Applications IPs vs Network Ranges

Application IPs vs Network Ranges

Here at Netify, we frequently encounter requests for specific network ranges tied to individual applications, assuming that these applications reside on fixed or contiguous blocks of IP addresses. While this might have been true in traditional hosting environments, the modern landscape has evolved significantly.

The rise of cloud infrastructure and content delivery networks (CDNs) has introduced an entirely different model of application deployment - one that emphasizes global distribution, elasticity, and performance over IP address locality.

A Tale of Two Applications

Let's walk through the two ends of the spectrum. Telegram is contained in well-defined network ranges; WhatsApp, on the other hand, is hosted on thousands of mostly non-contiguous IPs.

Telegram's instant messaging service infrastructure is deployed across multiple points of presence on different continents. Telegram's network has a dozen or so network ranges (e.g., 91.105.192.0/23) that can be used in QoS, firewalls, and other network policy engines. Clean, simple, and a little bit old-school.

WhatsApp's instant messaging service is deployed in hundreds of cities around the world.

In June 2025, over 13,000 WhatsApp IPs were distributed across 700+ cities. Some of these IPs are dedicated to WhatsApp, and some are shared with Facebook/Meta APIs.

If you need a simple list of network ranges for WhatsApp, you will be disappointed. In fact, over 70% of WhatsApp IPs exist on Internet Service Provider (ISP) networks. Meta is one of the handful of companies that provide cache appliances to ISPs in order to reach the very edge of the network.

Possible Solutions

Suppose long lists of IP addresses are difficult to manage, and you must manage application traffic on a network appliance. In that case, you may be interested in our lightweight DPI and Intelligence agent. The Netify agent is able to provide high-speed application detection with integration plugins for firewalls, QoS, and reporting.