Almost ************** of British WhatsApp users say they used the app daily, according to a survey run in the third quarter of 2020. Nearly all users (** percent) said they used the app at least once a month.

In 2021, WhatsApp's user base in the United Kingdom amounts to approximately 40.23 million users. The number of WhatsApp users in the United Kingdom is projected to reach 38.35 million users by 2025. User figures 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.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).

During the fourth quarter of 2024, mobile messaging market leader WhatsApp reported around 1.13 million downloads from users in the United Kingdom. By comparison, Telegram reported around 1.22 million app downloads during the same period, while instant messaging platform Signal reported approximately 388 thousand app downloads by UK users. Between 2020 and the end of 2023, WhatsApp has consistently amassed more app downloads than competitors Telegram and Signal, but Telegram gained ground among UK users in 2024, with almost two million downloads during the second quarter of the year, compared to the 1.11 million downloads recorded by WhatsApp during the same period.

We asked UK consumers about "Most used messenger by brand" and found that "WhatsApp" takes the top spot, while "Viber" is at the other end of the ranking.These results are based on a representative online survey conducted in 2025 among 4,751 consumers in the UK.

In the first quarter of 2020, ** percent of respondents said they used WhatsApp several times a day. A share of ** percent of respondents reported using WhatsApp a few times a week.

During the third quarter of 2024, Spain was the European country with the highest WhatsApp penetration rate, with approximately 91 percent of its digital population using the over-the-top messaging service. Portugal and Ireland followed with a penetration rate of more than 90 percent. Italy ranked fourth, with 89.8 percent of the internet users in the country using the Meta-owned service.

How high is the brand awareness of WhatsApp in the UK?When it comes to messenger users, brand awareness of WhatsApp is at **% in the UK. The survey was conducted using the concept of aided brand recognition, showing respondents both the brand's logo and the written brand name.How popular is WhatsApp in the UK?In total, **% of UK messenger users say they like WhatsApp. However, in actuality, among the **% of UK respondents who know WhatsApp, **% of people like the brand.What is the usage share of WhatsApp in the UK?All in all, **% of messenger users in the UK use WhatsApp. That means, of the **% who know the brand, **% use them.How loyal are the users of WhatsApp?Around **% of messenger users in the UK say they are likely to use WhatsApp again. Set in relation to the **% usage share of the brand, this means that **% of their users show loyalty to the brand.What's the buzz around WhatsApp in the UK?In July 2022, about **% of UK messenger users had heard about WhatsApp in the media, on social media, or in advertising over the past three months. Of the **% who know the brand, that's **%, meaning at the time of the survey there's little buzz around WhatsApp in the UK.If you want to compare brands, do deep-dives by survey items of your choice, filter by total online population or users of a certain brand, or drill down on your very own hand-tailored target groups, our Consumer Insights Brand KPI survey has you covered.

As of April 2022, Brazil presented the highest share of WhatsApp users, with around nine in 10 messaging app users in the country engaging with the social and instant messaging app. WhatsApp had a penetration rate of approximately 97 percent among messaging and chat app users in India and Italy. Phone messaging users in Australia presented the lowest usage share of WhatsApp, with only 33 percent of mobile phone messaging app users reporting engaging with the Meta-owned app.

According to a survey of parents and children in the United Kingdom (UK) conducted between October and November 2023, 23 percent of children between the ages of three and four were using WhatsApp to communicate. In comparison, 83 percent of user aged between 16 and 17 reported engaging with the same platform to exchange instant messages. Snapchat was popular among 28 percent of users aged five and seven years, and of 50 percent among users aged between eight and 11 years.

Based on a survey conducted in 2020, the following statistic depicts the creation of social networking profiles among internet users in the United Kingdom (UK), by age group. It was found that 88 percent of respondents aged 16 to 24 years reported having a profile on social media sites or apps, accounting for the largest demographic across all surveyed age groups.

Decline of Facebook as a platform
While most of the main social networking sites have been growing in popularity, the use of Facebook has been in decline. Launched in 2004, the social media site was used often by 86 percent of UK respondents in 2013. This had fallen to 57 percent by 2020, relative to the growing use of WhatsApp and to a lesser extent Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat, all of which offer a tailored social media experience compared to Facebook’s multi-function approach. This however, does not undermine Facebook’s dominance as the number of its product users worldwide (including that of Instagram and WhatsApp) has been growing steadily, reaching nearly 3.45 billion by the first quarter of 2021.

The rise of alternative messenger apps As consumer concern over data sharing and privacy continues to rise, an increasing number of social messenger users are leaving Facebook-owned WhatsApp for alternatives such as Telegram, Signal, and Threema. WeChat, the most popular alternative to WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger had 1,2 billion monthly active users as of April 2021 and was the fifth most popular messaging app globally.

