Most Popular Instant Messengers 1995 - 2024

This is an updated version of my previous data visualization video following the usage of IM clients over the years. In this data visualization video I look at the most popular instant messaging apps based on monthly active users. It includes the first graphical instant messaging app, PowWow. It was far ahead of its time but did not gain much traction.
I know there are many more apps but their numbers were either missing, completely off or not high enough to include in the list. Here are the ones I included:
1995
PowWow
First Graphical Standalone IM Client
First with VoIP, whiteboard, text-to-speech, surf together, audio player
1996
ICQ
First widely adopted IM client
1997
AIM
Initially integrated into AOL Desktop
1998
Yahoo! Messenger
1999
QQ
Popular in China
1999
MSN Messenger
AKA Windows Live Messenger
2000
Battle.net
Provided instant messaging for gamers
2003
Skype
Focused on video-chat
2005
Google Talk
2005
Blackberry Messenger
2009
WhatsApp
Developed by former Yahoo employees
2009
Kik Messenger
Reached 40% of US teens by 2016
2010
Viber
2011
WeChat
2011
iMessage
2011
SnapChat
2012
LINE
2012
Hike Messenger
2013
Telegram
2013
Facebook Messenger
Thank you for Watching

[@bitterbold]

Although hard to imagine right now, but there will come a time, when Whatsapp will lose its dominance. These videos clearly show that nothing lasts forever.

[@SpartakChempion1]

Телеграм будет

[@coobik7973]

Telegram is soooo much better than WhatsApp, sadly not many people use it where I live. But those who use it understand the potential of Telegram. It can be used to store an unlimited amount of files/photos/etc. They allow it in their ToS. Also it's open source and cross platform.

[@Alexadron2]

Восточная Европа переходит на телеграм

[@EquuleusPictor]

Obviously, but it's hard to predict when. There are already better products (Telegram).

[@jesuseinstein4706]

That total numbers are not real anyway. There is at a maximum one milliard people who can afford smartphones.

[@roccobot]

Amazing how Meta is such a fierce competitor of itself

[@TheSdog9]

Maybe that's the key. The best competition is yourself, especially if you know your product is eventually going to age and die like others.

[@roccobot]

@@TheSdog9 that's actually an interesting perspective 🤔

[@team3t769]

Its because WhatsApp was not a part of facebook until 2018

[@IIGrayfoxII]

I miss the days of Windows live messenger. Coming home after school and then chatting with your friends till dinner

[@giacomozoffoli4106]

Discord enters the chat

[@brianbryant1336]

I was an ICQ junkie back in the day. Seeing it dominate in '96-'97 was nostalgic.

[@philipking7559]

Surprised Yahoo wasn't bigger, I used that more than anything. How have I never heard of QQ?

[@Plantboi-e9n]

Bc it is mainly used in china

[@chanjill123]

99% users from China then replaced by WeChat and they are from the same company due to the firewall,they cant use others

[@101interior]

Yeah me too. Im a YM user and don't know about QQ.

[@StickStep]

Actually, if you ever played any China online games, you might have heard about QQ, because for some stuff in them you need to confirm your account through QQ... But to register in QQ you need a chinese phone number

[@justassimple8328]

I heard them one time from my Chinese friend which he tells to me that I should create an account and until now I've never opened it again

[@Plann]

Telegram dose that with 0 advertising.

[@ObsaTeferi]

It has starting serving ads in recent months

[@nastysdsi]

​​@@ObsaTeferi It does serve untracked ads (in public channels only), but Telegram itself isn't advertised.

[@redpheonix1000]

@@ObsaTeferi They probably meant that as in advertising for itself in other places.

[@cristhiansaavedra5342]

Gran video, al fin una actualización del anterior video y me sorprende lo rápido que crece telegram y para lo que ofrece deberia estar mas arriba y me sorprendió la cantidad de usuarios de viber no me esperaba esa

[@TechnoBoomer]

Interesting video, but very surprised not to see Signal

[@ynos3]

Small number of people use signal.

[@ThorTheGiant]

​@@ynos340 million isn't that small

[@sandeeepkiran1130]

Very very small amount of people use Signal. I've heard of it. I'm a Telegram user. But even then. I use Telegram & (rarely) WhatsApp. But never made a Signal account.

