WhatsApp is set to issue a major update that will allow users to make voice and video calls via the desktop version of the app.
Users of the app will soon be able to make one-to-one calls, which would be encrypted on desktop as they are in the mobile app.
This would mean it would allow people to make calls on their computers and large screens.
The Facebook-owned service said the update would give people more options for how they could communicate with colleagues, friends and family.
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In a blog post shared by WhatsApp the company stated: “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, we 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.”
It said its decision to add calling features to desktop is in response to a “significant increase” it has seen in people making calls on the platform in the wake of the pandemic, as millions of people turned to online communications to stay in touch.
WhatsApp itself broke its single day record for voice and video calls on New Year’s Eve, when 1.4 billion calls were made on the service.