As of the third quarter of 2024, WhatsApp was the most active social network among internet users in the United Kingdom (UK), with 79.9 percent of internet users reporting use of the service. Facebook was very close behind, with a rate of 72.3 percent, followed by Facebook Messenger with 56.6 percent. YouTube’s broad audience in the United Kingdom YouTube reaches a broad audience in the UK, making it an attractive partner for advertisers of almost any product. More than 75 percent of individuals of every income bracket watch YouTube, with the likelihood of watching increasing with the pay-grade. Whether advertising basic items or luxury products, marketers should be able to connect with UK audiences through YouTube. There are almost no people in the UK to not use YouTube at least monthly. According to a survey conducted in the third quarter of 2020, 46 percent of respondents went on YouTube on a daily basis. Facebook in the United Kingdom  Facebook enjoys a healthy market position in the UK, holding an estimated  55 percent share of the market. The service attracted  50.6 million UK users during May 2021, and Facebook UK Limited  generated 1.1 billion British pounds in revenue  during 2019. The UK division of the company  posted an operating profit of 121.9 million British pounds that year. 

In an online survey conducted during the third quarter of 2024, **** percent of internet users in the United Kingdom reported that WhatsApp was their favorite social media platform, whilst **** percent said that Facebook was their favorite. Overall, only around *** in *** users said that TikTok was their favorite social media service, even though brand awareness of the app is high in the UK.

According to a survey of internet users in the United Kingdom conducted during September 2021, the mobile app for leading social media platform Facebook counted more than 41.5 million monthly active users in the country. Mobile instant messaging platform WhatsApp counted almost 41 million users, while the app for popular video platform YouTube amassed 33.3 million users across mobile phones and tablet devices. The Google Play Store ranked tenth, with approximately 20.5 million monthly active users visiting the store to download and rate mobile apps on the platform.

According to a survey of internet users in the United Kingdom conducted during the third quarter of 2020, social networking apps were the leading apps by reach, with **** percent of the country's digital population using this app category. Chat apps had a similarly high reach with approximately **** percent of the internet users in the country sending instant messages on apps like WhatsApp and Messenger. Shopping apps followed, with a ** percent reach in the examined period.

In January 2025, the United Kingdom had more than **** million Facebook users. Four years before, in September 2020, the number of Facebook users in the UK stood at *****, showing a **** percent growth in audience size in four years. Facebook remains the leading social network Despite a recent history of controversies and user privacy breaches - not least of which being the Cambridge Analytica scandal of 2018 - Facebook has managed to remain the top social network in the UK. As of July 2024, the platform had a **** percent market share, almost six times over that of X, formerly known as Twitter. Besides being the most popular social network across all age groups, Facebook and its subsidiary WhatsApp report the highest use among those aged between 26 and 35 years old. Role in political advertising Facebook has also proved to be a lucrative advertising platform, having generated **** percent of online ad revenue in the UK in 2018. This was forecast to increase to ** percent in 2021, placing the social network second to Google within the online advertising sector. Unsurprisingly, political groups aiming to capitalize on this reach have taken to large-scale advertising on Facebook. In 2019, **** million euros was spent on targeted political advertising in the UK alone, the second-highest reported figure in Europe.  

This statistic presents the most used iPhone social networking apps in the United Kingdom (UK) in October 2020, ranked by daily active users (DAU). The number one app by DAU was WhatsApp Messenger, with approximately **** million iPhone users using the services daily.

This statistic presents the most used apps in the Google Play Store in the United Kingdom (UK) as of ************, ranked by daily active users (DAU). The number one app by DAU was WhatsApp Messenger, with approximately *** million Google Play users using the services daily.

This survey reveals the most essential social media platforms as cited by survey respondents in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2020. The app most internet-users could least do without was WhatsApp, with a 30 percent respondent share followed by WhatsApp with 23 percent.

In March 2025, around ************** of respondents in Russia used WhatsApp, which was the largest share compared to other messenger applications. The share of Russians who used Telegram reached ** percent, while the third-most popular messenger was VKontakte Messenger. Messenger use in Russia Almost ** percent of Russians used instant messaging platforms in 2024, as compared to ** percent in Brazil and ** percent in the United Kingdom (UK). Among internet users, the share of online chat and messenger services consumers in Russia stood at **** percent, same as the global average. WhatsApp in Russia While other social media platforms by Meta Platforms are banned in Russia, WhatsApp can be used in the country. Users aged 25 to 44 years spent the most time on the messenger in the first seven months of 2024. The penetration rate of WhatsApp in Russia stood at around ** percent as of 2022, which was lower than in Brazil and Italy, but higher than in Sweden and Australia.

In March 2024, ******** was the most popular mobile app for smartphone or tablet users in the United Kingdom, with an audience reach of ** percent. Social media giant ******** followed, with a reach of around ** percent of the country's digital population. ******* ranked third with an audience reach of ** percent. In 2023, e-mail services, mobile social media, and ********* apps were the most popular categories for smartphone users in the country.