Telegram, the WhatsApp competitor that was built on a platform of privacy and security, has crossed over one billion global downloads, reported a Sensor Tower Study. The app became significantly popular in India amid concerns over WhatsApp’s new policy update, which even invited an anti-competitive probe by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

According to the Sensor Tower Study, India accounted for 22 percent of Telegram’s lifetime installs. Apart from India, Russia and Indonesia were also large markets for the app with 10 percent and 8 percent of its total downloads, respectively.

However, the number of active users is far less than the number of total downloads, as is the case with most apps. Telegram had last reported 500 million monthly active users earlier in the year, though it has been projected to reach one billion active users by 2022.

Telegram, along with Signal, another instant messaging app built around privacy features, saw explosive growth in 2021 after WhatsApp announced its new privacy policy. Telegram saw 214.7 million installs in the first half of 2021, compared to 133 million during the same period of time a year prior, which accounts for a 61 percent increase.

Telegram joined 14 other apps that reached over one billion global downloads. Other apps included WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Spotify, and Netflix.

Telegram was developed by Nikolai and Pavel Durov in 2013, who also founded the largest Russian social media platform VK.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)