WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton said a voice calling feature will be available on iOS soon. He made the announcement during a panel discussion at the Facebook F8 developers’conference in San Francisco today, according to VentureBeat.
During the panel discussion with Mike Krieger, co-founder of Instagram and David Marcus, head of Facebook Messenger, Acton said the voice calling feature will be coming to iOS in several weeks.
According to Acton, they spent the last year refining the voice calling feature before launching it on Android last month. Currently, the voice calling feature on Android is still limited on an invite-only basis, but everyone is expected to enjoy it soon.
WhatsApp focused on simplicity and quality of the voice calling feature
WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum first announced that the company will add a voice calling feature during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last year. At the time, Koum said, “We’re adding voice to WhatsApp so people can stay in touch with friends and loved ones no matter where they are in the world.”
He added that they optimized the voice calling feature and used the least amount of bandwidth. According to him,”We’ve made sure the quality is there though, just like the messaging functions of WhatsApp. We’re focusing on simplicity. It seems to be only a matter of time now.”
Previous reports indicated that WhatsApp will launch the voice calling feature in the second quarter of this year. Earlier in February, ValueWalk reported that WhatsApp was quietly testing the voice calling feature. A small number of users in India revealed that they were able to make voice calls on their WhatsApp accounts.
WhatsApp voice calling on jailbroken iPhone
A related report from Forbes indicated that users of jailbroken iPhones can now access WhatsApp.s voice calling feature the following the instructions below:
• Install AppSyn and download the latest WhatsApp BETA version. Add the cydia.angelxwind.net and apt.imokhles.com repository on the Cydia sources.
• Download the latest version of the WhatsApp beta application and WhatsApp Call Enabler. Make sure that the Call Enabler is activated in the settings.
• After activating voice calls, ask someone to call you through WhatsApp and restart your iPhone.
These instructions were provided by TheFuseJoplin.com.