The number of Tencent's WeChat active accounts has been increasing steadily. As at the end of September 2024, the Chinese multi-functional social media platform had over 1.38 billion monthly active users. WeChat users First released in 2011, WeChat is a mobile messaging app developed by the Chinese company Tencent. In its home market of China, WeChat was marketed as Weixin and was rebranded as WeChat in 2012 for international audiences. In 2018, WeChat and Weixin surpassed one billion users, which was a significant increase from the previous year. Today, WeChat is one of the leading social networks worldwide, ranking sixth in terms of active user numbers. It has users from different age groups. Special features on WeChat WeChat has lots of popular messaging app features, including Moments. Most WeChat users access WeChat Moments every time they open the app. The app also provides a broad range of services, such as financial management and mobile shopping. Short videos, online payment, and gaming were the most popular activities among WeChat users. A survey found that half of users spent six to 30 minutes per visit on the short video function, WeChat Channels.

The global number of WeChat users in was forecast to decrease between 2024 and 2028 by in total 26.4 million users. This overall decrease does not happen continuously, notably not in 2026 and 2027. The WeChat user base is estimated to amount to 1.2 billion users in 2028. Notably, the number of WeChat users of was continuously increasing over the past years.User figures numbers, here concerning the platform weChat, have been estimated by taking into account company filings or press material, secondary research, app downloads and traffic data. They refer to the average monthly active users over the period and count multiple accounts by persons only once.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

The age of WeChat users spread quite evenly from different age groups. As of March 2022, about 22 percent of WeChat users in China were between 31 and 40 years old, whereas another 22.7 percent of users aged over 51. WeChat is one of the most popular mobile messenger apps worldwide. More than 37 percent of the mobile users in China spent above three hours per day on WeChat.

In an increasingly connected digital world, Chinese apps have their way of keeping users stuck round. One of the common tactics is to build mini-applications within the core app to provide multiple services to users. As of September 2024, WeChat amassed about 954 million monthly active users of its mini-programs in China, which means over 90 percent of the WeChat users were using the services. The promises of WeChat Mini Program Chinese super app WeChat is the early adopter of the app-in-app functionality. Launched in 2017, WeChat Mini Program is an ecosystem of cloud-based embedded apps within the social and messaging app, covering diversified services for everyday life. Gaming and shopping mini-programs contributed the largest share of app usage time. Brands and mini-programs For brands and companies, WeChat Mini Program serves as another channel to reach out to a broader audience. Prominent brands like fast food chains McDonald's and KFC and car manufacturer Volkswagen have utilized this special channel and managed to attract a considerable number of users. This feature works particularly well for e-commerce majors JD.com and Meituan which had about 360 million and 310 million monthly active users in their mini-programs on WeChat respectively.

In China, one “super app” stands out with all the features of WhatsApp, Facebook, Skype, Uber, Amazon, and Tinder in one place. It is WeChat, which has become so indispensable that Chinese mobile internet users spent an average of one hour and 20 minutes a day on the app, as of the third quarter of 2023.

WeChat usage in China

Launched initially as a messaging app by Tencent in 2011, WeChat has totally changed the mobile usage and social media industry in China. Millions of mobile users rely on this all-in-one app to manage their daily life. A whopping 88 percent of Chinese respondents said they use WeChat every day. For brands and companies, the application also plays an important role in business operations, marketing, and sales generation.

Overseas market of WeChat

From a global perspective, WeChat is one of the most used communication channels for personal and business purposes. In 2022, it ranked ninth among the most downloaded social media apps in the world. The United States and Southeast Asian countries are the major new user source of WeChat. While the app has a much lower penetration rate in the United States compared to other messengers, industry forecasts have shown its U.S. userbase is expected to grow steadily to 5.6 million by 2026.

In 2024, one in five WeChat users in China were under 24 years old. The Chinese super app owned by Tencent has reached one billion monthly active users since 2018 and continues to grow.

China's most popular social network platform WeChat has been expanding its user base outside of its home. In the first half of 2024, Indonesia was the most important new overseas user source for WeChat with 2.1 million app downloads. Southeast Asian countries like Philippines and Vietnam demonstrated strong WeChat user growth as well. The Chinese equivalent of WhatsApp offers a wide range of functions outside of messaging, including mobile payment and e-commerce.

