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Original author(s) | Brian Acton, Jan Koum | ||||||||
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Developer(s) | Meta Platforms, Will Cathcart (Head of WhatsApp)[1][2] | ||||||||
Initial release | February 2009 | ||||||||
Stable release(s) [±] | |||||||||
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Preview release(s) [±] | |||||||||
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Written in | Erlang[8] | ||||||||
Operating system | 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.) | ||||||||
Size | 183.7 MB (iOS)[9] 48.02 MB (Android)[10] | ||||||||
Available in | 40 (iOS) and 60 (Android)[11] languages | ||||||||
Type | Instant messaging, VoIP | ||||||||
License | Proprietary software with EULA "European Region"[12] "others"[13] | ||||||||
Website | whatsapp![]() |
This article is part of a series about |
Meta Platforms |
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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]
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]