Mobile phone usage has changed dramatically in Germany in recent years, with official figures showing that online conversations via video and audio have overtaken phone calls.

The Bonn-based Federal Network Agency, Germany’s main authority for infrastructure, told dpa that German consumers logged 145 billion minutes on mobile phone calls in 2024, down from 163 billion in 2021.

In contrast, audio calls via messenger apps such as WhatsApp or Signal rose from 121 billion minutes in 2022 to 197 billion last year.

Video conversations are also soaring in popularity, rising from 143 billion minutes in 2022 to 184 billion in 2024.

In contrast, landline calls have continued to plummet, falling from 104 billion minutes in 2020 to 57 billion in 2024.

The most common form of daily communication, however, is via online messages, whether text, photos, voice messages, videos, emojis or GIFs.

A total of 902 billion messages were sent on German networks in 2024, the agency estimated, a rise of 11 billion over the previous year.

Source: dpa.com