Apps which are modifications of WhatsApp, are gaining popularity among young Africans, a new study by Caribou Data has shown.

Investigations on Whatsapp Mods in Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya showed that a variant of this mod, GBWhatsApp, had almost the same number of users as Twitter.

The research, which examined 21,000 apps and 230 million app sessions, showed that GBWhatsApp had more sessions than Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat combined.

Caribou Data said WhatsApp mods were popular mostly among young male users over 24 years in the three countries examined.

“Almost 50 per cent of WhatsApp mod users are <24 years old, versus 40 per cent for official WhatsApp. Whereas WhatsApp has basically become a utility similar to SMS, finding and installing a 3rd-party app outside the Google Play Store requires a higher level of digital literacy and perhaps risk tolerance, as doing so requires manual override of Android’s built-in warning against installing apps from unknown sources,” the report said.

Analysts at Caribou Data explained that WhatsApp mods were designed by independent developers who repackaged WhatsApp functionality and post the app online.

It said users install clones like GBWhatsApp and FMWhatsApp because they offered additional functionality that WhatsApp doesn’t, such as the ability to have multiple accounts on one device, or hide their own message receipt indicators (blue tick marks) while maintaining visibility into recipients’.

“Across the three markets, 24 per cent of panelists use more than one version of WhatsApp, and six per cent use three or more versions. Unsurprisingly, the multi-homing population trends even younger, and even more male,” the report stated.

It observed that while the vast majority of app usage in sub-Saharan Africa was with official apps, despite big pushes in Africa for the use of Chinese super apps, the popularity of WhatsApp mods was a strong reminder that market dynamics in the Global South create different digital ecosystems.

Giving reasons for the trend in the use of WhatsApp mods, the analyst said, “Specifically, distribution is more fragmented, such that traditional bottlenecks such as Google Play (content) and mobile operators (devices) are less powerful than in many Western markets. Some of this are cost-driven to avoid data costs of download, some are due to institutional structures such as financial exclusion driving prepaid accounts, and some of it are the technology platforms themselves.”

The study noted that Google policy that restricted developers in many African countries from monetising via the Play Store, was also responsible for the wide use of the clones.