WhatsApp Voice-Calling Feature Spotted In The Wild

Select Android users are reporting they’ve happened upon a new voice-calling feature in their WhatsApp mobile applications, indicating that the company is testing the addition ahead of its expansion into territory currently dominated by apps like Skype and Viber. One user has now shared screenshots and video of the voice-calling feature in action, which he said was activated when someone who already had the feature called him.



The user who first reported this did so by posting his screenshots and video to Reddit. He’s also based in India, which points to the possibility that users in that region may be the early testers for the new feature. After his post, others then joined him in sharing screenshots of their WhatsApp applications, which showed a new tab for Calls next to the tabs for Chats and Contacts.

We should note that many of these posts have now been pulled down from Reddit as they contained personal information. However, the video of the feature is still live on YouTube. (See below). It’s unclear at this time how widespread the rollout is, because many news reports are stemming from this original Reddit post. We’ve reached out to WhatsApp for clarification and will update with their response if we receive one.



Based on the shared video, WhatsApp voice calling offers several standard call-handling options, including a speakerphone setting, mute button and the ability to continue to send messages while taking a call.



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The update is available in the newest build of the WhatsApp client, it’s said – version 2.11.508. However, this is not yet available on the Google Play Store for a public download.



It’s possible that WhatsApp didn’t intend for the feature to go live at all, as, based on the early reports via Reddit, voice calling is still buggy and not fully functional. For instance, the original poster says that others can receive a call from him, but they then can’t call him back.



This is also not the first time users have reported seeing a voice-call option pop up in their WhatsApp clients, we should point out. In December, a Dutch blog leaked screenshots showing much of the same thing. What’s new today, then, is how the feature can be passed along to other users – something that wasn’t reported at the time of the first leak.

Voice calling is something WhatsApp has had on its roadmap for some time. A year ago, WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum announced at Mobile World Congress that the company would expand into voice calling, which would see his app then going up against not just Skype and Viber, but other competitors, including KakaoTalk, LINE, BBM, Hike and more.



“We use the least amount of bandwidth and we use the hell out of it. We will focus on simplicity,” Koum said at the time. He also stated that voice calling would come to Android and iOS first and then roll out to select Nokia and BlackBerry phones.



The move to launch voice calling comes shortly after WhatsApp’s expansion to the web last month, which enabled desktop users to access the service through a web browser. To log in on the desktop, users have to take a picture of a QR code through WhatsApp on their phone because of the service’s reliance on phone number and SMS verifications instead of usernames and passwords. The log-in option is available to users on Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry, but not yet on iOS.



WhatsApp, a company that was acquired by Facebook for $22 billion, also recently announced it has grown to 700 million users, up from 600 million in August. In the announcement, posted by Koum to his Facebook profile, he also promised that the company was excited to “keep building a great product in 2015.”



We’ve reached out to WhatsApp for an official comment on the latest leak, and will update if they respond. Update: The company says it’s checking to see if it can provide an official comment. Stay tuned. Update 2: 4 PM ET, Whatsapp has yet to provide comment.

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WhatsApp Voice-Calling Feature Spotted In The Wild

Here’s How A To Do App Will Work On The Apple Watch

Todoist Apple Watch App Demo

Apple’s first wearable arrives in April, but developers are already being told to have software ready to ship by February. Apple probably wants plenty of time to make sure things works smoothly on its brand new hardware, especially given that developers have mostly had to depend on software simulators of the Apple Watch to see how their software works in practice before now.



Todoist is one team building for the Apple Watch, and they’ve delivered a nearly ready-to-ship version of their Apple Watch app already. You can see the video above showing how it will work, and the stills that follow give you a freeze-frame look at each part of the app as it should appear in the final version.

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This shows what many have already commented on while developing for the Apple Watch: The apps themselves aren’t going to be very complicated or feature-heavy. Instead, they’ll focus on conveying the most, and most relevant information possible given the limited screen real estate, and for a to-do app, it makes sense that those limits would result in a lot of nested lists.

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Here’s How A To Do App Will Work On The Apple Watch

Google Now Gets Upgraded With Cards From Your Favorite Apps

Google Now, Google’s service focused on bringing you real-time information to your mobile device – including things like traffic updates, scores, stock changes, travel times, your flight status, and much more – is getting a notable update today. The company says that, going forward, the Google app will show users updates from their favorite apps, too.



At launch, Google is offering relevant information from over 40 applications, in order to show things like “last-minute hotel deals to home-buying tips,” the company says.



“In the morning, catch up on news of the day with cards from The Guardian. On your commute, Pandora can give you recommendations for music to play, based on what you like, or you can be reminded to complete your daily French lesson on Duolingo,” writes Google, explaining how the new system can work as an alternative to launching the apps directly.



Google Now has previously used data from marked-up email updates to inform some of its previous services, but for this feature Google worked directly with the developers of the apps to enable a more diverse set of use cases for this initial launch. It’s not directly linked to Google’s app indexing project that can surface information from and take you directly into apps from search results, but that effort is related to this, Google says.

There are over 30 developers – including apps like Airbnb, Lyft, eBay, Instacart, Pandora and Zillow, to name a few – supported as the new feature goes to launch this afternoon. It’s currently only available on Android devices, but likely this will come to the Google app on iOS in the near future.



Google says that other apps will be added in the future, and the feature itself will be expanded over time, as well.



Updated to clarify how the content is surfaced in the new Now cards, 6:41 PM PT

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Google Now Gets Upgraded With Cards From Your Favorite Apps

Kandi Burruss Empire

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