[@jayb8934]

I know only like 1 or 2 people who tried to switch over to signal back when Meta bought WhatsApp and everyone was concerned about privacy, but no one followed them.

[@JasperPeters]

@@jayb8934still with 40M users (2022) it should’ve been on the chart.

[@ruanpires1848]

I miss MSN

[@davidhall6464]

Everyone gangsta until whatsapp turn up

[@zenvultra]

The good ol days of MSN Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, MySpace IM, IRC, and Internet forums!

[@olafschermann1592]

Signal - is missing

[@ΑνδρέαςΚαποτάς-κ4ν]

Ah skype... Microsoft is destroying Skype...

[@80x86]

Exactly.

[@admin1974]

Oh, those were the times, you don't remember, we were flirting with girls using PowWow

[@lohnicky]

Yeah. And what about IRC those times ;-)

[@MarkDonerSD]

Maybe I was too much of a nerd... I don't remember powwow at all

[@Iosis07]

Never heard about QQ. But back in 2008-2010, oh boy I used MSN a lot. Even whole day spent chating. Now using Messenger and Viber.

[@changheyang9252]

QQ is a Chinese app. It dominated in China before Wechat appeared.

[@thehuguenot5615]

Teams and slack...

[@Pandacier]

And signal…

[@team3t769]

WhatsApp is that much famous in India that when Indians buy their new phone the 1st app they install is WhatsApp

[@ElectricoGamez]

5:20 Discord *2015* not 2013.

[@windowswhitee]

The company was formed in 2013 but the Discord app was released in 2015

[@Gusfer-ze8lw]

Here in Brazil, even my dog has whatsapp... We can do anything, from ordering food, to medical appointments.

[@verybasedgaming]

And that's a bad thing

[@mibox7188]

What about the Signal app?

[@thisw]

Where is signal?

[@BrandonGamer20YT]

Otro videos mas populares ❤😊. grande capitan gizmo

[@mfouly]

Missed 2 important mirc late 90's it was booming as icq And also club house was missed Any way great work thanks for ur efforts

[@Moxzot]

If imessage is considered an im then why not have text messages for Android.

[@RicardoCantor]

Apple has finally agreed (forcedly) to support it, and by the end of this year (with iOS 18) we will have communication between iMessage (apple) and RCS Messages (Android). 👌🏼

[@BorutoUzumaki-sv9ln]

There's something wrong with the data. In Southeast Asia, even iPhone users do not use iMessage. 😅 iMessage is only popular in the US.

[@stevensonjr]

Lol Signal isn't even on the list, and I use one that is so unknown that it's not listed either : Threema ;)

[@braxtonmowery8050]

I have one question, what's the music called.

[@kondor-n1d]

10,6 billions users. Useful number.

[@gshaunsweeney]

You forgot Myspace IM. Between 2007 to 2009 it was huge. Everyone I knew was on it.

[@niceworld-v8l]

My space is not a messeging app

[@gshaunsweeney]

@@niceworld-v8l If Myspace Instant Messenger isn't a messaging app neither are most of the other's. And all other Instant Messenger graph videos must be wrong also.

[@viramaraharv5388]

Phone default message 💬app be like : who am I 😶‍🌫️

[@SPimentaTV]

Xfire used mainly by gamers... Voice calls was at the time the best audio quality... And counts how many hours you've played the game

[@MestreKamedaLancha]

Graças ao MSN pude conhecer varias pessoas. Algumas se tornaram minhas amigas e outras delas grandes amores.

[@avjaarsveldt]

Good to see Viber and Telegram still in the race. Viber is such a great messaging app. Always first with new stuff before WhatsApp try to catch-up.

[@bizarrrre]

Telegram is by far superior to Viber.

[@niceworld-v8l]

But telegram is better💙

[@LaurenceReeves]

WTF IS QQ?!?!?!?

[@KMASIF-mi9yj]

It's a China only app. Whatsapp, messenger, iMessage don't exist their and given their population size I'm not really surprised to see QQ here.

