WhatsApp downloads in India decline by 45% in May

With the new privacy policy put in place, the common man seems to be fast losing interest in WhatsApp, the world’s largest messaging app. Data show that in the past 16 days download of WhatsApp reduced by as much as 45%.

In December last year, WhatsApp announced a policy update which was to come into effect on February 8 but was pushed to May 15 following a backlash over privacy concerns.

Data from Sensor Tower, a mobile app analytics firm showed this trend. Experts feel that after May, this figure could go down by 80% in India if WhatsApp does not roll back the new policy.

March-April

Sensor Tower data reveal that in January 2021 WhatsApp was downloaded by 1.10 crore users. In February, the number rose to 1.60 crore users, an increase of 5.5%.

In March this figure dropped to 1.01 crore, a decline of 12% over the past month. April witnessed a sharp reduction of 29.5% to 71 lakh downloads.

Until May 16, this figure further dropped by 45% to only 40 lakh.

Cyber experts feel if this momentum exists then by the end of May, WhatsApp would not able to cross its April’s mark of 71 lakh download.

Telegram userbase swells

On the other hand, fortune smiled on Telegram, a messaging app. In January this app was downloaded 1.48 crore times in India, almost 40 lakh more than that of WhatsApp.

But in February and March, Telegram was downloaded by 1.1 crore and 63 lakh users. In April and up to May 16 this app has been downloaded by 57 lakh and 38 lakh users.

Telegram is lagging behind WhatsApp by only 2 lakh users in May. Experts feel that by June, Telegram probably will overtake Whatsapp in terms of new users.

Worldwide trend

Telegram saw a 98% Y-o-Y jump in January-April period to 161 million downloads.

Signal recorded a 1,192% Y-o-Y jump to 65 million, while WhatsApp saw a 43% Y-o-Y decline in installs in January-April period to 172 million.

“WhatsApp had announced the policy in July last year. But its policy update announcement in January 2021 made it mandatory for users to accept the policy change or lose functionality. This made a global impact,” said Bivas Chatterjee, a renowned cyber law expert.

The Bottom line

The user base of WhatsApp in India is around 53 crore, the largest in the world.

Earlier this month, WhatsApp said no account will be deleted for not accepting its privacy policy update. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has directed WhatsApp to withdraw its new privacy policy immediately.

The Centre has given WhatsApp seven days to respond to the notice and if no satisfactory response is received, necessary steps in consonance with the law might be taken against them.