WhatsApp defers privacy terms for three months but Signal still on top

Facebook may have been forced by a backlash to defer its controversial new privacy terms for WhatsApp for three months but this has not stalled the rising popularity of its rivals, Signal and Telegram.

The two occupy the top two slots, respectively, among communication apps in terms of daily downloads, based on the latest data from Sensor Tower for Sunday, just a day after the Facebook announcement that it was deferring the policy.  

Facebook also faces competition from a new kid on the block, the instant messaging app BiP owned by telecom operator Turkcell which seems to have emerged from nowhere to take India by storm.  

According to Sensor Tower’s data, BiP ousted WhatsApp from the number three spot amongst communication app downloads on January 15 and stayed there on January 16, even after Facebook announced that it was postponing the implementation of its new privacy rules. 

BiP’s ranking among communication apps soared from 425 on January 11 to number 12 the next day — perhaps one of the sharpest jumps for a messaging platform within 24 hours.

Released in 2013, BiP used to have around 50 million users across the world. After the global furore over WhatsApp’s new terms, it hit 60 million according to local media reports and is expected to reach 100 million soon.

The app, which offers similar features to WhatsApp, has been developed in Turkey and is used across 192 countries, mostly in Europe. The only good news for Facebook is that on Sunday, WhatsApp was able to wrest its number three slot once again when BiP fell to number 6 position, based on Sensor Tower.

Interestingly, Indian app developers were able to use the recent government ban on the Chinese video app Tiktok to step into the breach and come out with their own versions such as MX TakaTak, Moj or Josh and so keep foreign players at bay but there has been no similar effort by Indian companies to step into the instant messaging space.

On the contrary, one of the big players, instant messaging app Hike Sticker Chat which was launched in India in 2019, has decided to close from January 21.

Funded by Bharti Enterprises’ Sunil Mittal, Tencent and Foxconn to the tune of $261 million, the app is going to be replaced by two new products: Vibe, an invitation-only community and Rush, a mini-games app.

Hike Sticker Chat’s founder and CEO, Kavin Bharti Mittal, posted a tweet recently saying that India is unlikely to have its own messenger because the global network effects are too strong.

Unless and until, he added, India bans western companies. Given that all three messenger apps which Indian users have chosen as an alternative to WhatsApp are foreign, he has a point.