Timeline of WhatsApp

The following is a timeline of WhatsApp, a proprietary cross-platform, encrypted, instant messaging client for smartphones.[1]

Full timeline
YearMonth and dateEvent typeDetails
2009February 24CompanyJan Koum incorporates WhatsApp in USA.[2]
2009AugustProductWhatsApp 2.0 is released on the App Store for the iPhone.[3]
2009OctoberFundingBrian Acton persuades five ex-Yahoo! friends to invest $250,000 in seed funding, and is granted co-founder status.[2]
2009DecemberProductWhatsApp for the iPhone is updated to send photos.[2]
2010AugustProductWhatsApp support for Android OS is added.[4]
2011January 21CompetitionWeChat, a messenger app, is founded.[5] It eventually becomes very popular in China.
2011AprilFundingIn Series A round, WhatsApp founders agree to take $8 million from Sequoia Capital on top of their $250,000 seed funding, after months of negotiation with Sequoia partner Jim Goetz.[2]
2011MayCompetitionSnapChat, a competing photo messaging app, is founded.[6]
2012January 6SecurityAn unknown hacker publishes a website that makes it possible to change the status of an arbitrary WhatsApp user, as long as the phone number was known.[7][8]
2012AugustSecurityThe WhatsApp support staff announce that messages were encrypted in the "latest version" of the WhatsApp software for iOS and Android (but not BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and Symbian), without specifying the cryptographic method.[9]
2013FebruaryUserbaseWhatsApp's user base swells to about 200 million active users and its staff to 50.[2]
2013JulyFundingSequoia invests another $50 million in Series B round, valuing WhatsApp at $1.5 billion.[10]
2013July 16ProductWhatsApp goes free, with an annual subscription fee of $1 after the first year.[11][12]
2013AugustCompetitionTelegram, a cloud-based instant messaging service, launches.[13]
2013AugustProductWhatsApp introduces voice messaging.[14]
2014February 19CompanyFacebook, Inc. announces its acquisition of WhatsApp for US$19 billion, its largest acquisition to date.[15] Facebook pays $4 billion in cash, $12 billion in Facebook shares, and an additional $3 billion in restricted stock units granted to WhatsApp's founders.[16]
2014MarchSecuritySomeone discovers a vulnerability in WhatsApp encryption on the Android application that allows another app to access and read all of a user’s chat conversations within it.[17]
2014NovemberProductWhatsApp introduces a feature named Read Receipts, which alerts senders when their messages are read by recipients. Within a week, WhatsApp introduces an update allowing users to disable this feature so that message recipients do not send acknowledgements.[18]
2015January 21ProductWhatsApp launches WhatsApp Web, a web client which can be used through a web browser by syncing with the mobile device's connection.[19]
2015January 21ProductWhatsApp announces its policy on cracking down on 3rd-party clients, including WhatsApp+.[20] Users would not be able to use WhatsApp’s services at all until the third-party apps are uninstalled.[21]
2015MarchProductAdded voice calls between two accounts.[22]
2015DecemberLegalWhatsApp is briefly shut down in Brazil after it refuses to place wiretaps on certain WhatsApp accounts.[23] It is shut down in Brazil again on May 2016 and in July 2016.[24]
2016January 18ProductJan Koum announces that WhatsApp will no longer charge its users a $1 annual subscription fee.[25][26] There is still no clear plan for monetizing WhatsApp.[27]
2016MarchLegalDiego Dzodan, a Facebook executive, is arrested by Brazilian federal police after Facebook fails to turn over information from his WhatsApp messaging account into a judge's request for a drug trafficking investigation.[28]
2016March 2ProductWhatsApp introduces its document-sharing feature, initially allowing users to share PDF files with their contacts.[29]
2016April 5Product, SecurityWhatsApp and Open Whisper Systems announce that they finish adding end-to-end encryption to "every form of communication" on WhatsApp, and that users could now verify each other's keys.[30][31][32]
2016May 10ProductWhatsApp is introduced for both Windows and Mac operating systems.[33]
2016NovemberProductAdded video calls between two accounts.[34]
2017September 5ProductWhatsApp started external testing of an enterprise platform which enables companies to provide customer service to users at scale.[35] Airline KLM launches such a service.[36]
2018JulyProductAdded group voice and video calls for up to four accounts.[37]
2020AprilProductGroup calls now allow up to 8 accounts.[38]

