If you went and stood at a restaurant and asked every fourth person that came in whether they knew what WhatsApp is and if they also used it; chances are a big number out of all the people you ask will say yes. WhatsApp is one of the most popular messenger applications to exist in the world currently so this should be no surprise to you when people know what it is. WhatsApp is a messenger application which initially was created so that people could send one another messages but now it has evolved beyond recognition to what it initially was.
The reason behind WhatsApp’s success is the fact that it is a free platform which incredibly easy to navigate through. If you look at other messaging applications they might not be as easy to use as WhatsApp is. But nonetheless WhatsApp is a great way to stay in touch with your loved ones; friends and family and at this point even acquaintances.
A lot of people wonder exactly how popular WhatsApp is. While we have mentioned above it is incredibly popular let us talk about some statistics which will give you the correct idea of just how popular WhatsApp really is. So as of 2017, the statistics showed that over 1.2 billion people actively used WhatsApp. Take a minute to let this number sink in. Think of this number in relation to the world’s entire population; this is crazy, do you not agree!
While there are about more than 1.2 billion downloads of WhatsApp, the application is said to be more popular in phones than the actual messaging application of the phones. This is amazing and also a little daunting if you think about how much pressure WhatsApp is under to always ensure good service.
Take a moment and think if all of these people are using WhatsApp and transmitting all kinds of data over it; just imagine how busy WhatsApp servers must be all of the time. WhatsApp encrypted all of the data which was send from WhatsApp and vice versa so that they could ensure their users safety and identity protection. It was seen that WhatsApp has over a thousand million images sent over its servers every single day and about just as many videos. Can you imagine the volume of data which is being transmitted on this application.
And now WhatsApp has added features which lets people send audios and files as well. This is why WhatsApp has become so successful and popular; the functionality of this application and the features it provides are unparalleled and unrivaled. No other application has been able to do what WhatsApp has so brilliantly done.
So who was the genius behind this ingenious application? We bet you are wondering exactly this aren’t you! It was not one person but two people who came together and made what we now know as WhatsApp; one of the greatest messaging applications to hit the market.
Brian Actor and Jan Koum who are former employees of Yahoo! decided to vacation in South America. This is where they discovered how hard it was to keep in touch with their families through messaging and how they needed a better solution. The two set to finding a better solution but did not find any. This inspired them to then make a solution for this and this is what birthed WhatsApp.
After a lot of hard work, rejection and failures the two had come up with WhatsApp and launched it officially in 2009 after testing various beta versions and finally being satisfied with the product. They then reached out to some other friends who had left Yahoo! around the time they did and convinced them to give them the seed money they needed for WhatsApp. And with the $250,000 initial seed money the two launched the application and prayed for the best.
No one can be prepared for the kind of response WhatsApp got and the two were ecstatic since this meant their application was a success. With each day however, there were more users and thus WhatsApp needed to sustain its growth and make sure they had funds to expand their operations and abilities. They then got funding from various sources to keep up with the growth and ensure they were doing well.
But in 2014, any worries WhatsApp might have had about funding had disappeared after they had been valued by several venture capital firms at a strong $1.5 billion. They courted several offers but the one from tech giant Facebook was the one that truly blew them away. Facebook offered WhatsApp $19 billion in what is the biggest offer and deal ever made from a tech company. Of course the people at WhatsApp immediately accepted this offer and could not believe their luck. This is because while Facebook provided them with money they also had the expertise to take WhatsApp to a new level. Facebook’s global out reach and impact would definitely take WhatsApp to the next level. And this is exactly what happened.
This funding also ensured that WhatsApp would never have to resort to advertisements or anything else to make money since they had sufficient funds to run their operations anyway.
The Features of WhatsApp
If you compare the first beta version of WhatsApp to the version that we know and love today you will be shocked at how many changes have been made over time. The entire user interface of WhatsApp has changed. The features which WhatsApp has now are totally different and have taken the functionality of the application to a whole new level.
While the application initially was only for sending and receiving messages, you can now send pictures, videos, files, documents, audios, voice notes and much more. Apart from that you can also make voice calls or video calls from WhatsApp. In fact the service WhatsApp is providing is so good that people think it might just overtake Skype and other messaging and calling applications since it has everything in it and does not leave the need for other applications.
Issues with WhatsApp
Now that we have discussed how amazing WhatsApp is we need to talk about the areas of using WhatsApp that might not be cut out to be all that they are. This is the fact that anyone can contact you over WhatsApp if they have your number. And if you have a profile picture up the other person can see it too even if they do not know you. But this can be easily changed just go to your WhatsApp settings and change the privacy settings and make sure that only your contacts can view your profile photo.
But this is honestly an issue with almost every application and platform which allows people to contact with one another. But if someone you do not know or someone undesirable contacts you on WhatsApp this is always a grueling and unwanted experience. But thankfully you can do something about this and make sure that you do not have to talk to that person unless you want to and they cannot send you messages either. Well, they might send you messages but you would never receive them. When you block someone WhatsApp they cannot see your profile picture, your last seen, your status or basically any of your information.
So how do you Block Someone WhatsApp? It is actually fairly easy and only takes a few minutes. We have compiled for you both the methods of how to Block Someone WhatsApp whether you have an android phone or an iPhone.
Block Someone WhatsApp on Android
Block Someone WhatsApp on an android phone is fairly easy. Just follow our instructions and you will easily be able to do so. Nowadays when you get a message from an unknown number, WhatsApp will automatically ask you if you want to block them or add them to your contacts so if you choose to do so, you can Block Someone WhatsApp right away through this option. But if you want to block someone after you have started a conversation with them or even after you have saved their name in your contacts then you need to go to the chat box you have with them on WhatsApp and click on the three vertical dots on the upper corner of your screen. Once you have done this, you can choose the option to block them and then click on confirm. With these few easy steps you will be successful in your efforts to Block Someone WhatsApp.
Block Someone WhatsApp on iPhone
If you want to Block Someone WhatsApp on your iPhone then the way to do this is a little different. When you open the chat box you have with them click on their name at the top of the chat, once you have done this it will display user information and other items. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see an option which says you can block this person and once you click on it and confirm you will have successfully used you right to Block Someone WhatsApp.
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