WhatsApp Messenger‘s upcoming VoIP capabilities, the whispers of which were first uttered back in early 2014, has been a long time coming, and while we’re waiting for an official debut at some time this year, a handful of images were posted on Reddit this weekend that show the new WhatsApp voice calling interface running on an Android device.
The screenshots portray three primary tabs — one for text-based chats, one for contacts, and a new one for calls — with one of screenshots showing the instructions for how to place a new voice call in the app.
The Reddit user that linked to the photos, pradnesh07, wrote that the voice calling feature will be rolled out through a type of invite system. Someone who already has the calling feature available on the app will need to use it to call another WhatsApp user that wants to unlock it.
The new calling feature will apparently only work on a Nexus 5 running Lollipop 5.0.x version of Android at this time.
One option that was reportedly being pursued by Facebook with its WhatsApp application was a “call via Skype” button, and it’s not clear if an option like that will be available alongside the WhatsApp calling feature. More than likely, however, the WhatsApp calling feature will remain the sole calling option in the app.
WhatsApp can be downloaded on virtually any smartphone device.