WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned messaging service, is adding a new feature, allowing users on Mac or PC to make video and voice calls on their desktop. The app had been rolled out to a small group of users at the end of last year, but the 4 March launch makes it available to all WhatsApp users on desktop.
WhatsApp is offering the option of voice or video calls using a larger screen for one-to-one users only, however, but said it also hoped to expand the service to group calls in the future.
A spokesperson said WhatsApp is introducing the app due to the “significant increase” in people making calls on the platform during the coronavirus pandemic.
Once the app is installed on a computer, users can then scan a QR code to log in and then can use it on their desktop with their usual account.
The service works in both portrait and landscape orientation and appears in a resizable standalone window on the computer screen.
