The 8 Most Used & Popular Android Messaging Apps in 2024

Text Messaging is one of the most used communication methods around the world and over the years it has evolved from simple SMS messages to feature-packed apps that allow users to send memes, voice-record messages, update statuses, and much more.

With so many apps available on the market offering everything from video calls to sharing files and photos, settling down on one option can be a little challenging. That is why in this article we have gathered up 8 of the most used Android Messaging Apps in 2024 to help you find the best one according to your needs. So let’s dive in!

How We Choose the Most Used Android Messaging Apps

Finalizing the final few messaging apps can be a difficult task but to help us through the process we evaluated a few factors that we consider making an app stick. Let’s quickly break them down.

• Privacy and Security: Privacy is one of the most important aspects of a messaging app as it allows users to ensure that no one can read chats between you and the phone you message.
• Pictures, Videos, and Other Multimedia: Another important factor that makes an app stand out is supporting pictures, videos, GIFs, documents, YouTube links, and other forms of multimedia that make the texting experience a lot more fun and connected.
• Group Chats: A lot of the time messaging isn’t just between two people; it often extends from traditional one-to-one chats to group chats where friends and family members can only communicate and share things.
• Popularity: Even if an app has every feature in the world, it’s no fun to use it if the people you want to text don’t have it on their phones. Hence, it’s important to choose something that is popular and has a high number of users.

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8 Most Used Android Messaging Apps

Before moving on to the real part of our show, it’s important to remember that we have curated this list in order of popularity and number of users. This means this list goes from the most used messaging apps to the not-so-popular ones.

1. WhatsApp — Most Popular Messaging App

WhatsApp is the most popular OTT messaging app in much of the world and comes at a free price tag. It was originally launched in 2009 by two ex-employees of Yahoo and was later acquired by Facebook in 2014. Since then, WhatsApp has steadily grown in terms of features and user base. In fact, as of 2023, WhatsApp has 2 billion monthly active users.

In addition to being a top-notch messaging service, the app also features other options like support for photos, videos, voice recording, high-quality audio and video calls, and more. Apart from one-to-one chats, users can also enjoy group texting with up to 512 members. In terms of security, WhatsApp ensures end-to-end encryption for all conversations including file transfers.

Currently, WhatsApp continues to grow in terms of popularity with new features rolling out like the new Communities tab that allows big organizations to manage several groups at once and the Channels feature suitable for one-way broadcasting.

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2. WeChat – Most Popular Messaging App in China

If you live outside China there’s a pretty good chance you haven’t heard of WeChat. However, WeChat or WeXin is China’s most popular messaging app with almost 1.3 billion monthly active users in 2023. It is owned by one of the largest companies in Asia — Tencent.

Originally WeChat started as a typical messaging service but today people use it for almost everything including, payments, booking flights, and sharing moments. It supports all the basics of a messaging app like voice chatting, sending pictures, and video calling. A few unique features of WeChat are playing mini-games with friends and posts like Facebook called “moments.”

Although WeChat is a great option signing up for the service isn’t easy as you’ll need someone with an account to help you verify. Additionally, WeChat is not as secure as WhatsApp and doesn’t have any sort of encryption that hides your messages from others.

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3. Facebook Messenger — Most Flexible Messaging App

If you have a Facebook account, you must have heard of Messenger. The app is quite popular in terms of user base as it is directly tied to Facebook and managed to amass around 930 million users worldwide in 2023. However, you don’t necessarily need a Facebook account to get on Messenger instead the service also allows users to sign up by simply using their mobile number.

The app includes everything you would need from a text messaging app with fun additions like stickers, GIFs, and emojis. Messenger also allows users to capture their media using their camera which acts similar to Snapchat with several filters to use and explore. You can also post Messenger stories or cross-post your Instagram stories.

With all the good stuff, Messenger does have a few holes to fill in mainly in terms of security and privacy. The app doesn’t have any end-to-end encryption as Facebook doesn’t have it by default making your regular conversations available to third parties. However, if you want to keep a few of your chats private you can enable Secret Conversation which toggles on encryption on both ends.

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4. Telegram — Best for Large Group Chats

On the face of it, Telegram looks like a simple messaging service like WhatsApp or Messenger with features like text messaging, voice and video calling, file sharing, and more. However, if you dive a little deeper into it, Telegram is packed. The app allows you to make large communities with up to 200,000 members or create channels with no subscriber limit and even a media editor option.