References
  1. Metz, Cade (5 April 2016). "Forget Apple vs. the FBI: WhatsApp Just Switched on Encryption for a Billion People". Wired. Condé Nast. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  2. Parmy Olsen (February 2, 2014). "Exclusive: The Rags-To-Riches Tale Of How Jan Koum Built WhatsApp Into Facebook's New $19 Billion Baby". Forbes. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  3. "WhatsApp 2.0 is submitted - WhatsApp Blog". Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  4. "Three-quarters of WhatsApp users are on Android, 22% on iOS (study)". Venturebeat.com. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  5. "5 years of WeChat". Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  6. "Snapchat". Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  7. Schellevis, Joost (January 12, 2012). "What's app status: van Anderen os nog speeds te wijzigen" (in Dutch). Tweakers. Retrieved January 12, 2012.
  8. rvdm (January 12, 2012). "How What's app net works". Wire trip. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Retrieved April 7, 2013.
  9. "Are my messages secure?". WhatsApp (FAQ). Zendesk. August 15, 2012. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
  10. "PrivCo". Privco.com. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
  11. "The Granddaddy Of Messaging Apps, WhatsApp, Finally Goes For A Subscription Model on iOS". Techcrunch.com. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  12. "WhatsApp, the Internet Messenger, to Become Free". The New York Times. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  13. "Russia's Zuckerberg launches Telegram, a new instant messenger service". Reuters.com. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  14. "Voice Messaging Comes To Whatsapp". Techcrunch.com. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  15. "WhatsApp Was Valued At ~$1.5B In Final Round Before Sale". Techcrunch. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  16. "Facebook to Buy WhatsApp for $19 Billion". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  17. "Hole In WhatsApp For Android Lets Hackers Steal Your Conversations". Techcrunch.com. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  18. "Whatsapp now lets you disable Read notifications". November 15, 2014.
  19. "WhatsApp Web". January 21, 2015.
  20. "(Updated) WhatsApp begins crackdown on unlicensed 3rd party clients". Androidauthority.com. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  21. "WhatsApp Says It's Not "Permanently" Banning Users From Its Service, Just Blocking Third-Party Clients". Techcrunch.com. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  22. WhatsApp finally adds voice calls for all Android users, iOS coming soon - James Vincent, The Verge, 31 March 2015
  23. "Brazil Restores WhatsApp Service After Brief Blockade Over Wiretap Request". The New York Times. December 17, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  24. "WhatsApp Is Briefly Shut Down in Brazil for a Third Time". The New York Times. July 19, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  25. Ina Fried (January 18, 2016). "Facebook's Whatsapp is Now Free". Re Code. Vox Media, Inc. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  26. "Whatsapp to Drop Subscription Fee". Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, Inc. January 18, 2016. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  27. "No Subscription Charges For WhatsApp: Does Facebook Have A Monetization Strategy In Place?". Forbes. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
  28. "Brazil Arrests Facebook Executive in WhatsApp Data Access Case". The New York Times. March 1, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  29. "WhatsApp adds support for document sharing, but only PDFs at launch". TechCrunch. March 2, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  30. Metz, Cade (April 5, 2016). "Forget Apple vs. the FBI: WhatsApp Just Switched on Encryption for a Billion People". Wired. Condé Nast. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  31. Lomas, Natasha (April 5, 2016). "WhatsApp completes end-to-end encryption rollout". TechCrunch. AOL Inc. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  32. "WhatsApp Introduces End-to-End Encryption". The New York Times. April 5, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  33. "Introducing WhatsApp's desktop app", WhatsApp Blog, 10 May 2016, retrieved 11 May 2016
  34. WhatsApp Is Now Rolling Out Video Calling For iPhone, Android And Windows Phone - Amit Chowdhry, 15 November 2016
  35. "Building for People, and Now Businesses". WhatsApp.com.
  36. "KLM first airline with verified WhatsApp business account". KLM first airline with verified WhatsApp business account. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  37. WhatsApp launches four-person group video calling - Jon Fingas, Engadget, 30 July 2018
  38. Now video chat with more than 4 people on WhatsApp, here is how - Ankita Chakravarti, India Today, 22 April 2020
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