WhatsApp Hits 600 Million Monthly Active Users

Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp has reached a total of 600 million monthly active users. 

The news was unveiled after WhatsApp founder and CEO Jan Koum posted the following tweet earlier today. 

Now serving 600,000,000 monthly active users. Yes, active and registered are very different types of numbers…

— jan koum (@jankoum) August 25, 2014

Koum notes that the messaging service now has 600 million monthly active users. He continues to stress that monthly active users is a more important figure than number of downloads because it shows how many people are actively using the application, as opposed to a value which may take into account inactive users. 

“The app crossed the significant half a billion user milestone in April this year. Tencent’s WeChat app is closest behind with 438 million active users, most of whom are likely in China, while Tango (70 million active users) and Viber (100 million active users) are among a clutch of other apps further back.”

Last February, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerburg announced that his company was purchasing the messaging service for $19 billion. Zuckerburg’s vision is for WhatApp to be the messaging service that connects 4 to 5 billion people within the next five years. 

WhatsApp for iOS is available as a free download from the App Store. The service is free to use for the first year, then a $1 per year subscription is required to continue using the app. 

[via TheNextWeb]