WhatsApp - Wikipedia WhatsApp This article 's Criticism or Controversy section may compromise the article 's neutral point of view of the subject. Please integrate the section 's contents into the article as a whole, or rewrite the material. ( April 2017 ) WhatsApp Messenger Developer ( s ) WhatsApp Inc. Initial release January 2009 ; 9 years ago ( 2009 - 01 ) Stable release ( s ) ( ± ) iOS 2.18. 11 / January 11, 2018 ; 2 months ago ( 2018 - 01 - 11 ) Android 2.17. 427 / November 29, 2017 ; 4 months ago ( 2017 - 11 - 29 ) Windows Phone 8, Windows 10 Mobile 2.17. 262 Symbian 2.16. 57 BlackBerry 2.17. 2 / June 26, 2016 ; 21 months ago ( 2016 - 06 - 26 ) Preview release ( s ) ( ± ) Android 2.18. 106 / April 9, 2018 ; 0 days ago ( 2018 - 04 - 09 ) Windows Phone 8, Windows 10 Mobile 2.18. 50 Written in Erlang Operating system Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry OS, Symbian ( there are Windows, macOS and web app clients that work only in presence of a connected mobile app client ) Type Instant messaging and social media License Freeware Alexa rank 69 ( As of December 2017 ) Website www.whatsapp.com WhatsApp Inc. Type of business Subsidiary Founded February 24, 2009 ; 9 years ago ( 2009 - 02 - 24 ) Headquarters Mountain View, California, United States Founder ( s ) Jan Koum Brian Acton CEO Jan Koum Employees 50 Parent Facebook Website whatsapp.com WhatsApp Timeline Feb 4, 2009 Jan Koum incorporates WhatsApp in California. Oct 2009 Brian Acton persuades five ex-Yahoo ! friends to invest $250,000 in seed funding, and is granted co-founder status. Aug 2009 WhatsApp 2.0 is released on the App Store for the iPhone. Dec 2009 WhatsApp for the iPhone is updated to send photos. Aug 2010 WhatsApp support for Android OS is added. Jan 21, 2011 WeChat, a messenger app, is founded. It eventually becomes very popular in China. Apr 2011 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. May 2011 SnapChat, a competing photo messaging app, is founded. Jan 6, 2012 An unknown hacker publishes a website that makes it possible to change the status of an arbitrary WhatsApp user, as long as the phone number was known. Aug 2012 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. Feb 2013 WhatsApp 's user base swells to about 200 million active users and its staff to 50. Jul 2013 Sequoia invests another $50 million in Series B round, valuing WhatsApp at $1.5 billion. Jul 16, 2013 WhatsApp goes free, with an annual subscription fee of $1 after the first year. Aug 2013 Telegram, a cloud - based instant messaging service, launches. Aug 2013 WhatsApp introduces voice messaging. Feb 19, 2014 Facebook announces its acquisition of WhatsApp for US $19 billion, its largest acquisition to date. 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. Mar 2014 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. Nov 2014 WhatsApp introduces a feature named Read Receipts, which alerts senders when their messages are read by recipients. Within a week, WhatsApp introduces an update allowing users to disable this feature so that message recipients do not send acknowledgements. Jan 21, 2015 WhatsApp launches WhatsApp Web, a web client which can be used through a web browser by syncing with the mobile device 's connection. Jan 21, 2015 WhatsApp announces its policy on cracking down on 3rd - party clients, including WhatsApp+. Users would not be able to use WhatsApp 's services at all until the third - party apps are uninstalled. Dec 2015 WhatsApp is briefly shut down in Brazil after it refuses to place wiretaps on certain WhatsApp accounts. It is shut down in Brazil again on May 2016 and in July 2016. Jan 18, 2016 Jan Koum announces that WhatsApp will no longer charge its users a $1 annual subscription fee. There is still no clear plan for monetizing WhatsApp. Mar 2016 Diego Dzodan, a Facebook executive, is arrested by Brazilian federal police after Facebook fails to turn over information from his WhatsApp messaging account into a judge 's request for a drug trafficking investigation. Mar 2, 2016 WhatsApp introduces its document - sharing feature, initially allowing users to share PDF files with their contacts. Apr 5, 2016 WhatsApp and Open Whisper Systems announce that they finish adding end - to - end encryption to `` every form of communication '' on WhatsApp, and that users could now verify each other 's keys. May 10, 2016 WhatsApp is introduced for both Windows and Mac operating systems. Sep 5, 2017 WhatsApp started external testing of an enterprise platform which enables companies to provide customer service to users at scale. Airline KLM launches such a service. Messaging with WhatsApp WhatsApp Messenger is a freeware and cross-platform messaging and Voice over IP ( VoIP ) service. The application allows the sending of text messages and voice calls, as well as video calls, images and other media, documents, and user location. The application runs from a mobile device though it is also accessible from desktop computers ; the service uses standard cellular mobile numbers. Originally users could only communicate with other users individually or in groups of individual users, but in September 2017 WhatsApp announced a forthcoming business platform which will enable companies to provide customer service to users at scale. The client was created by WhatsApp Inc., based in Mountain View, California, which was acquired by Facebook in February 2014 for approximately US $ 19.3 billion. By February 2018, WhatsApp had a user base of over one and a half billion, making it the most popular messaging application at the time. WhatsApp has grown in multiple countries, including Brazil, India, and large parts of Europe. Contents 1 History 1.1 2009 -- 2014 1.2 Facebook subsidiary ( 2014 -- present ) 1.3 Recent ( 2016 - present ) 2 SMB and Enterprise platforms 3 Platform support 3.1 WhatsApp Web 3.2 Windows and Mac 4 Technical 4.1 End - to - end encryption 4.2 WhatsApp Payments 5 Reception and criticism 5.1 Security and privacy 5.2 Business model 5.3 Terrorism 5.4 Scams 5.5 Bans 5.5. 1 China 5.5. 2 Iran 5.5. 3 Turkey 5.5. 4 Brazil 5.5. 