#Who owns whatsapp app for free
#Who owns whatsapp app android
#Who owns whatsapp app license

#Who owns whatsapp app for free

ViberĪ messaging app that stated out life as a direct Skype competitor for free voice calling, Viber has expanded into a cross-platform messaging client and was recently bought by the Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten for $900m.

#Who owns whatsapp app android

BlackBerry announced that by December 2013 BBM had 40 million users of its iPhone and Android apps.īlackBerry currently has no plans to bring BBM to Windows Phone or other platforms. Originally only available as an integral part of BlackBerry’s smartphones, allowing secure instant messages to be sent between BlackBerry users, BBM was released for both Android and the iPhone in September 2013 making it cross platform for the first time.īBM for iPhone and Android was downloaded 10m times in the first day, with over 80 million users globally across all platforms by October 2013. BBMīlackBerry’s Messenger is the grandfather of the phone instant messaging apps. Now with 100m users globally, Kik was released in 2010 and quickly hit 1 million users in just 14 days. Kik is available on the iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, Nokia’s Ovi store and BlackBerry. It also integrates a web browser into the application allowing users to browse content and share it directly with their friends. Kik MessengerĪnother messaging app alternative, Kik Messenger sends texts, images and voice messages over a smartphone’s data connection avoiding mobile operator messaging charges. Line Corporation is headquartered in Japan, a subsidiary of South Korea’s online content and search company Naver Corporation. Line has 350 million users globally, expanding rapidly from 10 million in December 2011 according to data from Statista. The Line messaging app is available for almost every computer and mobile platform, including Windows, OS X, the iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Nokia’s Asha and even Firefox OS. WhatsApp’s biggest competitor is Line, a messaging app that lets users send text messages, images, video and audio, was well as make phone calls over the internet or video conference. While WhatsApp is certainly the most high-profile text messaging replacement app in the UK, it is by no means the only horse in the race. From a personal data standpoint, this is extremely worrying.”

“Now with Facebook buying WhatsApp, this could see more and more private information becoming part of Facebook’s database.

#Who owns whatsapp app license

Meanwhile, Facebook already has a very broad copyright license on people’s content and already shares your data with many other services,” explains StJohn Deakins, chief executive of online identity service Citizenme. Concerns were raised about Facebook's data collection and privacy issues, including the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and the alleged statement about having access to personal information without consent.“Currently, WhatsApp can change terms and conditions at any time, without notifying users, which many people who use this service aren’t aware of. What concerns were raised about Facebook's acquisition of WhatsApp? Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion to acquire its users and their data, with the intention of turning it into a profitable business. Yes, WhatsApp used to charge a one dollar fee per year, but it was not consistently enforced and was more like a voluntary donation. WhatsApp gained popularity by offering free global instant messaging and focusing on building a great product instead of ads or charging for features.ĭid WhatsApp charge a fee to use the app? WhatsApp was created in 2009 as a smartphone app for private messaging, and its founders came up with the idea after one of them was turned down for a job at Facebook.