WhatsApp announced today that it has reached 100 million monthly active users in the US. This comes just a few months after the messaging service revealed that it is seeing double-digit growth in the US.
Despite over two billion people using WhatsApp worldwide, it has a limited US presence. However, the Meta-owned company has been working on expanding its presence in the region.
WhatsApp is seeing impressive growth in the US
In the US, iPhone users use iMessage to chat with their friends and family who use an iPhone. When texting their friends using an Android phone, they fall back on SMS, which provides an inferior cross-device messaging experience. WhatsApp solves this problem, and despite its popularity worldwide, it failed to penetrate the US messaging market for a long time.
100 million of you in the US using WhatsApp 🤝 pic.twitter.com/FqYOhQMBbH
— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) July 25, 2024
However, the tide appears to be changing with the rapid growth of the Meta-owned messaging service in the US. This could be in part due to the company’s aggressive marketing campaign and the addition of several useful features to its platform. WhatsApp has ramped up its advertising efforts in the US, focusing on the green and blue bubble divide.
The move seems to be working, with WhatsApp now having over 100 million users in the US. In a statement to The Verge, a WhatsApp spokesperson revealed the company is seeing the fastest growth in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and Seattle. It also has over 10 million users in Texas.
iOS 18 will adopt RCS for better cross-device messaging
Given WhatsApp’s better cross-platform messaging experience, its double-digit growth is not surprising. Meta has also added several useful new features to the messaging service in the last few years, including the ability to edit sent messages, a native Mac app, multi-account support, and enhanced group calling support.
Things might change once Apple releases iOS 18 later this year. The company will finally integrate RCS into the Messages app, enabling a better messaging experience with Android users. It will make iMessage a better cross-device communication tool, but it won’t be enough to challenge WhatsApp’s global messaging crown.
