WhatsApp is the most used instant messaging app in the whole world, but in spite of that it surely has many secrets that you did not know, details in which you had not stopped to think and that can change the way in which you see the platform. We present ten WhatsApp curiosities that could have been overlooked.

1- Facebook could have saved billions of dollars

Facebook 19,000 million dollars to get WhatsApp, in one of the most important operations in the sector in all of history, but the truth is that it could have achieved the same for much less.

And is that its creators, Jan Koum and Brian Acton , knocked on the doors of Facebook in 2007, when they left Yahoo in search of new opportunities; However, since they did not get the company of Zuckerberg (or Twitter) to pay any attention to them, they decided to found their own company, WhatsApp , on February 24, 2009.

2- The origin of the WhatsApp name

You may already suspect something, but the name of WhatsApp comes from the English phrase "What's up?" That would come to be a "What's up? What's up? "In Spanish. In this way a huge amount of conversations are started every day, so it is appropriate that they make a word game with "app", which in 2009 was the buzzword.

3- WhatsApp has not spent a cent on marketing

Since the first version of the app was launched for iOS in November 2009, WhatsApp has not spent any time promoting its app. It has simply let the users themselves recommend it , taking advantage of word of mouth, which in the Internet era has more influence than ever.

4- Google was about to buy WhatsApp

In 2014, it was clear that WhatsApp was in an ideal situation to sell to the highest bidder, and that could have been Google. Although the Internet giant already has its own app, Hangouts, was willing to open the portfolio and drop 10 billion dollars.

As is well known, it was finally Facebook that took the cat to the water, spending about 19,000 million dollars. That figure is higher than NASA's annual budget (17,000 million), to give you an idea of the magnitude of the purchase.

5- WhatsApp does not make money with advertising or selling our data

Despite selling to Facebook, WhatsApp remains more or less independent regarding the social network, as shown by Facebook Messenger continues to update and compete against it.

If WhatsApp does not show advertising, and does not take advantage of our data, how does it make money? In a very traditional way: charging for the service. Initially, the app was paid on iOS, although when it came to Android a new system was implemented by which the app is free for the first year of use, after which we are allowed to pay 1 dollar per year (0.89 €).

6- WhatsApp, an addiction that has even been used as court evidence

In case you had not noticed: we use a lot of WhatsApp. It is estimated that 72% of users check the app at least once a day, and that the average user opens the app 23 times a day .

We are so used to using WhatsApp for everything that is even affecting the way we deal with our loved ones (and not so much loved ones). In Italy WhatsApp conversations have been used as evidence in 40% of divorce cases , especially to prove adultery. In this way it has surpassed Facebook, which is also used to collect this type of information.

The good thing about WhatsApp is that if we have an Internet connection it is the perfect substitute for SMS. Maybe that's why we spend a little bit with the messages: the average user sends more than 1,000 messages every day ; now think about your invoice if you had to pay them as if they were SMS.

7- It is losing a lot of money to the operators ...

And let's say that avoiding the use of SMS does not please telephone operators, who are facing potentially high losses. According to Forbes, telecommunications companies will stop earning 386,000 million dollars due to instant messaging applications like WhatsApp, in the period between 2012 and 2018.

8- ... although some are taking advantage of its popularity

That is why there are already attempts by the industry to control this type of traffic in some way (even if it goes against the neutrality of the network), or to develop its own alternatives.

There are also cases in which the use of WhatsApp is the main claim, as happens with Chatsim, formerly known as Whatsim , which offer unlimited data to use WhatsApp and other instant messaging apps.

9- Security has never been your strong point

Until the arrival of Telegram and other apps focused on security, WhatsApp have not bothered much in this regard. This has been real problems, and in some cases the app has come to be removed from the app stores.Fortunately WhatsApp has joined the trend of the last few months to improve the security of users, encrypting their communications among other things.

10- It has a good part of selfies fault

The selfies is a phenomenon that does not seem to end, and WhatsApp is the center of this fashion. No less than 27% of all selfies that are shared on the Internet pass through WhatsApp.

How much weight does WhatsApp have in your life? How will we see the app in two, or three years? Will Facebook continue to juggle the game it is doing with Messenger and WhatsApp? Doubts that will play an important role in the coming months.

Features of WhatsApp:

• Short instant messages: It is the basic functionality of the whatsapp application . It allows us to send and receive short messages with one or several people through groups. It is as simple as writing words and phrases and press send.
• Audio: One of the uses of whatsapp is to send voice notes, both short and long, through a sound recorder integrated into the application. Supports very long messages very well when you do not want to write too much.
• Emojis and colorful and changeable interface: You can change the backgrounds of the chats and send expressions through emoticons.
• Video calls and calls: In its latest updates, installing whatsapp brings the advantage of receiving and making calls to any part of the world with internet, allowing us to be connected with our family and friends through a call.
• Status Update: The latest whatsapp updates allow you to add states that last twenty-four hours. You can upload love status images, videos, and other multimedia files such as Gifs. We can also write sentences and words that describe our thoughts and mood.
• It's free: Whatsapp free in all its versions.
• Contacts: This messaging application merges the contacts of our mobile phones, allowing us to see your contacts on WhatsApp .