WhatsApp Statistics 2025: Messaging, Calls, Business Use & More

At the heart of countless morning check-ins, urgent family updates, and late-night laughs lies a green icon we all recognize, WhatsApp. What started in 2009 as a simple status update tool has evolved into a global communication powerhouse. In 2025, it’s not just a messaging app; it’s where billions live out their daily digital conversations. Whether you’re coordinating remote teams, connecting with customers, or sharing memes with friends, WhatsApp plays a central role. This article dives into the numbers behind the platform’s phenomenal growth, changing usage patterns, and rising business applications.

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WhatsApp reached over 2.9 billion monthly active users (MAUs) in early 2025, solidifying its status as the most-used messaging app globally.
The United States alone accounts for 105 million users, showing consistent year-over-year growth from 2024.
WhatsApp Business now supports over 400 million businesses.
Daily message volume surpassed 130 billion messages per day.
The average user now spends 38 minutes per day on WhatsApp.
Video calling usage grew by 20%, reflecting the global shift to hybrid work and digital-first communication.
India remains WhatsApp’s largest market, with over 620 million users, continuing its dominance.

Global WhatsApp Usage Time

Argentina leads the world in WhatsApp usage, with 29 hours and 29 minutes spent on the app monthly.
Indonesia follows closely, with users spending an average of 26 hours and 25 minutes each month.
Colombian users log 25 hours and 45 minutes on WhatsApp, slightly ahead of Brazil at 25 hours and 30 minutes.
In South Africa, users average 24 hours and 55 minutes of WhatsApp use monthly.
Mexico sees a noticeable drop, with 18 hours and 17 minutes spent on the app.
The global average stands at 17 hours and 6 minutes per user.
India’s WhatsApp users average 17 hours, aligning with the global usage trend.
Chile reports the lowest among the listed countries, with 16 hours and 48 minutes of monthly use.

Total Number of WhatsApp Users Worldwide

As of Q2 2025, WhatsApp has 2.93 billion users globally.
Growth remains particularly strong in Asia-Pacific, with an annual increase of 7.2% in the user base.
Latin America saw a 4.5% user growth year-over-year, driven by mobile data accessibility improvements.
The user penetration rate in Europe stands at 82% of mobile phone users, holding steady from 2024.
In Africa, the WhatsApp user count rose to 320 million.
The app maintains a market penetration of over 90% in countries like Brazil, Nigeria, and Indonesia.
In 2025, WhatsApp reached a 70% smartphone install rate globally, making it a default communication tool for most users.

Daily and Monthly Active Users

Daily active users (DAUs) hit 1.7 billion in May 2025.
The monthly active users (MAUs) to DAUs ratio is 58%, reflecting high engagement and frequent usage.
In the U.S., WhatsApp’s DAUs rose by 11%, as adoption among Gen Z and remote workers surged.
The average user opens the app 25 times a day, an increase from 21 times in 2024.
Among Gen Z users, DAU levels grew by 14%, making WhatsApp a key player in peer-to-peer communication.
Over 45% of users engage with WhatsApp more than once an hour, showing a shift toward real-time interactions.
Weekends see a 10–15% increase in daily activity, primarily driven by personal chat usage.

Demographics of WhatsApp Users in the US

Men are slightly more active on WhatsApp than women, with 26% of men using it vs. 21% of women.
By ethnicity, Hispanic Americans dominate WhatsApp usage at a remarkable 46%, far higher than Black (23%) and White (16%) users.
The 30–49 age group leads in adoption with 30% usage, followed by 18–29 years (24%) and 50–64 years (23%). Only 10% of users are aged 65+.
Those earning $75,000+ annually are the top income-based users at 29%, while users earning < $30,000 make up 23%.
College-educated individuals are the most active education group at 33%, compared to 20% (high school or less) and 16% (some college).
Urban residents show the highest usage at 28%, followed by suburban (23%) and rural areas (9%).

WhatsApp Business App Usage

WhatsApp Business surpassed 400 million monthly active users in Q1 2025.
The number of verified business accounts increased by 28% year-over-year.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 80% of WhatsApp Business app users globally.
Over 2.2 billion messages are exchanged daily between businesses and customers via WhatsApp.
Customer satisfaction rates for WhatsApp-based service queries are at 91%, outperforming email and SMS.
Latin America and Southeast Asia saw the fastest adoption, with business account growth rates over 35%.
In the U.S., WhatsApp Business adoption among local retailers increased by 22%, especially in food delivery and e-commerce sectors.
Product catalog views increased by 31%, showcasing growing reliance on in-chat browsing.
50% of users report making purchase decisions directly through WhatsApp, indicating its rising e-commerce relevance.
AI-powered auto-replies and chatbot integrations were adopted by over 45% of active businesses in 2025.

