WhatsApp now has 1 billion monthly users, 42 bn messages sent each day

WhatsApp also says that in India more photos are sent using WhatsApp, than in any other country in the world, and confirms that India is also one of the biggest user bases for the app. The country also has the second highest number of WhatsApp groups.

While the app says that millions are using its voice-calling service, it didn’t give any specific number on the same.  The app has grown so much with only 57 engineers in its team, each of whom serves an average of 17.5 million users.

WhatsApp recently announced that it will be a totally free app, and that the company could soon get businesses on board. WhatsApp said it will start testing tools to allow users to communicate with “businesses and organizations”, and has hinted that one could see messages and alerts that we normally get on our phones appear on the messaging app itself. Alerts from Banks, Flights, etc is what the app could soon start reflecting.

Additionally it has been rumoured that WhatsApp is working on a video-calling feature to rival Skype. Koum had also confirmed that they will soon implement end-to-end encryption on the app. WhatsApps calls, chat are currently encrypted, but end-to-end encryption ensures device-level security.