A look at 10 year’s journey of WhatsApp

We all have been a part of pre WhatsApp era wherein the only way to communicate by phone was either by calling or sending a text message (SMS). But, the continuous advancements recently in the communications industry have allowed us to use rich formats such as images, audio messages, stream videos – that too at a scale, no one would have think of. Texting has evolved beyond its original limitations. Now you don’t need an SMS to send a text message – as users now pick online services such as iMessage on the iPhone. However, one important app that revolutionised the communication industry is WhatsApp.

Incorporated in January of 2009, WhatsApp is a cross-platform messaging and Voice over IP (VoIP) app that is now owned by Facebook. It’s been 10 years now and the messaging platform has evolved from being just a messaging app to something people use now to connect with their loved ones, connect with their communities, and build businesses.

Here’s look at the features introduced in WhatsApp in the past decade.

In December 2009, the company added the ability to send photos for the iPhone. In 2010, the company introduced Location Sharing. By early 2011, WhatsApp was one of the top 20 apps in Apple's App Store.

In 2011, the instant messaging platform added ‘Group chat’ and claimed that over a billion messages were sent in a day. In February 2013, the service had about 200 million active users and the app was growing rapidly and in August 2013, WhatsApp added voice messages. In December 2013 in a blog post, WhatsApp claimed that 400 million active users used the service each month.

In April 2014, the company grew from 400 million active users to 500 million users and rolled out read receipts. In January 2015, the company launched WhatsApp web.

In 2016, WhatsApp rolled out end-to-end encryption video calling and In 2017, the instant messaging app introduced Status and in July announced to have over a billion daily active users.

Last year, in July, the company added group video calling feature and rolled out stickers. The messaging platform now has over 1.5 billion monthly active users.

The company recently updated its iOS app and added the support for biometric authentication, which allows users to ‘lock’ the app with Face ID or Touch ID.

To use this feature, users need to update the WhatsApp to the latest version, 2.19.20, from the Apple App Store, and then head to “Settings” –> “Account” –> “Privacy” –> “Screen Lock” on.

The app also introduced "Picture in Picture (PiP)" mode for Android OS that allows users to view YouTube videos within a chat window.