Market Share of Messaging Apps by Country

The top three messaging apps worldwide are WhatsApp, WeChat, and Messenger (Meta), representing 4.24 billion users. This number looks huge enough to cover all internet users. Still, one must consider that many users install multiple messaging apps at a time. Also, WeChat has a concentrated user base in China, unlike the widespread use of WhatsApp and FB Messenger in many countries.

This article will focus on the market share of messaging apps by the country. It will also discuss the underlying trends in messaging app use and briefly glimpse some planned and existing regulations covering this industry. Let’s start.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• WhatsApp, WeChat, and Messenger (Meta) lead globally, but regional preferences shape user bases.
• With over 2 billion monthly users, WhatsApp remains the top messaging app worldwide, notably in India, Brazil, the US, Indonesia, and Mexico.
• WeChat, primarily concentrated in China, has a significant user base in various countries, offering diverse services beyond messaging.
• Despite Facebook’s massive user base, Messenger lags behind WhatsApp but dominates in 74 countries, particularly the US.
• Telegram’s privacy features attract users globally, especially in India and Russia, gaining popularity amid privacy concerns faced by competitors.

Most Popular Messaging Apps in the World in 2023

The most popular messaging apps worldwide are WhatsApp, WeChat, Messenger (Meta), Telegram, Snapchat, Viber, and LINE. The other messaging apps with a considerable number of users are the following:

• Kakaotalk – with 53 million monthly active users (MAU) as of 2021 but concentrated in South Korea.
• iMessage – a pre-installed messaging application for Apple devices with 1.3 billion users as of 2021. How many use it as a primary messaging app is unknown.
• Signal – a privacy-focused messaging app with 40 million active users in 2021.

As for the top messaging apps on this list, we based the selection on the following criteria:

• Monthly active users (MAU)
• Daily active users (MAU)
• Downloads
• Number of countries as a top messaging app.

The table below shows an overall comparison of all the top messaging apps in the world.

Sources: Statista, KyodoNews, UseSignHouse

You may wonder why iMessage isn’t included as one of the top messaging apps. While it surpasses most messaging apps regarding the number of users, its widespread use as a primary messaging app is unknown. Also, as a pre-installed application for Apple devices, there is no way to compare it with the other apps regarding the number of downloads.

WhatsApp remains the number one messaging app globally, with over 2 billion monthly active users as of 2023, followed by WeChat with 1.3 billion and Messenger (Meta) with 931 million.

The following infographic shows each messaging app’s popularity by country. Overall, Messenger is the top messaging in 63 countries, followed by WhatsApp in 63 countries and LINE in 3 countries.

Top 7 Popular Messaging Apps in the World in 2023

A survey from Statista projected the number of messaging app users to be 3.32 billion in 2023, far less than the total number of users of the top 3 messaging apps worldwide. 

It is common for users to install multiple messaging apps on their devices, with each app often serving a different purpose (sometimes with a different contact list). Despite this standard practice, some messaging apps performed better than others in serving as the “primary” messaging app.

This section presents the top 7 popular messaging apps worldwide and how each dominated their respective markets.

WhatsApp – The First True Messaging App

WhatsApp remains the undisputed number-one messaging app worldwide, with 2 billion active users and topping its competitors in 63 countries. It stood the test of time as the first messaging app to use an internet connection instead of cellular networks for sending messages and calls – the first actual messaging app in the modern-day world of smartphones.

This messaging app has a solid user base in India (535.76 million), followed by Brazil (139.34 million), the US (91.31 million), Indonesia (86.87 million), and Mexico (69.69) as of 2023. In terms of global use, WhatsApp’s popularity spread through almost all of the continents, as shown in the map infographic in the previous section.

Since 2017, India has remained WhatsApp’s largest market base, with users increasing yearly and an optimistic prediction for 2025. This growth performance is closely related to the country’s “Digital India” campaign launched in 2015, paving the way for developing a massive internet infrastructure.

