Most Popular Messaging Apps in the USA
As the number of people using chat apps grows year after year, the time has come for businesses to start marketing there. Because not only is it a convenient way for buyers to reach businesses (and vice versa), but it also helps to instill trust and confidence in consumers.
As a brand whose target market is the United States, it’s essential to know what messaging apps consumers there frequent to craft a more efficient strategy. This raises the question: What are the most popular chat apps in the USA?
Most popular messaging apps in the USA: top six
According to the latest data, WhatsApp Messenger is the most popular messaging app downloaded on the Google Play Store in the USA. This is no surprise, considering it’s also the most used messaging app globally, with two billion users.
After WhatsApp, the second-most used chat app in the USA is Telegram, which has around 550 million monthly active users. This is followed by Snapchat, in third place. Incidentally, Snapchat also ranks among the top social media platforms in the USA. This is because aside from texting, the app also allows its users to send and share photos and videos.
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The fourth most popular messaging app in the USA is Messenger. Both WhatsApp and Messenger are owned by the same parent company, Meta, formerly known as Facebook. The number of Facebook Messenger users worldwide has been fluctuating over the past couple of years. In July 2021, there were over a billion Facebook Messenger users. This fell to 988 million at the start of January 2022, before rising back to one billion in Q2 and Q3. In January 2023, the number of people using Messenger dipped again, to 976 million. At the most recent count, there are nearly 1.04 billion Messenger users worldwide.
Fifth on the list of the most popular messaging apps in the USA is TextNow. Though it’s not as well known as some of its competitors, it works in similar ways in that users can send texts and make calls for free over WiFi. What sets TextNow apart, though, is that users are given a new phone number when they download the app.
After TextNow, sixth on the list of the most popular chat apps in the USA is Discord. Even though the California-based company was founded fairly recently (in 2015) in comparison with other top messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, it was still able to break into the top six.