WhatsApp is undoubtedly the most popular messaging service in the world with 900 million active users in the world who generate over 30 billion messages a day. It is available in every platform possible, from the days of Nokia phones that run Series 40 to the now duopoly that is composed of iOS and Android.
They have made several changes to the core app which includes link previews, cloud backup, ton of new emojis, material design for the Android app and the biggest of all: Voice calls. Since it is a very popular chatting platform, it has had a pronounced effect on the traditional voice calls offered by telcos and it has led to some lobbying for it to be banned like what happened in Brazil.
It seems the company is going to join the likes of Facebook Messenger and Skype by offering video calls thanks to screenshots posted by this German website. The screenshots are from an iOS version of the app (ver. 2.12.16.2). When you receive a video call, you will see an avatar of the person making the video call and you can choose to accept it or decline it by using the classic decline/accept icons.
In full screen mode, you will be able to see your face in a preview window as shown in the second screenshot while the person you are talking to will take the entire screen just like in Facetime. There is also a mute button to switch off the microphone and a camera button to toggle between the secondary and primary cameras. In addition, you will be able to make video calls via cellular data or Wi-Fi and it will also feature multiple tabs so that it will be easier to switch between multiple active chats without the need to go back to the main page.
This will be a great addition to WhatsApp’s core features and will make it easy for its vast user base to keep in touch in a more personal way. A timeline was not given for the actual release and it would be nice if they release it next year.