India also started to digitize government services with WhatsApp’s help by integrating Digilocker and the app’s MyGov Helpdesk. This integration is a massive step toward Meta’s goal of making WhatsApp the “WeChat of India.”

WeChat – The Number One Social Network in China

Contrary to what many people may believe, the Chinese government does not own WeChat. Tencent, a private company responsible for multiple social media networks in China and many other countries, owns WeChat.

At first glance, WeChat seems exclusive to China, given that the “Great Firewall” prohibits many Western social media sites from operating. However, as shown in the table below, WeChat also has a significant user base worldwide.

Source: World Population Review

WeChat started in 2011, immediately garnering 50 million users before the end of the year. The number of users consistently increased year-on-year until reaching the massive 1.3 billion MAU as of June 2023.

As mentioned, WeChat is not government-owned, but the app offers various services, including government and private transactions, such as:

• Food and grocery orders
• Booking appointments
• Utility bill payments
• Job search
• Visa applications

As of 2022 and 2023, Alipay HK and WeChat Pay HK accumulated 5 million users each, or approximately 67% of Hong Kong residents. WeChat has over 4.3 million mini-programs for 200 categories ranging from eCommerce to travel and recreation.

Messenger (Meta) – The Messaging App of the Number One Social Network

Facebook, the biggest social network globally with 2.9 billion monthly active users, comes with an equally popular messaging app, Messenger (Meta). Curiously, WhatsApp still tops Messenger in terms of number of users.

This phenomenon is not that hard to understand. About 80% of internet users own a smartphone, and Facebook mobile users can use Messenger as their primary messaging app.

Still, Messenger is the top messaging app in 74 countries and is currently the most popular in the US, with around 82% of messaging app users.

Messenger’s growth is still closely tied to Facebook, but this may also change in the future. This messaging app is gradually becoming more and more standalone as Meta has started to allow users to deactivate their Facebook profile while keeping their Messenger account.

Telegram – The Most Popular Privacy-Focused Messaging App

Telegram is a privacy-focused messaging app offering end-to-end encryption, just like WhatsApp. Because of how Telegram established its reputation, this messaging app tends to substantially increase its user base whenever its competitors face privacy scandals.

As of January 2023, Telegram reached 700 million monthly active users and is one of the top messaging apps in 10 countries.

India has the most Telegram users, but this messaging app is currently the second most popular in Russia. Telegram was once blocked by the Russian government in 2018 when it refused to adhere to the Yarovaya Law, which requires telecom and online messaging services to store their users’ voice and message traffic for six months and be open for government scrutiny.

The table below shows the number of Telegram downloads in 2022 in selected countries, including India, Russia, and the US.

Source: World Population Review

The ban was lifted in 2020 when Telegram agreed to help with “extremism investigations.” In 2022, the Russian government banned Facebook and Instagram while branding Meta as an “extremist organization.” WhatsApp remains operational despite being a Meta-owned service. Still, it faced a severe decline in traffic – down to 32% in March 2022 from 48% in February. On the other hand, Telegram’s traffic share in Russia increased from 48% in February 2022 to 63% in March. 

Snapchat – The Social Media Messaging App

Snapchat is a special messaging app with many social media elements – much like Facebook and Instagram. It has many monthly active users and is especially popular with the younger generation (ages 13 to 34).

The table below shows the leading countries with the most Snapchat users as of April 2023.

Snapchat may not be the most popular messaging in most countries. However, it still has many users in India and the United States. Also, Snapchat’s penetration rate tops many countries. However, it is still far behind its competitors regarding monthly and daily active users.

It must also be noted that Snapchat was once the king of “Stories,” the feature that lets users share a series of media (photos, short videos, etc.) visible for a specific time (usually a day). Snapchat experienced a major drop in its growth when Instagram adopted the Story feature in 2016.

Aside from Stories, competitors adopted Snapchat’s other popular features, such as AR (augmented reality) filters, self-destructive messages, and animated avatars. Telegram recently launched its version of Stories, though it is only available to “freemium” users.

