
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.
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