Signal, formed through a merger of RedPhone and TextSecure, is the flagship app of the Signal Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to open-source privacy technology. The software which underpins the Signal app has been imported onto WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Skype and Google Allo, although end-to-end encryption is not offered by default on these platforms. It launched the Signal app in 2015 for iOS, Android and desktop, which came with end-to-end encrypted messaging. Signal has since added ...| Business of Apps
LINE is a Japanese instant messenger app, produced by the eponymous corporation. In Asia, the most popular instant messenger apps have evolved to become platforms in their own right. On these, users can play games, send money, shop and much more. WeChat in China is perhaps the most prominent and diverse example. Across the Sea of Japan, LINE offers a similar service. The app was originally developed as an emergency solution for company (then known as NHN Japan) employees during the Tōhoku e...| Business of Apps
WhatsApp is a messaging app for smartphones created in 2009 by two former Yahoo employees, Brian Acton and Jan Koum. It was Koum who saw the potential of operating through the Apple App Store after purchasing an iPhone in early 2009. The app initially focused on statuses; Koum later revealed that part of his motivation was to stop missing calls while he was the gym. Users quickly came to use this as an instant messaging service, planting the seed for what the app would become. WhatsApp 2.0 i...| Business of Apps
Snapchat is an image and video messaging app, developed by Stanford University students Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown in 2011. Its unique selling point was that photos and videos sent to friends would only be viewable for a set duration of 1 to 10 seconds, although Snapchat has removed these limitations. A number of additional features have also been added, the first of which was Stories. This allowed users to post photos and videos to a feed for 24 hours. The feature was notor...| Business of Apps
WeChat was launched in 2011 as Weixin, Mandarin for ‘micro-message’. As the name suggests, it originally functioned as a simple messenger app, a Chinese equivalent to WhatsApp in essence. WeChat was developed by and belongs to Chinese tech behemoth Tencent, one of the most valuable companies in the world. Other names in the Tencent stable include QQ Messenger and Tencent Music. Though it started as a simple messenger platform, WeChat has become far more than that. Through its mini program...| Business of Apps