Report: WhatsApp Voice Calling Finally Coming to iOS

Good news, WhatsApp users. The Facebook-owned chat app is about to get a new feature on iOS: free voice calling.

Speaking at Facebook's annual f8 developer's conference Thursday, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton said the long-ago promised voice-calling feature will finally arrive on iOS devices within a "couple weeks," according to a report from VentureBeat. Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

WhatsApp first launched voice calling on Android last month, but only on a limited, invitation-only basis. Since then, iOS users have been left out of the party, but it looks like that's about to change.

WhatsApp users can already send voice messages to contacts — just press and hold the microphone icon above the keyboard. But this upcoming addition will reportedly function more like a telephone call than a voicemail, and put WhatsApp in competition with VoIP apps such as Skype and Viber.

WhatApp first announced plans to add voice calling more than a year ago at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. At the time, the feature was expected to launch in the second quarter of 2014, but that obviously didn't happen. At f8 this week, Acton said WhatsApp has been working to refine the feature for the past year.

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Meanwhile, WhatsApp also recently introduced a Web client for in-browser chatting. At this point, however, it only works with Android, BlackBerry, BlackBerry 10, and Windows Phone versions of the app.

For more, see PCMag's reviews of WhatsApp for Android and iPhone. Also check out What Is WhatsApp? An Explainer.