This allows users to send messages between other messaging apps and WhatsApp while maintaining end-to-end Starzbet encryption. The company also reported that Windows Phone operating systems would no longer be supported after December 31, 2019. WhatsApp was announced to be the 3rd most downloaded mobile phone app of the decade 2010–2019.
He also said that the app would not display any third-party ads, and that it would have new features such as the ability to communicate with businesses. At the time, it was the largest acquisition of a venture-capital-backed company in history. Sequoia Capital received an approximate 5,000% return on its initial investment. Days after the announcement, WhatsApp users experienced a loss of service, leading to anger across social media. In 2016, WhatsApp was accused of copying features from a then-unreleased version of iMessage.
In July 2025, WhatsApp stopped developing the Windows UWP-based app due to poor support and deprecation of the UWP framework by Microsoft. In 2023, WhatsApp replaced the Electron-based apps with native versions for their respective platforms. As of 2025, the software requires at least Android version 5.0 or iOS version 15.1 respectively. WhatsApp also introduced chat filters, allowing users to sort their chats by All, Unread or Groups. This was implemented only on Samsung phones, with plans to expand to Android and iOS “soon”.
MAJOR UPDATE
This would give them some context for why they are important, and that will lead them to pay for more services like this – or so the hope goes. By February 2013, WhatsApp had about 200 million active users and 50 staff members. 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.
Real time traffic updates
Visual effects also became available, adding visual filters to a user’s video feed. In December 2023, WhatsApp’s “View Once” feature expanded to include voice messages. In August 2022, WhatsApp launched an integration with JioMart, available only to users in India.
{
- In January 2021, WhatsApp announced a controversial new privacy policy allowing WhatsApp to share data with its parent company, Facebook.
- On June 13, 2013, WhatsApp announced that they had reached their new daily record by processing 27 billion messages.
- This would give them some context for why they are important, and that will lead them to pay for more services like this – or so the hope goes.
- Both airlines had previously launched customer services on the Facebook Messenger platform.
- The company also announced plans to implement reactions, the ability for administrators to delete messages in groups and voice calls up to 32 participants.
- A month earlier, after Koum purchased an iPhone, he and Acton decided to create an app for the App Store.
{
|}
{
|}
{
|}
|}
Voice and video calling and notes
End-to-end encryption was only fully implemented in April 2016 after a two-year process. According to a white paper that was released along with the announcement, WhatsApp messages are encrypted with the Signal Protocol. The company also announced plans to implement reactions, the ability for administrators to delete messages in groups and voice calls up to 32 participants.
Google Maps Blog
The new privacy policy would not apply within the EU, as it is illegal under the GDPR. There were a series of incidents between 2017 and 2020, after which WhatsApp announced changes for Indian users of the platform that labels forwarded messages as such. In February 2015, WhatsApp implemented voice calling, which helped WhatsApp to attract a different segment of the user population. On November 14, 2016, WhatsApp added video calling for users using Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone devices. This ability (named multi-device support) began testing in July 2021 and rolled out to all users in April 2023. They link to and sync with WhatsApp actively running on a supported primary phone.
Version 25.33.73
In April 2018, WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum announced he would be leaving the company. Once again, the block was lifted following an appeal, after less than 24 hours. On May 9, 2014, the government of Iran announced that it had proposed to block the access to WhatsApp service to Iranian residents.
{
Messenger Plus for WhatsApp
|}
- In December 2023, WhatsApp’s “View Once” feature expanded to include voice messages.
- The desktop version was first only available to Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone users.
- The messages involved discussing how to make an explosive device and a confession to the attack.
- In May 2019, WhatsApp was attacked by hackers who installed spyware on a number of victims’ smartphones.
- When a user deletes media for everyone, WhatsApp does not delete images saved in the iOS camera roll and so those users are able to keep the images.
- 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.
{
|}{
|}
{
|}
At that point WhatsApp was adding about 25 million new users every month, or 833,000 active users per day. The organization reported a massive drop-off in traffic for the blocked services, though the country’s government made no official statements about the block. In May 2019, WhatsApp was attacked by hackers who installed spyware on a number of victims’ smartphones. A Wired report noted the attack was able to inject malware via calls to the targeted phone, even if the user did not answer the call.
{
New voice message update is exactly what I needed!
|}
- There were a series of incidents between 2017 and 2020, after which WhatsApp announced changes for Indian users of the platform that labels forwarded messages as such.
- In 2022, WhatsApp added the ability for users to turn off their online status.
- This new encryption feature added an additional layer of protection to chat backups stored either on Apple iCloud or Google Drive.
- The new privacy policy would not apply within the EU, as it is illegal under the GDPR.
- It became the world’s most popular messaging application in 2015, with 900 million users, and had more than 2 billion active users worldwide in February 2020.
- Both Telegram and Signal in particular were reported to get registration spikes during WhatsApp outages and controversies.
{
|}
{
|}{
|}
Since then, linked devices support has expanded and more information is written in the Platform Support part of this article. In October 2020, WhatsApp rolled out a feature allowing users to mute both individuals and group chats forever. 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. On February 24, 2017, WhatsApp launched a new Status feature similar to Snapchat and Facebook stories. The Cloud API enables businesses to integrate WhatsApp with other software, have a central WhatsApp account for multiple users and implement advanced automation.