WhatsApp Voice Calling Feature Spotted in Yet Another Leak

If media reports are to be believed, mobile messaging service WhatsApp is set to launch a free voice calling feature for its 600 million monthly active users. A website claiming to have obtained images of the upcoming voice calling-based interface of the app suggests the feature is coming soon.
"The leaked images of the upcoming user interface shows that the app has been enabled with other language translations which will be displayed at the time a person receives a call via WhatsApp," a report on thefusejoplin.com stated.

The translation feature available in the latest version of WhatsApp has made it clear that the voice-calling plugin is on its way. While the voice calling feature is all set to be released on WhatsApp, there is no update if there is going to be a similar feature on Facebook, the report added.

This is not the first time the voice calling feature has been tipped to arrive soon on WhatsApp. CEO Jan Koum himself promised the feature at MWC for a Q2 2014 launch. "We are going to introduce voice in WhatsApp in the second quarter of this year. I think we have the best voice product out there. We use the least amount of bandwidth."

Koum at MWC said the voice service will be deployed for Android and iPhone this spring, with Blackberry and Microsoft and Nokia phones coming later. Soon after this announcement, a leak revealed the company had already begun testing the feature, with the service being spotted in screenshots of Hindi translation requests.

Screenshots of the translation requests, visible to people who volunteer to do translations for WhatsApp, had showed various strings that are required to be translated for Hang up, Incoming call, and Outgoing call. Since the translating of UI elements is normally one of the last stages in app development, it was then expected the voice calling feature would come quite soon - however, the service is to roll-out, nearly 5 months later.

Facebook-owned WhatsApp has witnessed a 15 percent rise in its traffic since the acquisition. WhatsApp has crossed 50 million active users in India alone.

WhatsApp hits 600 million monthly active users

In the six months since Facebook announced it was buying the messaging app, the service's monthly active user base has grown by 150 million.



It appears WhatsApp's popularity hasn't slowed since Facebook announced it was buying the service in February. The messaging app's CEO and founder Jan Koum posted on Twitter Sunday that the service now has 600 million monthly active users.

"Now serving 600,000,000 monthly active users. Yes, active and registered are very different types of numbers..." Koum tweeted.

WhatsApp is the maker of a 5-year-old mobile messaging app for exchanging texts, photos, and videos. The application is in the process of being purchased by Facebook for around $19 billion in cash and various stock options. The proposed deal has been approved by the Federal Trade Commission, but Facebook still needs to get international regulatory approval before it can complete the purchase.

In April, WhatsApp announced it reached the half a billion users milestone and that people share 700 million photos and 100 million videos on the app on a daily basis. At the time of Facebook's buyout announcement, WhatsApp had about 450 million monthly active users.

At $1 a year, WhatsApp is a cheaper alternative to SMS for those users in emerging markets, and appears to be already growing Facebook's total audience beyond the 1.23 billion people using the social network -- though it's unclear just how many people use both apps.

7 alternatives to Facebook Messenger

Facebook had a lot of people talking this week about new changes to its popular messaging app – if you want to chat on Facebook, you'll have to download the separate Facebook Messenger app and keep it running at the same time as Facebook.



"That's kind of a pain," says Facebook user Stephanie Smith. "I think it's easier to just press one button, have one click and have it all in an integrated service."

Her sentiments are not unique -- so we went out and surveyed great alternatives to Facebook Messenger for those who don't want to have that second app running all the time.

The advantage of a chat app over straight texting on a phone: Fans say chat apps are more reliable than standalone text apps on phones, because it's internet based, you don't have to worry about your texts not going through.

• What'sApp (Free, Apple, Android, Windows, Blackberry) is the most popular stand-alone chat app, with 450 million users. Facebook snapped up the service earlier this year, for $19 billion, but has yet to make any substantial changes. WhatsApp is more popular overseas than here, as a way to make global texts for free. "It's the easiest way to reach my international friends," says Kelsey Doorey, who runs the Vow to be Chic startup here. "You can contact people who live all over the world."

• Viber (Free, Apple, Android, Windows, Blackberry,) Also popular worldwide, with 300 million users, Viber is more than just free texting – it also has a new desktop app that lets you make free phone calls and texts worldwide to other Viber users from your computer. Japanese media company Rakuten bought Viber for $900 million earlier this year.

