Webinar
Messaging
State of Messaging 2025 Webinar
April 9th @ 2pm ET
What is WhatsApp?
WhatsApp is an over-the-top messaging app owned by Meta. It’s estimated to have 2 billion monthly users in 60 countries—more than WeChat, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, or SnapChat.
Because WhatsApp has in-app functionality for voice and video calls, many users avoid long distance charges by using the app instead of a cellular network, especially for international calls. The app does require Wi-Fi or an internet connection through mobile data. In addition, because the app is not a native messaging app on Apple or Android phones, users must download and install it to use it.
The Benefits of WhatsApp for Businesses
For businesses that want to expand their marketing reach into messaging, WhatsApp offers a host of benefits:
- End-to-end encryption for every message, call, and conversation, earning it a higher level of consumer trust compared to SMS.
- Multimedia functionality, including interactive buttons, carousels, video, and two-way conversations.
- A ready audience of about 2 billion people across 180 countries.
- Automated messaging capabilities and robust analytical tools.
- Cost efficiency and ease of use—which are both especially valuable for small businesses.
How Businesses Use WhatsApp
The ways businesses use WhatsApp are as varied and unique as the businesses themselves. WhatsApp Business offers dozens of ways for companies to interact with their customers and provide a unique customer experience.
Businesses on WhatsApp can:
Create a catalog. WhatsApp Business allows companies to upload up to 500 items with images, descriptions, links, and pricing for each. Customers can order and pay directly from their phones.
Start a chat in one click. In WhatsApp Business, companies can create short links that send customers directly to the WhatsApp chat. These links can be posted on the company website, in e-mails, or as a QR code. They can even be embedded in ads on other social media sites to drive more traffic to the company’s WhatsApp chat.
Build a chatbot. Chatbots in WhatsApp can act as first-level support for service or sales conversations, helping customers get what they need faster and preserving company resources. Note: This service is only available on WhatsApp Business Platform, not the free WhatsApp Business App.
WhatsApp FAQ
How is WhatsApp different from SMS?
SMS is for text only and does not support multimedia; to send multimedia texts, businesses would need to use MMS. In addition, SMS messages are typically delivered over cellular networks to end users. It does not require a separate app and uses default applications with regular wireless access.
WhatsApp is an over-the-top (OTT) messaging application, which means it requires a separate download, and both the sender and receiver must have the app to communicate. In addition, the app requires either Wi-Fi or cellular data to send and receive messages.
Is WhatsApp a secure channel?
Every message or call on WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted, which can give both businesses and customers the confidence that their communications are safe and private.
How is WhatsApp Business different from RCS for Business Messaging?
RCS stands for Rich Communication Services, and it’s a communication protocol that’s embedded in native messaging apps. As of Apple’s iOS 18 rollout in 2024, both Apple and Android messaging apps support RCS, which means for the first time that iPhones and Androids are able to share rich messages without requiring an OTT application like WhatsApp.
RCS Business Messaging (RBM), which is expected to be supported in the US in 2025, supports verified branding for businesses, payments through Google Wallet or other payment gateways, and multimedia experiences.
WhatsApp remains an over-the-top (OTT) messaging platform that users must download and install separately from native apps.
RCS Business Messaging offers similar functionality for messaging APIs as WhatsApp Business. Both support multimedia experiences, and both have strong built-in security, and market share tends to vary based on geography, rather than industry or use case. This often leaves businesses the flexibility to select their preferred rich messaging channel based on their customer base’s preferences.
WhatsApp is a registered trademark of Meta and is unaffiliated with Bandwidth.
Related terms:
The information provided in this glossary definition does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice, nor does it necessarily represent Bandwidth's products or business practices. This page is for general informational purposes only.Related posts
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