WhatsApp-rival Telegram passes a billion worldwide downloads, India biggest industry, says report

Telegram has surpassed one billion worldwide downloads, according to Sensor Tower information. The immediate messaging app was founded in 2013 and competes against Facebook-owned WhatsApp and Messenger.

According to Sensor Tower, Telegram crossed the billion-download milestone on August 27. WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Spotify, Snapchat, and Netflix are other apps that have managed to surpass the one-billion download mark globally.

India has emerged as Telegram’s biggest industry with practically 22 per cent of lifetime installs. Russia and Indonesia are next on its industry-share list, with 10 per cent and 8 per cent installs, respectively.

Telegram’s installs skyrocketed following outrage more than WhatsApp’s selection to update its privacy policy. The developers have also introduced numerous new features such as group video calls, updated voice chat knowledge, and screen sharing with sound to attract customers.

Telegram also hit 214.7 million installs in the very first six months of 2021 — up 61 per cent on-year from 133 million in the year-ago period, Sensor Tower mentioned.

The numbers, having said that, do not represent the total active customers. Last year, Telegram mentioned it had practically 500 million active month-to-month customers.

WhatsApp’s selection to update its privacy policy earlier this year has been a blessing for Telegram, which has employed the damaging sentiment towards the Facebook-owned platform to attract customers. WhatsApp’s new privacy policy was meant to attract corporations and assist subsidiaries of parent Facebook.

Telegram, and competitor Signal, added millions of customers amid raging controversy more than how WhatsApp’s new policy would impact user privacy. In just 3 days because WhatsApp announced the policy update, Telegram Founder Pavel Durov mentioned the app added 25 million customers. It was also January’s most-downloaded app, Sensor Tower had earlier reported.

Telegram also received a $150-million investment from Mubadala Investment, the Abu Dhabi state fund, and Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners in March.

Originally appeared on: TheSpuzz