WhatsApp Users Began to Download Alternative Messengers Massively

The Signal app came out on top in the US App Store and Google Play. Founded by Pavel Durov, Telegram ranks second and third place in these stores.

Downloads of privacy-focused messengers Telegram and Signal have skyrocketed amid WhatsApp's announcement of sharing data with Facebook.

From January 6 to January 10, Signal installed approximately 7,5 million devices worldwide through the App Store and Google Play, according to Sensor Tower. Signal downloads grew 43 times over the previous week.

Telegram messenger came in second place in the App Store, and in GooglePlay — third place.

Over the same period, more than 25 million new users from all over the world joined Telegram. Moreover, 38% of them are from Asia, 27% are from Europe, 21% are from Latin America, and 8% are from northern Africa.

Pavel Durov said that Telegram exceeded 500 million monthly active users in the first week of January, and the number of users is continuing to grow.

Durov also assured that he and his team take user privacy very seriously and will continue to ensure communication security in the messenger.

Signal says its messenger uses state-of-the-art end-to-end encryption, which prevents non-intended recipients from reading messages.