WhatsApp Passes One Billion Users Milestone

As well as text messages, users can also share photos, videos and other media.

It also offers a similar secure messaging service to the BlackBerry and has become more popular as the Canadian phone maker has seen its handsets fall in popularity compared to those made by other smart phone makers.

It has also proved popular in the US where mobile phone customers often have to pay for text messages.

More than half of its subscribers have been added in the last 21 months, according to Forbes.

A message on the app's blog section said: "One billion people are using WhatsApp. That's nearly one in seven people on Earth.

"We are proud of this milestone, and we're humbled by the extraordinary ways all of you have used WhatsApp.

"WhatsApp began as a simple idea: ensuring that anyone could stay in touch with family and friends anywhere on the planet, without costs or gimmicks standing in the way.

WhatsApp was bought by Facebook in February 2014 for $19bn (£12bn).