It won’t be an exaggeration to call Whatsapp the ‘king of messaging apps’. You won’t meet a lot of people, in today’s time, who are not active on the app.
Whatsapp is known for messaging and calling. It hadn’t yet ventured into the market of video calling which is where apps like Skype, Facetime and Google duo thrive. Until now, that is.
Whatsapp has started rolling out support for video calls to its beta versions. It’s only a matter of time before everyone is able to enjoy the feature.
Only available currently on the beta apps, if the other user does not have video calling then they’ll simply receive a voice call but the beta app will still show the voice call interface.
The users of the beta version will be able to see the choice of ‘voice call’ and ‘video call’ upon tapping the dialer button on the top right of their screen.
The feature still lags a bit due to still being in the ‘testing phase’. The lag should subside, eventually, after the feature is made available to everyone. The official beta testing app is available on Google play.
As a long time Whatsapp user myself, the news has been music to my ears. It’s frustrating to constantly switch app just for different uses. It gets even worse if you have to go out of your way to download an app for video calling and delete it because of lack of space, subsequently. (iPhone users may empathize)
Therefore, a versatile app could definitely come in handy. You would no longer need to use Skype for video calling, Whatsapp for messaging and maybe Viber for calling. Whatsapp, alone, would be adequate.
That is if it is efficient enough, of course. Skype already allows all three of the above-mentioned features and despite being popular in its own right, does not quite enjoy the fame that Whatsapp does.
If it plays its cards right and adheres to the standards which have made it so loved by its audience, Whatsapp could transcend to another level.
Sadly, there has been no official statement as to when the feature will roll out to general Whatsapp users but going by all the hints, its arrival looks imminent.
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