What year was WhatsApp founded?

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WhatsApp was founded in 2009 by Jan Koum and Brian Acton, former engineers from Yahoo. The app started as a straightforward messaging tool where users could send text over the internet, bypassing the regular SMS service that mobile carriers provided. It was an innovative idea born from Koum's vision to deliver a solid and user-friendly communication tool across different mobile phones.

The WhatsApp concept clicked for Koum when he had to immigrate from Ukraine to the United States. He knows well the problems that one faces in trying to keep in touch with family and friends, especially international communication. The name "WhatsApp" itself is a wordplay on the phrase "What's up?"-a common informal greeting-reflecting the app's purpose of keeping people connected.

WhatsApp started to grow rapidly. By 2013, the Canada WhatsApp Number Database application had reached a level of 200 million active users, proving its popularity and increasing demand in the field of effective communication. The platform was so successful because it was pretty simple and concerned about users' privacy. It didn't show any advertisement, like most of the messengers that existed that time.

In 2014, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for approximately $19 billion, one of the largest tech acquisitions in history. This deal raised concerns about user privacy and data security, as many users were apprehensive about how their personal information would be managed under Facebook's ownership. However, WhatsApp maintained its commitment to privacy, introducing end-to-end encryption in 2016, ensuring that only the sender and recipient could read messages.



By 2023, WhatsApp reported over 2 billion active users all over the world, as one of the most widespread messaging applications. WhatsApp has come a long way, enabling voice and video calls over the internet, allowing group chats, sharing multimedia, including documents, audio files, pictures, and even videos, introducing business accounts and different tools to help small businesses communicate efficiently with customers.

WhatsApp has brought a sea change in communication. It has changed the way people communicate and reach out to others, regardless of distances. WhatsApp was part of the revolution that led to the growth of mobile communication, and it has contributed to shaping other messaging applications.

In a nutshell, WhatsApp is a communication tool founded in 2009 on the premise of simplicity and user privacy in messaging. WhatsApp has grown into one of the leading instant messengers in the modern digital era, adapting to changes and innovations that answer modern users' needs.