Developer(s) | Naver Corporation | ||||||||||||||
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Initial release | March 2011 | ||||||||||||||
Stable release(s) | |||||||||||||||
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Available in | 40 languages | ||||||||||||||
Type | Instant messaging | ||||||||||||||
Licence | Freeware | ||||||||||||||
Website | line |
iOS | 7.0.0 / 26 January 2017 |
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Android | 7.0.1 / 23 January 2017 |
BlackBerry | 3.3.8 / 21 October 2016 |
Firefox OS | 1.7.3 / 11 May 2015 |
Windows (desktop) | 4.12.0.1362 / 17 February 2017 |
Windows (UWP) | 5.4.7 |
macOS | 4.11.1 / 19 December 2016 |
Line (styled as LINE) is a freeware app for instant communications on electronic devices such as smartphones, tablet computers and personal computers. Line users exchange texts, images, video and audio, and conduct free VoIP conversations and video conferences. Today the popular messaging service is operated by Line Corporation, the Japanese arm of Naver Corporation.
Line first launched in Japan in 2011, reaching 100 million users within eighteen months and 200 million users only six months later. Line became Japan's largest social network in 2013. In October 2014 Line announced that it had attracted 560 million users worldwide with 170 million active user accounts. In February 2015, it announced the 600 million users mark had been passed and 700 million were expected by the end of the year.
Line was originally developed as a mobile application for Android and iOS smartphones. The service has since expanded to BlackBerry OS (August 2012),Nokia Asha (Asia and Oceania, March 2013),Windows Phone (July 2013),Firefox OS (February 2014), iOS tablets (October 2014), and as a Chrome Browser Application (via the Chrome Web Store). At one point Line was available as a website (non-browser-app), but that has been discontinued. The application also exists in versions for laptop and desktop computers using the Microsoft Windows and macOS platforms.