Telegram became the fifteenth app in history to be downloaded over a billion times

According to Sensor Tower, the popular instant messaging app Telegram has entered the elite club of apps that have been downloaded over 1 billion times worldwide.

Launched in late 2013, the app crossed a major milestone last Friday. As with the app's main competitor, WhatsApp, India is the largest market for Telegram. According to Sensor Tower, this country accounts for approximately 22% of all installations.

India is followed by Russia and Indonesia, which account for about 10% and 8% of all installations, respectively. App installs sped up in 2021, reaching an estimated 214.7 million in the first half of 2021, up 61% from 133 million in the first half of 2020.

The number of installs does not match the active user base of the application. At the beginning of this year, Telegram had about 500 million monthly active users. When WhatsApp announced the new rules, a lot of users jumped over to Telegram, but the latest data on the active user base was not reported.

Telegram became the fifteenth app in the world to have 1 billion or more downloads. The list also includes WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Spotify, and Netflix.