[@euqitaa]

most american comment

[@damiendye6623]

You been out he US at all ? To say china

[@Springflut_]

Chinese Spy software

[@7thLeader]

same, all ik is ymessenger, skype, sms, and msn in since 2004 until now saw that number in this video 😂

[@DrivewayPrintingStation]

Hey captain, can you make a video of most popular brand of ball (Basketball) looking forward to it thanks!

[@bow2toy]

you should also add the palace chat as well lol

[@h.P1838]

Signal has 40 million monthly active users.

[@Squidly.]

Shouldn't this mean it should have been included at the end? I absolutely love Signal as a messaging app. The most simple and easiest to use, in my opinion.

[@ynos3]

Still not enough.

[@dand337]

Should've made into the rankings ​@@ynos3

[@candle86]

I was MSN back before it was cool, though i did have an ICQ, YIM and AIM also

[@stevensonjr]

would have been interesing to see where "SMS" is ranking (althoughnot an app)

[@marcuionut6319]

same for chat whitin facebook before messenger standalone app launched

[@ericgsch]

What about Zoom? Where is it?

[@netheritecraftondrugs5126]

Thats not really instant messaging

[@jamesk3022]

Where was teams and signal? Microsoft missed a big opportunity with Skype especially during the start of the pandemic

[@Termix9318]

Telegram from 2017 and discord from dayone ❤ But I miss MSN days...

[@vaiosan775]

It seems Skype has not too good luck. Still in many offices and TV stations use it. Have you seen in any tv news or news show to communicate with people with any of the other messengers? They use only Skype. With the exception of Russia, China and India (and few others) of course.

[@marcuionut6319]

yes, maybe offices tv stations news show. And mainly for video calls. What about other million normal people, citizens, whatever, with phone numers and all?

[@vaiosan775]

@@marcuionut6319 In my office they use mainly Skype to communicate with the customers. Some times with Whatsapp too but mainly with Skype.

[@MegaSysadm]

In Russia we use everything, Skype is still popular here

[@vaiosan775]

@@MegaSysadm Ah yes? with or without VPN ? I thought was VK or Telegram.

[@raysmith7701]

Im surprised Discord was that low

[@haruner_]

because the vast majority of discord users are pc gamers.

[@LaurenceReeves]

Discord just isn’t that great…

[@sandeeepkiran1130]

I'm a discord user. There simply isn't much Discord offers except for rare communities.

[@nyftn]

kinda weird to include imessage without including sms . i still miss msn messenger

[@andizevillio937]

Kakao talk where are you?

[@seantellsit1431]

there's no way there's more users of Skype than Discord now.... even in 2022 skype usage dropped off the planet. I'd like to see where you got your data from.

[@prashetio]

where's mIRC? NOT VALID

[@westtell4]

mIRC is not something that mainstream users did

[@steven.events]

That was a client for IRC, not a proprietary instant messaging service application in the same sense.

[@YuraJayRJay]

The last report about Viber active monthly users stated that it has 260 million users.

[@adityarajganeju]

Song name anyone?

[@itdimk]

People like whatsapp more then telegram, bacause it constantly backups something and struggles with multiple devices support, well not struggles, there's no multiple phone support

[@kingmanhusada824]

where is mirc?

[@yordanmilchev]

What about Instagram

[@Moxzot]

Growing up when all this was popular in the early 2000s i never used any of it, thought they were dumb as a kid.

[@armen-oganyan]

thank you

[@MrNtonz]

Live connector where is it?

[@radityakusumoputro]

mIRC where?

[@lazyfellow2212]

Why there is no MeChat?

[@MuhammadIlham-pu7dv]

Didnt bbm server down?

[@obviously_obvious]

Those who used G talk ,yahoo and hike are real ogs

[@madelynn_enns]

I really thought Instagram was gonna pop up somewhere

[@Rainquack]

I was one of the first 15mil Telegram users after WhatsApp got sold to Facebook. ^^

[@ErsaniaSusena]

Where is MiChat?

