Brits sent 1.6bn fewer text messages last year amid rise of instant messaging services
Brits sent 1.6 billion fewer texts over the past year amid the rise of instant messaging services, according to new data.
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The number of mobile messages sent in the second quarter of 2025, which included SMS and MMS, dropped to 5.4 billion according to Ofcom.
That was down from more than 7 billion in the same three-month period last year, representing a drop of more than a fifth.
The figures demonstrate how people's messaging habits are changing as people increasingly turn to alternatives such as WhatsApp, the most popular instant messaging service in the UK, according to The Telegraph.
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But encrypted messaging services such as Signal and Telegram are also growing in popularity, while some social media platforms such as Snapchat and Discord, a chat room service popular with gamers, are being used.
Experts say the decline in text messaging over the last year may have been driven by the increased use of WhatsApp by businesses and new Ofcom rules requiring network providers to block spam messages.
Mobile phone operators are also blocking at least 600 million messages a year, with around 100 million spam messages reported in the year to April.
Typically, these scam or spam texts masquerade as messages purported to be from a recruiter with a job opportunity, a courier with a delivery, or a bank checking the veracity of a payment.
The more elaborate scams, in which the scammer builds a relationship of trust with the victim and then persuades them to hand over money, are known as "pig butchering."
Analysts also said that traditional texts were being replaced by the rise of so-called Rich Communication Services (RCS) messages on both Android and iOS devices.
CS messages are an updated version of traditional SMS and MMS, offer high-quality picture and video sharing and features such as typing indicators and read receipts.
Kester Mann, an analyst at CCS Insight, said: "The rise of WhatsApp and other messaging services has relegated the humble text message to a bit-part role in the way many people now communicate.
"Support for RCS messaging on both Android and iOS devices by the leading UK operators is likely accelerating the decline of traditional text messaging."