WhatsApp announced that it has one billion active users accessing its messenger platform and of the total number of users, two hundred million users are from India. India is a developing country with all the resources needed for the development and it has world’s largest population similar to that of China. One of the major factors required by a business is the consumers and being a populated nation, most of the business that tries to enter the global market focus on India.

It’s a complete makeover

WhatsApp messenger platform that is easy to access and it has a simple user interface, which makes it different from the other messenger apps became more sophisticated platform in 2014. The app was acquired by Facebook for nineteen billion dollars the biggest investment by the company till date.

There were several new releases and features launched by the app soon after the acquisition and Facebook’s influence were evident in those features.

The traditional WhatsApp users left the app because of the parent company, but soon rejoined the messenger app after the company promised that it will protect the user information within its platform. And the app introduced the end to end encryption feature, which was the first update released by the messenger app after its launch and acquisition. The feature soon gained more recognition among the users and also attracted many new users to join the platform.

According to the e2e encryption, the messages transmitted through the messenger app are protected by encryption that is the messages are scrambled into digits that cannot be read by others. The intended recipient can alone decrypt the message.

While sending the message, the sender sends a key along with the message which is used to unlock the message. Once when the reader reads the message, the key disappears so that it cannot be read by anyone else. Even when anyone tries to open the code from any other device they cannot read the message. WhatsApp’s privacy policy states that the messages transmitted by the users will not be shared with the parent company or any other third party. According to the messenger app, both the calls and messages are protected by the end to end encryption and it cannot be decrypted by any third party or any law enforcement.

WhatsApp video calling feature

The popular instant messenger app launched the video calling feature in India on November 15, 2016 and before the release of the feature it was available in the beta version in October. And, at the time of launch of the app, its co-founder Jan Koum announced that the feature will be released in one hundred and eighty countries after launching in India.

The company had one hundred and sixty million users before the introduction of the video calling feature, and it was a bigger step for the company to launch the service in India because it is the country where the company has the largest number of users. The video calling app is an efficient way for the users to connect with each other and it is an immersive feature that makes one feel close to their friends and family.

When the video calling feature was launched, no separate button was allocated for it. So when the user wishes to place a video call, they have to select the call option that gives two option – the voice and video call option. By selecting the video call the users can view the video of the person they are speaking with. And if you have missed any of the video calls, it will be restored in the call log.

Popular in the Indian market

The data connectivity is poor in India unlike many other countries, despite the poor connectivity people in India are said to make more number of video calls using the messenger app.

WhatsApp revealed that over its services in many countries, India ranks first in using the video calling feature and over fifty million video calling minutes each day is recorded. And the total number of video calling minutes worldwide is three hundred and forty million. A major participation in making the video calls is by the Indians.

But, though the numbers are high, both the voice and video calling feature has not reached the expected level among the users. Even when the voice calling feature was introduced by the messenger app, many thought that the feature will replace the normal mobile calls, but that did not happen. Even today people use the regular cellular calling facility to communicate. And now, even the video calling feature faces the same issue. Though people can talk face to face with each other, the expected number of population is not making use of the facility.

However, you cannot deny the fact that among many video call features offered by different providers like the Google Duo, Face Time from Apple, Skype call from Microsoft, Viber and Hike- WhatsApp’s video calling feature stands out.

New update comes with a new icon

Earlier, when the app updated its user interface- a call icon was placed at the top right corner of the screen and when the user wishes to place an voice call or a video call they can simply tap on the call icon and it will show message from which the user can choose the type of call they wish to place.

Recently, the new update was released by WhatsApp in which the voice call and video call options are separated and are given two different icons. The user can now see a video recorded icon that indicates the video call option while the voice call feature is represented by the phone icon. This makes it easy for the users to access the voice and video calling feature.

WhatsApp targets India

The announcement of two hundred million Indian users by the messenger app signifies the importance of the Indian market to the company and the main reason is because of the larger user base. Also, there are even talks about the company planning to introduce new update that will allow the business users to connect with the other people on the platform.

Last year, the messenger app had to face a case in the Delhi High Court regarding the privacy policy. Some of the app users filed a case against the company stating that they are sharing the user’s privacy details with the parent company- Facebook. But the case was ruled out in favor of the messenger app, and the case is passed to the Supreme Court.

The company is taking much care and is giving importance to its business focusing on the Indian market. The status feature that was rolled out by the company that allows the users to set videos, photos and Gif messages in the status option, which was available only in the text format. The update received many oppositions from the India users and others, and soon the company brought back the old status feature but in a different name. Therefore, you have status in the text format and also you can set videos and photos in the status option.

The messenger app also plans to venture into the digital payment system that is already available in many countries.

Anand Rajendran

Anand Rajendran is the Co-Founder and CEO of Dectar a well-known Software products development and Mobile App Development Company based in Chennai, India. He has extensive experience in building and leading innovative and collaborative software development teams to deliver major software applications like Scimbo – Whatsapp Clone Script. He loves exploring new things and sharing his knowledge with others.

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