This May, Skype will close its doors for good. The successor to the classic MSN Messenger hasn’t been able to adapt to new technologies in time and will ultimately shut down for good. Microsoft recommends users switch to Teams, its chat platform, to continue using text chats, voice calls, and video calls. But Microsoft hasn’t considered this last-minute rival: WhatsApp.
WhatsApp calls and video calls have been available on the platform for a long time. Users can initiate voice or video calls from mobile and WhatsApp Desktop with a single tap in the app. And, honestly, they work quite well in terms of quality and performance.
However, to be able to use these video calls, you need to install the WhatsApp Desktop app on your computer. And, to be honest, most of us use WhatsApp Web, the web version of this messaging client that works in any browser, for convenience.
After a long wait, video and voice calls on WhatsApp Web are finally coming. And they’re coming just at the right time.
Calls and video calls come to WhatsApp Web
As reported by WABetaInfo, Meta is already developing this feature for WhatsApp Web. Once development is complete (which shouldn’t take too long, considering we already have it on all other platforms), users will be able to initiate voice and video calls directly from any browser, such as Chrome, Edge, or Firefox, without needing to install the desktop app.
The truth is, this was the only feature missing from the web version of the messaging client. And with its arrival, Meta will elevate its position as a communication tool, allowing more users to take advantage of all of WhatsApp’s features without relying on specific apps like the desktop app.
An opportunity to steal users from Skype
We can’t say Skype is more popular than WhatsApp. But it is in the realm of voice and video calls, and within business environments. Although Microsoft will do everything it can to get users to make the switch to Teams, the premise of being able to make voice and video calls directly from WhatsApp Web is going to make things very difficult for the creator of MSN Messenger.
It’s true that, for a long time, WhatsApp has been overshadowed by other rivals, such as Telegram or Skype, in terms of features. And although all of them have finally arrived on the messaging platform, they did so quite late. Especially regarding the ability to use the messaging program from both mobile and PC at the same time. Fortunately, the trend is changing, and Meta is gradually updating its messaging platform, bringing all the features to all platforms. And making the gap between them and Telegram, Teams, or, why not, Skype, increasingly narrow.
