ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Timeline of WhatsApp

WhatsApp is an app you can download on your phone to send messages, pictures, and videos to your friends and family. It was created by a company called WhatsApp Inc. in 2009, and it first became available for iPhone and Android phones in 2010.

At first, only a few people used WhatsApp, but over time it became more popular. By 2012, millions of people all over the world were using WhatsApp. This is because it was an easy way to keep in touch with family and friends, even if they lived far away.

In 2014, Facebook bought WhatsApp for a lot of money, around 19 billion dollars! After that, WhatsApp started to add more features to the app. They added the "Status" feature in 2017, which allows you to share pictures, videos, and text that disappear after 24 hours.

In 2018, WhatsApp added another feature called "Group Video Call". This lets you make video calls with more than one person at the same time. And in 2019, they added the "Dark Mode" feature, which makes the app look different by using darker colors so it's easier on your eyes.

WhatsApp also made changes to improve privacy for their users, like adding end-to-end encryption in 2016. This means that only the person you're sending messages to can read them, and not even WhatsApp can see them.

So, to sum it all up, WhatsApp started as an app that let you message your friends and family, but it grew over time to include new features like Status, Group Video Calls, and Dark Mode. It was also bought by Facebook and made changes to protect the privacy of its users.