The most downloaded instant messaging apps

The mobile instant messaging market is constantly growing. The latest official numbers credit WhatsApp with some 500 million users, and the numbers can get truly overwhelming when you add in the many other geographically specialized apps like WeChat in China or LINE in Japan. To supplement these numbers we’ve created the infographic below showing the most downloaded IM apps by country on Uptodown. Click HERE to enlarge this graphic.

We need to underline the fact that these are not global usage statistics, but rather the number of times each program has been downloaded in a particular country from our platform, where we offer safe downloads of Android apps in APK format. It’s because of this that WhatsApp Plus, the mod version of the popular instant messaging app, is the most downloaded in several countries, as it is not available on Google Play and has to be downloaded from alternative sites.

We can also use the data to discern certain niches, as in the case of BlackBerry Messenger, which tops the downloads list in some Latin American countries like Venezuela or Guatemala—which makes sense, given the region provides BlackBerry with some 12% of its total revenue. KakaoTalk also dominates its own area, being used on more than 90% of smartphones in South Korea, its country of origin, and now expanding into other Asian countries like Indonesia. Here are few Top-10 lists that throw the differences between regions into stark relief.

GLOBAL

• WhatsApp PLUS
• Viber: Free Calls & Messages
• WhatsApp Messenger
• LINE
• Facebook Messenger
• WeChat
• BBM
• WhatsApp PLUS Holo
• KakaoTalk
• Snapchat

USA

• WhatsApp PLUS
• Viber: Free Calls & Messages
• WhatsApp Messenger
• LINE
• Facebook Messenger
• WeChat
• BBM
• Kik Messenger
• KakaoTalk
• Google Talk

LATIN AMERICA

• WhatsApp PLUS
• WhatsApp Messenger
• Facebook Messenger
• LINE
• BBM
• WhatsApp PLUS Holo
• Viber: Free Calls & Messages
• Telegram
• WeChat
• Outlook.com