Tag: WhatsApp Plus

WhatsApp Hits 800 Million Monthly Active Users

WhatsApp is one of the biggest success stories in the tech industry; the app is miles ahead of its competition. To announce another major accomplishment, CEO and Founder of WhatsApp, Jan Koum took to his official Facebook page and stated that the popular messaging app now has 800 Million Active users. He also stressed upon the fact that there is a major difference between registered users and active users.

On the other hand, Facebook announced last month that its Messenger app had managed to acquire 600 million active users within the short span of four months. Facebook, which owns both its Messenger as well as WhatsApp, has decidedly kept the two apps separate.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Jan Kuom” author_title=”CEO and Founder of WhatsApp”]

WhatsApp – now serving 800,000,000 monthly active users. Reminder for the press out there: active and registered users are not the same thing :)

[/quote]

In the past couple of months we’ve been hearing about WhatsApp’s slow takeover in the voice calling segment. Android users have been the first ones to receive the voice calling update, while iOS and Windows users wait in line.

April 18, 2015
WhatsApp Says WhatsApp Plus Users Will Face Temporary Bans, Not Permanent

A few days WhatsApp began banning those users who had been using third party applications like WhatsApp+. The messaging app stated privacy concerns for the ban. WhatsApp has come out and said that the move is just temporary, and users can follow some easy steps to start using their service again.

The bans were handed down for a 24 hour period. Users could uninstall the third party app and install a fresh version of the official app from the app store, and they would be re-instated back. But recently a Google+ post saying that Whatsapp is starting a Permanent Account Disable purge caused a lot of concerns amongst the users.

WhatsApp has come out to clear the air. Earlier, WhatsApp used to ban the third party app users for a period of 24 hours, and the message showed up with a countdown clock, but now it’s extended indefinitely and the countdown clock has been removed. The company said that the third party app users will be unblocked only after they have uninstalled the third party app. They are not permanently banned from the service.

WhatsApp had claimed piracy and security concerns for the ban. It cited the case of Snapchat where users’ personal content were hacked in through third party app. So if you want to use the official WhatsApp app, you would have to delete WhatsApp+, WhatsApp Reborn, OgWhatsapp or any other third-party client from your smartphone.

This feels like a case of arm-twisting by the messaging giant, but it sure is needed to increase security. There is accountability with the official app, but there is none with third party apps. It’s better to take the safer approach than trade your personal information for a few new emoticons on a third party app. WhatsApp is anyways introducing features such as voice calling soon, so you would be better off sticking with the official WhatsApp.

March 7, 2015
Using WhatsApp Plus Might Cost You a Temporary Ban from WhatsApp

Every now and then, you see a pop up notification warning you not to use apps from outside the Play Store; when you side-load apps you open yourself up to all sorts of malware.

WhastApp Plus is an unofficial app which uses WhatsApp’s name and server to get downloads without the company’s permission. There have been various rumors that the company is actually buying the unofficial app because of its popularity. However, WhatsApp has recently cleared the air by initiating a 24-hour ban on users of WhatsApp Plus.

WhatsApp, via FAQ section of it’s website, explained the situation and how the Plus version of messaging service has been running in bad faith.

WhatsApp Plus is an application that was not developed by WhatsApp, nor is it authorized by WhatsApp. The developers of WhatsApp Plus have no relationship to WhatsApp, and we do not support WhatsApp Plus. Please be aware that WhatsApp Plus contains source code which WhatsApp cannot guarantee as safe and that your private information is potentially being passed to 3rd parties without your knowledge or authorization.

Please uninstall your application and install an authorized version of WhatsApp from our website or Google Play. Then, you will be able to use WhatsApp.

The company cleared that the WhatsApp Plus was using its server and that it has banned the unofficial version completely. If you are banned, you have to uninstall the Plus version and have to reacquaint yourself with WhatsApp’s official app from their website or Play Store.

January 21, 2015