WhatsApp growth slumps as rivals Signal, Telegram rise

In early January 2021, encrypted messaging apps Signal and Telegram are seeing huge upticks in downloads from Apple and Google’s app stores, while WhatsApp’s growth is on the decline following a privacy fiasco where the company was forced to clarify a message it sent to users. — AP

OAKLAND, California: Encrypted messaging apps Signal and Telegram are seeing huge upticks in downloads from Apple and Google’s app stores. Facebook-owned WhatsApp, by contrast, is seeing its growth decline following a fiasco that forced the company to clarify a privacy update it had sent to users.

Mobile app analytics firm Sensor Tower said Wednesday that Signal saw 17.8 million app downloads on Apple and Google during the week of Jan 5 to Jan 12. That’s a 61-fold increase from just 285,000 the previous week. Telegram, an already-popular messaging app for people around the world, saw 15.7 million downloads in the Jan 5 to Jan 12 period, roughly twice the 7.6 million downloads it saw the previous week.