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| WhatsApp targets the United States |
With more than 2 billion users, WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world. But its largest market is outside the United States. Facebook, the parent company of the recently renamed Meta messaging platform, wants to change that.
Meta has launched the first WhatsApp marketing campaign in the US focusing on the privacy offered by app encryption.
The first TV ad, which aired on Sunday during the AFC Championship, compares unencrypted messages to strangers opening your mail.
Soon, similar ads promoting WhatsApp privacy started appearing on billboards across the country and on the internet.
With the marketing campaign, Meta aims to get more US users into its messaging platform by emphasizing the app's security over other text messaging methods such as SMS.
According to a 2019 CTIA study, more than 5 billion unencrypted text messages are sent in the United States every day.
Much of this can be spam and promotions, but SMS is also the default texting method on many Android phones or when someone sends an iMessage from an Android device.
WhatsApp hopes to become popular in the United States
Google has already started lobbying for the rollout of RCS, a long-awaited SMS update that adds features like read receipts and, in some cases, encryption. However, Apple hasn't indicated that it will add RCS compatibility to iMessage.
Meta believes that the availability of WhatsApp on iOS and Android is a major concern for those frustrated with the cross-platform messaging experience.
The platform allows you to easily sync your chat history from your iOS device to any Android phone and vice versa.
Last year, WhatsApp introduced fully encrypted backups, a feature that Apple hasn't yet introduced to iMessage.
Meta recognizes that moving SMS traffic to encryption using RCS is a good thing. But he said WhatsApp has no plans to add RCS compatibility.
Since RCS is an open standard, Meta argues that adding support would slow the development of messaging platforms.
Except to compete with iMessage. Perhaps the biggest challenge for WhatsApp's entry into the US market is the relationship with the parent company.
A privacy policy update last year regarding the storage of WhatsApp business conversations on Facebook's servers sparked a backlash.