WhatsApp appears to have opened its
voice calling feature to all Android users,
with the invite window now open for
several hours. The world's most popular
messaging app has been gradually rolling
out this feature by opening the invite
window only for a few hours at a time.
This time however, WhatsApp may have
opened the floodgates, reports Android
Police.
The report says that many people have
been receiving the WhatsApp calling
feature on their Android smartphones. To
activate the feature, all you need is the
latest version (v2.11.561) of WhatsApp
(via APKMirror) and a WhatsApp call
from someone who already has the
feature. After you get the call, you will see
WhatsApp's interface switch from just
showing recent chats to three tabs - calls,
chats and contacts.
This move appears to have come on the
back of another milestone for WhatsApp -
over 1 billion installs via Google Play. The
app's Google Play page now shows that it
has between 1 billion and 5 billion
installs. These numbers of course don't
reveal the actual number of WhatsApp
users because anyone who installed the
app once is counted in this number. The
number isn't reduced if the person
proceeds to delete the app. Even then, the
number shows just how popular the
messaging app is.
Earlier, the voice calling feature was
rolled out to some users, but the invite
window was closed before most people
could get the feature. WhatsApp still has
not announced the voice calling feature
officially on its website or the release
notes on Google Play. WhatsApp for
iPhone still doesn't have this feature even
though a voice calling button appeared in
the app some time ago.
Having established itself as the world's
most popular messaging app with over
700 million monthly active users,
WhatsApp seems to be augmenting its
offering by adding features available in
competing messaging apps. WhatsApp for
Android users also recently got a Web
version that works well. Both these
features have been available for some
time with competing messaging apps such
as iMessage (calling via FaceTime), Line,
Viber, among others.
