iMessage has a lot of users if you count people with iphones who very occasionally try to send a text but end up using iMessage. I count as one but it still is completely irrelevant to me. WhatsApp is where everything interesting is.

Same here. I’m always shocked when I meet someone that doesn’t use WhatsApp

I'm always shocked when I meet someone that doesn't use WeChat

I'm always shocked when I meet someone that doesn't use Signal

I'm always shocked when I meet someone that doesn't use Facebook Messenger

I'm always shocked when I meet someone that doesn't use LINE

I'm always shocked when I meet someone that doesn't use Telegram

I'm always shocked when I meet someone that doesn't use QQ

etc.

It is true that WhatsApp seems to be the largest, but it's still used by fewer than 25% of humans, so you might be shocked often.

25% of humans is astonishing considering only about 2/3rds of humans have internet access.

I'm always surprised when I meet someone who does. None of my friends (+their family) or my family have ever used it. Nobody I hang out with will even say they have whatsapp. Maybe it's because we're "desktop people", which doesn't explain the lack of participation by someone like my wife. She uses her phone almost exclusively. shrug

US vs ROTW

there's still infrastructure in place to support you. there's a cost per user and cost per message, and you contributing to the former even if not to the latter.

> Try to send a text but end up using iMessage

iMessage is the default SMS and messaging app on iPhones. It’s what most people use for texting as well as messaging on iPhone.

In the US. Outside even iPhone users use WhatsApp or similar.