Message Volume and Engagement Metrics

WhatsApp now facilitates over 130 billion messages per day.
The average user sends 78 messages daily, with peak hours between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Group chats contribute to 41% of total message volume, indicating WhatsApp’s growing use in collaborative communication.
Media sharing, photos, videos, documents, and accounts for 19 billion daily transfers, with videos alone making up 6.5 billion.
In-app voice notes are used by 62% of daily users, reflecting the popularity of hands-free messaging.
Message reply rate within groups increased by 18%, as more users engage in threaded conversations.
Emojis are used in 72% of messages, indicating their continued role in emotional expression.
Read receipt rates stand at 88%, making WhatsApp one of the most attention-grabbing platforms.
More than 900 million messages are forwarded daily, driven by content-sharing trends across family and community groups.
The average group has 27 participants, a number that has grown steadily as communities expand their digital footprint.

Top Benefits of Using WhatsApp to Interact with Businesses

33% of users say the biggest benefit is not having to wait to get their queries answered.
28% appreciate being able to interact outside of business hours, making communication more flexible.
20% value the ability to receive media files like images, videos, and PDFs.
Another 20% highlight the benefit of no cost involved in the interaction.
8% enjoy the personalized conversations they get via WhatsApp.
6% feel they receive individual attention when engaging with businesses through the app.

Voice and Video Call Usage on WhatsApp

WhatsApp handles over 5.5 billion voice calls and 2.4 billion video calls per month as of Q2 2025.
The average call duration increased to 9.7 minutes.
Video call usage rose 20% year-over-year, driven by growth in remote working and virtual celebrations.
In the U.S., 34% of users say WhatsApp is their primary video calling platform, surpassing FaceTime for Android users.
Voice call clarity improved by 17%, thanks to updates in audio codec optimization.
Group video calls now support up to 32 participants, which has been widely adopted in classrooms and team meetings.
Over 700 million users made at least one video call weekly, showing a strong engagement trend.
The feature has seen particular adoption in India, Brazil, and Nigeria, countries with large family networks across cities.
Call features now include screen sharing and call recording, introduced in early 2025 and adopted by over 30% of users.

WhatsApp Status and Stories Usage Data

Over 1 billion daily active users interact with WhatsApp Status as of April 2025.
Users view an average of 24 status updates per day, with increased consumption during weekends.
Stories by small businesses now reach over 120 million viewers daily, used heavily for flash sales and product highlights.
45% of all Status posts contain video, and GIF usage rose by 29% year-over-year.
Disappearing statuses are now used by 1 in 3 users, showcasing privacy-conscious sharing behavior.
WhatsApp’s A/B-tested auto-status reply feature saw a 21% increase in interactions, indicating improved user engagement.
In the U.S., celebrity and brand-driven statuses are viewed by 68% of younger users, showing crossover with influencer marketing.
Global average time spent viewing Status is now 12 minutes daily, nearly doubling since 2022.
Music-embedded statuses were introduced in late 2024 and are now used in 15% of all uploads.

Top 10 Countries with the Largest WhatsApp Audiences

India dominates with over 500 million monthly active WhatsApp users — the largest user base in the world.
Brazil comes in second with around 120 million users.
Indonesia follows closely with approximately 90 million users.
Russia and Mexico each have roughly 75–80 million users.
The United States reports around 70 million monthly active users.
Germany has a strong user base of about 60 million.
The United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain round out the top 10, each ranging between 40 and 50 million users.

Data on WhatsApp Group Chats and Communities

As of 2025, there are over 800 million active WhatsApp groups globally.
The average user is part of 18 groups, ranging from work chats to alumni forums.
WhatsApp Communities, launched in 2022, now include over 120 million active clusters, with structured topic channels.
Over 300 million messages are exchanged daily within Communities alone, driven by niche interest groups.
Group polls are used by 42% of admins monthly, most commonly for event planning and quick consensus.
Community announcements reach over 600 million users, often used by schools, housing societies, and local governments.
Group link-sharing has become more controlled, with admin-only invitation links now used in 78% of cases.
Group muting settings are used by 67% of users, showing increased control over notification fatigue.
In-app AI moderation tools introduced in 2025 are now auto-flagging 12 million spam messages weekly within groups.

