WhatsApp launches video calling users worldwide

Facebook-owned WhatsApp yesterday launched video calling for its over 1 billion users worldwide on iOS, Android and Windows Phone. The launch comes after a series of reports from people who recently found the feature had been enabled in beta versions of WhatsApp on Android and on Windows Phone, which indicated an imminent public launch.

To use the new feature, WhatsApp users hit the call button in the top right corner of a conversation, which would bring up an overlaid interstitial asking if users wanted to voice or video call the friend or family member they were chatting with. The video call can be started by simply selecting the ''video call'' option from this screen.

Users can switch between the forward-facing and rear camera, during the call. They can also mute the call or press the red button to hang up. According to commentators, the user interface appears to be slightly different on Android and iPhone in terms of where the picture-in-picture video feed is displayed, as also the buttons' size, lineup and placement.

Though WhatsApp supports a number of standard features for communications apps, including group texting and voice calling, according to the company, video calling had continued to be one of its top feature requests from users.

Meanwhile, VentureBeat reported that a spokesperson had confirmed that the feature worked both in landscape and portrait modes, and users could multi-task as the video could be minimised to allow users to check and respond to other messages they received. The spokesperson also confirmed that WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption applied to video calls.

Video calls would also work across cellular connections, but if people hoping to be able to make group video calls as one could with Skype that was not in the pipeline.