How you can get it - WhatsApp Call feature

[Rus Anca]

How you can get it - WhatsApp Call feature(releases to more users)

WhatsApp, the popular instant messaging client, is working on a voice-calling feature which it plans to release to the public soon. WhatsApp has been rolling out the functionality to select users as part of a beta test program, something the company had confirmed last month. BetaNews is now able to report and confirm that WhatsApp is once again rolling out the voice calling feature to many users, and the invite can be disseminated if a user with the feature working on their Android device makes a phone call from within the app to other Android users. We tried to make it work on an iPhone, but couldn't; and we're yet to try it on a Windows Phone handset.

Last year, WhatsApp announced that it was working on a voice-calling feature and would release it to users by the second half of 2014. While that obviously never happened, the company last month began to flip the switches for many users as part of a beta testing program. Last month, it had confirmed that it was beta testing the feature and would release to all as soon as it is satisfied with the initial results.

We have talked in length about why this feature matters to users. According to the latest estimations, more texts are being sent through WhatsApp than via traditional SMS. Statistically too, in emerging markets such as India, a voice calling feature over the web could significantly reduce users’ phone bills.

Users are required to have either v2.11.528, or v2.11.531, or v2.22.555 (which you can download from our reliable friends at APKMirror) of WhatsApp installed on their Android smartphone or tablet. After which, they are eligible to snag the feature provided someone with the feature working on their handset makes a phone call to them. We’ve personally invited a number of users and can vouch for this invitation system’s validity. That said, we are not sure how long WhatsApp will keep the invitation system open.

Source:http://betanews.com/2015/03/06/what...eases-to-more-users-heres-how-you-can-get-it/

 

[SherKaan]

Anyone here with the call feature? Feel free to PM me!

 

[Rus Anca]

How you can get it - WhatsApp Call rolling out to all Android users - Friday 13th

A year after announcing its plan to add a voice calling feature to its instant messaging client, WhatsApp began to test the feature in late January. The feature was rolling out to users on an invite basis. But the company is finally easing up on that as now it is allowing anyone to get the call feature provided they have an Android phone with the v2.11.561 installed on it, and a friend with the feature willing for you to call them. BetaNews is able to report and confirm that the aforementioned trick is working worldwide.

WhatsApp isn’t the first messaging client to get the internet voice calling feature. Rival apps such as Viber, Hangouts (it charges for international calls), Skype, and even Facebook’s Messenger offer a similar feature. But what makes WhatsApp triumph over competing apps is the voluminous amount of users it has attracted since its launch in 2009. WhatsApp -- which Facebook acquired last year for a whopping sum of $19 billion.
Has more than 700 million users as of earlier this year, and just this week, the messaging app become the second non-Google app (after Facebook) to be downloaded 1 billion times on the Google Play Store.

While the internet voice calling feature doesn't appear as enticing in developed nations, it is evidently a major hit in the developing world such as India, where it has entrenched itself as a front runner in the competition.
Internet voice calling also allows people in the emerging market to significantly reduce their mobile tariff. For an example, “Skype uses 6 to 20 kbps or around 150KB per minute for a voice call. The amount a user would have to pay for this much data is a lot less than a voice call tariff. In India, for instance, that much data usage with standard internet data plans of say $2 - 4 per GB will provide users with over 6,820 minutes, something which would otherwise cost a user Rs 6,820 (more than $100) over a typical voice call.”, I had inferred last month.

Users are required to download the version 2.11.561 app on their Android smartphone or tablet (users can install it on a tablet by sideloading the installation file), and ask their friends who already have the feature to call them up.
Soon as the call is over, users will observe visual changes in the user interface of the app as well as an improved call button.

At this momment the feature wasn't active on WhatsApp’s Windows Phone and iPhone apps.

Source:http://betanews.com/2015/03/12/what...o-all-android-users-heres-how-you-can-get-it/

 

[SherKaan]

I already got it a few days back.