WhatsApp sets its sights on the United States
With over 2 billion users, WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world. But its largest markets are all outside the United States.
Facebook, the parent company of the recently rebranded messaging platform meta, now hopes to change that.
Meta begins its first US marketing push for WhatsApp, focusing on the privacy provided by app encryption.
The first TV commercial airs on Sunday during the AFC Championship match, comparing unencrypted messages to a stranger opening your mail.
Similar ads promoting WhatsApp privacy will soon begin on billboards across the country and online.
Through its marketing campaign, meta aims to attract more people in the U.S. to its messaging platform by highlighting the app's security relative to other texting methods such as SMS.
More than 5 billion unencrypted SMS messages are sent in the United States every day, according to a 2019 study.
Much of this volume is likely spam and promotional messages, but SMS is also the default texting method for many Android phones, or is used when someone is sending text messages via iMessage using an Android device.
WhatsApp wants to be popular in the United States
Google has begun pushing hard for the adoption of the R, the long-awaited upgrade to SMS that adds features such as read receipts and in some cases encryption. But Apple has shown no sign of wanting to add a iMessage compatibility.
Meta believes that the availability of WhatsApp across both iOS and Android is an important point for people who are frustrated with the experience of messaging across platforms.
The platform allows you to easily sync your chat history from a remote device to any Android phone and vice versa.
Last year, WhatsApp introduced fully encrypted backups, something Apple has yet to offer with iMessage.
Meta acknowledges that the transition of SMS traffic to encryption thanks to BSAR is a good thing. But it says that WhatsApp has no intention of adding a consensus.
Since UNZCS is an open standard, meta's argument is that adding support would slow the development of the messaging platform.
Apart from competing with iMessage. WhatsApp's biggest challenge to penetrate the US market is likely to be the relationship with its parent company.
Last year's privacy policy update on storing chats with companies via WhatsApp on Facebook servers was met with backlash.
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