• Google Hangouts (Free, Android, Apple.) The old Google Talk chat service morphed into Hangouts in 2013, and while Google hasn't released usage numbers, Hangouts offers video chat and a very cool feature only available on Apple devices – free phone calls to any number in the United State or Canada, from within the app, without having to pay carrier charges.

• MessageMe (Free, Apple, Android) is designed with group messaging in mind. Like Viber, it has a desktop app to keep the conversations flowing between mobile and desktop. "MessageMe has been one of our favorites," says Bob Wall, the Chief Technology Officer for start-up Washio. "One of the nice aspects is that you can do video, you can do photo, you can do text, you can look up pictures from the internet and put them right in there. So it takes messaging like one step further."

• TapTalk (Free, Apple, Android.)The new service advertises itself as "one to one pics and videos in a split second," Wall's Washio boss Jordan Metzner, is a big fan. "It allows you to send a really quick image, or video to your friends, and it knows your location as well. And it's almost instantaneous. So the moment you send it to your friend, you can't send that same picture to someone else, you need to send them a new picture."

• GroupMe: (Free, Apple, Android, Windows) is a way to text beyond one-to-one, with multiple friends.

"I've used it on trips with groups of people, and it's easy," says Giselle Andrea of Los Angeles. "To stay in touch with people."

• TextPlus (Free, Apple, Android,) has both free unlimited texting, and free phone calls via a TextPlus generated phone number to the 60 million TextPlus members. Outside of the network is two cents a minute.

8 popular messenging apps that will make socializing easy for you

Often blamed by telecom operators for the death of the SMS, messaging apps gained prominence around the world rather quickly, and continue to dominate app stores. And analysts at Macquarie [a global financial services provider] have estimated that the global user base of messaging apps will grow to 2.9 billion users in 2017 from 1 billion-plus currently. Here, we look at a few often-used options — listed with their number of users — and check out features that have contributed to their popularity. 



Line 
Number talk: Crossed 400 million registered users in April. 
Although voice and video calling as well as the text messaging are its mainstay, it is the app’s selection of stickers that have become a rage. Distinctly Japanese, and sporting manga expressions at times, the range includes popular characters like Pokémon, Doraemon and Hello Kitty as well as some that are well-known around the world, like Donald Duck and Snoopy. Time-limited promotions also take place. For example, Pray for Philippines stickers were available after a devastating typhoon hit the region. The proceeds were donated to help the victims.

Facebook Messenger
 Number talk: Crossed 200 million monthy active users in March.
The app is connected to the social network and can tell you who is on Messenger or currently active on Facebook. This allows you to stay updated on latest posts and happenings even on the go. And, in a move that is likely to get more people on the service, the social networking giant confirmed on July 28 that it will be removing the messaging feature from its mobile app over the next few days, and requiring people to use its stand-alone Messenger app instead.

Viber Number talk: Crossed 350 million registered users in June. 
What sets this app apart is that it allows users to make unlimited calls or send as many messages as they want to anyone, anywhere in the world — so long as they also have the. And if that doesn’t drive home the point, the app claims that their “sound quality is much better than a regular call (sic)” on its FAQ page. 

WhatsApp Number talk: Crossed 500 million active users in April. 
Probably the most-used cross-platform messaging app, it won its millions of subscribers by keeping things simple. Replacing the SMS with a two-step set-up process, users can also send group messages, pictures and videos, as well as GPS coordinates. Ad-free for life, there is no charge for using it in the first year. However, one needs to pay $0.99 annually after that. But despite the nominal fee and the fact that video calling is still unavailable, its wide subscriber base makes it a popular option when going in for a messaging app.   


BlackBerry Messenger 
 Number talk: Crossed 160 million registered users in June.
Last year, in a move to win back subscribers who had moved on to newer platforms, BlackBerry announced the roll-out of its instant messaging service, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), for Android and iOS phones. According to @BBM, more than 10 million downloads took place in the first 24 hours. What works for BBM is the end-to-end encryption that is available. Also, privacy is maintained as one has to approve requests and only then can people be added to chat lists.

