Most Popular Messaging Apps Worldwide 2023

What’s your go-to messaging app? You may not know it, but your answer largely depends on where you live.

Using Similarweb Mobile App Intelligence, we analyzed Android app data from 100 countries to determine the most popular messaging apps worldwide.

Here, you can see the top messaging apps globally, with the top six apps segmented by five major markets. As an added bonus, we’re also showing you which global messaging apps are the most irresistible – based on metrics that reveal how many times people return to the app daily and how long they spend in the app each day.

The top three messaging apps of 2023

There’s been no great change to the top three messaging apps worldwide from 2022. Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger took the lead in three more countries this year, with Telegram losing a little ground, dropping four top spots compared to last year.

1. WhatsApp: Ranks number 1 in 63/100 countries. Retaining its top spot from 2022.
2. Facebook Messenger: Ranks number 1 in 16/100 countries. Stays steady in second place, the same as 2022.
3. Telegram: Ranks number 1 in 10/100 countries. Retaining third place from 2022.

We’re just getting started with the freshest mobile app insights – read on to learn more about which apps are winning, and which and losing the hearts and minds of their users.

Of the 100 countries we examined, WhatsApp is the world leader, snagging the top messaging app spot in 63 countries.

These countries include Argentina, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Columbia, Dominican Republic., Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Kuwait, Kenya, Lebanon, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar,  Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania, UAE, the UK, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Yemen.

Facebook Messenger retains second place on our list and is still the most popular messaging app in 16 countries. These include: Algeria, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Denmark, Hungary, Lithuania, New Zealand, the Philippines, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, and the US.

Telegram lost popularity compared to its position last year. In November 2021, the app was ranked second most popular worldwide, claiming the number 1 spot in 14 countries. As we begin 2023, the app claims the top spot in just ten countries, including Armenia, Cambodia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Jordan, Latvia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Although less popular than our top three, other top trending messaging apps include:

• Viber has a strong presence in Europe, claiming the top spot in four countries, including Belarus, Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia.
• Line is maintaining popularity in Asia, with the highest performance in Japan and Thailand.
• Apps that only claim one country include KakaoTalk (South Korea), Zalo (Vietnam), and WeChat (China).

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Most engaging messaging apps of 2023

WhatsApp is the ULTIMATE messaging app, and not just because of its 134.9 billion monthly active users or 122.1 million users who return daily. It also claims top spot as the most-loved messaging app of its time, with over 90% of users active daily. On average, its users return to the app 22 times a day, and spend roughly 59 minutes engaging with the content.

For those of you wanting to see a nice visual of the most engaging messaging apps, take a look below

Top six messaging apps globally

WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Viber, Line, and Snapchat are the most used messaging apps, representing 97% of this dataset that covers 100 countries. According to the latest world population stats, roughly 26% of humans access at least one of these six social media sites daily.

Below is a breakdown of the 2022 performance of each messaging app in key markets. The metrics analyzed included:

• • Install Penetration: The percentage of devices in the defined market with the app installed on average
  • Downloads: App downloads from the Google Android Store in the given time period
  • Unique Installs: Unique app installs during the given time period
  • Daily Active Users: The average amount of unique daily active users
  • Monthly Active Users: The average amount of unique monthly active users

WhatsApp users by country: 2023

WhatsApp commands 88% of the market in the UK, making it a firm favorite with the Brits. It’s no surprise to see 88% of users in the UK open the app on a daily basis. In the US, the app penetration is 43%, but we see almost 60% of those users returning to the app each day. In Canada and Australia, we see 70% and 63% of users opening the app each day. WhatsApp has cemented itself firmly in its users’ lives, and boasts supreme engagement as a result.

January-December 2022, Android.

Facebook Messenger users by country: 2023

Facebook commands a healthy install penetration across all four markets. However, the biggest factor of difference between this messaging app and its biggest rival (WhatsApp) is its number of daily active users. Far fewer people return to Facebook on a daily basis. Only 58% of British users open the app daily, with 64% of Americans doing the same. However, we’re looking at better engagement stats in Canada and Australia, with 70% and 76% opening the app daily.

January-December 2022, Android.

Telegram’s users by country: 2023

Telegram’s focus on privacy has seen it perform consistently over the year. While it claims the third spot overall, it ranks within the top five apps in 21/100 countries, and in the top ten in 53/100 countries.

January-December 2022, Android.

Using Similarweb Mobile App Intelligence, we can see Telegram’s engagement rising over the course of 2022. At the start of the year, the average time users spend on the app daily has risen steadily from just under 16 minutes to 24 minutes; equating to a 150% increase in just 12 months.

Viber users by country: 2023

Viber is a lesser-known messaging app, but still commands an average of around 5% install penetration in these markets. When looking at downloads vs. unique downloads for the US, it looks like they’ve had an exodus of de-installs, which could result from poor engagement, a bad experience, or simply a glitchy app. This can be seen by looking at their overall downloads figure of 2.44 million, vs. the unique install figure of 345.36k. Viber is another popular messaging app that markets itself as ‘safe’ and ‘secure’; plus it’s also incredibly straightforward to use.

January-December 2022, Android.

Line users by country: 2023

January-December 2022, Android.

Snapchat users by country: 2023

Compared to most of the other popular messaging apps, Snapchat appeals to a younger demographic, with 44% of its audience being in the 18-24 age bracket. This tally’s up well with the average penetration rate in the top markets of 25-30%. Snapchat’s daily active user numbers are high, and when we look at how many monthly active users open the app daily, we see figures as high as 70% in the UK, 65% in the US, 70% in Canada, and 69% in Australia.

January-December 2022, Android.

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Similarweb Digital Research Intelligence offers insights across the entire digital landscape, including mobile, web, and app intelligence. Giving you a complete view of any market, business, or industry in a matter of minutes.

Try it now for free to see which apps are gaining popularity, which ones are losing users, and most importantly, where you fit into the market.

The Similarweb Insights & Communications team is available to pull additional or updated data on request for the news media (journalists are invited to write to press@similarweb.com). When citing our data, please reference Similarweb as the source and link back to the most relevant blog post or similarweb.com/blog/insights/.

Contact: For more information, please write to press@similarweb.com.

Citation: Please refer to Similarweb as a digital intelligence platform. If online, please link back to www.similarweb.com or the most relevant blog post.

by Liz March

Digital Research Specialist

Liz March has 15 years of experience in content creation. She enjoys the outdoors, F1, and reading, and is pursuing a BSc in Environmental Science.