it was announced that WhatsApp would soon be available for KaiOS feature phones.[193][194]
Android and iPhone
WhatsApp's principal platforms, which are fully supported, are devices supporting mobile telephony running Android, and iPhones.[195]
WhatsApp Web
WhatsApp was officially made available for PCs through a web client, under the name WhatsApp Web,[196] in late January 2015 through an announcement made by Koum on his Facebook page: "Our web client is simply an extension of your phone: the web browser mirrors conversations and messages from your mobile device—this means all of your messages still live on your phone". As of January 21, 2015, the desktop version was only available to Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone users. Later on, it also added support for iOS, Nokia Series 40, and Nokia S60 (Symbian).[197][198]
Previously the WhatsApp user's handset had to be connected to the Internet for the browser application to function but as of an update in October 2021 that is no longer the case.[199] All major desktop browsers are supported except for Internet Explorer. WhatsApp Web's user interface is based on the default Android one and can be accessed through web.whatsapp.com. Access is granted after the users scan their personal QR code through their mobile WhatsApp application.
There are similar solutions for macOS, such as the open-source ChitChat, previously known as WhatsMac.[200][201][202]
In January 2021, the limited Android beta version allowed users to use WhatsApp Web without having to keep the mobile app connected to the Internet. In March 2021, this beta feature was extended to iOS users.[203] However, linked devices (using WhatsApp Web, WhatsApp Desktop or Facebook Portal) will become disconnected if people don't use their phone for over 14 days.[204] The multi-device beta can only show messages for the last 3 months on the web version, which was not the case without the beta because the web version was syncing with the phone.[205]
Since April 2022, the multi-device beta is integrated by default in WhatsApp and users cannot check old messages on the web version anymore.[206][207]
Windows and Mac
On May 10, 2016, the messaging service was introduced for both Microsoft Windows and macOS operating systems. Support for video and voice calls from desktop clients was later added. Similar to the WhatsApp Web format, the app, which synchronises with a user's mobile device, is available for download on the website. It supported operating systems Windows 8 and OS X 10.10 and higher.[208][209][210]
In 2023, WhatsApp replaced the Electron-based apps with native versions for their respective platforms.[211][212] The Windows version is based on UWP while the Mac version is a port of the iOS version using Catalyst technology.
Smartwatches
WhatsApp added support for Android Wear (now called Wear OS) in 2014.[185]
iPad not supported
As of 2023, WhatsApp does not have an official iPad client.[195] While the majority of iPhone apps can run on the iPad in an iPhone sized window, WhatsApp was one of the very few apps to be completely unavailable on the iPad due to the "telephony" restriction. In a 2022 interview with The Verge, WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart acknowledged that "[p]eople have wanted an iPad app for a long time" and said that the team would "love to do it."[213] In September 2023, a beta version of WhatsApp was released for iPad. No official release date has been announced.[214]
iPad users searching for WhatsApp are shown numerous third-party clients. Several top results have names and logos resembling WhatsApp itself, and some users do not realize they are using a third-party client. Per WhatsApp's policy, using third-party clients can result in the account getting permanently banned.[215]
Controversies and criticism
Misinformation
WhatsApp has repeatedly imposed limits on message forwarding in response to the spread of misinformation in countries including India and Australia. The measure, first introduced in 2018 to combat spam, was expanded and remained active in 2021. WhatsApp stated that the forwarding limits had helped to curb the spread of misinformation regarding COVID-19.[257][258][259]
