◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼ (officially ◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼ Messenger), owned by Meta Platforms, is an American social media, instant messaging (IM), and Voice over IP (VoIP) service accessible via desktop and mobile app. It allows users to send text messages, voice messages, and video messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other content. The service requires a cellular mobile telephone number to register. ◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼ was launched in February 2009. In January 2018, ◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼ released a standalone business app called ◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼ Business which can communicate with the standard ◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼ client. As of May 2025, the service had 3 billion monthly active users, making it the most used messenger app. The name of the app is meant to sound like "what's up". The service was created by ◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼ Inc. of Mountain View, California, which was acquired by Facebook in February 2014 for approximately US$19.3 billion. It became the world's most popular messaging application in 2015, with 900 million users, and had more than 2 billion active users worldwide in February 2020. ◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼ Business had approximately 200 million monthly users in 2023. By 2016, it had become the primary means of Internet communication in regions including the Americas, the Indian subcontinent, and large parts of Europe and Africa.