In the first four months of 2021, Telegram installations increased 98% year-over-year and Signal downloads increased 1.192% year-over-year.
These are the data of the Sensor Tower company, a few days after the entry into force of the new privacy rules of WhatsApp, announced for last February 8 and then postponed to May 15.
Telegram, the application of Pavel Durov, the main competitor of WhatsApp, during the first month of the year recorded 64 million downloads (+ 238% compared to 2020), while Signal, chat also recommended by Edward Snowden (the former computer scientist of the CIA who with his revelations kicked off the Datagate) 51 million downloads (+ 5.001% compared to 2020).
In the following months, however, both companies saw the number of downloads decrease, reaching the levels of 2020;
only Signal continues to record significant growth.
Despite the surge of both WhatsApp platforms, according to Sensor Tower, it continues to be the most popular instant messaging application in the world even if, analysts note, the situation is evolving.