Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today on his WhatsApp channel that WhatsApp now has 100 million monthly active users in the US as of July 25th.
According to WhatsApp, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and Seattle are among the fastest-growing markets in the country. However, the company has also experienced “significant growth” in Southern states, with over 10 million users in Texas alone.
“This is the first time data pertaining to users has been released since Meta’s acquisition of the messaging app and demonstrates how the messaging platform, already the biggest messaging app in the world, has experienced tremendous growth in the U.S.,” WhatsApp spokesperson Ashley O’Reilly wrote in a press release.
Since purchasing WhatsApp for $16 billion in 2014, Meta has put significant effort into making the app as popular in the US as it is internationally. This includes advertising WhatsApp’s availability on both iOS and Android, highlighting the ease of messaging across platforms. Unlike traditional SMS, WhatsApp ensures that messages sent from Androids do not show up as lower-quality green bubbles on iPhones, maintaining high-quality images, encryption, and message length.
Recently, WhatsApp captured attention by reuniting the cast of Modern Family for an ad promoting its cross-platform messaging feature, aimed at families.
Despite its global success, with over 2 billion users in more than 180 countries, WhatsApp is still less popular in the US compared to rivals like Apple’s iMessage. The upcoming addition of Rich Communication Services (RCS) support to iOS 18 this fall poses another challenge, as iPhone users will no longer need to switch group chats to WhatsApp. This development signals that Meta may need to rethink its marketing strategy to maintain and grow its user base in the US.