Viber – The VoIP and Instant Messaging App Combo

Viber has over a billion registered accounts with 250 million monthly active users. This messaging app also presents itself as “safe and secure,” using end-to-end encryption by default.

Viber is a top competitor in large markets like Russia, Ukraine, and the Philippines. It is also a great alternative for mostly privacy-conscious users and those who need VoIP service through the convenience of their smartphones.

Source: Similarweb

In Ukraine, Viber is wrestling with Telegram and Signal in popularity. Also, Viber became the most popular messaging app for Android users in 2021, with 98% of reach, followed by Telegram with 86%.

LINE – Japan’s Top Messaging App

LINE is Japan’s “Super App,” much like China’s WeChat and South Korea’s KakaoTalk. Imagine all the social media, shopping, and entertainment websites in one app – that is how LINE places itself in the lives of Japanese people now.

Japan is home to half of LINE’s regular users, but this app is also doing well in other countries such as Thailand and Taiwan. 

Source: MarketSplash

LINE presents many opportunities for companies to advertise their brands, especially in Japan, where most of its features, such as LINE Today, LINE Pay, Line Games, and more, are in full force. No wonder LINE continues to have a positive yearly increase in Japanese users.

This steadiness is only in the Japanese market. LINE’s global annual user number also suffered a few setbacks in recent years, mainly due to the fierce competition in markets outside of Japan.

Popular Messaging Apps Market Share by the Country

There are 5.16 billion internet users worldwide, and most web traffic today comes from mobile devices. In fact, 96.6% of internet users aged 16 to 64 own a mobile device. It follows that smartphones are the primary home of messaging apps.

The prevalence of messaging app use in most countries is also closely related to the population’s smartphone connectivity. This is why most messaging apps are optimized for smartphone use. 

The following are the most popular messaging apps’ number of users and market share compared to the total number of internet and social media users in each country.

United States

Here are the popular messaging apps’ share of internet users aged 18 to 64 in the US as of June 2023:

• FB Messenger – 82%
• FaceTime – 36%
• iMessage – 29%
• WhatsApp – 29%
• Zoom – 21%
• Google Chat/Meet – 16%
• Discord – 14%
• Telegram – 13%
• Skype – 12%
• Microsoft Teams – 10%
• Textnow – 10%
• Kik – 5%
• WeChat – 5%
• LINE – 4%
• Signal – 4%
• Slack – 3%
• Viber – 3%
• Other – 16%

India

Here are the popular messaging apps’ share of internet users aged 18 to 54 in India as of June 2023:

• WhatsApp – 89%
• FB Messenger – 58%
• Telegram – 46%
• Zoom – 37%
• Google Chat/Meet – 33%
• Skype – 21%
• Discord – 16%
• Microsoft Teams – 15%
• Jiochat – 14%
• FaceTime – 13%
• iMessage – 12%
• Indian Messenger – 11%
• Hike – 9%
• Signal – 7%
• LINE – 6%
• Viber – 5%
• Slack – 4%
• Other – 20%

China

Here are the popular social media platforms and messaging apps’ share of internet users aged 16 to 64 in China as of January 2023:

• WeChat – 81.6%
• Douyin – 72.3%
• QQ – 61.6%
• Baidu Tieba – 57.6%W
• XiaoHongShu – 49.5%
• Sina Weibo – 49.3%
• SFA – 47.9%
• Qzone – 31.8%
• Meipai – 23%
• Douyin Huoshan – 22.4%
• iMessage – 18.6%
• Facebook – 14.9
• Inke – 13.9%
• Twitter – 13.5%
• LINE – 11%

United Kingdom

Here are the popular messaging apps’ share of internet users aged 16 to 64 in the United Kingdom as of January 2023:

• WhatsApp – 73.4%
• FB Messenger – 55.3%
• iMessage – 33.5%
• Snapchat – 29.5%
• Skype – 15.1%
• Telegram – 10.6%
• Discord – 10.2