[@MaGioZal]

Curiously, AOL Instant Messenger and Yahoo Messenger were never hits in Brazil. In my memory, the sequence was: 1990s-2004: ICQ 2004-2010s: MSN for youngsters, Skype for the wealthier adults From mid-2010s on: WhatsApp (FB Messenger also used, in a far lesser degree) 2020s: some people using Instagram as a kind of IM

[@MaGioZal]

PS: iMessage has never been a hit here in Brazil also, since iPhones are rarer here (lower GDP per capita + higher import duties)

[@user2000ist]

And where is IMO?

[@MrSamitzi]

Great video maybe for other country or zone. There is another videos for europe , the rank was irc, msn messenger, yahoo, bb messnger, fb messenger, then the actual. For me yahoo was the peak. To bad people got absorbed with fb.

[@lakerskid2013]

Imagine if somehow AIM, MSN, and Yahoo Messenger all found a way to keep going and evolve into app form as well, I would be all on board for those.

[@mkesoul]

I still have Skype and I use it only for calls!

[@tweetylokilla]

the song is 😳

[@Kingside88]

Where ist Signal?

[@agungcloud8239]

Where's mig33, kakaotalk ?

[@andreasanderson503]

Mi chat tak ade ke 😅

[@Wicked495]

870 million people are using Viber daily?? 😮

[@disco.jellyfish]

FB Messenger has over 1 billion people using it and I dont know a single one of them.

[@Richard-xu7kz]

iMessage is a bit skewed because it is replacing texting in iphone too. Is there a way to not use message on iPhone?

[@samishi9785]

yea whatsapp. Im an iphone user but forced to use whatsapp since android seems to be more popular in my country. but message is nicer imo, hopefully it'll gain more users since they allow texting with andoid now

[@eduardolgn772]

​@@samishi9785it won't. Even if iOS user send messages trough iMessager to an android it's unlikely that the android user will use the message app to keep the conversation.

[@Kbxbigbro808]

@@samishi9785 people like iMessage?

[@iftikharhusain6286]

Ok

[@arbeen]

Daym. No Signal.

[@MissingGhost]

Where is Matrix??

[@antonigalon]

Signal?

[@Bauer0]

Where Gadu-Gadu?

[@Poemwriter_Angelo]

Anyone ever heard about netlog?

[@tholo86]

FB messenger is forced on us. Its just FB inbox disguised as a seperate messenger. Uninstalled it in my phone as it was having too much memory with minimal use. anyway, was surprised BBM and Viber still had significant numbers in 2021 I was WTF? and whats QQ?? as an African never heard it before.

[@realDeor]

What about Kakao? People still use WhatsApp? L

[@nordlyssrlys6945]

Didn't know that there's almost the same no. of people using Viber as telegram... I thought Viber was ded meat

[@joeshelby3352]

Still irc 😎

[@nikoskoukos-x1z]

Where is mIRC?

[@amirlung7836]

i do not use any phone

[@CONTINUUM2]

No mIRC?😢😢😢

[@anonyme8570]

Wtf was QQ

[@tweetylokilla]

guess the song

[@tipsss85]

whatsapp + messenger = FB

[@esola_adv]

Anyone using BBM now? OMG

[@FatihErkek]

Bro world population 8.000.000.000 😂

[@JOEMDMD]

you can have all these account at the same time, it is nothing to do with the world population

[@jacksoncostamanha2871]

Melhor fase foi a do IRC

[@ynos3]

Telegram for years...

[@verryjupiter3774]

Whatsapp (indonesia)

[@Moonwired]

Well i’m now getting panic attacks of all the people i just stopped talking to on my ICQ and MSN accounts. Ohh god skype.. cause i just stopped using it. Edit: weird that it goes op to 10B. We don’t even have that many users on the planet with digital devices..

[@tweetylokilla]

Guess the ñame of the song 🥹

[@Oliver_vm]

Remove WhatsApp, it puts a lot of strain on the system and battery

[@Kbxbigbro808]

How so?

[@CreativeMindsAudio]

Go discord go! I’m shocked at the popularity of WhatsApp and telegram though, or is this also just bots and scammers? 😂 i know whatsapp is pretty popular outside of the US but still. 3 BILLION people is an insane number. That’s most of the internet population.

[@tholo86]

In Africa we regard Telegram as an app for scammers and porn addicts.