Today, Facebook is pleased to announce that more than 1 billion people now use Facebook Messenger every month.

Messenger is the second most popular iOS app of all time, behind Facebook with more than one billion messages sent between people and businesses each month. This number has more than doubled in the past year. The bot platform Facebook introduced for Messenger at F8 has grown to include over 18,000 bots — up from 11,000 just 20 days ago.

“As part of this journey to 1 billion, we focused on creating the best possible experiences in modern day communications,” Facebook Messenger chief David Marcus said in a statement. “We remain focused on helping connect people to the people and businesses who matter most. Thank you to everyone who uses Messenger around the world, and we’re looking forward to connecting the next billion.”

Facebook now has two messaging services with 1 billion users, as WhatsApp hit the milestone earlier this year, in February.