5 Sri Lanka 6 User statistics 6.1 Users in India 6.2 Competition 7 See also 8 References 9 External links History Further information : Timeline of WhatsApp 2009 -- 2014 WhatsApp was founded in 2009 by Brian Acton and Jan Koum, both former employees of Yahoo !. After Koum and Acton left Yahoo ! in September 2007, the duo traveled to South America to take a break from work. At one point, they applied for jobs at Facebook but were rejected. For the rest of the following years Koum relied on his $400,000 savings from Yahoo !. In January 2009, after purchasing an iPhone and realizing the potential of the app industry on the App Store, Koum started visiting his friend Alex Fishman in West San Jose where the three would discuss ``... having statuses next to individual names of the people '', but this was not possible without an iPhone developer. Fishman found a Russian developer on RentACoder.com, Igor Solomennikov, and introduced him to Koum. Koum named the app `` WhatsApp '' to sound like `` what 's up ''. On February 24, 2009, he incorporated WhatsApp Inc. in California. However, because early versions of WhatsApp often crashed or got stuck at a particular point, Koum felt like giving up and looking for a new job, upon which Acton encouraged him to wait for a `` few more months ''. In June 2009, Apple launched push notifications, allowing users to be pinged when they were not using an app. Koum changed WhatsApp so that when a user 's status is changed, everyone in the user 's network would be notified. WhatsApp 2.0 was released with a messaging component and the number of active users suddenly increased to 250,000. Acton was still unemployed and managing another startup, and he decided to join the company. In October 2009, Acton persuaded five former friends in Yahoo ! to invest $250,000 in seed funding, and Acton became a co-founder and was given a stake. He officially joined on November 1. After months at beta stage, the application eventually launched in November 2009 exclusively on the App Store for the iPhone. Koum then hired a friend who lived in Los Angeles, Chris Peiffer, to develop the BlackBerry version, which arrived two months later. WhatsApp was switched from a free to paid service to avoid growing too fast, mainly because the primary cost was sending verification texts to users. In December 2009, the ability to send photos was added to WhatsApp for the iPhone. By early 2011, WhatsApp was one of the top 20 apps in Apple 's U.S. App Store. In April 2011, Sequoia Capital invested approximately $8 million for more than 15 percent of the company, after months of negotiation with Sequoia partner Jim Goetz. By February 2013, WhatsApp had about 200 million active users and 50 staff members. Sequoia invested another $50 million, and WhatsApp was valued at $1.5 billion. In a December 2013 blog post, WhatsApp claimed that 400 million active users use the service each month. Facebook subsidiary ( 2014 -- present ) On February 19, 2014, months after a venture capital financing round at a $1.5 billion valuation, Facebook announced it was acquiring WhatsApp for US $19 billion, its largest acquisition to date. At the time, the acquisition was the largest purchase of a venture - backed company in history. Sequoia Capital received an approximate 50x return on its initial investment. Facebook, which was advised by Allen & Co, paid $4 billion in cash, $12 billion in Facebook shares, and ( advised by Morgan Stanley ) an additional $3 billion in restricted stock units granted to WhatsApp 's founders, Koum and Acton. Employee stock was scheduled to vest over four years subsequent to closing. Days after the announcement, WhatsApp users experienced a loss of service, leading to anger across social media. The acquisition caused a considerable number of users to move, or try out other message services as well. Telegram claimed to have seen 8 million additional downloads of its app. Line claimed to have seen 2 million new users for its service. At a keynote presentation at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February 2014, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook 's acquisition of WhatsApp was closely related to the Internet.org vision. According to a TechCrunch article, Zuckerberg 's vision for Internet.org was as follows : `` The idea, he said, is to develop a group of basic internet services that would be free of charge to use -- ' a 911 for the internet. ' These could be a social networking service like Facebook, a messaging service, maybe search and other things like weather. Providing a bundle of these free of charge to users will work like a gateway drug of sorts -- users who may be able to afford data services and phones these days just do n't see the point of why they would pay for those data services. This would give them some context for why they are important, and that will lead them to paying for more services like this -- or so the hope goes. '' Just three days after announcing that WhatsApp had been purchased by Facebook, Koum said they were working to introduce voice calls in the coming months. He also advanced that new mobile phones would be sold in Germany with the WhatsApp brand, as their main goal was to be in all smartphones. In August 2014, WhatsApp was the most globally popular messaging app, with more than 600 million active users. By early January 2015, WhatsApp had 700 million monthly active users with over 30 billion messages being sent every day. In April 2015, Forbes predicted that between 2012 and 2018, the telecommunications industry will lose a combined total of $386 billion because of OTT services like WhatsApp and Skype. That month, WhatsApp had over 800 million active users. By September 2015, the user base had grown to 900 million, and by February 2016 it had grown to one billion. As of November 30, 2015, the Android client for WhatsApp started making links to another messenger called Telegram unclickable and uncopyable. This is an active block, as confirmed by multiple sources, rather than a bug, and the Android source code which recognises Telegram URLs has been identified. URLs