Popular instant messaging app Telegram has joined the elite club of apps that have been downloaded over 1 billion times globally, according to Sensor Tower.<\/p>\n
The Dubai-headquartered app, which was launched in late 2013, surpassed the milestone on Friday, the mobile insight firm told TechCrunch. As is the case with the app\u2019s chief rival, WhatsApp, India is the largest market for Telegram. The world\u2019s second-largest internet market represents approximately 22% of its lifetime installs, Sensor Tower said.<\/p>\n
\u201c[India is] followed by Russia and Indonesia, which represent about 10% and 8% of [all installs], respectively.\u00a0The app\u2019s installs accelerated in 2021, reaching about 214.7 million installs in the first half of 2021, up 61% year-over-year from 133 million in H1 2020,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s worth noting that the number of installs doesn\u2019t equate to the app\u2019s active userbase. Telegram had about 500 million monthly active users as of early this year<\/a>, for instance. But the surge in downloads, which coincides with WhatsApp\u2019s poor handling of relaying its privacy policies to its massive userbase<\/a>, nonetheless suggests that Telegram has enjoyed some additional attention in recent quarters.<\/p>\n