Source: Meltwater

Russia

Here are the popular messaging apps’ share of internet users aged 16 to 64 in Russia as of the 3rd quarter of 2023:

• WhatsApp – 71.5%
• Telegram – 64.4%
• Viber – 34.7%
• Skype – 11.7%
• Discord – 8.2%
• Snapchat – 5.9%
• iMessage – 5.6%

Japan

Here are the popular messaging apps’ share of internet users aged 18 to 64 in Japan as of June 2023:

• LINE – 93%
• Zoom – 23%
• FB Messenger – 13%
• FaceTime – 9%
• Microsoft Teams – 8%
• Skype – 8%
• Discord – 7%
• Google Chat/Meet – 7%
• LINE WORKS – 6%
• Chatwork – 4%
• KakaoTalk – 3%
• Slack – 3%
• WeChat – 3%
• Viber – 3%
• Webex – 2%
• WhatsApp – 2%
• Telegram – 1%
• Other – 1%

Indonesia

Here are the popular messaging apps’ share of internet users aged 16 to 64 in Indonesia as of January 2023:

• WhatsApp – 92.1%
• Telegram – 64.3%
• FB Messenger – 51.9%
• LINE – 31.9%
• Discord – 15.9%
• Snapchat – 15.5%
• Skype – 11%

Source: Social Media Statistics for Indonesia [Updated 2023] (meltwater.com)

Pakistan

Nigeria

Brazil

Bangladesh

Mexico

Ethiopia

Philippines

Here are the popular messaging apps’ share of internet users aged 16 to 64 in the Philippines as of January 2023:

• FB Messenger – 92.1%
• Telegram – 46.8%
• WhatsApp – 32.2%
• Viber – 31.3%
• Snapchat – 31%
• Discord – 27.3%
• Skype – 24.2%
• iMessage – 15.6%

Egypt

DR Congo

Vietnam

Iran

Turkiye (Formerly Turkey)

Germany

Here are the popular messaging apps’ share of internet users aged 18 to 64 in Germany as of November 2023:

1. WhatsApp – 87%
2. FB Messenger – 34%
3. FaceTime – 20%
4. Telegram – 16%
5. Skype – 14%
6. Discord – 12%
7. Microsoft Teams – 12%
8. Zoom – 12%
9. iMessage – 10%
10. Google Chat/Meet – 7%
11. Viber – 4%
12. KakaoTalk – 3%
13. Threema – 3%
14. WeChat – 3%
15. Kik – 2%
16. Slack – 2%
17. Other – 5%

Thailand

Tanzania

France

South Africa

Here are the popular messaging apps’ share of internet users aged 16 to 64 in South Africa as of January 2023:

1. WhatsApp – 93.3%
2. FB Messenger – 63.3%
3. Telegram – 44.1%
4. Snapchat – 36.1%
5. Skype – 17.4%
6. iMessage – 13.5%

Italy

Kenya

Myanmar

Colombia

South Korea

Uganda

Sudan

Spain

Argentina

Algeria

Iraq

Afghanistan

Poland

Canada

Here are the popular messaging apps’ share of internet users aged 18 to 64 in Canada as of June 2023:

• FB Messenger – 75%
• WhatsApp – 43%
• FaceTime – 33%
• iMessage – 26%
• Zoom – 20%
• Discord – 16%
• Microsoft Teams – 15%
• Google Chat/Meet – 11%
• Skype – 11%
• Telegram – 8%
• Signal – 4%
• WeChat – 4%
• Viber – 3%
• KakaoTalk – 2%
• Kik – 2%
• LINE – 2%
• Slack – 2%
• Other – 12%

Source: Statista

Morocco

Saudi Arabia

Ukraine

Angola

Uzbekistan

Yemen

Peru

Malaysia

Here are the popular messaging apps’ share of internet users aged 16 to 64 in Malaysia as of January 2023:

• WhatsApp – 89.3%
• Telegram – 62.2%
• FB Messenger – 55.8%
• WeChat – 30.4%
• Snapchat – 16.1%
• iMessage – 15.9%
• Skype – 15.4%