with `` telegram '' as domain - name are targeted actively and explicitly -- the word `` telegram '' appears in the code. This functioning risks being considered anti-competitive, and has not been explained by WhatsApp. Recent ( 2016 - present ) On January 18, 2016, WhatsApp 's founder Jan Koum announced that the service would no longer charge their users a $1 annual subscription fee in an effort to remove a barrier faced by some users who do not have a credit card to pay for the service. He also explained that the app would not display any third party advertisement and instead would bring new features such as the ability to communicate with business organizations. By June 2016, more than 100 million voice calls are made per day on WhatsApp according to a post on the company 's blog. On November 10, 2016, WhatsApp launched a two - step verification feature in beta for Android users. After enabling this feature, users can add their email address for further protection. Also in November 2016, Facebook ceased collecting WhatsApp data for advertising in Europe. On February 24, 2017, ( WhatsApp 's 8th birthday ) WhatsApp launched a new Status feature similar to Snapchat and Facebook stories. On May 18, 2017, it was reported that the European Commission was fining Facebook € 110 million for `` misleading '' it during the 2014 takeover of WhatsApp. The Commission alleged that in 2014, when Facebook acquired the messaging app, it `` falsely claimed it was technically impossible to automatically combine user information from Facebook and WhatsApp. '' However, in the summer of 2016 WhatsApp had begun sharing user information with its parent company, allowing information such as phone numbers to be used for targeted Facebook advertisements. Facebook acknowledged the breach, but said the errors in their 2014 filings were `` not intentional. '' In September 2017 WhatsApp announced a forthcoming business platform which will enable companies to provide customer service to users at scale. Airlines KLM and Aeroméxico both announced their participation in the testing ; Both airlines had previously launched customer services on the Facebook Messenger platform. In January 2018, WhatsApp launched WhatsApp Business for small business use. Smb and enterprise platforms Until 2017 WhatsApp positioned itself as a solution for a single party with a single smartphone to communicate with another such party, enabling small businesses to use the platform to communicate with customers, but not at scale ( e.g. in a contact center environment ). However in September 2017 WhatsApp announced what had long been rumored, that they are building and testing new tools for businesses to use WhatsApp : a free WhatsApp Business app for small companies and an Enterprise Solution for bigger companies operating at a large scale with a global base of customers, like airlines, e-commerce retailers, and banks, who for the first time can offer customer service and conversational commerce ( e-commerce via WhatsApp chat ( via live agents or chatbots ) Note that some companies as far back as 2015 like Meteordesk had provided unofficial solutions for enterprises to attend to large numbers of users, however these setups were shut down by WhatsApp. Platform support After months at beta stage, the application eventually launched in November 2009 exclusively on the App Store for the iPhone. 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. In April 2015, support for Samsung 's Tizen OS was added. An unofficial port has been released for the MeeGo - based Nokia N9 called Wazapp, as well as a port for the Maemo - based Nokia N900 called Yappari. The oldest device capable of running WhatsApp is the Symbian - based Nokia N95 released in March 2007. In August 2014, WhatsApp released an update to its Android app, adding support for Android Wear smartwatches. In 2014 an unofficial open source plug - in called whatsapp - purple was released for Pidgin, implementing its XMPP and making it possible to use WhatsApp on a Windows or Linux PC. WhatsApp responded by automatically blocking phone numbers that connected to WhatsApp using this plug - in. On January 21, 2015, WhatsApp launched WhatsApp Web, a web client which can be used through a web browser by syncing with the mobile device 's connection. On February 26, 2016, WhatsApp announced they would cease support for BlackBerry ( including BlackBerry 10 ), Series 40 and Symbian S60, as well as older versions of Android ( 2.2 ), Windows Phone ( 7.0 ) and iOS ( 6 ), by the end of 2016. BlackBerry, Series 40 and Symbian support was since then extended further to June 30, 2017. In June 2017 support for BlackBerry and Series 40 was once again extended until the end of 2017, while Symbian was dropped. WhatsApp Web WhatsApp was officially made available for PCs through a web client, under the name WhatsApp Web, 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 ''. The WhatsApp user 's handset must still be connected to the Internet for the browser application to function. All major desktop browsers are supported except for Microsoft Internet Explorer. WhatsApp Web 's user interface is based on the default Android one. 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 ). An unofficial derivative called WhatsAppTime has been developed, which is a standard Win32 application for PCs and supports notifications through the Windows notification area. There are similar solutions for macOS, such as the open - source ChitChat and multiple wrappers available in the App Store. Windows and Mac On May 10, 2016, the messaging service was introduced for both Windows and macOS operating systems. WhatsApp currently does not allow audio or video calling from desktop operating systems. Similar to the WhatsApp Web format, the app, which will be synced with a user 's mobile device, is available for download on the website. It supports OS versions of Windows 8 and OS X 10.9 and higher. Technical WhatsApp uses a customized version of the open standard Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol ( XMPP ). Upon installation, it creates a user