The free voice feature that was recently introduced by WhatsApp’s online messaging service is presently only available for Android device users. However, the company is now preparing to roll its service out to other mobile device platforms. The co-founder of WhatsApp, Brian Acton, recently announced that the voice calling feature of the app will very soon be coming to iOS platform users. Platform restrictions are currently causing delays of the feature’s implementation.
The WhatsApp support team sent an email reply to the user of a Windows smartphone that revealed the company had the WhatsApp voice calling feature for Windows OS mobile devices presently “in the works.’
The electronic communication did not give a specific timeframe or release date of the WhatsApp voice calling for Windows OS mobile devices. The email stated that the WhatsApp company could not comment on any future release timeline.
Acton said at a recent event that the voice calling feature is going to be released to iOS users in a few weeks. It is not completely certain whether the feature is going to be reaching Windows OS mobile devices or iOS mobile devices first.
The WhatsApp company worked on its voice calling application last year before it was launched on Android in the month of March. Android mobile device users were actually able to use the feature without activation last month, but they had to update the app to the latest version.
In the U.S., newer versions of WhatsApp may not be considered to be a big deal because so many Americans have unlimited calling on their cellular phone plans; therefore, the value of being able to make free calls is not really all that great. In other countries, however, it may be a bigger deal.
WhatsApp is a pretty big deal in a lot of countries where flat rate calling isn’t the norm on cellular phones and/or calling and texting are pretty expensive features. It also needs a considerably better data connection than just the text messaging feature alone, which could mean it might not be so great of an experience for some of the users in those particular markets.