WhatsApp: Voice Calls Activatable Only by Invitation

WhatsApp has effectively kicked off the actual trial phase for voice calls. The news is circulating online, backed by direct user experiences. The reason is simple: it appears that in this very early stage, WhatsApp voice calls will only be activated through a sort of invitation. A small group of US users has indeed received the update. From that moment on, it was noticed that by making a voice call, the recipient of the “call” via VoIP automatically received the activation of the same feature. Naturally, those who obtained this upgrade didn’t waste time and started “propagating” the possibility to their contacts, but in recent hours WhatsApp has put a stop to voice call activations with the system just illustrated. The hypothesis is that the number of testers who spontaneously – and unknowingly – re-entered this very first phase of feature rollout has been reached, and therefore work can now commence on fixing any bugs, relying on probably frequent and “real” interactions between actual users. Not just lab tests, therefore, but comprehensive field trials, with different carriers, signals, and contexts.

At the moment, it is not possible to know when such a rollout might occur again, or if, rather, the next update will bring the ability to initiate voice calls to everyone – without distinction – to their contacts who also use WhatsApp. All of this, however, suggests that the development of the feature has now reached its finalization and therefore it will soon be launched worldwide, for everyone.