account using one 's phone number as the username ( Jabber ID : ( phone number ) @ s.whatsapp.net ). WhatsApp software automatically compares all the phone numbers from the device 's address book with its central database of WhatsApp users to automatically add contacts to the user 's WhatsApp contact list. Previously the Android and Nokia Series 40 versions used an MD5 - hashed, reversed - version of the phone 's IMEI as password, while the iOS version used the phone 's Wi - Fi MAC address instead of IMEI. A 2012 update now generates a random password on the server side. Some Dual SIM devices may not be compatible with WhatsApp, though there are some workarounds for this. In February 2015, WhatsApp introduced a voice calling feature ; this helped WhatsApp to attract a completely different segment of the user population. On November 14, 2016, Whatsapp added video calling feature for users across Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone devices. On the November of 2017, Whatsapp released a new feature that would let its users delete messages sent by mistake within a time frame of 7 minutes. Multimedia messages are sent by uploading the image, audio or video to be sent to an HTTP server and then sending a link to the content along with its Base64 encoded thumbnail ( if applicable ). WhatsApp follows a `` store and forward '' mechanism for exchanging messages between two users. When a user sends a message, it first travels to the WhatsApp server where it is stored. Then the server repeatedly requests the receiver acknowledge receipt of the message. As soon as the message is acknowledged, the server drops the message ; it is no longer available in the database of the server. The WhatsApp server keeps the message only for 30 days in its database when it is not delivered ( when the receiver is not active on WhatsApp for 30 days ). End - to - end encryption On November 18, 2014, Open Whisper Systems announced a partnership with WhatsApp to provide end - to - end encryption by incorporating the encryption protocol used in Signal into each WhatsApp client platform. Open Whisper Systems said that they had already incorporated the protocol into the latest WhatsApp client for Android, and that support for other clients, group / media messages, and key verification would be coming soon after. WhatsApp confirmed the partnership to reporters, but there was no announcement or documentation about the encryption feature on the official website, and further requests for comment were declined. In April 2015, German magazine Heise Security used ARP spoofing to confirm that the protocol had been implemented for Android - to - Android messages, and that WhatsApp messages from or to iPhones running iOS were still not end - to - end encrypted. They expressed the concern that regular WhatsApp users still could not tell the difference between end - to - end encrypted messages and regular messages. On April 5, 2016, WhatsApp and Open Whisper Systems announced that they had finished adding end - to - end encryption to `` every form of communication '' on WhatsApp, and that users could now verify each other 's keys. Users were also given the option to enable a trust on first use mechanism in order to be notified if a correspondent 's key changes. According to a white paper that was released along with the announcement, WhatsApp messages are encrypted with the Signal Protocol. WhatsApp calls are encrypted with SRTP, and all client - server communications are `` layered within a separate encrypted channel ''. The Signal Protocol library used by WhatsApp is open - source and published under the GPLv3 license. Cade Metz, writing in Wired, said `` WhatsApp, more than any company before it, has taken encryption to the masses. '' WhatsApp payments WhatsApp Payments is a peer to peer money transfer feature that is set to launch in India. WhatsApp has received permission from the National Payments Corporation of India ( NPCI ) to enter into partnership with multiple banks in July, 2017 to allow users to make in - app payments and money transfers using the Unified Payments Interface ( UPI ). UPI enables account - to - account transfers from a mobile app without having any details of the beneficiary 's bank. Reception and criticism Security and Privacy Main article : Reception and criticism of WhatsApp security and privacy features On January 13, 2017, The Guardian reported that security researcher Tobias Boelter had found that WhatsApp 's policy of forcing re-encryption of initially undelivered messages, without informing the recipient, constituted a serious loophole whereby WhatsApp could disclose, or be compelled to disclose, the content of these messages. WhatsApp and Open Whisper Systems officials disagreed with this assessment. A follow - up article by Boelter himself explains in greater detail what he considers to be the specific vulnerability. In June 2017, The Guardian readers ' editor Paul Chadwick wrote that `` The Guardian was wrong to report in January that the popular messaging service WhatsApp had a security flaw so serious that it was a huge threat to freedom of speech. '' `` In a detailed review I found that misinterpretations, mistakes and misunderstandings happened at several stages of the reporting and editing process. Cumulatively they produced an article that overstated its case. '' -- Paul Chadwick, The Guardian Chadwick also noted that since the Guardian article, WhatsApp has been `` better secured by the introduction of optional two - factor verification in February. '' Business model In response to the Facebook acquisition in 2014, Slate columnist Matthew Yglesias questioned whether the company 's business model of charging users $1 a year was viable in the United States in the long term. It had prospered by exploiting a `` loophole '' in mobile phone carriers ' pricing. `` Mobile phone operators are n't really selling consumers some voice service, some data service, and some SMS service '', he explained. `` They are selling access to the network. The different pricing schemes they come up with are just different