WhatsApp went from zero to 450m users in five years

In less than five years, WhatsApp has become one of the most-used smartphone apps — with around 450m monthly global users.

The messaging service allows users of iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Windows Phone, and Nokia smartphones to exchange unlimited messages, videos, audio, and images across the world for free via the internet.

The popularity of the app has eclipsed that of the once favoured BBM instant messaging service, which for many years was limited only to BlackBerry users, because of its cross-platform appeal.