In Meta’s Android ecosystem, four apps compete for attention, but not in the way most think. They don’t cannibalize one another. Instead, each carves out its own niche in the rhythm of daily life, serving different instincts, connection, curiosity, habit, and history.
Start with WhatsApp. The numbers here aren’t just large, they’re consistent. Every month, 1.41 billion people use it on Android devices. That drops only slightly across the week (1.36B) and barely shifts each day (1.25B). That kind of retention, sitting at 88.86% daily stickiness, doesn’t come from features, it comes from necessity. With 20.99 sessions per user and an average session lasting just under three minutes, it’s quick, frequent, and woven into life’s in-between moments.
Instagram, by contrast, moves slower, but holds tighter. While its user base (on Android) is smaller (937.54M monthly, 840.17M weekly, 666.27M daily), each visit pulls longer. An average session clocks 5 minutes and 28 seconds, and users average 12.38 sessions per day. Cumulatively, that builds to 1 hour and 7 minutes of daily presence. If WhatsApp feels like a hallway conversation, Instagram is a lounge, users stay, browse, linger.
Facebook, the original titan, operates on legacy momentum. It has 1.08B monthly users, 970.72M weekly, and 774.49M daily. But while fewer sessions occur (9.39 per user), those who arrive don’t rush. An average session stretches nearly seven minutes, longest of the group, and adds up to over 65 minutes of daily usage. At 71.68% stickiness, it’s not as addictive as WhatsApp, but it holds a loyalty rooted in familiarity. For many, Facebook remains the internet’s waiting room.
Messenger seems caught in a different story. It still draws a sizable crowd (746.58M monthly, 579.08M weekly, 348.65M daily), but the numbers tell of an app fading quietly. Stickiness lands at just 46.69%, well below the others. Session count sits at 9.32 per day, with the shortest average span, just over two minutes. Daily total? Barely crosses 18 minutes. That’s not a collapse, but it is drift. People still use it, but less with urgency, more out of leftover habit.
The spread tells a bigger truth. Meta didn’t build one all-powerful app. It built four that cover different tempos. WhatsApp thrives on rapid-fire messages, Instagram on visual wanderings, Facebook on deeper scrolls, and Messenger... well, it endures.
What matters isn’t just who logs in, it’s how they move. Across these four apps, time splits cleanly, shaped by what users seek, not what Meta forces. And that, more than any growth chart, shows just how tightly these platforms still grip the modern day.
Data H/T: Similarweb.
Read next: The Overlooked Flaws of ChatGPT: The Hidden Costs Behind the Hype
Start with WhatsApp. The numbers here aren’t just large, they’re consistent. Every month, 1.41 billion people use it on Android devices. That drops only slightly across the week (1.36B) and barely shifts each day (1.25B). That kind of retention, sitting at 88.86% daily stickiness, doesn’t come from features, it comes from necessity. With 20.99 sessions per user and an average session lasting just under three minutes, it’s quick, frequent, and woven into life’s in-between moments.
Instagram, by contrast, moves slower, but holds tighter. While its user base (on Android) is smaller (937.54M monthly, 840.17M weekly, 666.27M daily), each visit pulls longer. An average session clocks 5 minutes and 28 seconds, and users average 12.38 sessions per day. Cumulatively, that builds to 1 hour and 7 minutes of daily presence. If WhatsApp feels like a hallway conversation, Instagram is a lounge, users stay, browse, linger.
Facebook, the original titan, operates on legacy momentum. It has 1.08B monthly users, 970.72M weekly, and 774.49M daily. But while fewer sessions occur (9.39 per user), those who arrive don’t rush. An average session stretches nearly seven minutes, longest of the group, and adds up to over 65 minutes of daily usage. At 71.68% stickiness, it’s not as addictive as WhatsApp, but it holds a loyalty rooted in familiarity. For many, Facebook remains the internet’s waiting room.
Messenger seems caught in a different story. It still draws a sizable crowd (746.58M monthly, 579.08M weekly, 348.65M daily), but the numbers tell of an app fading quietly. Stickiness lands at just 46.69%, well below the others. Session count sits at 9.32 per day, with the shortest average span, just over two minutes. Daily total? Barely crosses 18 minutes. That’s not a collapse, but it is drift. People still use it, but less with urgency, more out of leftover habit.
The spread tells a bigger truth. Meta didn’t build one all-powerful app. It built four that cover different tempos. WhatsApp thrives on rapid-fire messages, Instagram on visual wanderings, Facebook on deeper scrolls, and Messenger... well, it endures.
What matters isn’t just who logs in, it’s how they move. Across these four apps, time splits cleanly, shaped by what users seek, not what Meta forces. And that, more than any growth chart, shows just how tightly these platforms still grip the modern day.
| Metric | Messenger | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly Active Users | 1.36B | 970.72M | 840.17M | 579.08M |
| Daily Active Users | 1.25B | 774.49M | 666.27M | 348.65M |
| Monthly Active Users | 1.41B | 1.08B | 937.54M | 746.58M |
| Daily Stickiness | 88.86% | 71.68% | 71.06% | 46.69% |
| Sessions per User | 20.99 | 9.39 | 12.38 | 9.32 |
| Avg. Session Time | 00:02:51 | 00:06:59 | 00:05:28 | 00:02:01 |
| Total Session Time | 00:59:48 | 01:05:34 | 01:07:39 | 00:18:47 |
Data H/T: Similarweb.
Read next: The Overlooked Flaws of ChatGPT: The Hidden Costs Behind the Hype
