The acquisition was influenced by the data provided by Onavo, Facebook's research app for monitoring competitors and trending usage of social activities on mobile phones, as well as startups that were performing "unusually well". Days after the announcement, WhatsApp users experienced a loss of service, leading to anger across social media. Facebook paid $4 billion in cash, $12 billion in Facebook shares, and an additional $3 billion in restricted stock units granted to WhatsApp's founders Koum and Acton. Some time in 2013 WhatsApp acquired Santa Clara–based startup SkyMobius, the developers of Vtok, a video and voice calling app. To cover the cost of sending verification texts to users, WhatsApp was changed from a free service to a paid one.
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- Since the complete roll out of this feature, users cannot check old messages before this period on the Web version anymore.
- The company is also said to be in talks to raise funding that would push its valuation over $300 billion.
- WhatsApp is owned by Meta, whose main social media service Facebook has been blocked in China since 2009.
- The crisis appears to have been averted, with financial professionals across the spectrum merely complaining about the blackout, and others speculating how much worse it could’ve been had it occurred during a normal trading day.
- A message that promises to allow access to their WhatsApp friends’ conversations, or their contact lists, has become the most popular hit against anyone who uses the application in Brazil.
- (The word “telegram” appeared in WhatsApp’s code.) Some considered it an anti-competitive measure; WhatsApp offered no explanation.
In 2018, it was reported that around 500,000 National Health Service (NHS) staff used WhatsApp and other instant messaging systems at work and around 29,000 had faced disciplinary action for doing so. At the beginning of 2022, it was revealed that San Diego–based startup Boldend had developed tools to hack WhatsApp's encryption, gaining access to user data, at some point since the startup's inception in 2017. On November 29, 2021, an FBI document was uncovered by Rolling Stone, revealing that WhatsApp responds to warrants and subpoenas from law enforcement within minutes, providing user metadata to the authorities.
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WhatsApp now provides two official methods — the WhatsApp Desktop app and WhatsApp Web — both of which are fast, modern, and fully integrated with Windows 11. Both Telegram and Signal in particular were reported to get registration spikes during WhatsApp outages and controversies. In January 2020, WhatsApp reached over 5 billion installs on Google Play Store making it only the second non-Google app to achieve this milestone.
- The customer relationship management software leader reported adjusted earnings per share of $3.25 for its fiscal 2026 third quarter, well above the $2.86 analysts were looking for.
- There were a series of incidents between 2017 and 2020, after which WhatsApp announced changes for Indian users of the platform that labels forwarded messages as such.
- Elon Musk’s xAI, the company behind the Grok chatbot, in late November was said to be preparing to close a $15 billion fundraising round in December, pushing its pre-money valuation to $230 billion.
- In December 2019, WhatsApp confirmed a security flaw that would allow hackers to use a malicious GIF image file to gain access to the recipient’s data.
- Rudd publicly called for police and intelligence agencies to be given access to WhatsApp and other encrypted messaging services to prevent future terror attacks.
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Your calls work across devices, even on slower connections, using your phone or tablet’s Internet service.Group chats to keep you in contactStay close to friends and family through end-to-end encrypted group chats and calls. And what's more, you can easily link your other devices, including iPads, for seamless connectivity.High quality voice and video callsEnjoy free, secure video and voice calls with up to 32 people for free. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company posted GAAP net income of $0.16 per share, while analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had expected $0.23 per share.
The updated interface now allows users to set timers ranging from a few hours to a month. WhatsApp Desktop supports calls without keeping your phone online. WhatsApp Web is a browser-based version — perfect for quick access or when you’re on a shared PC.
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Instead, an independent Wall Street Journal commission decides whether a share is to be included or excluded. The inclusion of a company in the Dow Jones Industrial Average does not depend on defined criteria. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is the most well-known share index in the USA. If a retailer had wildly popular mall stores in the early 2000s, chances are their stock is soaring lately. The new version seeks to address this by automatically removing old content and giving predefined time frames for quick posting. When the selected window closes, the status disappears automatically.
App support
Unlike their betory casino no deposit bonus 32-person group calls, starting a voice chat does not call all group members directly; they instead receive a notification to join the voice chat. In November 2023, WhatsApp added a "voice chat" feature for groups with more than 32 members. Later in September 2018, WhatsApp introduced group audio and video call features. Voice calls between two accounts were added to the app in March and April 2015. According to the company, messages could be edited within a 15-minute window after being sent.
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On November 18, 2014, Open Whisper Systems announced a partnership with WhatsApp to provide end-to-end encryption by incorporating the encryption protocol used in Signal into each WhatsApp client platform. When a user sends a message, it is stored on a WhatsApp server, which tries to forward it to the addressee, and repeatedly requests acknowledgement of receipt. WhatsApp's voice codec is Opus, which uses the modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) and linear predictive coding (LPC) audio compression algorithms. Some devices using dual SIMs may not be compatible with WhatsApp, though there are unofficial workarounds to install the app. Similarly to WhatsApp for web, Windows, Mac, and smartwatches, the iPad is a type of linked device that connects and syncs to WhatsApp running on a smartphone. In July 2025, WhatsApp stopped developing the Windows UWP-based app due to poor support and deprecation of the UWP framework by Microsoft.
On November 25, 2019, WhatsApp announced an investment of $250,000 through a partnership with Startup India to provide 500 startups with Facebook ad credits of $500 each. Both airlines had previously launched customer services on the Facebook Messenger platform. In September 2017, WhatsApp's co-founder Brian Acton left the company to start a nonprofit group, later revealed as the Signal Foundation, which developed the WhatsApp competitor Signal. On May 18, 2017, the European Commission announced that it was fining Facebook €110 million for "providing misleading information about WhatsApp takeover" in 2014. (The word "telegram" appeared in WhatsApp's code.) Some considered it an anti-competitive measure; WhatsApp offered no explanation. In April 2015, Forbes predicted that between 2012 and 2018, the telecommunications industry would lose $386 billion because of "over-the-top" services like WhatsApp and Skype.
WhatsApp 2.0, released for iPhone in August 2009, featured a purpose-designed messaging component; the number of active users suddenly increased to 250,000. It became the world's most popular messaging application in 2015, with 900 million users, and had more than 2 billion active users worldwide in February 2020. As of May 2025, the service had 3 billion monthly active users, making it the most used messenger app. The shares were up close to 5% in recent trading, making Marvell one of the best-performing stocks in the Nasdaq Wednesday. Microchip Technology (MCHP) was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 as shares climbed nearly 10% after the chipmaker boosted its guidance on strong bookings and an improved backlog. A move of that size from the stock's recent level around $235 could push shares up to $251 at the high end, or drag them down to $218 at the low end, which would be Salesforce's lowest level in over a year.