How nice does it sound to be able to make video/voice calls on the WhatsApp desktop client. A new report has it that’s exactly what the Facebook-owned instant messaging service is working on currently.
The new test is said to have been spotted by The Guardian’s reporter Alex Hern who then shared a screenshot of this on his Twitter’s account which showed two new buttons with each indicating the voice and video call capability.
While this are also said to still be in the “Beta” version, this further confirmed that WhatsApp is working on the new update which could be rolled out by 2021 but who knows when.
WhatsApp is testing video and voice calls on its desktop app, I can confirm, through my incredible journalistic technique of "being put in the testing bucket" pic.twitter.com/vWh3zCvDMQ
— alex hern (@alexhern) December 4, 2020
Another source WABetaInfo also noticed the same situation with the WhatsApp web version for desktop back in the month of October. According to a shared screenshot from the WABetaInfo, the aforementioned new buttons were present on the web version. The video and voice call buttons could be seen at the top right next to the contact’s name.
With this, user can make a video call via the WhatsApp web client which then prompts a small window that shows the user’s name, profile picture and button to end the call, switch to video/audio as well as muting the call.
Group voice and video calls are also supported on the tests via the WhatsApp web client with WABetaInfo stating that the support for voice an video calls on WhatsApp Web should be available to WhatsApp’s beta users in just a matter of weeks if they’re yet to see them already. But from WhatsApp, nothing is officially mentioned especially the stable version of the new update.
This would be a major update for WhatsApp Web and its desktop app. It would make it quite easy for people to use WhatsApp for quick group calls instead of having to schedule meetings.