Telegram and Signal, both messaging platforms, have been observing a significant increment in the number of downloads across the world after a controversial modification to WhatsApp’s terms and regulations.
The popular messaging platform, WhatsApp, had described to its users that it is going to share users’ data with Facebook (parent firm) if they want to continue using that platform. But the policy doesn’t include applicable on Europe and the United Kingdom’s communities. The policy updating text was pushed to everyone.
It says any of the users won’t be able to get its services unless the user agrees to the terms and policies by February 8. Moreover, the company explained that WhatsApp’s novel update would allow it to provide features, including shopping and payments. The firm even claimed that its exercise of sharing data with the parent company wasn’t a novel step.
People shifted to Signal and Telegram
Signal app was downloaded all across the world 246,000 times a week before when WhatsApp declared the terms and policies update on January 4, and 8.8 million downloads the week after, said Sensor Tower (an analytic company).
Source: Web
The significant surges marked in India, where the number of downloads ramped up from 12,000 to 2.7 million, the United States went from 63,000 to 1.1 million downloads, and the United Kingdom upsurged from 7,400 to 191,000 downloads.
The company tweeted that newcomers are reporting problems while creating groups and delay in verification just because of quick expansion in users, but they are working on it, and the app’s new servers are ready to serve its users.
Even though we’re still breaking records, verification codes are back in the groove. Delivery delays have been eliminated across multiple cellular providers, so things should be more ASAP when you join the app.
— Signal (@signalapp) January 9, 2021
Telegram passed Signal over download race
On the other hand, Telegram surpassed Signal in the race of the number of downloads. It acquired 6.5 million downloads before the WhatsApp policy came and reached 11 million after the week.
The downloads in the United Kingdom jumped from 47,000 to 101,000, and in the United States, they went from 272,000 to 671,000 downloads. Meanwhile, WhatsApp had to face a significant fall in downloads from 11.3 million to 9.2 million.
A mobile insights strategist at Sensor Tower, Craig Chapple, said that it is going to be tough for competitors to break users’ habits and WhatsApp will keep its position as the world’s most popular messaging app.
In defense, WhatsApp mentioned that the data it is going to share with Facebook would not include users’ messages, groups, and call logs.
