Facebook’s own chat app, Messenger has reached 1.2 billion users.

The announcement was made through a Facebook post, thanking the users for their support in growing the platform.

The messaging app debuted in 2011, but only started taking off in 2014 after Facebook removed capabilities to access the chat app from their main app for the social media platform. It hit 1 billion monthly active users in July, double the users it had in November 2014. It appears to be growing a bit more slowly, since it leaped to 1 billion users from 800 million in six months.

In the recent months, Facebook have been pushing for additional capabilities, including group video calling and Snapchat lookalike functions. On top of that there was an increasing push to businesses for using chatbots and for individuals to make payments with the platform.

Facebook, which makes most of its revenue from ads, is exploring ways to generate revenue from its apps, including photo-sharing app Instagram.

According to USA Today, “While it’s still pushing into commerce, Messenger is focused on advertising to make money from its 1.2 billion users, according to a report this week in technology news outlet Recode. It runs ads in Facebook News Feed that direct people to Messenger and it runs adds inside the Messenger inbox.”