Whatsapp has announced private and secure one-to-one voice and video calls on their desktop app.
Giving reasons to why this feature was added to the desktop app , Whatsapp said throughout the last year they ‘d seen significant increases in people calling one another on WhatsApp, often for long conversations. Last New Year’s Eve, they broke the record for the most calls ever made in a single day with 1.4 billion voice and video calls. With so many people still apart from their loved ones, and adjusting to new ways of working, Whatsapp wants conversations on WhatsApp to feel as close to in-person as possible, regardless of where you are in the world or the tech you’re using.
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. To make desktop calling more useful, they made sure it works seamlessly for both portrait and landscape orientation, 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.
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. They are starting with one-to-one calls on the WhatsApp desktop app so they make sure they can give you a reliable and high-quality experience. Furthermore , Whatsapp will be expanding this feature to include group voice and video calls in the future.
About desktop calling
You can make free voice and video calls to your contacts on WhatsApp Desktop if you have the app installed on your computer.
Desktop calling is supported on:
- Windows 10 64-bit version 1903 and newer
- macOS 10.13 and newer
To make or receive calls on WhatsApp Desktop, you’ll need:
- An audio output device and microphone for voice and video calls.
- A camera for video calls.
- An active internet connection on your computer and phone. The call won’t go through your phone, but it needs to be online to establish the call.
- To grant WhatsApp permission to access your computer’s microphone and camera. WhatsApp needs access to your computer’s microphone for calls and camera for video calls.
Note: Group calls aren’t supported on WhatsApp Desktop at this time.