Facebook's Messenger, an app independent of the social network's mobile version, is now used by half a billion people each month.
Earlier this year, Facebook, which has around 1.3 billion users, began to push its users towards using Messenger instead of the Facebook mobile app for chatting with their friends. Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said in an earnings call in April that Messenger had 200 million users.
"Messenger was the first of our standalone apps, and unlike our core Facebook apps, it focused on one use case - messaging," said Peter Martinazzi, Director of Product Management at Facebook.
Martinazzi further said that the company is working to improve speed and reliability of the app, with updates rolling out every two weeks.
Messenger's ascent is comparable to WhatsApp's, which was acquired by Facebook in a staggering $19 billion deal this year. WhatsApp reached the half-billion mark in April, propelled by fast adoption in countries such Brazil, India and Mexico, and hit 600 million four months later.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Technology News
April 24, 2026 15:15 ET Economics news flow was relatively light this week even as the conflict in the Middle East continued, raising concerns for policymakers. In the U.S., spending data, initial jobless claims and pending home sales were the highlights. Business confidence in the biggest euro area economy was in focus in Europe. Inflation data from Japan gained attention in Asia.