Confirmed! Whatsapp Video, Voice Calls On Desktop Starting Next Year; Should Zoom Be Worried?

Ever since the global coronavirus pandemic has forced everyone to stay inside homes, workstations, work cultures and models have all disrupted and changed in unimaginable ways.

Remote working, the concept of which could never have been imagined for major industries wholly, have now become the flavour of the season, along with schools and educational institutions completely shifting to online platforms,

With everything now being conducted on video-conferencing platforms like Zoom and Google Meet, Facebook Inc’s instant messaging platform Whatsapp has started rolling out voice and video calls for select Web/Desktop users.

Whatsapp has been working on its Beta Voice and Video Calls for its Desktop/Web users, for nearly 2 years and now, some users of the platform have confirmed seeing voice and video call buttons in the chat header.

Let’s understand in detail about this.

Voice and Video Calls for Whatsapp Web Users

Earlier in October, Whatsapp had referred to rolling out voice and video calls for its Web/Desktop users, in its Whatsapp Web Client version 2.2043.7.

According to the WhatsApp feature tracker WABetaInfo, the Facebook owned messaging platform has been working on implementing calls on WhatsApp Web/Desktop, for about 2 years or so.

Now, according to latest reports, some lucky users have been provided with the feature, currently as a beta feature.

Few users have noticed voice and video call buttons in the chat header on WhatsApp Desktop.

WABetaInfo has shared some screenshots, showing a separate pop-up window, which allows the user to accept or decline an incoming call on WhatsApp Web/Desktop. A dedicated place is available to show the current call too.

Notably, for making/accepting any voice/video call on the platform, you will need to maintain the connection between the WhatsApp desktop app and you phone at all times.

Whatsapp Desktop Users at Higher Priority

As mentioned above, currently Whatsapp is rolling out only beta versions for specific users, which means not everyone will be able to use this feature yet.

The initial rollout appears to be prioritised for the Whatsapp Desktop client currently.

On a side note, with Whatsapp Video and Voice calls for all Web and Desktop users, better camera quality, with high-definition webcams and high-quality microphones could be used to make Whatsapp calls.

We will keep you posted about any future updates on the same.