ways of trying to maximize the value they extract from consumers. '' As part of that, carriers sold SMS separately. That made it easy for WhatsApp to find a way to replicate SMS using data, and then sell that to mobile customers for $1 a year. `` But if WhatsApp gets big enough, then carrier strategy is going to change '', he predicted. `` You stop selling separate SMS plans and just have a take - it - or - leave - it overall package. And then suddenly WhatsApp is n't doing anything. '' The situation may have been different in countries other than the United States. On January 18, 2016, WhatsApp 's founder Jan Koum announced that the service would no longer charge their users a $1 annual subscription fee in an effort to remove a barrier faced by some users who do not have a credit card to pay for the service. He also explained that the app would not display any third party advertisement and instead would bring new features such as the ability to communicate with business organizations. Terrorism In December 2015, it was reported that Islamic State terrorists had been using WhatsApp to plot the November 2015 Paris attacks. ISIL also uses WhatsApp to traffic sex slaves. In March 2017, U.K. Secretary of State Amber Rudd said encryption capabilities of messaging tools like WhatsApp are unacceptable, as news reported that Khalid Masood used the application several minutes before perpetrating the 2017 Westminster attack. Rudd publicly called for police and intelligence agencies to be given access to WhatsApp and other encrypted messaging services to prevent future terror attacks. In April 2017, the perpetrator of the Stockholm attack reportedly used WhatsApp to exchange messages with an ISIS supporter shortly before and after the 2017 Stockholm attack. The messages involved discussing how to make an explosive device and a confession of the perpetration the attack. Scams In May 2016, some WhatsApp users were reported to have been tricked into downloading a third - party application called WhatsApp Gold. The application was part of a scam that infected the users ' phones with malware. Another application called `` GB Whatsapp '' is also considered as a related scam. A message that promises to allow access to their WhatsApp friends ' conversations, or their contact lists, has become the most popular hit against anyone who uses the application in Brazil. Since December, 2016, more than 1.5 million people have clicked and lost money Bans China In September 2017, after a series of brief disruptions, security researchers reported to The New York Times that WhatsApp service had been completely blocked in China. Iran On May 9, 2014, the government of Iran announced that it had proposed to block the access to WhatsApp service to Iranian residents. `` The reason for this is the assumption of WhatsApp by the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is an American Zionist, '' said Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, head of the country 's Committee on Internet Crimes. Subsequently, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani issued an order to the Ministry of ICT to stop filtering WhatsApp. Turkey Turkey temporarily banned WhatsApp in 2016, following the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey. Brazil On December 17, 2015, mobile providers in Brazil were ordered to block WhatsApp for 48 hours. The ban was ordered for the service 's failure to cooperate with criminal court orders in July and August 2015. The following morning, however, a judge from the appeals court ordered that the ban be lifted for being an unreasonable response, recommending that the company be fined instead. Following the ban, but prior to its reversal, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg responded by stating that he was `` stunned that our efforts to protect people 's data would result in such an extreme decision by a single judge to punish every person in Brazil who uses WhatsApp. We hope the Brazilian courts quickly reverse course. '' The competing service Telegram reported that 1.5 million Brazilians had downloaded its app while the WhatsApp ban was in place. On March 1, 2016, Diego Dzodan, Facebook 's vice-president for Latin America was arrested in Brazil for not cooperating with an investigation in which WhatsApp conversations were requested. On March 2, 2016, at dawn the next day, Dzodan was released because the Court of Appeal held that the arrest was disproportionate and unreasonable. On May 2, 2016, mobile providers in Brazil were ordered to block WhatsApp for 72 hours for the service 's second failure to cooperate with criminal court orders. Once again, the block was lifted following an appeal, after nearly 24 hours. Sri Lanka WhatsApp, one of the most activated messaging apps along with other social media networks such as Facebook and Instagram were temporarily blocked, banned and had been unavailable for about two days ( 7 - 8 March 2018 ) in certain parts of the country to eradicate communal violences especially the anti-Muslim riots. This was probably the first such instance where social media platforms had been banned in Sri Lanka. The temporal ban was finally lifted on the 14th of March, 2018 around midnight time in Sri Lanka. User Statistics As of April 22, 2014, WhatsApp had over 500 million monthly active users, 700 million photos and 100 million videos were being shared daily, and the messaging system was handling more than 10 billion messages each day. On August 24, 2014, Koum announced on his Twitter account that WhatsApp had over 600 million active users worldwide. At that point WhatsApp was adding about 25 million new users every month, or 833,000 active users per day. With 65 million active users representing 10 % of the total worldwide users, India has the largest number of consumers. On May 2017, it was reported that whatsapp users have spend an average of 646 years on video calls which is approximately 340 million minutes of video calls everyday on the app. As of February 2017, WhatsApp has over 1.2 billion users globally. Israel is one of WhatsApp 's strongest