100% this. And occasionally these apps out innervate their western counterparts. WeChat is better than WhatsApp, Facebook.
Comparing WeChat to WhatsApp on feature count is big time apples to oranges.
Wechat isn't simply chat. It has grown into a platform that has empowered it's users to partake in a growing ecommerce industry. It also has p2p payments which is hugely popular.
If Google or Facebook were given a monopoly on chat by the US government, and hardly anyone had credit cards, then their wallets would be universally popular too.
WeChat isn't going to get much market penetration outside of China because it's just not very good. At least that's my opinion, as someone who's forced it use it in China.