WhatsApp Leads Social Media Use in Saudi Arabia

WhatsApp is the most widely used social media platform in Saudi Arabia, according to the Saudi Internet 2025 report by the Communications and Space Technology Commission.

Usage reached 94.4% among men and 90.4% among women, placing the messaging platform ahead of Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.

Snapchat ranked second, with usage of 88.2% among women and 80.2% among men. TikTok followed at 77.6% among women and 76.5% among men.

YouTube recorded usage of 81.1% among men and 68.8% among women, while Instagram stood at 42.4% among women and 39.5% among men.

The report also found that 61.3% of internet users in Saudi Arabia spend seven hours or more online each day. Another 34.1% spend between three and six hours online, while 4.6% spend less than three hours.

Peak daily internet activity falls between 9 PM and 11 PM, with Friday recording the highest usage of the week and March the highest level across the year.

Mobile phones remain the dominant way of accessing the internet, used by 99.6% of users. Computers follow at 47.4%, tablets at 39.2%, and other devices including smartwatches and gaming consoles at 30.7%.

Internet use while on the move was recorded at 84%, compared with 77.5% at home and 41.4% in workplaces.

Wikipedia ranked as the most visited website in the Kingdom, followed by YouTube, Instagram, the Ministry of Education, WhatsApp, Absher and ChatGPT.

The most searched term was “translator,” followed by Absher, Noor, translation, YouTube, Google, Madrasati and the Saudi riyal.