markets in terms of penetration. According to Globes, already by 2013 the application was installed on 92 % of all smartphones, with 86 % of users reporting daily use. WhatsApp 's group chat feature is reportedly used by many Israeli families to stay in contact with each other. Users in India In May 2014, WhatsApp crossed 50 million monthly active users in India, which is also its largest country by the number of monthly active users. In October 2014, WhatsApp crossed 70 million monthly active users in India, which is 10 % of its total user base ( 700 MM ). In February 2017, WhatsApp crossed 200 million monthly active users in India. Competition WhatsApp competes with a number of Asian - based messaging services ( that as of 2014, were services like WeChat ( 468 million active users ), Viber ( 209 million active users ) and LINE ( 170 million active users ) ), WhatsApp handled ten billion messages per day in August 2012, growing from two billion in April 2012, and one billion the previous October. On June 13, 2013, WhatsApp announced that they had reached their new daily record by processing 27 billion messages. According to the Financial Times, WhatsApp `` has done to SMS on mobile phones what Skype did to international calling on landlines. 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The Wall Street Journal. pp. A1, A6. ^ Jump up to : `` Facebook to Acquire WhatsApp '' ( Press release ). February 19, 2014. Jump up ^ Constine, Josh ( 31 January 2018 ). `` WhatsApp hits 1.5 billion monthly users. $19 B ? Not so bad ''. TechCrunch. Retrieved 8 February 2018. Jump up ^ Leo Sun ( September 11, 2015 ). `` Facebook Inc. 's WhatsApp Hits 900 Million Users : What Now ? ''. The Motley Fool. Jump up ^ Levy, Ari ( 19 February 2014 ). `` Sequoia Said to Reap $3.5 Billion in Deal ''. Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 16 June 2016. Jump up ^ McBride, Sarah ( 21 February 2014 ). `` With WhatsApp deal, Sequoia Capital burnishes reputation ''. Reuters.com. Retrieved 16 June 2016. Jump up ^ Wauters, Robin. `` Sequoia Invests $8 Million In Messaging App Maker WhatsApp ''. TechCrunch.com. Retrieved 16 June 2016. Jump up ^ Jan Koum ( December 19, 2013 ). `` 400 Million Stories ''. WhatsApp Blog. WhatsApp. Retrieved January 17, 2014. 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Jump up ^ Nate Ralph ( April 18, 2015 ). `` WhatsApp touts 800M monthly active users ''. CNET. Retrieved April 20, 2015. Jump up ^ Guynn, Jessica ( September 4, 2015 ). `` Facebook 's WhatsApp hits 900 million users, aims for 1 billion ''. USA Today. ^ Jump up to : Statt, Nick ( February 1, 2016 ). `` WhatsApp has grown to 1 billion users ''. The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved April 6, 2016. ^ Jump up to : Natasha Lomas ( December 1, 2015 ). `` WhatsApp Is Blocking Links To Rival App Telegram On Android ''. TechCrunch. Retrieved December 7, 2015. ^ Jump up to : Russell Brandom ( November 30, 2015 ). `` WhatsApp is blocking links to a competing messenger app ''. The Verge. Retrieved December 7, 2015. ^ Jump up to : Martim Lobao ( December 1, 2015 ). `` ( Update : Smoking Gun ) WhatsApp Is Blocking Telegram Links In Its Android App ''. Android Police. Retrieved December 7, 2015. ^ Jump up to : `` Finally ! Whatsapp removes $1 annual subscription fee ''. Phonearena.com. Phone Arena. January 18, 2016. Jump up ^ Sarah Perez ( June 24, 2016 ). `` WhatsApp hits 100 million calls per day ''. TechCrunch. Retrieved June 24, 2016. Jump up ^ `` WhatsApp brings Two - step verification for Android ' beta ' users : How to enable ''. November 11, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2016. ^ Jump up to : Madhumita, Murgia ( May 18, 2017 ). `` Facebook fined € 110m by European Commission over WhatsApp deal ''. Financial Times. United Kingdom. Retrieved May 18, 2017. Jump up ^ `` WhatsApp Status : What is This New Snapchat - Like Feature ? ''. February 24, 2017. Jump up ^ `` KLM claims airline first with WhatsApp Business Platform ''. Jump up ^ Staff, Forbes ( October 26, 2017 ). `` Aeroméxico te atenderá por WhatsApp durante 2018 ''. Retrieved March 10, 2018. Jump up ^ Redacción ( October 27, 2017 ). `` Podrás hacer ' check in ' y consultar tu vuelo con Aeroméxico a través de WhatsApp ''. Retrieved March 10, 2018 -- via Huff Post. ^ Jump up to : `` Building for People, and Now Businesses ''. WhatsApp.com. Retrieved March 10, 2018. Jump up ^ `` WhatsApp launches a separate app for small businesses ''. The Verge. Retrieved 2018 - 01 - 19. Jump up ^ Burn - Callander, Rebecca ( March 10, 2018 ). `` WhatsApp : the secret weapon for small businesses ''. Retrieved March 10, 2018 -- via www.telegraph.co.uk. Jump up ^ Mitter, Sohini. `` WhatsApp might be testing a business feature in its biggest market ''. Retrieved March 10, 2018. Jump up ^ `` WhatsApp 's upcoming ' enterprise ' platform for businesses is already hidden in the app ''. Retrieved March 10, 2018. Jump up ^ Lin, Jave ( March 8, 2018 ). `` WhatsApp Business App : The Definitive Guide ( 2018 ) ''. Retrieved March 15, 2018. Jump up ^ Días, Ediciones Cinco ( September 1, 2015 ). `` MeteorDesk o cómo atender mejor al cliente a través de Whatsapp ''. Jump up ^ `` WhatsApp messenger for BlackBerry -- Free Download ''. GetSpool -- Jailbreak Tweaks, iOS News. Jump up ^ Ash ( April 9, 2015 ). `` ( Application ) NEW Native WhatsApp clients hits the Tizen Store, Goodbye ACL WhatsApp Messenger ''. Tizen Experts. Jump up ^ Cosmin Vasile ( November 8, 2012 ). `` Download Wazapp 0.9. 12 for Nokia N9 ''. softpedia. Jump up ^ Mike Bowen. `` Yappari v0. 0.28. is Whatsapp on my Nokia N900 ''. My Nokia N900. Jump up ^ `` Whatsapp update adds support for Android Wear smartwatches ''. theinquirer.net. Jump up ^ `` WhatsApp for Pidgin ''. gosell.it. Jump up ^ `` WhatsApp Web ''. WhatsApp Blog. WhatsApp. January 21, 2015. Jump up ^ `` WhatsApp support for mobile devices ''. WhatsApp Blog. WhatsApp. 26 February 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016. Jump up ^ `` WhatsApp support for mobile devices ''. WhatsApp Blog. WhatsApp. Jump up ^ `` WhatsApp extends Nokia S40, BlackBerry support till end of 2017, drops Symbian support ''. June 16, 2017. 