Telegram, a messaging app that emphasizes privacy and security, added millions of new users Sunday, following WhatsApp’s biggest outage in years. The spike in downloads pushed the app to the No. 4 position in the App Store Sunday and the app was the No. 1 iPhone app in 48 countries, according to the company. The outage appears to have boosted Telegram’s downloads considerably. By Sunday afternoon, the company was reporting it had added 4.95 million users on that day alone.
The App Store is a strange and whimsical bedfellow. It is a kingmaker, but with that comes the tears of the anointed, the displaced and the never-rans. As an example of the store’s fickle nature, Flappy Bird held the Free App pole position for so long that it could not handle the success, committing seppuku. Almost immediately three clones popped up to replace it, including “Flying Cyrus”, a Miley Cyrus-themed clone. The news of WhatsApp, the world’s largest messaging app, being acquired on February 19 by the world’s largest social network also has birthed a new App Store star. Telegram, a messaging app of humble origins, has surpassed WhatsApp in the App Store rankings, just five days after the news of Facebook’s buy. Other messaging apps like TigerText and Confide could also see a related boost.