What's App -phone calls?

Lara

I've used What's App for a long time to send and receive messages from family abroad. I've been told you can also make calls anywhere without charge. Before I cook up a large phone bill can someone tell me if this is true please? Many thanks.

Tony5101

Yes, you can via the app. It obviously uses your data, so make sure that you either have a good allowance or use it when connected to wifi.
The call quality isn't always fantastic, but it's certainly useable.
As per the messages, it's whatsapp to whatsapp calling.

eagle

Yes it is.
Whatsapp is a data application so the phone call will go over the internet and eat into your data allowance. Can't be that much data but be weary of that.

Also make sure you have the latest version of the app. The older versions (at least on the iPhone edition) would just initiate a voice call which came out of your inclusive minutes. Latest versions send this over data.

Lara

Many thanks to both of you. I have 1gb of data and hardly use any of it. When using What's app I'm usually in free wifi areas eg at home. Why I didn't know this is beyond me. Grateful for you help. Going to try this today.........:).

d123

If you use it on wifi it won't use your mobile data allowance either. Just be aware, you call from within the Whatsapp app, a telephone icon appears in the top right corner of contacts who can use it.

ioscorpio

You can't use the call function on all phones https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/general/28030007

d123

ioscorpio wrote: »

You can't use the call function on all phones https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/general/28030007

Correct, that's why I made the point of it only working if you have the small telephone icon in the top right corner on the chat screen. I would presume other versions would still route the call as a normal phone call.

As I understand, you also need a fairly recent version of the firmware for it to be available as well, though most people are probably on a recent version of iOS/Android/WP these days and will have the feature.

worried_jim

Doesn't work to call with Vodafone Egypt. Text only but does work for calls if using Etisalat wifi. I'm full of useless information today!

searchlight123

does the recipient of a whatsapp call if out of wifi area use any of their 3g or 4g data allowance to receive the call?

d123

tonygold wrote: »

does the recipient of a whatsapp call if out of wifi area use any of their 3g or 4g data allowance to receive the call?

Yes, if you are on mobile data you would use data to make or receive a call. It's not a huge amount, so unless you have a very small allowance it's not worth the worry (unless you make hours worth of calls).

How much data do WhatsApp calls consume?

According to a test conducted by India Today, a WhatsApp of 15 minutes duration consumed 12MB of data.
Therefore the math for a minute is:
12(MB)/15(min) = 0.8 MB or 819 KB per minute.

https://www.quora.com/How-much-data-do-WhatsApp-calls-consume