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WhatsApp's Next Version To Include VoIP Calls and Recording
An anonymous reader writes that WhatsApp is adding a feature that may elevate it for many users' purposes: VoIP. "Apps like Viber, Skype, Tango and Google Hangout already support VoIP, which allows you to make voice calls over a broadband connection. Beyond WhatsApp's huge pool of over 600 million active users, which will undoubtedly disrupt cell service providers' payment model, what is even more intriguing is the VoIP recording feature. With the exception of third-party add-ons available for Skype, no other VoIP app includes this feature."
Google Voice or Hangouts of whatever its called now allows recording, just press 4.
I guess VoIP has become a meaningless term now.
Is FaceTime also VoIP?
Is clicking on a YouTube video that features dialogue VoIP?
Ask NSA, i think they all do......
By Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman etc. in the same way as Skype is.
I predict screaming from millions of users who find WhatsApp suddenly blocked by their ISPs.
If I get a message when I call someone or a company that states they are recording the conversation for quality control, that DOES mean I can also make a copy of that conversation as well, right?
Companies are going to hate this.
Viber as an app is terrible, I erased it from first my Android, when I used to have one, and then from iPhone. Skype, the peer-to-peer side of it, and well, then being bought by Microsoft, puts me off of it. Nevertheless, it is very instructive to fire a network monitoring app and see it light up with hundreds of connections when skype is opened. I was already using Google Talk for text messages, and Facetime. Now Hangouts seem quite a capable alternative for talking with non-Apple users. What about Tango? Your opinions to?
First, what does the image of sexy exposed mud wrestlers below the text of TFA have to do with Whatsapp or VOIP technology?
Second, all Whatsapp is doing is making existing voip recording technology more mainstream and accessible. Anyone with an Atsterisk/FreePBX server can already do this, but of course that server stuff is not as mainstream as the Whatsapp client. Corporate call centers obviously use this technology every day, and use the disclaimer recorded greeting you must first listen to, before your call can advance in the queue. "This call may be monitored for training purposes" At that point, it is a good idea to also start recording the call on your own, and you're certainly free to do so. *IF* Whatsapp extended beyond its walled garden, this tool would give the plebes a means to record the call centers I've just described.
Third, the Whatsapp Corporation shits on their developers, so watch out. But you knew it is part of Facebook now already, so you weren't expecting much.
What's that?
That's sure to kill the current worldwide trend in developing countries, where carriers (specially on pre-paid plans) give "free whatsapp and push notifications from fb, tw, etc"
Also, given whatsapp's security track record it should raise some eyebrows.
Offtopic: I actually went and RFTA (Hello! I'm new here) and found the picture in it rather interesting.
i *had* a low uid, but lost it in my lawn
they are watching and there is nothing you can do to protect your privacy, secrets, sensitive info, they are stealing it for free
I am in your house right now but have good reason. I want to see you.
Probably. :(
Whatsapp is worth $19 billion to Facebook, and if you think its paid for by stickers, you're deluded.
All I want is to be able to use WhatsApp from multiple devices, computer included.
This braindead phone service dependent model means changing numbers or devices is a pain, and it means that I'm constantly having to pick up my phone to respond to messages for no reason other than that I can't log on from anywhere else.
I'm still pissed at the loss of MSN messenger. No, I don't want Skype, because I want to chat with people on my desktop, not phone them. If I want to phone, I'll use my phone. I don't live in the US where people pay to receive calls. A smartphone and a data plan are also vastly more expensive, so I have a dumbphone and a desktop, and I don't want to buy a USB headset and an extension cord and install Skype with no option of just a third party client.
s/Skype/Whatsapp-with-VoIP if you wish except Whatsapp is on smarthpones only.
FB Messenger has voice, Line has voice. Or does VoIP mean something other than talking?
It's just that the user doesn't have access to the playback function.
Just to be clear, there is now a phone app (WhatsApp) that if you and the person you want to talk to both have it installed and know each others' phone numbers (that's how friending works in WhatsApp to my knowledge), then you can have a voice conversation (sometimes called a "phone call") with them.
If the phone carriers/network were less silly, that would be identical to just using the built-in phone app. Absurdly enough, it isn't.
Outside the US and in selected countries, Whatsapp is a big deal. In Spain, a market research tells that over 98% of smart phones do have WhatsApp installed.
The same report tells only 5% of smart phone users are on iOS. That is a completely different story than the USA where half of the population is OK with Face time, something that is more restrictive than WhatsApp.
Link to the report:
http://madrid.theappdate.com/vinformeestadoapps/
Whatsapp should worry about getting their user interface right first before introducing new features. The new interface update came months after iOS 7 was released, and support for the larger screens of iPhone 6 and 6+ is nowhere to be seen.
"..., which will undoubtedly disrupt cell service providers' payment model"
Service providers already know that there is no future in voice and to count only on data subscriptions moving forward.
blindly antisocialist = antisocial
Why do people use WhatsApp when, at least for Android (which runs on ~80% of the world's smartphones), it's an app that requires a $1/year subscription after your first year, and when there are many free services that do the same thing (any instant messaging service) and more (VoIP, video calls), and which have desktop clients (because I'd rather reply from my laptop when I'm already using it anyway)?
I've thus far refused to use WhatsApp because I find it pointless given the free, arguably better alternatives. Am I missing something? Does WhatApp have some killer feature that no other app/service has? What makes it better than, say, Google Hangouts or Viber (which even has a desktop client for Linux). Am I wrong in thinking that WhatsApp's continued popularity is only due to WhatsApp's existing popularity?
www.gaiageek.com
Dude,
When was the last time you saw a commercial focusing on the bucket of Voice minutes you get with a particular plan? Everything is about DATA today.
Check it!
I don't use this service. If they can kill off the spammy phishing e-mails along with the bogus post office and FedEx ones, I'll be happier.
I'm pretty sure its illegal to record a phone call without the other parties approval in the United States. I wonder if they've taken this into account? Like, when person A initiates recording, does it just record or does it ask for confirmation from person B?
Line has had this for more than a year along with voip calls.