WhatsApp on Thursday announced that one-to-one voice and video calls will now be available on the desktop app for Windows and Apple devices. These calls will be private and secure, it said. WhatsApp said it would expand this feature to include group voice and video calls in the future.
To make desktop calling more useful, WhatsApp said it works for both portrait and landscape orientation. It appears in a resizable standalone window on your computer screen, and is set to be always on top so you never lose your video chats in a browser tab or stack of open windows, the Facebook-owned company said in a statement.
"Voice and video calls on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted, so WhatsApp can't hear or see them, whether you call from your phone or your computer," the company added.
"Answering on a bigger screen makes it easier to work with colleagues, see your family more clearly on a bigger canvas, or free up your hands to move around a room while talking," said the company.
WhatsApp recently announced the roll out of a new security feature for WhatsApp Web and Desktop -- face and fingerprint unlock when linking devices. “This adds an additional layer of protection when you want to link your WhatsApp account to your computer," it said.
WhatsApp said it noticed a significant increase in people calling each other over WhatsApp in the last year, as large parts of the world went into lockdown. “In most cases they were long conversations. On the eve of New Year's Eve, 1.4 billion voice and video calls were made, breaking the record for most calls made in a single day,” it said.
“WhatsApp wants your conversations to be as good as possible, no matter what part of the world or technology you use, as a large number of people are still away from their loved ones, adapting to new ways of working,” it said in a blogpost.
With IANS inputs