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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.
In December 2024, WhatsApp introduced a reverse image search feature, allowing users to verify image authenticity directly within the app using Google Search. The assistant is based on the LLaMa 4 (previously LLaMa 3) model, and is also available on other Meta platforms like Facebook and Instagram. In April 2024, an AI-powered "Smart Assistant" called Meta AI became widely available in WhatsApp, allowing users to ask it questions or have it complete tasks such as generating images. The company also announced plans to implement reactions, the ability for administrators to delete messages in groups and voice calls up to 32 participants. In April 2022, WhatsApp announced undated plans to roll out a Communities feature allowing several group chats to exist in a shared space, getting unified notifications and opening up smaller discussion groups. In April 2023, the app rolled out a feature that would allow account access across multiple phones, in a shift that would make it more like competitors.
In November 2023, WhatsApp also began rolling out support for sending login codes to a linked email address, rather than via SMS. In October 2023 they also introduced passkey support, where a user can verify their login with on-device biometrics, rather than SMS. In July 2017, WhatsApp added support for file uploads of all file types, with a limit of 100 MB. In March 2012, WhatsApp improved its location-sharing function, allowing users to share not only their location, but also the location adrian casino of places, such as restaurants or hotels. Visual effects also became available, adding visual filters to a user's video feed.
Security And Encryption
In July 2021, the Cuban government blocked access to several social media platforms, including WhatsApp, to curb the spread of information during the anti-government protests. In August 2021, the digital rights organization Access Now reported that WhatsApp along with several other social media apps was being blocked in Zambia for the duration of the general election. In May 2016, some WhatsApp users were reported to have been tricked into downloading a third-party application called WhatsApp Gold, which was part of a scam that infected the users' phones with malware. 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. The feature is not enabled by default, so it is only when users opt-in that any third party (including both WhatsApp and the cloud storage vendor) loses the ability to read the content. Previously the WhatsApp user's handset had to be connected to the Internet for the browser application to function but as of an update in October 2021 (and integrated by default in WhatsApp as of April 2022) that is no longer the case.