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WhatsApp voice feature makes appearance

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 13 Mar 2015
WhatsApp first earmarked the second quarter of 2014 for the release of voice calling functionality on the popular instant messaging app.
WhatsApp first earmarked the second quarter of 2014 for the release of voice calling functionality on the popular instant messaging app.

WhatsApp's free voice service, which was supposed to become available almost a year ago, may be nearing release.

Although there is no official word from WhatsApp and the company had not responded to a query on this by the time of publication, reports that certain Android users have been able to access the service - by way of invitation - have emerged.

According to AndroidPolice.com, WhatsApp Calling has gone live "for everyone" - provided users have a recent version of WhatsApp and receive a call from someone who already has the functionality enabled.

"A few weeks ago, WhatsApp's Call feature made a small appearance for a few users, but at the time almost no one was able to trigger it reliably and keep it activated.

"The company appears to have flipped a few switches in its servers and the function is confirmed to work for those running version 2.11.528 from the Play Store, or 2.11.531 from WhatsApp's Web site (also uploaded to APKMirror)," says the Android-based Web blog.

News that WhatsApp was going to enable voice calling on the popular instant messaging app emerged last February. At the time, the company said it would land in the second quarter of 2014, but subsequently pushed the launch date out.

WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum recently alluded to a focus on quality - particularly in emerging markets - citing technical issues around this as being the reason for the protracted delay in bringing the company's free voice service to market.

Koum confirmed in October last year that WhatsApp Voice was set for launch in the first quarter of 2015.

In a mid-January Facebook post, Koum shared that WhatsApp had reached over 700 million active monthly users. "Additionally, every day our users now send over 30 billion messages," he said, adding that users could expect the firm to "keep building a great product" this year.

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