In terms of security, Telegram’s encryption works by encrypting your regular chats, storing them on the servers, and then decrypting messages to make them readable again. You can also set self-destruct timers that make messages only appear for a specific time and after that, they will simply vanish. Additionally, you can also enable secret chats that aren’t stored in the cloud like regular messages.

Telegram also has a premium subscription that was introduced in 2022 that gives you a few extra features like the ability to pin chats, upload larger files (from 2 to 4 GB), join more groups, and a voice-to-text conversion feature.

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5. Snapchat — Most Popular Among Youngsters

Initially, Snapchat was an instant hit among younger generations that made millions fall in love with features like self-deleting photos and goofy filters to brighten up people’s day. Although Snapchat can be deemed as a social network due to it being capitalized on by celebrities, it still is based on messaging and is quite popular among people with almost 650 million monthly active users in 2023.

Snapchat focuses a lot on media messages as that’s what the majority of the users use to send “snaps” back and forth. Snapchat also allows users to create personalized Bitmojis and supports group chats of up to 200 members. Recently, Snapchat introduced Snapchat Web — a long-awaited feature that allows you to pick up your chats straight from your PC or Mac.

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6. Viber — Best Alternative to WhatsApp

One of the best alternatives to WhatsApp is Viber — an all-around messaging app with almost 2 million monthly active users from all over the world. Viber offers all the core messaging features like photo sharing, chat wallpapers, making video calls, creating group chats of up to 250 members, etc. It also has built-in GIFs and stickers in chats that provide a great way to message without typing.

Viber also supports features like Channels and Communities, which is where WhatsApp took inspiration for their app. While all one-to-one and group chats have end-to-end encryption, Channels and Communities aren’t encrypted.

One stand-out feature of Viber is Viber Out which allows users to make international and domestic calls to any mobile or landline in the world for just $5.99 per month. Another interesting feature that comes with Viber is the all-new ChatGPT Powered AI bot that allows users to ask questions or even create images.

7. Line — Most Popular Messaging App in Japan

Line is one of the leading social platforms in Japan with almost 68 percent of the population on the app. The Line app is quite popular in the country and except YouTube no other social media network has been able to get close to Line’s numbers.

Line had quite a transformation as the app originally started as a reliable line during disasters, but it soon turned into a “super app” similar to China’s WeChat. Beyond simple text messaging and voice and video calls, Line also offers options for banking, shopping, healthcare services, travel agents, and many more.

Line also serves as a news and entertainment source providing users with access to articles, news, songs, games, and even manga. Additionally, Line uses end-to-end encryption for all your messages and calls.

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8. Signal — Most Secure Messaging App

If you are someone who values security when using a messaging service, there’s no better alternative than Singal. Signal Private Messenger has been one of the most trusted messaging services for years now. The app offers everything from sending plain texting to adding pictures or documents and even the option to add up to 1000 people in a single group chat.

The app uses end-to-end encryption for every message sent through the platform, in fact, both WhatsApp and Signal have the same encryption protocol developed by Open Whisper Systems. Users can also set expiration dates for messages which makes them irrecoverable once expired. Additionally, the “Note to Self” contact is a great way to store things just for yourself.

The best thing about Signal is that it manages to have both data messaging and SMS support in a single app. This means that if you send a message to something that doesn’t have the app, then Signal automatically sends it as a text message.

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Which of the 8 Most Used Messaging Android Apps Should You Use?

One of the key problems when switching over to a new messaging app is that usually, you need to have your contacts use the same app as well. While you can convince a few of your friends, it’s hard to go with an app like WeChat which is mainly popular in China or ask your neighbor to add you on Snapchat.

Additionally, even if you simply want to talk to your classmates or get in touch with your family members, the app you choose must offer a secure and safe environment. This way your conversation should stay just between you and your friend instead of being seen by third parties and sold for information.

Hence, pinning down the perfect messaging app not only comes down to your needs but also what others prefer as a go-to texting service. There’s a good reason why WhatsApp takes the title of the most popular messaging app as it is widely used among younger and even older generations. However, for large-scale groups, Telegram should serve you well, and for secure messaging Signal remains at the top.

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Conclusion

When it comes to choosing the final option it all comes down to how many people you can convince to switch. That is why majority of the people use WhatsApp as their go-to messaging app as it has millions of downloads and is used pretty much everywhere. Apart from WhatsApp, the Android ecosystem offers a ton of other choices and after going through our list you should be able to pick one from the hundreds of other options available.