If you use WhatsApp everyday, you are certainly aware that this popular messaging service is frequently updated, especially the Android version of the app receives upgrades almost every week. And in fact today we are going to talk about the new 2.16.97 Beta version of WhatsApp for Android devices.
The APK file of this latest version weighs 28.3 MB and its build number is 451181. This is a minor update of WhatsApp, so doesn’t add any new feature but just performance improvements. If you are interested in downloading this new 2.16.97 Beta version of WhatsApp for Android and you are a beta tester, you simply have to go to the Google Play Store. If you are not a beta tester you can download this latest APK by going to apkmirror.com. Once you are on the site you just have to download this 2.16.97 APK. When the download is complete you can open the file on your Android device and follow the instructions.
It is well known that with its one billion active users, WhatsApp is one of the most successfull instant messaging apps around the world. But it could be interesting to analyze this data more in detail. According to SimilarWeb, a data analytics firm, between Android users WhatsApp is currently firmly on the top step of the podium of instant messaging apps in 109 countries (55.6% of the world), followed by Facebook Messenger, which is the leader “only” in 49 countries.
Other competitors such as Line, Viber, Telegram and WeChat are way far from these kind of results, even if Viber dominates in ten countries. And then it interesting to note that there are some apps like KakaoTalk in South Korea and BBM in Indonesia that are the leaders only in their own country. Furthermore, this survey not only gives us mere numbers, but shows in detail where these different instant messaging apps are most used.
For example, our beloved WhatsApp is used especially in Brazil, Mexico, Russia, India, many South American countries, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. Facebook’s Messenger is used in Canada, Australia and the U.S. According to SimilarWeb, Viber is very popular in Eastern Europe, Iraq, Libya and Sri Lanka.
Do you think this scenario will be the same in five years? The situation in the instant messaging field makes you believe that little will change, but obviously we have to wait and see what will happen.