WhatsApp's Calling Feature Starts Making A Shy Appearance For A Few Users

[Siva]

You know the WhatsApp calling feature that has been rumored for almost a year and supposed to roll out by the end of 2014? Well, it seems to be here, a few months late, and with a major caveat for now.

Reddit user pradnesh07 has come across the feature by receiving a WhatsApp call from a friend. That's how the option is presumably activated for each user, in an invite-like system where you have to get called by someone who already has it enabled. Here is the app's updated UI and how the calling interface is supposed to look.

Pradnesh07 went on to call a few users too, trying to trigger a cascade of invites from his device. For now, he (and others) is reporting a hit-and-miss situation when trying to enable calling for his friends. You might have to grab the latest WhatsApp apk from the service's website, you seem to be better off on Lollipop than previous Android versions, you could try this terminal trick if you're rooted, and you may have to force close or reinstall the app if you're lucky enough to receive a call, but none of it guarantees that the feature will get activated for you. I still haven't managed to do it on my phone.

So for now, all we can say is that WhatsApp isn't content with rolling out its Web interface at the start of 2015. Calls are coming, but they don't seem to be ready for primetime just yet. I guess we can always go to Skype, Hangouts, or Viber. Bummer.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/01/31/whatsapps-calling-feature-starts-making-shy-appearance-users/

 

[Satvijay]

WhatsApp Free Voice Calling Feature Reportedly Starts Rolling Out

After rolling out the much-anticipated Web client to Android users, WhatsApp is now reportedly slowly rolling out the promised free voice calling feature - once again to Android users.

A Reddit user on Friday posted screenshots of the voice calling feature, supposedly accessible in the latest WhatsApp app (v2.11.508) for Android from the company site on a Google Nexus 5 running Android 5.0.1 Lollipop in India.

Reddit user pradnesh07 claims (via GSMArena) users who are running the aforementioned combination of WhatsApp app version, Android OS version, and device make will not be able to activate the voice calling feature until they receive a call from someone else with the feature already activated - hinting at a slow, almost invite-based rollout.

The user further notes those who activate the WhatsApp voice calling feature in this manner - of receiving a call from someone with the feature already enabled - may not be able to use the feature to place further calls themselves.

To be noted before proceeding with a description of the UI seen in the screenshots, is that WhatsApp has yet to make any announcements about the rollout of voice calling to users, and that if reports are correct, the feature still appears to be in testing due to the very limited nature of the rollout. User pradnesh07 also claims to have been able to activate the feature only after receiving a WhatsApp call.

The screenshots show WhatsApp now features a new Calls tab on top, alongside Chats and Contacts, where users can start a call with one of their WhatsApp contacts via the 'New call' button on top, similar to the already-present 'New chat' button. Some users report that at this point, they are shown a list of apps including the Google dialler with which they can place the call, but no WhatsApp calling option.

Source: NDTV