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TechCrunch. Retrieved 9 October 2017. Jump up ^ `` Whatsapp Video Calling '' ( blog ). Retrieved Nov 18, 2016. Jump up ^ `` Whatsapp Video Calling '' ( News ). Retrieved Nov 18, 2016. Jump up ^ `` WhatsApp Now Lets You Delete Messages Sent by Mistake ''. Smatt Geeks Media. 2017 - 11 - 01. Retrieved 2018 - 03 - 08. Jump up ^ Team Venomous ( venomous0x ) ( November 28, 2012 ) ( May 29, 2012 ). `` WhatsAPI / README.md '' ( blog ). GitHub. Retrieved January 29, 2013. Jump up ^ Gaurav Rathee ( June 25, 2015 ) ( June 25, 2015 ). `` How WhatsApp Works '' ( blog ). Retrieved June 25, 2015. Jump up ^ Jon Evans ( November 18, 2014 ). `` WhatsApp Partners With Open WhisperSystems To End - To - End Encrypt Billions Of Messages A Day ''. TechCrunch. Retrieved November 19, 2014. Jump up ^ `` Open Whisper Systems partners with WhatsApp to provide end - to - end encryption ''. Open Whisper Systems. November 18, 2014. Retrieved November 18, 2014. Jump up ^ `` Facebook 's messaging service WhatsApp gets a security boost ''. Forbes. November 18, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2014. ^ Jump up to : `` Keeping Tabs on WhatsApp 's Encryption ''. Heise Security. April 30, 2015. Retrieved April 30, 2015. Jump up ^ Lomas, Natasha ( April 5, 2016 ). `` WhatsApp completes end - to - end encryption rollout ''. TechCrunch. AOL Inc. Retrieved April 5, 2016. Jump up ^ Budington, Bill ( April 7, 2016 ). `` WhatsApp Rolls Out End - To - End Encryption to its Over One Billion Users ''. Deeplinks Blog. Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved April 21, 2016. ^ Jump up to : `` WhatsApp Encryption Overview -- Technical white paper '' ( PDF ). WhatsApp Inc. April 4, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2016. Jump up ^ Open Whisper Systems. `` libsignal - protocol - java ''. GitHub. Retrieved April 6, 2016. Jump up ^ `` WhatsApp gets nod for UPI payments through multi bank partnerships - Times of India ''. The Times of India. Retrieved 2017 - 07 - 11. Jump up ^ `` WhatsApp gets nod for UPI payments - Times of India ''. The Times of India. Retrieved 2017 - 07 - 11. Jump up ^ Russell, Jon. `` WhatsApp will reportedly launch peer - to - peer payments in India within 6 months TechCrunch ''. Retrieved 2017 - 07 - 11. Jump up ^ Manisha, Ganguly ( 13 January 2017 ). `` WhatsApp vulnerability allows snooping on encrypted messages ''. The Guardian. Retrieved 21 February 2017. Jump up ^ Dan, Goodin ( 13 January 2017 ). `` Reported `` backdoor '' in WhatsApp is in fact a feature, defenders say ``. Ars Technica. Retrieved 21 February 2017. WhatsApp does not give governments a `` backdoor '' into its systems and would fight any government request to create a backdoor. The design decision referenced in the Guardian story prevents millions of messages from being lost, and WhatsApp offers people security notifications to alert them to potential security risks. WhatsApp published a technical white paper on its encryption design and has been transparent about the government requests it receives, publishing data about those requests in the Facebook Government Requests Report. Jump up ^ `` There is no WhatsApp ' backdoor ' ''. OWS Blog. January 13, 2017. Retrieved January 15, 2017. Jump up ^ `` WhatsApp vulnerability explained : by the man who discovered it ''. The Guardian. 16 January 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2017. ^ Jump up to : Chadwick, Paul ( 28 June 2017 ). `` Flawed reporting about WhatsApp ''. The Guardian. Retrieved 6 October 2017. ^ Jump up to : Yglesias, Matthew ( February 19, 2014 ). `` What 's the WhatsApp Endgame ? ''. Slate. Retrieved February 22, 2014. Jump up ^ Perez, Evan ; Prokupecz, Shimon ( December 17, 2015 ). `` First on CNN : Paris attackers likely used encrypted apps, officials say ''. Retrieved March 27, 2017. Jump up ^ `` Isis is using Whatsapp to sell 12 year old sex slaves alongside kittens ''. July 7, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2018. Jump up ^ Sparrow, Andrew ( March 26, 2017 ). `` WhatsApp must be accessible to authorities, says Amber Rudd ''. The Guardian. Retrieved March 27, 2017. Jump up ^ Osborne, Samuel ( April 10, 2017 ). `` Stockholm suspect Rakhmat Akilov ' exchanged Whatsapp messages with Isis supporter before and after attack ' ''. Independent. Retrieved April 10, 2017. ^ Jump up to : Bolton, Doug ( 24 May 2016 ). `` WhatsApp Gold : Scammers trick mobile phone users into downloading malware ''. The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 8 August 2016. Jump up ^ Novo golpe de Whatsapp atinge 1, 5 milhão de vítimas em 3 meses by Eduardo F. Filho ( 2017 ) Jump up ^ Mozur, Paul ( July 18, 2017 ). `` China Disrupts WhatsApp Service in Online Clampdown ''. The New York Times. Jump up ^ Bradsher, Keith ( 2017 - 09 - 25 ). `` China Blocks WhatsApp, Broadening Online Censorship ''. The New York Times. ISSN 0362 - 4331. Retrieved 2017 - 09 - 25. Jump up ^ `` President Hassan Rouhani issued order to ' hold WhatsApp service filteration ' ''. BBC Persian. Retrieved May 27, 2014. Jump up ^ Daftari, Lisa ( May 4, 2014 ). `` Iran bans WhatsApp because of link to ' American Zionist ' Mark Zuckerberg ''. Fox News. Retrieved May 13, 2014. Jump up ^ McGoogan, Cara ( December 20, 2016 ). `` Turkey blocks access to Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp following ambassador 's assassination ''. Retrieved March 10, 2018 -- via www.telegraph.co.uk. Jump up ^ `` Brazilian Judge Lifts Ban on Facebook 's WhatsApp ''. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 17, 2015. Jump up ^ `` WhatsApp blocked in Brazil for 48 hours by court ''. The Guardian. Retrieved December 17, 2015. Jump up ^ `` PF prende executivo do Facebook por empresa não liberar dados do WhatsApp '' ( in Portuguese ). Folha de São Paulo. March 1, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2016. Jump up ^ `` ' Felizes ', diz Facebook sobre soltura de vice-presidente preso em SP ''. March 2, 2016. Jump up ^ `` Brazilian Judge Puts Temporary Ban on WhatsApp ''. