WhatsApp calls show up on iOS as IM platform ushers in several updates

I respect the way Apple has created its own robust ecosystem, a little exclusive island of sorts actually. iOS users do things at their own pace. It’s not for everyone though.

This members-only thing is only awesome when it’s done by the market leader, something that Nokia Windows is figuring out painfully. There’s also the fact that this closed system has its own shortcomings, like being last to receive any software updates that are rolled out to the majority first.

This story isn’t about mobile OS comparison though. The real talk is about the updates being rolled out rapidly by WhatsApp, like the call feature being introduced to iPhones. The feature hasn’t been switched on just yet, according to the flurry of reports and eager Apple users I know, it’s just shown up on the latest update of the version for iOS.

Users of WhatsApp in the Android community have had this feature for more than a month, so this just means an update that will give friends living on the i -sland access to a feature that’s been used and talked about extensively for quite a bit.

it’s not the only change to WhatsApp though. The IM platform’s latest version for Android Version 2.12.45 (it’s not yet available on Google Play, but the apk  can be downloaded here) features a material design and it also lets you backup chats and images to Google Drive and even lets you identify chats from unsaved numbers a spam that you can report to WhatsApp.

Even though I think the Material Design looks way better than the current official version’s User Interface, and that backing up all those WhatsApp images I get from the many groups onto Google Drive is an awesome way of saving media, I have to admit that these changes are still minor.

There have been talks of video calls coming to WhatsApp. That ought to be a big deal, but judging from the way WhatsApp calls are faring on Zimbabwean mobile networks, I doubt that these guys will be quick to embrace such a change.

Then again, I shouldn’t be so quick to complain, at least all this is available on Android. Perhaps I should pity the late adopters on iOS and Windows?