Mobile Chat Apps Survey: Nearly Half Have Used Apps for Communication

It’s been a year since Facebook purchased the mobile chatting app WhatsApp. The app is part of a growing trend of mobile tools that many, particularly young people, are using to communicate. The apps allow for both one-on-one and group chatting, in most cases. And though there are a lot of different mobile chat apps to choose from, there are definitely a few standouts in terms of popularity. So just how big are these apps getting?

Mobile Chat Apps

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 14% of respondents said they often use mobile chat apps such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. 20% said they use these types of apps sometimes. 7% said they have used chat apps in the past but don’t do so regularly anymore. And 59% have never used mobile chat apps. Respondents under 25 were 34% more likely to use these apps regularly.The most popular mobile chat app seems to be Facebook Messenger; 79% of mobile chat app users said they regularly use it. 25% said they use WhatsApp for mobile chatting. 12% use Viber. 10% use WeChat. And 8% use other mobile chat apps such as Kik or Skype.

App Usage

These apps can be used in a few different ways. And one of the benefits of these apps is the ability to chat with groups of people together, without every person using the same exact device. However, 39% of mobile chat users said they only ever use their apps to communicate with people individually. Another 39% said they mostly just communicate with individuals using their mobile chat apps. 20% use them to communicate with both individuals and groups. And just 2% use them to communicate with groups more often than individuals.

Communication Methods

Though they are gaining popularity, mobile chat apps still have some catching up to do if they want to be part of most people’s daily communication routines. 74% of overall respondents said they regularly use phone calls to communicate with people. 62% use email. 57% use text messaging. 39% said they regularly use social media as a communication method. And just 12% regularly use mobile chat apps. You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.Photo Credit: Facebook Messenger app from FlickrWhat do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.

Results were collected on February 21 via AYTM’s online survey panel.