WhatsApp's Next Version To Include VoIP Calls and Recording 65
An anonymous reader writes that WhatsApp is adding a feature that may elevate it for many users' purposes: VoIP. "Apps like Viber, Skype, Tango and Google Hangout already support VoIP, which allows you to make voice calls over a broadband connection. Beyond WhatsApp's huge pool of over 600 million active users, which will undoubtedly disrupt cell service providers' payment model, what is even more intriguing is the VoIP recording feature. With the exception of third-party add-ons available for Skype, no other VoIP app includes this feature."
Google Voice? (Score:2, Insightful)
Google Voice or Hangouts of whatever its called now allows recording, just press 4.
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This only works on calls you receive, not calls you make.
Re: Google Voice? (Score:2)
So does CsipSimple.
Every Sip app I've tried has this.
VoIP, eh? (Score:2)
I guess VoIP has become a meaningless term now.
Is FaceTime also VoIP?
Is clicking on a YouTube video that features dialogue VoIP?
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what is VoIP?
Ask John Galt, I heard he knows.
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Does it carry voice? Does it do so over IP packets? Sounds like VoIP to me. It's not SIP or an open protocol, and it can carry video as well as voice, but it definitely meets the definition of voice over IP.
The problem with all of these services is fragmentation. If I have a telephone, I can call anyone else who has a telephone, irrespective of what operators we both use. If I have a SIP account somewhere, I can generally do the same thing. If I have a Facetime account, then I can't call someone wi
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The problem with all of these services is fragmentation. If I have a telephone, I can call anyone else who has a telephone, irrespective of what operators we both use. If I have a SIP account somewhere, I can generally do the same thing. If I have a Facetime account, then I can't call someone with Google Hangouts. Without federation, these services are far less useful than they could be (to users - the lack of federation is useful for encouraging lock-in, so good for the providers if they're big enough).
Agreed. Just to note though, Google Hangouts can call to and be called from the PSTN and supports Federated VoIP. This is not meant as an endorsement but, perhaps, it would be more clear if the example were Facetime to ... something else that lacks those features ...?
I tried to look up more details on Whatsapp's implementation, but I can't find any mention of it on their site, and the linked article doesn't go into any detail regarding it either, nor does it link to any press release or blog or anything els
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I would say... Facetime yes, Youtube no...?
I think Facetime allows you to make real-time voice calls, whereas Youtube doesn't. I'm pretty sure that's what people mean by VoIP. Voice over IP: Real-time voice-based conversations over an IP network.
As far as I know, it does not need to be able to connect to the analog POTS network to be considered VoIP, but as with many terms, the precise details might depend on who you ask.
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I guess VoIP has become a meaningless term now.
Is FaceTime also VoIP?
How so? If WhatsApp is transmitting voice calls using IP packets it is VoIP. Also, since Facetime also does the same thing it is VoIP as well.
Is clicking on a YouTube video that features dialogue VoIP?
Of course not. Youtube videos are not voice calls.
Recfeat.No other VoIP app includes this feature ?? (Score:1)
Ask NSA, i think they all do......
Watch them get blocked (Score:2)
By Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman etc. in the same way as Skype is.
I predict screaming from millions of users who find WhatsApp suddenly blocked by their ISPs.
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Stickers? I think you are confusing it with Viber.
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Most start off with, "This call may be recorded for..." I consider that permission.
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In Massachusetts, there's laws on the books against wiretapping, which are used to punish audio recording of interactions (even of police!). Video recording (even secretly) of public employees acting in the performance of their duties has been ruled to be legal by the state Supreme Court--but FSM help you if you record audio secretly. However, to get around that, you need merely notify the other party that they're being recorded and having a recording device in plain view is sufficient, though, obviously, m
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For years I have started unsolicited calls with "this conversation may be recorded for quality-control". It sure lowers the amount of scam calls you get...
What is your opinion of this apps? (Score:2)
Meeting The Masses (Score:3)
First, what does the image of sexy exposed mud wrestlers below the text of TFA have to do with Whatsapp or VOIP technology?
Second, all Whatsapp is doing is making existing voip recording technology more mainstream and accessible. Anyone with an Atsterisk/FreePBX server can already do this, but of course that server stuff is not as mainstream as the Whatsapp client. Corporate call centers obviously use this technology every day, and use the disclaimer recorded greeting you must first listen to, before your call can advance in the queue. "This call may be monitored for training purposes" At that point, it is a good idea to also start recording the call on your own, and you're certainly free to do so. *IF* Whatsapp extended beyond its walled garden, this tool would give the plebes a means to record the call centers I've just described.
Third, the Whatsapp Corporation shits on their developers [openwhatsapp.org], so watch out. But you knew it is part of Facebook now already, so you weren't expecting much.
WhaWha? (Score:1)
What's that?
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What's what?
telcos gonna veto (Score:1)
Also, given whatsapp's security [pandasecurity.com] track [hackread.com] record [thehackernews.com] it should raise some eyebrows.
Offtopic: I actually went and RFTA (Hello! I'm new here) and found the picture in it rather interesting.
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Assuming windows phone is still around in 2017. Which is a big IF.