Privacy and Security Feature Adoption Rates

As of 2025, 98% of all WhatsApp messages are end-to-end encrypted, continuing its commitment to privacy since 2016.
The adoption of disappearing messages rose to 46% among global users.
Chat lock features, which allow password or biometric protection, are now used by 65% of daily users.
View-once media (photos/videos that disappear after one view) make up 12% of all media sent, reflecting growing privacy mindfulness.
The two-step verification feature is enabled by 59% of users globally, with higher rates in the U.S. and EU.
WhatsApp’s device log review tool, added in early 2025, has been checked by over 180 million users for unauthorized logins.
Business accounts now label automated messages, a change introduced for transparency and used by over 75% of registered businesses.
WhatsApp’s AI-powered phishing detection system blocks around 1.8 million suspicious links weekly.
In response to data protection laws, users in the EU now have access to a “data download hub,” with 92% of requests processed within 48 hours.

Top Mobile Messaging Apps by Monthly Users

WhatsApp leads globally with a massive 2 billion monthly active users.
Weixin / WeChat ranks second with 1.26 billion users, driven largely by its dominance in China.
Facebook Messenger holds the third spot with 988 million monthly users.
QQ, another China-based app, has 574 million users worldwide.
Snapchat remains strong with 557 million users, appealing primarily to younger demographics.
Telegram rounds out the list with 550 million users, favored for its privacy features and channel communities.

WhatsApp’s Share in the Global Messaging App Market

In 2025, WhatsApp holds a dominant 47% global market share among messaging apps, ahead of Facebook Messenger (21%) and Telegram (12%).
The app leads in 65 of the 100 most populous countries, including India, Brazil, Nigeria, and the UK.
In North America, WhatsApp’s market share has risen to 32%, driven largely by immigrant communities and business use.
WhatsApp leads the APAC messaging market with a 58% share.
WhatsApp is the most downloaded messaging app on Android for the sixth consecutive year as of May 2025.
In Europe, WhatsApp usage now exceeds 85% of the smartphone population, especially in Germany, Italy, and Spain.
WhatsApp competes closely with WeChat in China’s overseas communities, reaching 11 million users in Chinese-speaking regions.
Telegram’s growth slowed to 7% YoY, whereas WhatsApp maintained a 10% YoY user growth rate in 2025.

Revenue and Monetization Insights

WhatsApp’s estimated annual revenue for 2025 is $15.6 billion.
The majority of this comes from WhatsApp Business API subscriptions, contributing $9.8 billion alone.
Click-to-WhatsApp ads, integrated with Meta platforms, generated over $4 billion in ad spend value this year.
The average revenue per user (ARPU) increased to $5.26, marking a 15% rise YoY.
In-app shopping features were used by 34% of WhatsApp Business accounts, generating over $1.2 billion in transactions.
Meta reported that over 200 million businesses used at least one monetized WhatsApp service in 2025.
New monetization in 2025 includes paid premium business tools such as branded chat pages and analytics dashboards, adopted by 12% of business accounts.
Subscription-based customer service bots saw significant uptake, with over 75 million businesses integrating them into daily interactions.

Key Benefits of Contacting Businesses via WhatsApp

33% of users value getting immediate help as the top benefit.
28% appreciate the ability to interact after working hours, offering more flexibility.
20% like the ability to send media such as images, videos, and documents.
Another 20% benefit from not needing to pay for communication.
8% enjoy personalized conversations tailored to their needs.
6% feel they receive individual attention through WhatsApp business chats.

Recent Developments and Feature Updates

In 2025, WhatsApp introduced “Chat Shortcuts”, allowing users to pin custom reply actions within active conversations.
AI-powered message drafting assistants, released in Q1 2025, are now used by 120 million users weekly.
WhatsApp’s new multilingual auto-translate for chats supports 23 languages, enhancing cross-border messaging.
Screen sharing in calls became available across all platforms and is now active in 32% of weekly video calls.
The redesigned WhatsApp Web interface includes call capabilities and supports simultaneous login from up to four devices.
WhatsApp rolled out a “Message Summary Digest”, providing weekly conversation analytics for personal and business users alike.
Integration with Meta Quest and Ray-Ban smart glasses allows voice-activated messaging and alerts via wearable tech.
In the U.S., WhatsApp Pay expanded to new states and now supports direct peer-to-peer transfers via debit-linked UPI-like systems.
The app now features custom AI avatars, with 60 million users enabling personalized reactions and animated expressions.

Conclusion

WhatsApp continues to evolve beyond messaging, positioning itself as a central node in digital life, supporting conversations, commerce, collaboration, and even content. The 2025 statistics highlight its dominance not only in user count but also in engagement, business utility, and monetization success. With nearly 3 billion users and rapid feature development, WhatsApp remains a cornerstone of modern communication. As the platform grows more integrated with Meta’s broader ecosystem, its influence will likely stretch further, impacting how people connect, shop, and conduct business in every corner of the world.