bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Raymond Yeung

WhatsApp, the world’s most popular instant messaging application, is finally rolling out video calling to its more than one billion users.
From Tuesday, users of Android, iPhone and Windows devices are to be prompted in phases to update their app before the new feature can be used.
Watch: WhatsApp launches video calling


“Over the years we’ve received many requests from our users for video calling, and we’re excited to finally offer this feature to the world,” the company said in a statement.
To start video calling, users can tap the call button at the top right corner of a conversation box and select “video call” or “voice call”.
We want to make these features available to everyone, not just those who can afford the most expensive new phones
WhatsApp statement
The move follows WhatsApp’s introduction of voice calling in January last year, allowing the text messaging app to attract different types of users.
A blog post on the Facebook-owned company’s website in June claimed more than 100 million voice calls were made on WhatsApp every day.
Video calling is not a groundbreaking feature for smartphones. Facebook’s own Messenger app introduced video calling in April last year, while other messaging apps such as Apple’s FaceTime, Skype, Viber and Line all integrate video calling.
But the reach of WhatsApp across multiple platforms and its sheer number of users – it grew five-fold from 200 million in 2013 to one billion in February – meant the roll-out was still a significant upgrade.
“We’re introducing this feature because we know that sometimes voice and text just aren’t enough,” the company statement said. “We want to make these features available to everyone, not just those who can afford the most expensive new phones or live in countries with the best cellular networks.”


Southeast Asia follows Australia in tightening social media rules: safety or censorship?

How the global market in SIM cards powers fraud and influence

Why Hong Kong’s youth must be key part of city’s mental health support

YouTube capitulates to Australia’s age rule, becomes last major platform to accept

WhatsApp

WhatsApp rolls out video calling to more than one billion users

The video calling feature was available from Tuesday. Photo: EPA

News

Hong Kong

Hong Kong Economy

Tech

Feature meant to expand instant messaging company’s reach regardless of phone type or cellular networks


WhatsApp rolls out video calling to more than one billion users

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Feature meant to expand instant messaging company’s reach regardless of phone type or cellular networks

Feature meant to expand instant messaging company’s reach regardless of phone type or cellular networks