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2 May 2016. Jump up ^ `` WhatsApp Ordered Blocked Again in Brazil Over Data Dispute ''. Bloomberg. Retrieved 2 May 2016. Jump up ^ `` Brazilian appellate judge rescinds WhatsApp block ''. Ars Technica. Retrieved 4 May 2016. Jump up ^ `` Social media platforms currently banned in Sri Lanka ''. quartz. Retrieved 8 March 2018. Jump up ^ `` Ban on social medias including WhatsApp to be removed around 14 March, 2018 in Sri Lanka ''. Lankabusinessonline. Retrieved 21 March 2018. Jump up ^ `` WhatsApp crosses half - a-billion user mark ; strong growth in India and Brazil ''. The Indian Express. April 23, 2014. Jump up ^ Amit Chowdhry, `` WhatsApp Hits 500 Million Users '', Forbes, retrieved May 14, 2014 Jump up ^ Christian de Looper ( September 6, 2014 ). `` WhatsApp to reach 3 billion users, Zuckerberg to invest billions ''. Daily Digest News. Retrieved September 7, 2014. Jump up ^ Jayadevan PK ( October 3, 2014 ). `` Google planning to launch own mobile messaging app similar to WhatsApp ''. The Economic Times. Retrieved October 3, 2014. Jump up ^ `` Whatsapp users spend an average of 646 years on video calls ''. Smatt Geeks Media. 2017 - 05 - 09. Retrieved 2018 - 03 - 08. Jump up ^ Statt, Nick ( 2016 - 02 - 01 ). `` WhatsApp has grown to 1 billion users ''. The Verge. Retrieved 2016 - 05 - 23. Jump up ^ Tzahi Hoffman ( November 14, 2013 ). `` 92 % מבעלי הסמארטפונים בישראל משתמשים בוואטסאפ '' ( 92 % of Israel 's smartphones use WhatsApp ). Globes ( in Hebrew ). Jump up ^ Nurit Canetti ( March 19, 2015 ). `` Israel 's cellphone addiction ''. Al - Monitor. Jump up ^ Rajat Agrawal. `` WhatsApp crosses 50 million monthly active users in India, ties up with Airtel for special data plans ''. Retrieved May 11, 2014. Jump up ^ PTI News. `` WhatsApp user - base crosses 70 million in India ''. Retrieved November 3, 2014. Jump up ^ `` WhatsApp user - base crosses 200 million in India ''. Retrieved March 2, 2017. Jump up ^ Corbin, David ( November 5, 2014 ). `` Surprise ! Viber surpasses Line in monthly active users ''. Jump up ^ Horwitz, Josh ( October 9, 2014 ). `` Line finally reveals it has 170 million monthly active users ''. Jump up ^ Olanof, Drew ( August 23, 2012 ). `` WhatsApp hits new record with 10 billion total messages in one day ''. The Next Web. Retrieved January 29, 2013. Jump up ^ Sushma, Parab ( April 4, 2012 ). `` WhatsApp founder to operators : ' We 're no SMS - killer, we get people hooked on data ' ''. The Next Web. Retrieved January 29, 2013. Jump up ^ Olanoff, Drew ( October 31, 2011 ). `` WhatsApp users now send over one billion messages a day ''. TheNextWeb. Retrieved January 29, 2013. Jump up ^ WhatsApp, 27 Billion msgs handled in just 24 hours ! ( μblog ), Tweeter, New daily record : 10B+ msgs sent ( inbound ) and 17B+ msgs received ( outbound ) by our users Jump up ^ Bradshaw, Tim ( November 14, 2011 ). `` WhatsApp users get the message ''. The Financial Times. London. Retrieved January 29, 2013. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to WhatsApp. Official website Facebook Website Features Beacon Bluetooth Beacon Credits EdgeRank Graph Search Instant Articles Like button Live facebookcorewwwi. onion Platform Safety Check Stories Watch ( List of original programs ) Zero Other products Current Atlas Solutions Express Wi - Fi Free Basics Instagram Hyperlapse List of most liked pictures Messenger MSQRD Oculus Rift Onavo tbh WhatsApp Workplace Former Camera FriendFeed Home HTC First M ( virtual assistant ) Paper Poke ( app ) Riff Slingshot Wirehog People Founders Mark Zuckerberg ( 28 % equity ) Dustin Moskovitz ( 7 % ) Eduardo Saverin ( 5 %, formerly ) Chris Hughes ( 1 %, formerly ) Andrew McCollum Board Mark Zuckerberg Jim Breyer ( 11 % ) Peter Thiel ( 2 % ) Sheryl Sandberg Marc Andreessen Erskine Bowles Susan Desmond - Hellmann Donald E. Graham Reed Hastings Executive officers Current Mark Zuckerberg ( Chairman and CEO ) Sheryl Sandberg ( COO ) David Wehner ( CFO ) Mike Schroepfer ( CTO ) Former Sean Parker ( 4 %, formerly ) Owen Van Natta Gideon Yu Adam D'Angelo Chris Kelly Bret Taylor David Ebersman Notable employees Current Chris Cox ( VP of Product ) Elliot Schrage ( VP of Global Communications, Marketing and Public Policy ) Lars Rasmussen ( Graph Search director ) John Carmack ( CTO of Oculus VR ) Hugo Barra ( VP of Oculus VR ) Naomi Gleit ( VP of social good ) Caryn Marooney ( VP of Communications ) Former Blake Ross ( Director of Product ) Ted Ullyot ( VP, General Counsel, and Secretary ) Matt Cohler Charlie Cheever Randi Zuckerberg Yishan Wong George Hotz Joe Lockhart Andrei Alexandrescu ( research scientist ) Open source Apache Cassandra Apache Hive Apache Thrift Buck FQL Hack HHVM HipHop for PHP MyRocks Open Compute Project Phabricator React RocksDB Scribe Tornado ( web server ) Mass media The Facebook Effect The Accidental Billionaires The Social Network Concepts Activity stream Social graph Friending and following Reblogging Fan - gating Facebook diplomacy Facebook like button Business History Timeline Acquisitions f8 conference IPO Censorship Criticism Cambridge Analytica data scandal Litigation Divisions Facebook AI Research Facebook Creative Labs Related Priscilla Chan ( wife of Mark Zuckerberg ) Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Aquila Internet relay drone Willow Village Instant messaging Protocols ( comparison ) Open IMPP IRC Matrix MTProto RetroShare Signal Protocol SIP MSRP SIMPLE Tox XMPP Jingle WFP Zephyr DDP Closed MSNP OSCAR TOC Skype YMSG Services AIM BAND BlackBerry Messenger Discord Facebook Messenger Google Allo Google Hangouts Google Talk GroupMe Hike Messenger HipChat ICQ iGap iMessage IRC Networks KakaoTalk Kik Libon Line Marco Polo Microsoft Messenger service Nimbuzz ooVoo Palringo Signal Skype Skype Qik Slack Snapchat SNOW Tango Telegram QQ Threema Tox Trillian Upptalk Veon Viber WeChat WhatsApp Wickr Windows Messenger service Yahoo ! 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Question: who is the founder of what's app
Answer: Brian Acton