WhatsApp: 65B messages sent each day, and more than 2B minutes of calls

The messaging platform also has over 450 million daily users for its Instagram competitor, WhatsApp Status.

Abrar Al-Heeti Technology Reporter

Abrar Al-Heeti is a technology reporter for CNET, with an interest in phones, streaming, internet trends, entertainment, pop culture and digital accessibility. She's also worked for CNET's video, culture and news teams. She graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Though Illinois is home, she now loves San Francisco -- steep inclines and all.

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Abrar Al-Heeti

May 1, 2018 11:40 a.m. PT

2 min read

Facebook's WhatsApp messaging service is really busy.

Every day, WhatsApp users send roughly 65 billion messages, Facebook said Tuesday at the start of its F8 developer conference in San Jose. The company also said more than 2 billion minutes of voice and video calls are made on WhatsApp every day.

Facebook didn't provide numbers on its overall user base. But last year, the social network said 1 billion people used the messaging app each day. The new usage numbers suggest that either more people are using the app to communicate or users are sending more messages in total.

Facebook also is touted its Whatsapp Status feature, which more than 450 million people use every day. The platform is similar to Instagram Stories and allows users to share text, photos, videos and animated GIFs that disappear after 24 hours.

The news comes as Facebook opens its annual F8 conference, which more than 5,000 developers are expected to attend. Facebook has used the event to announce major initiatives, such revamped designs for user's profile pages. Most recently, it's used F8 to discuss better ways of allowing apps to tie into its services, like games for its Messenger service, augmented reality features for its Facebook app, and new artificial intelligence programs.

The news of WhatsApp's growth comes a day after founder Jan Koum said he would be moving on from the messaging company he sold to Facebook four years ago for $19 billion. Koum will also reportedly be leaving his position on Facebook's board.

"I'm leaving at a time when people are using WhatsApp in more ways than I could have imagined," Koum wrote. "The team is stronger than ever and it'll continue to do amazing things. ... I'll still be cheering WhatsApp on -- just from the outside."

CNET's Ian Sherr and Richard Nieva contributed to this report.

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