The most awaited feature by the most popular instant messaging app WhatsApp is finally launched. Starting November 15 the app will let you make video calls; just like FaceTime, Skype and Duo. In the updated version of WhatsApp, video calling option will be rolled out on Android, iPhone, and Windows Phones over the next few days.
Launched in 2009, WhatsApp soon became one of the world’s largest OTT messaging platforms which is used by more than one billion users globally. It added group chats in 2011 and voice calling in 2015. Just like the voice calling feature, video calling will be free, though if you aren’t on Wi-Fi you have to pay according to your cellular data usage.
By clicking on the call button, you will start getting a new video call options along with the existing voice calls. Once the call connects, you will be able to choose from the front or the back camera for video calling. It will have one additional feature which will let you multi-task by minimising the video screen and letting you use other apps on the phone. User will be able to return to the call by tapping on the green band that appears across apps. At the moment, video calling feature can only be used between two users and not with groups.
WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum, in an interview with Reuters, said that video calls will be rolled out to 180 countries within hours after it is introduced in India. He further added “We’re obsessed with making sure that voice and video work well even on low-end phones.” According to Manpreet Singh, product lead, WhatsApp: “This is great timing for us to launch video calling in India with the proliferation of smartphones and the advancement in mobile networks.” WhatsApp is currently available in 10 different native languages with over 10 million WhatsApp calls made daily.
Video calling feature will work with Android 4.1 and above. For rollout is happening at the same time for iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices, thus covering the top mobile operating systems across the world. The calls will be fully encrypted from end-to-end to avoid any intercepting or snooping by anyone.
Facebook bought WhatsApp in 2014 for $22 billion and this year it added various features like end-to-end encryption, made WhatsApp available on desktop and introduced the draw and add emojis feature. And now with the introduction of video calling, WhatsApp has added another feather to its cap in becoming the most favoured app in terms of messaging and calling.
Here’s how you can make a video call within WhatsApp’s upgraded version:
- Open WhatsApp
- Go to the Contacts tab
- Search the contact you want to initiate a WhatsApp video call with
- Tap on the phone icon on the top of the screen
- From the popup menu, choose Video call