The Chinese messenger and social media app WeChat has achieved about two billion users across the world. Male users accounted for a slightly higher proportion of the total users at 52 percent as of the third quarter of 2023.The super app has become an indispensable tool for the everyday life in China, providing various services from digital payment to online banking, to ride hailing, gaming, and much more.

AliPay and WeChat Pay are believed to remain dominant mobile payment methods in China, as they are forecast to reach a combined user base of nearly 2.5 billion users. The apps, owned respectively Ant Financial and Tencent Holdings, were estimated to account for over 90 percent of Chinese mobile payments, making the country the largest for proximity mobile payment use. Part of their success and early adoption was their connection with the WeChat and Alibaba ecosystem: Both Alipay and WeChat stem from what originally was a social platform and do not need a separate stand-alone app to function. This concept of "an app within an app" is different from, say, PayPal in the United States that originally functioned outside of an app like Amazon.

WeChat has become an indispensable app in China. Over 88 percent of Chinese respondents open WeChat every day and a significant amount of WeChat users spent over 4 hours on the app. The number of WeChat's monthly active users has reached over one billion since 2018 and is still rising.

This statistic presents the frequency of WeChat users checking WeChat moments as of March 2016. Over 61 percent of the respondents said that they check the moments every time they open WeChat.

Tencent's WeChat, an instant messaging app combined with various daily life services, has become increasingly important in China. WeChat Mini Program, launched in 2017 as an ecosystem of cloud-based mini-applications built within the WeChat platform, achieved 450 million daily active users in 2021.

What is unique about WeChat Mini Program?

WeChat Mini Program provides advanced features, such as e-commerce, task management, coupons, and more, without WeChat users needing to leave the app. Such features are accessible everywhere, requiring no downloads nor additional phone memory. Small businesses are benefited as well, as it is relatively simple and cheap to develop a mini program. WeChat Mini Program not only reduces technical resources and time needed for app development, but also supports extra digital functions, particularly favored by retailers and restaurants.

Which mini-programs are most popular?

There are many ways to access these additional services, mostly via the drop-down menu on the WeChat homepage, Official Account menu, or links embedded in articles. The most popular types of WeChat Mini Programs belong to mobile shopping and daily services, both in terms of usage time share and monthly active userbase. When it comes to brands, MIni-programs set up by fast food chains like McDonald’s and KFC topped the chart with over 20 million monthly active users.

In 2024, two in five WeChat users were from small towns and villages, namely the third- and fourth-tier cities in China. Started as an instant messenger, WeChat has become the super app with multiple services such as online payment, shopping, and food delivery just to name a few.

In 2024, female users accounted for 48 percent of the WeChat user base. The Chinese super app ad over 1.3 billion active users from various consumer groups.

The number of Tencent's QQ active accounts has been fluctuating frequently. In the third quarter of 2024, QQ had about 562 million monthly active users, decreasing from around 571 million from last quarter. In contrast, the number of WeChat users has surpassed one billion.

This statistic presents information on the most popular WeChat activities conducted by WeChat users in China as of May 2014. During the survey period it was found that 41.5 percent of respondents had used voice messaging in the past six months.

In January 2025, Indonesia was the most important new overseas user source for WeChat with nearly 464,000 app downloads - about ten percent of the app's total installations. The Chinese equivalent of WhatsApp offers a wide range of functions apart from messaging, including mobile payment and e-commerce.

This statistic presents the average contact list size of WeChat users in China. As of 2016, over 44 percent of WeChat users had more than 200 contacts on the social networking service. Overall, approximately 90 percent of WeChat users had more than 50 contacts.

WeChat had nearly 700 million active users worldwide as of the fourth quarter of 2015.

As of February 2025, two billion users were accessing the WhatsApp messenger on a monthly basis. The app’s reach in usage penetration is particularly strong in markets outside the United States, and it is one of the most popular mobile social apps worldwide. WeChat amassed over 1.38 billion users, and Facebook Messenger amassed around 947 million users worldwide. Instant messaging is a type of online chat which offers real-time text transmission via internet. Since the appearance of the smartphone and the subsequent explosion of mobile apps, low-cost or free chat and social messaging apps have proven themselves as a cheap alternative to operator-based text messaging via SMS. Many messenger apps offer features such as group chats, the exchange of graphics, video and even audio messages as well as stickers or emoticons.

This statistic presents the top 10 WeChat activities conducted by WeChat users as of March 2016. In that survey, slightly over 11 percent WeChat users were using the WeChat sports function.