Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile

How WhatsApp became the go-to messaging app for U.S. Latinos

Victoria Montenegro Caspe
By

WhatsApp is not the most popular instant messaging app in the United States, but it is the favorite among Latinos living in this country. Proof of this came during the COVID-19 pandemic when it became one of the main mechanisms to keep communication alive during the lockdown.

Hispanic Heritage Month 2020
To celebrate the contributions and influence of Hispanic Americans to the cultural, historical, and technological achievements of the United States, Digital Trends has put together this collection of exclusive features and in-depth reporting from our industry-leading Digital Trends Español team — translated for your convenience, of course. SEE MORE
Hispanic Heritage Month
Recommended Videos

What the data says

prykhodov/123rf

The confinement associated with COVID-19 pushed WhatsApp to surpass 2 billion users worldwide in 2020. These numbers also allowed it to consolidate its position as the third most-used social network in the world behind Facebook and YouTube.

Among messaging apps, it comfortably surpassed its sister company Facebook Messenger — both owned by Facebook Inc. — which is in second place with 1.3 billion users, and the Chinese WeChat, which is in third place with 1.25 billion, according to Statisa figures.

In the United States, the figures are reversed. According to the same consultancy, 87% of users of instant messaging and/or video applications regularly use Facebook. WhatsApp only comes in fifth place with 25%, behind Apple’s FaceTime (34%), Zoom (34%), and SnapChat (28%).

However, the figures change when it comes to Latinos in the United States: More than half of them (52%) use WhatsApp, surpassing other ethnic groups, such as those of African descent (17%), Asian origin (15%), or white (12%). The difference can be explained by the popularity of WhatsApp in Latin countries.

WhatsApp is so ubiquitous among American Latinos, the U.S. government used it to stimulate vaccination among the Latino population.

Why is WhatsApp so popular among Latinos?

In Latin American countries, practically everything is communicated through WhatsApp: Family news, meetings with friends, groups with co-workers, or from the university, everything happens through this platform. It is also one of the main channels of remote interaction that some companies and even, governments in the region have chosen.

This also makes it one of the most universal social networks. Although young people prefer apps like Instagram or TikTok, everyone is on WhatsApp, regardless of age or socioeconomic background.

Of course, it has its downsides — such as changes to its privacy policy or fake news chains — but simplicity of use is also one of its major advantages. You don’t need to open an account: All you need is a cell phone number.

One of the main reasons for its popularity in Latin America is that it was one of the first mechanisms available in the region to maintain instant communication 100 percent free of charge. This made it possible to avoid the text message (SMS) rates charged by mobile operators in Latin America. There, users were charged per message, unlike in the United States where the cost was integrated into cell phone plans. And since it also works with Wi-Fi, it even helps you avoid using cellular data.

These elements likely are what ended up becoming a barrier that prevented the mass exodus that threatened the platform in mid-2021 to platforms such as Telegram or Signal.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Victoria Montenegro Caspe
Victoria Montenegro Caspe
Victoria is a professional English-Spanish translator, with more than seven years of experience. She has a university degree…
WhatsApp Communities want to be your private social media
Whatsapp Communities on Samsung smart phones.

WhatsApp is adding a Communities feature to the eponymous instant messaging platform, adding a social media aspect to it that will have all group conversations protected by end-to-end encryption. Unlike the new community feature on Twitter that brings together like-minded users, the core idea of Communities on WhatsApp is that it allows multiple groups to be aggregated into one super-group.

But unlike social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, a WhatsApp Community won’t be openly discoverable. The phone numbers of users also won’t be publicly visible to all Community members. Only the admin and other members of a group can see them.

Read more
Cash App breach impacts millions of U.S. customers
Cash App for mobile payments.

Block, formerly Square, has revealed a security breach impacting up to 8.2 million current and former users of Cash App, its mobile payment and investment service.

The San Francisco-based company said in a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the breach was an inside job allegedly carried out by a former employee.

Read more
WhatsApp gets much-needed improvements for voice messages
WhatsApp messaging app icon.

WhatsApp is finally giving a much-needed overhaul to the voice messages system on its messaging platform, with a grab bag of new features that will start rolling out in the coming weeks. Let’s start with the trick that users have been demanding for years — fast playback for audio clips. WhatsApp will soon let users speed things up with controls for 1.5x and 2x voice message playback for both originally recorded and forwarded clips.

Another neat addition is background playback. WhatsApp users can leave a chat window and navigate other sections of the app or even jump into another chat while the voice message plays in the background. And if there are multiple audio clips lined up in succession, all of them will play in a queue while still in the background.

Read more