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The big advantage of the phone-only model is that it keeps Whatsapp nearly spamfree and it prevents conversations where people with complete keyboards outtype me too much and then complain I can't keep up with their typing.
What about text chat? (Score:1)
I'm still pissed at the loss of MSN messenger. No, I don't want Skype, because I want to chat with people on my desktop, not phone them. If I want to phone, I'll use my phone. I don't live in the US where people pay to receive calls. A smartphone and a data plan are also vastly more expensive, so I have a dumbphone and a desktop, and I don't want to buy a USB headset and an extension cord and install Skype with no option of just a third party client.
s/Skype/Whatsapp-with-VoIP if you wish except Whatsapp is
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You can chat with Skype. I don't pay to receive calls but I do to call people abroad, so voip is the only sensible solution there. You can get a headset for £5 or less and use (on a desktop) with any client. Whatsapp being phone only is what kills it for me. I don't understand why Facebook didn't announce a fix for that the day they bought them. I don't want to have to chat via a mobile phone keyboard and try and cut and paste links etc into it when i'm setting next to a desktop with a keyboa
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It's true that you can chat with Skype but Skype is known as the platform to make calls abroad. But maybe I wouldn't be complaining if you could use 3rd party software, i.e. MSN worked with aMSN, Gaim, Trillian.
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Whatsapp being phone only is what kills it for me.
It's not a bug, it's a feature. It's what allows it to take the place of SMS. If your contact is on WhatsApp and you message them, you know they will get your message on their phone. If you send a message to someone on facebook messenger, they might not get it until they log in to facebook on their computer next week, so unless you know their habits you have to send an SMS if it needs to be timely.
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If you send a message to someone on facebook messenger, they might not get it until they log in to facebook on their computer next week
Only if they don't have the Facebook Messenger app or the Facebook app on their phone. And following that logic, they might not have the Whatsapp app on their phone, in which case I guess they'll never get your message.
I don't see how disallowing someone to check their messages except on their cell phone is a "feature".
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You know when they get it on facebook messenger; it tells you. You have no idea when they get it via sms, or even IF they got it. If their phone is turned off, lost, of they're abroad then the network might try delivering for a few days, then give up.
But sure, you know they'll get it on their phone because the system is too lame to work anywhere else; messenger, hangouts etc lets them receive it on their phone, tablet, laptop, desktop, or anyone else's device they've logged into.
Most VoIP apps include recording. (Score:5, Interesting)
It's just that the user doesn't have access to the playback function.
Get the basics right first (Score:2)
Whatsapp should worry about getting their user interface right first before introducing new features. The new interface update came months after iOS 7 was released, and support for the larger screens of iPhone 6 and 6+ is nowhere to be seen.
Nope (Score:4, Insightful)
"..., which will undoubtedly disrupt cell service providers' payment model"
Service providers already know that there is no future in voice and to count only on data subscriptions moving forward.
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Yeah, I keep seeing people talk about how cell phone carriers are going to get screwed by VoIP apps and SMS-replacement apps, which makes me wonder, has nobody looked at the carrier's websites in a couple of years?
Carriers have started changing their plans to have unlimited talk/text, charging for data bandwidth instead. They're moving their own voice service to VoIP. You may have an old-style plan grandfathered in, and the carriers may still have some other specialty plan with limited talk/text for a li
I still don't get the love for WhatsApp. (Score:3)
I've thus far refused to use WhatsApp because I find it pointless given the free, arguably better alternatives. Am I missing something? Does WhatApp have some killer feature that no other app/service has? What makes it better than, say, Google Hangouts or Viber (which even has a desktop client for Linux). Am I wrong in thinking that WhatsApp's continued popularity is only due to WhatsApp's existing popularity?
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Simple: it works on my feature phone, and everyone I want to contact also has it installed.
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Sounds like a marketing person to me. I don't even know what a 'feature' phone is.
Does it 'disrupt' a new market place?
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Since you're new here, I understand you haven't heard of "feature phones" before. But calling someone a marketing person... that's really offensive.
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Step 1: get an iphone or borrow one from a family/friend.
Step 2: put your sim card in it.
Step 3: buy whatsapp in the app store for 1$
Step 4: remove sim card.
Step 5: install your sim card onto your Android phone.
Step 6: install whatsapp in your phone.
Lifetime license for 1$. You are welcome.
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WhatsApp was good enough for group-chat at a time when Google Talk couldn't even reliably deliver messages. Also WhatsApp is like a closed ecosystem with no support for third party clients, and in this method has forced growth by word of mouth. If your friends are using WhatsApp then you have little choice but to use it too.
Personally I wish Google hadn't let GTalk sit idle for so long because being able to access your messages from multiple clients including the browser is extremely convenient.
Get rid of the phishing e-mails (Score:2)
I don't use this service. If they can kill off the spammy phishing e-mails along with the bogus post office and FedEx ones, I'll be happier.
legality? (Score:2)
I'm pretty sure its illegal to record a phone call without the other parties approval in the United States. I wonder if they've taken this into account? Like, when person A initiates recording, does it just record or does it ask for confirmation from person B?
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This depends on the state. Some require all parties to consent and some do not and you can always announce that you are recording and let the other parties decide whether to terminate the connection.