No. The most direct audience evidence available for this article contradicts the literal claim for three of the four services. In Ofcom’s 2025 UK Online Nation report, WhatsApp, Discord, and Telegram each had more UK online adults visiting them in May 2025 than in May 2024. Slack cannot be judged from that data at all. What is actually changing is how messaging works: regulated interoperability is starting to connect separate services in the EU, and platforms keep revising their privacy and security features. Those shifts could weaken some reasons to stay inside one app, but they do not show any of the four services disappearing.
What “already dead” would have to mean
A claim that a product is dead should show people leaving in meaningful numbers, not just complaints about its features. Three tests are useful:
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- Audience direction: Are fewer people reaching the service than a year earlier?
- Daily use: Are fewer people using it every day?
- Replacement: Have people moved to another service for the same job?
Ofcom’s data speaks to the first two for the UK. It says nothing about the third, so a replacement story for these products is not established by the evidence available here.
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The UK audience figures
Ofcom’s 2025 UK Online Nation report, using Ipsos iris audience data, measured monthly visitors among UK internet users aged 18 and over. The comparison runs from May 2024 to May 2025.
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| Service | Monthly UK online-adult visitors, May 2025 | Reach among UK online adults, May 2025 | Change from May 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 44.2 million | 90% | Up 2.7 million | |
| Discord | 7.5 million | 15% | Up 1.2 million |
| Telegram | 4.3 million | 9% | Up 0.8 million |
| Slack | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated (not in Ofcom’s top-ten table) |
WhatsApp’s daily reach also rose. In May 2025, 74% of UK online adults (36.1 million) accessed WhatsApp each day, up from 64% (30.4 million) in May 2024.
What the measurement can and cannot tell you
- It is a UK figure. It does not describe global audiences, and it should not be generalized to other countries.
- Monthly visitors are not active users. A visit in a month says nothing about how often people engage or how much they value the service.
- The service list is Ofcom’s own. Ofcom notes that its messaging-service list is custom-defined, so other rankings may include different products.
- Workplace use is undercounted. Microsoft Teams’ desktop use is underrepresented in the measurement, which matters for any comparison involving workplace chat.
- The data is dated. The newest UK comparison used here is May 2025, more than a year before this article was written.
Slack: the claim that cannot be checked here
Slack is absent from Ofcom’s top-ten table. That means it did not rank among the services Ofcom listed. It does not mean Slack has zero UK use or that its audience is shrinking. This article found no current, Slack-specific audience series that would support a decline claim. For a team deciding whether Slack still fits its work, the useful evidence is the team’s own activity, contract renewals, and whether the tool still covers the workflows it was adopted for.
Four services, four different jobs
The four names describe products with different purposes, so a drop in one would not automatically send its users to another.
| Service | Primary use | Typical unit of communication |
|---|---|---|
| Private one-to-one and personal messaging, including calls | Personal contacts | |
| Telegram | Private messaging alongside large channels | Individual chats, groups, and channels |
| Discord | Real-time voice, video, and text in community spaces | User-created groups called servers |
| Slack | Workplace chat and collaboration | Work channels and teams |
Ofcom describes Discord’s core function as real-time voice, video, and text within user-created groups or “servers.” Treating these four as one market hides the fact that each one holds a different kind of relationship: family and friends, public channels, online communities, and employers.
Interoperability: a real change, with clear limits
The European Commission’s Digital Markets Act messaging interoperability guidance states: “In November 2025, the two first third-party NIICS interoperable with WhatsApp were launched.” NIICS stands for number-independent interpersonal communications services. The change is real, but it is narrower than the headline suggests:
- It is geographically bounded. The obligations come from EU rules and are being phased in, so they do not apply worldwide.
- It is optional for users. People choose whether to exchange messages with third-party services.
- It depends on each service. Which features work across services, including content types such as text, media, and calls, depends on what each participating service supports. This article did not establish a complete feature matrix.
- It does not make every messaging app interoperable. Only the services that have launched connections can be reached this way.
Over time, cross-service messaging could weaken one of the strongest reasons to stay in a single app: being unable to reach people who use something else. That effect is still early and depends on adoption.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Security: one “encrypted” label does not settle it
Encryption claims differ by service, by content type, and by default setting. The table below records only what the sources used here state.
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|---|---|---|
| Personal messages are end-to-end encrypted, according to WhatsApp’s own explainer | Personal calls are end-to-end encrypted, according to WhatsApp’s own explainer | |
| Discord | Not stated in the source reviewed | End-to-end encryption is standard for every voice and video call outside stage channels, with no opt-in required (Discord announcement by Mark Smith, dated May 18, 2026) |
| Telegram | Not stated | Not stated |
| Slack | Not stated | Not stated |
WhatsApp’s explainer also distinguishes between message content and metadata, and says messages to Meta AI are handled differently when a user chooses to send them. Discord’s announcement states the change in its own words: “End-to-end Encryption is now standard for every voice and video call on Discord, outside of stage channels. No opt-in required.” Both are company statements, not independent audits. Neither shows that the products are safer than their rivals in every respect.
Why people stay even when they complain
Dissatisfaction and departure are different things. Contact networks, shared work channels, and established communities create switching costs: a service remains useful if the people you need are still on it. This is analysis rather than a measured finding, but it explains why an app can draw criticism and still gain audience, as the UK figures show for three of the four services.
Quick Recap
What would change this assessment
- A newer UK measurement showing falling monthly visitors or reach for WhatsApp, Discord, or Telegram.
- Comparable audience data for Slack, or for any of the four services in markets outside the UK.
- Evidence that a large share of users has moved to one alternative for the same job.
- Cross-service interoperability expanding beyond its first launches, with users actually adopting it.
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