Facebook has confirmed that users can now call and video call loved ones from macOS on the WhatsApp app, bringing a long-overdue feature to the desktop for the very first time.
In a press release, the company revealed: “Throughout the last year we’ve seen significant increases in people calling one another on WhatsApp, often for long conversations.
“Last New Year’s Eve, we 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, we want 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.”
Facebook was keen to stress that the new WhatsApp Video Call for Desktop feature would make it easier to communicate with loved ones as well as colleagues, offering an alternative to Zoom and Skype for the first time. The app will work in both portrait and landscape mode and it can be resized, similar to FaceTime for Mac, to maximize your screen real estate.
What’s even more interesting is that the new video calls will stick above other windows, so you can’t lose a video chat when you’re also working on checking out Facebook on the side.
The company was keen to stress the security of the new service, too, revealing that voice and video chats are end-to-end encrypted. It also revealed that group voice and video calls would be coming soon.
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