Instagram has reached a remarkable milestone of 3 billion monthly active users, as confirmed by Mark Zuckerberg on Threads. This makes Instagram the third Meta platform alongside Facebook and WhatsApp, each of which also now boasts over 3 billion monthly users.
This also makes it the first time Meta has publicly disclosed Instagram"s monthly user count since October 2022, when it reported surpassing 2 billion users in its earnings call [PDF].
Instagram was founded in 2010 as an app called "Burbn," which initially was a location-based check-in platform inspired by Foursquare. The founders, Kevin Systrom and Nike Krieger, then pivoted it to focus exclusively on photo sharing and renamed it to Instagram, a blend of "instant camera".
Instagram icon evolution 2010–2022#Instagram pic.twitter.com/TSMWg4sCPY
— Web Design Museum (@WebDesignMuseum) January 19, 2024
After just 18 months of launching, Facebook (now Meta) acquired Instagram for $1 billion in cash. The platform has since then evolved far beyond simple image sharing to include features such as Stories, which was introduced in 2016 as a direct competitor to Snapchat’s similar feature, Reels for short-form video in response to TikTok"s rise, and others, such as direct messaging and shopping integration as well.
Instagram has now become a crucial platform for brands, influencers, and content creators alike, aiming to connect with diverse audiences worldwide. The Instagram app also has steadily expanded, rolling out versions for Android and desktop in 2012, Fire OS in 2014, and most recently, iPadOS in 2025.
Instagram"s user base spans the whole world, with significant *********** in regions like India, holding the largest national audience of over 413 million users, as well as the United States, Brazil, Indonesia, and Japan. To put it into perspective, roughly one-third of the world now accesses Instagram monthly, surpassing the combined population of Europe and North America.