The proliferation of messaging apps is unprecedented, with more than 3.6 billion people worldwide using them and over 145 billion messages being sent every day. Among the top players stand two ubiquitous giants, WhatsApp and Telegram, but for very different reasons: WhatsApp was the first truly global VOIP solution, a pioneer of the sector, launched in 2009 and later acquired by Facebook for over $19 billion in 2014.