With WhatsApp now a Facebook owned app following the £19-Billion deal which was completed last week the talks turns to what the future holds for the popular messaging service and it’s hundreds of millions of active users on Android and iOS devices.
WhatsApp has become the widely used replacement for standard text and MMS messaging services on many of our smartphones and word of mouth today suggests the future of the app is free VoIP (Voice over IP) – adding a new level of communication to the currently text and picture only messaging service.
VoIP through WhatsApp is not an entirely new idea and prior to acquisition by Facebook it was confirmed by WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum that his company was planning voice calling in an update which was suggested to become available in the second quarter of the year and would see the app contend with the likes of Skype and Viber.
Also See: Facebook Completes $19bn WhatsApp Acquisition
With WhatsApp’s future unclear and Facebook close to closing its deal, this update with VoIP was not to be. Facebook’s own Messenger app already allows voice calls and voice messages to be sent amongst friends so inevitably this might push it to bring its new purchase up to speed.
Speaking of Messenger, communicating by voice will likely throw up some new privacy concerns, especially after criticisms over the user privacy of FB-made app. Audio will be accessed and recorded on WhatsApp’s network which will of course set of some alarm bells. With recent high-profile security breaches on Apple’s iCloud and also with Snapchat these are some very valid concerns.
Also See: SnapChat Pics Leaked from Hacked Archive
We think there should be some solid news on WhatsApp’s inclusion of VoIP very soon, and once Jan Koum has got comfortable in his new seat as a Facebook board member we’ll start hearing of great new features to benefit users of the chatty app.