Messaging app WhatsApp became one of Romanians’ favorite ways of staying in touch with family and friends, mainly because it’s free. A recent iSense Solutions study reveals that almost half of Romanian smartphones users access WhatsApp at least once a week, and 27% use the app on a daily basis. WhatsApp is more popular in Bucharest, where 40% of smartphone users access it daily. When it comes to why Romanians access this app, 43% of users do it because it’s free, 42% access WhatsApp because they can send pictures easily, 41% find it easy to use, and 31% use it because they can send text messages and photos rapidly to a group of people. Although WhatsApp is becoming more and more popular in Romania, the app is still far from Facebook’s app which is used daily by two-thirds of the smartphone users. Moreover, 84% use the Facebook app at least once a week. “On the other hand, 72% of Romanian smartphone users never access the Instagram app,” said Traian Nastase, managing partner iSense Solutions. When it comes to using WhatsApp for marketing purposes, 40% of users don’t want companies to approach them via this app, for product or service promotion. “Although women use the app more frequently than men (31% of women use it daily, compared to 22% of men), the study shows that men (54%) are more willing to provide their phone number for marketing purposes than women (39%),” said Andrei Canda, managing partner iSense Solutions. The study was conducted on a sample of more than 1,000 people and the results are representative for people aged over 18. Digital volunteering: Romanians can report illegal trash dumping via new app Three Romanians get UK financing for photo-sharing app What mobile devices do Romanians use and how often do they use them? Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo source: blog.whatsapp.com)