WhatsApp Tops 500M Global Users

Global messaging phenomenon WhatsApp this week announced a milestone 500 million users.

All over the world, people are sharing more than 700 million photos and 100 million videos every day, the company boasted in a Tuesdayblog post(Opens in a new window). The most significant growth, however, comes from Brazil, India, Mexico, and Russia.

“我们可以继续,但就目前而言,这是更重要的that we get back to work," the company said. "Because here at WhatsApp, we're just getting started."

While WhatsApp does not make clear how much those numbers grew since February's Facebook acquisition,Engadget points out(Opens in a new window)that Brazil, India, and Mexico were among the top five countries with the largest Facebook user base in 2013,according to(Opens in a new window)statistics firm Quintly.

The social media giant acquired WhatsApp ina $16 billion deal, promising to let the service run free as a separate offering, much like Instagram has since 2012.

"WhatsApp is on a path to connect 1 billion people," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in February. "The services that reach that milestone are all incredibly valuable."

The international app is now halfway there, and rapidly getting closer: Only four months ago, WhatsAppannounced that it had reachedthe 400 million monthly active user mark, a milestone it said no other mobile messaging service had reached.

It hasn't always been smooth sailing since Facebook's purchase, though. Days after the announcement, WhatsAppsuffered an outage. Last month, meanwhile, the service fought back against an Android vulnerability that allowed hackers to nab users' chat logs. WhatsAppcalled the issue"overstated." A few weeks later,another outage hit, just after the company reported record usage.

But in an effort to look forward, WhatsApp recently announced plans for theupcoming launch of voice messaging. CEO Jan Koum told a Mobile World Congress audience earlier this year that his company will add voice calls in the second quarter of 2014.

For more, see PCMag'sreview of WhatsApp Messenger for iPhoneand the slideshow above. Also check outWhat Is WhatsApp? An Explainer.