Ghana

Mozambique

Nepal

Madagascar

Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

Venezuela

Cameroon

Niger

Australia

Here are the popular messaging apps’ share of internet users aged 16 to 64 in Australia as of January 2023:

• FB Messenger – 62.9%
• iMessage – 35.1%
• WhatsApp – 34.7%
• Snapchat – 30%
• Skype – 16.1%
• Telegram – 10.6%

Source: Meltwater

North Korea

Taiwan

Mali

Burkina Faso

Syria

Sri Lanka

Malawi

Zambia

Romania

Chile

Kazakhstan

Chad

Ecuador

Somalia

Guatemala

Senegal

Netherlands

Cambodia

Zimbabwe

Guinea

Rwanda

Benin

Burundi

Tunisia

Bolivia

Haiti

Belgium

Jordan

Dominican Republic

Cuba

South Sudan

Sweden

Honduras

Czech Republic (Czechia)

Azerbaijan

Greece

Papua New Guinea

Portugal

Hungary

Tajikistan

United Arab Emirates

Here are the popular messaging apps’ share of internet users aged 16 to 64 in the UAE as of January 2023:

• WhatsApp – 79.6%
• FB Messenger – 63.2%
• Telegram – 44.5%
• Snapchat – 41.2%
• Skype – 24.9%
• iMessage – 19.8%
• WeChat – 12.7%
• Viber – 12.3%

Belarus

Israel

Togo

Austria

Switzerland

Sierra Leone

Laos

Serbia

Nicaragua

Libya

Paraguay

Kyrgyzstan

Bulgaria

Turkmenistan

El Salvador

Congo

Singapore

Denmark

Slovakia

Central African Republic

Finland

Norway

Liberia

State of Palestine

Lebanon

New Zealand

Costa Rica

Ireland

Mauritania

Oman

Panama

Kuwait

Croatia

Eritrea

Georgia

Mongolia

Moldova

Uruguay

Puerto Rico

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Albania

Jamaica

Armenia

Gambia

Lithuania

Qatar

Slovenia

North Macedonia

Bahrain

Macao

Brunei

Bhutan

Wrap-Up

Knowing each country’s most popular messaging apps is helpful in many ways. For instance, you may use this information to launch marketing campaigns through messaging apps. The most used messaging apps for each market can help you reach the largest audience most efficiently.

You may also be a tourist trying to adapt to a specific locality. The messaging app space is another social avenue you need to be familiar with to build meaningful connections. Messaging apps may not replace email soon, but their casualness and professionalism make them indispensable today.

FAQs on Messaging App Market Share Per Country.

What is the most used messaging app in Southeast Asia?

WhatsApp is currently Southeast Asia’s most popular messaging app, with an estimated 251 million users in 2023.

Why is FB Messenger so popular in the Philippines?

Meta’s Messenger popularity in the Philippines is closely tied to Facebook’s massive number of users in the country, which surpassed 87 million in January 2023. Another reason is that local telcos in the country (Globe and Smart) let consumers use Messenger at a meager price or none at all with free data mode.

Why is Viber safer than FB Messenger?

Viber’s end-to-end encryption is on by default. FB Messenger also offers end-to-end encryption through “secret conversation,” but users must select it manually when messaging a contact.

Sources.

• Statista
• Datareportal
• UseSignHouse
• KyodoNews
• VNetwork
• TechCrunch
• World Population Review
• Meltwater
• BusinessOfApps
• SinchEngage
• GlobalMediaInsight
• MarketSplash
• Yahoo Finance
• NapoleonCat
• BankMyCell
• InsiderMonkey
• EagerNomad

By Harsha Kiran

Harsha Kiran is the founder and innovator of Techjury.net. He started it as a personal passion project in 2019 to share expertise in internet marketing and experiences with gadgets and it soon turned into a full-scale tech blog with specialization in security, privacy, web dev, and cloud computing.