This reveals new statistics from MessengerPeople, who have used Facebook numbers and various studies to calculate how many people use messenger services. Nowadays, users have significantly more demands on the messengers used than how it was a few years ago. In ICQ and MSN times, there were very few privacy concerns. Then new services were viewed less critically and formed the cornerstone for today’s generation of messengers. Almost all messengers that can be found in the top 10 can be used with both Android and iOS systems. An exception is the third place, the Apple exclusive service iMessage.
10. Slack / Viber
With more than 200 million users each, Slack and Viber share tenth place. Slack is mainly used for business communication in work groups and is structured like a classic chat program with open conversations taking place in channels. Within the channels, individual messages in a thread can be replied to and reacted with emojis.
Viber has become known for its IP telephony and instant messaging. It offers the possibility of starting outgoing calls from the Internet to the fixed and mobile network. When it comes to data protection and the lack of transparency, Messenger is criticized because Viber collects significantly more data from users and non-users than its direct competitor Skype.
9. Discord
Gamers also have their own social interaction platform. Almost 19 million gamers use Discord every day. Every user can create their own server in Discord free of charge, appoint moderators and structure their channel with additional voice and write channels. Discord is the program today when it comes to communication in and around games.
8. Signal
Signal is a messenger with increasing millions of users. The messenger is known for its data economy and end-to-end encryption and is often an insider tip from security experts and data protection organizations. Like Telegram, Signal is often used for surveillance-free communication in countries that are considered to be corrupt due to the capital security aspect.
7. Threema
Threema was developed with the idea of protecting the data of users as best as possible. So the service can be used without a mobile phone number and without uploading the phone book. This makes Threema very suitable for the business sector, since according to the GDPR no applications for business communication that read out and store certain data may be used. But the service is apparently also used in private: Although Threema is chargeable, the messenger is used by 6 million people every day.
6. Snapchat
Although Snapchat has been available since 2011, it was known to only a few people in general for a long time. After more and more influencers had turned to the platforms in recent years, Snapchat can now record 210 million users per day. The free instant messaging service enables its users to share photos and media that are only available to the recipient for a limited time. Snapchat made headlines with crazy filters that turn a bearded guy into a pretty lady.
5. Telegram
In Telegram is a synchronized Cloud Messenger, the videos, photos and chat messages stored in the cloud. The infrastructure makes Telegram particularly secure and fast. The developers advertise the free messenger with permanent freedom of advertising and no subscription fees. More and more users appreciate this, so Telegram had 370 million users in November 2019.
4. Skype
When it comes to internet calls and video chats with private and business contacts, many people think of Skype first. The high level of awareness and the possibility of using it in the browser and as a Windows app gives the messenger from Microsoft a whopping 960 million users.
3. iMessage (Apple exclusive)
Apple’s own free messenger comes in third place with 1 billion users from around the world. If you value privacy and use the iOS operating system, iMessages is a good alternative to WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Finally, Apple is promoting its own product with references to its security and privacy efforts. Even in the past, the company has not been noticed negatively in dealing with customer data.
2. Facebook Messenger
Although Facebook has already been banned from some smartphones – the messenger remains. 1.3 billion users who use Facebook Messenger, correspond to almost 20 billion messages sent every day. Facebook angered its users in 2014 when Messenger was disconnected from the social network. However, a number of functions have been added to the service since then, which made it increasingly user-friendly.
1. WhatsApp
Measured by the number of users, WhatsApp is the most popular messenger among people. With 2 billion active users, WhatsApp secures first place by far, and it has been part of Facebook Inc. since 2014. The app gained popularity quite fast, due to its easy to use features and friendly interface.
Conclusion
Humans are meant to socialize and modern technology helps quite a lot with this matter. You can meet people from all around the globe and keep in touch with them by simply accessing an app. Some apps even offer games to play with the other one while chatting, of course you can’t play video games or online casino games while you’re chatting through an app. However, the best form of socialization is talking face to face, you can share a good laugh with your friends and make some incredible memories.