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WhatsApp Web is a very useful tool. It allows users to quickly scan a QR code from the WhatsApp application installed on their smartphone to load their group chats and individual conversations in a web browser. From there, WhatsApp users can send and receive text messages, listen to voice memos, send and receive photos, videos, and PDF documents. However, there is one thing you cannot do from your web browser: make a video call or initiate a voice call.
As millions stay at home to stop the spread of the coronavirus, tools like WhatsApp have become essential for working and studying from home, as well as staying in touch with distant friends and relatives. But unlike rival messaging services like Facebook Messenger, the fact that WhatsApp users can’t answer a video call from their web browser is a real downside. Worse still, since desktop apps for Windows and macOS package WhatApp Web into a native windowed app, these versions have exactly the same limitations.
Fortunately, that could soon be about to change.
According to @WABetaInfoA very popular Twitter account that tracks the latest beta versions of the app to discover details of new developments and improvements in progress, WhatsApp is working to add support for answering voice over IP (VOIP) and video calls from its web browser. The feature, which is still in development and not yet available for testing, includes support for voice and video calls for individual contacts and groups. In addition to answering incoming calls, you can also initiate new calls.
Screenshots shared by the Eagle Eyes team on @WABetaInfo suggest that initiating a call will open a separate browser window with the controls for managing the call.
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For anyone who relies on WhatsApp to keep in touch with friends and family, this will be a huge plus. Of course, it’s technically possible to start a video call from WhatsApp Web right now, but you’ll need to use Facebook’s new Messenger Rooms feature. This is an independent service designed to collect contracts from all Facebook messaging services, including WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger.
These contacts can be grouped together in a video call chat room, even if they are not all using the same application or in the same group chat. Facebook rolled out the feature earlier this year in response to the rise in popularity of video calling services like Zoom and Google Meet following the public health crisis and widespread lockdowns.
If the development of the new feature goes according to plan, and there is no guarantee of that, the new WhatsApp Web voice and video calling functionality should also be available for use in the Windows 10 and macOS versions of the chat app. . That’s because these apps are simply window wrappers for WhatsApp Web. As such, you will still need to log in with the QR code and will not be able to access the same functionality found in the version of WhatsApp available on Android and iOS smartphones.
That is, WhatsApp is currently unable to create full versions of the chat app for macOS, Windows 10, or the Apple iPad. This is because WhatsApp, which is currently the most popular messaging service on the planet, does not allow cross-device compatibility. Since the messaging service is tied to a mobile phone number, users cannot seamlessly move between devices to send and receive messages.
This sets WhatsApp apart from the likes of Apple’s iMessage, Facebook Messenger, or Telegram, which can be installed on a variety of devices, with messages, call history, videos, and images syncing between versions of the app.
The beta code suggests that WhatsApp is also working hard to fix this problem, suggesting that we could soon see Windows 10, macOS, and … for the first time – tablet versions of the application.
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