WhatsApp Rolls Out Voice Calling Feature for Selected Users

WhatsApp has reportedly starting rolling out the most anticipated voice calling feature for selected users, mainly in India.

With Voice Call, WhatsApp users would be able to place a voice call over internet to other WhatsApp users, exactly like Skype.

With more than 450 million customers, Whatsapp stands strong at offering you free calling facility to a good share of your contact list, better than what any other mobile messaging app can offer.

When to Expect to Experience Voice Calling 

Reports suggest that this voice calling facility from WhatsApp is currently being offered to select users in India only, while there’s no official confirmation being made from Whatsapp itself on the matter.

But considering the track record of Whatsapp, new features don’t take weeks to be rolled-out for everyone. With Facebook on its back, you can’t assume that they will be testing their capacity before making the voice calling service available to everyone.

Best guess is, if everything goes fine, you would be able to see a voice call button along with your contacts in Whatsapp in next few days at most.

Those who got the Voice calling feature enabled had Whatsapp version v2.11.508 installed on their phones (you can check your version by going into settings->help->about).

Internet is already abuzz of screen-grabs and video grabs of voice calling feature of Whatsapp, check a screen-grab yourself below.

whatsapp-3

Impact on Telcos

Needless to say, Whatsapp, with voice calling, will become the major voice carrier globally. It already exchanges 50% more text messages on it network compared to all other cellular operators in the world combined.

Screen-Shot-2015-01-11-at-3.18.43-pm

We are yet to see how telcos will respond to the move, especially when they are partners with Whatsapp (in Pakistan) and offer unlimited bundles for Whatsapp usage on nominal charges.

A better way to look at this new feature is to understand the fact that telcos should start acting and behaving like ISPs and should stop worrying about web and mobile apps that are garbing their voice share.

In fact operators can provide quality internet services and charge premium rates for better quality; which in fact can result in more revenues per user per month than they used to earn with voice and SMS.

This transition in telcos’ business model is already happening in developed markets, and an anticipated track for developing markets like Pakistan.

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


  • if you have the latest version of whatsapp and a rooted device, you can get the calling feature on your device by issuing the following command as root:
    am start -n com.whatsapp/com.whatsapp.HomeActivity

    but calls can be made to those contacts only who has calling feature on their whatsapp client. You will need to issue this command every time you want to use calling feature.

  • is it will be independent sevice of whatsapp or with the help of skype? because voice calling on fb are placed through skype.
    as parent company of whatsapp is fb so maybe skype is also a part of this. anyone have any idea about it?

    • Fb is not using Skype now. It’s long time ago they use skyp for video calls actually but through Facebook messenger app you can call any friend just like viber

    • yeah, like Microsoft only one solution for all problems Ctrl+Alt+Del and problem solved :)

  • sabar kr lwo inni kerri aakhar aae j awaam v naa saadi kaali py jaandi
    whats ny feb ch e day deni saaryan nu voice call offer
    just checking their capacity and next version will b for all members around the world

  • India k aik blogger ny utha k pic lagae ye or amir sahab nay makhan lga k kaha k india main service ha or breaking news bana dia.
    Aqal ko hath maro koi

    • just text me on +553175060523. i will call you to activate.

      dont blame anyone if you dont have.


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