Snapchat  Number talk: Crossed 30 million monthly active users in December 2013.
Introduced at a time when privacy concerns dominated newsprint, the app gained instant popularity because users could set a time limit for how long the recipients can view images or videos before they disappeared from their devices. Also, this content was not supposed to be stored on the company’s servers. However, these claims took a severe beating when on May 7, Snapchat settled with the Federal Trade Commission in the US over allegations that it deceived users over the amount of personal data it collected, and was responsible for a security breach that impacted 4.6 million customers.  

Hike 
 Number talk: Crossed 20 million users in June.
There has been buzz around this new entrant for its ability to send messages even when offline. And the question on almost everyone’s mind has been — how does it work? Turns out, one just taps on any undelivered message and selects the kind of offline message you want to send. If you choose to send it via Hike, it’ll go from a VMN (virtual mobile number). Select your own number, and the phone will send an SMS for which you will be charged as per an operator plan. 


Telegram Number talk: Crossed 35 million monthly users in March.
The messaging service places a premium on security and allows users to control the level of privacy they want. Those interested in maximum privacy can opt for Secret Chats, featuring end-to-end encryption to ensure that a message can only be read by its intended recipient. As part of this service, nothing is logged on the servers, and one can programme the messages to self-destruct from both devices. And if that’s not enough, servers are spread all over the world for security, and the company claims to deliver messages faster than any other app.

WhatsApp for Android Wear will have you talking to your wrist

With over 500 million active users, WhatsApp probably has more than a few customers sporting Android Wear. Starting today, those folks will be able to read and reply to messages directly from their wrist. The new features are launching somewhat quietly though -- the App's Google Play listing hasn't been updated yet, and the direct link on WhatsApp's website makes no mention of the smartwatch features -- but users who update manually will find a new app installed on their Google Wear device. It's more than a simple notification push, too: users can read stacked conversation messages and even reply to them using voice. The update will probably hit Google's servers soon.

WhatsApp – Top 5 Tips and Tricks for Android and iOS

WhatsApp messenger was acquired by Facebook for 19 billion dollars.

WhatsApp is available for most of the mobile operating systems. It has more than 400 million active users around the world. Most of them were attracted by its fast message delivery service and other nice features.

Here are top 5 tips and tricks for WhatsApp on Android and iOS.

1. HOW TO DISABLE “LAST SEEN” FEATURE

WhatsApp comes with a “last seen” timestamp at the bottom of the conversation, which shows you when the last time when you connected on WhatsApp was. While for some users, this feature is helpful, for others is not. Open your WhatsApp and go to Settings->Account->Privacy->Last Seen. There you will find 3 options: my contacts, everyone and nobody. After that, just select the option you want.

2. LOCKING WHATSAPP

We want to protect our privacy and to do that we must lock applications, or the phone. Since WhatsApp is not like any other application such as Facebook, where you login using a password, in order to lock WhatsApp you can use the “WhatsApp Lock” application.

3. SEND ZIP, PDF, APK FILES USING WHATSAPP

Using WhatsApp you can only send audio or video files. However, you can use an application named “Whats Packed 2 ads” to send ZIP or PDF files. Keep in mind that the person you will want to send the file to, must have installed the “Whats Packed 2 ads” application also.

4. HOW TO EXTEND WHATSAPP FREE TRIAL PERIOD

When you start using WhatsApp, in the first year it is free, but after that, you will have to pay 1 dollar per year. It’s not much, we know, but if you can trick the system, why wouldn’t you do it? To extend your “trial” account, you will first have to delete your account. Keep in mind that you will want to do this when you are a few days away from ending your trial period.

To do this you will have to go in Settings->account->Delete My Account. After that, enter your mobile number and delete your account. Create a new account, following the same steps as when you firstly created your account. After that, you will notice that your trial period has been extended for 1 year.

5. HOW TO RECOVER DELETED CONVERSATIONS

If you accidentally deleted your WhatsApp conversations, don’t worry, there is a way to recover them, since WhatsApp backups all the conversations on its servers. To recover conversations, you will just have to uninstall WhatsApp and reinstall it back. When you reinstall it, it will ask you if you want to restore history or if you want to continue without restoring it. Just click “Restore” and you will recover all your deleted conversations.