Facebook Silently Launches Free Voice Calling in India

Facebook has yet again given its Indian users a new feature – A voice calling option.
While it still makes no sense whatsoever, why exactly is this not making headlines, but the news is that Facebook has launched its free voice calling service in India. Facebook has finally started rolling-out its Messenger voice-calling feature to other nations, with the service now available in India. The company quietly updated the Messenger service over the weekend to bring the functionality, which was first introduced in the US and Canada in January last year.

The voice calling service in India is available via the Facebook Messenger, introduced only for Android and iOS as of now. The newly introduced voice-calling service will let users call their Facebook contacts for free, using either mobile data or Wi-Fi, similar to other VoIP ( Voice over Internet Protocol)  services like Skype.Within the Facebook Messenger Android app, users can initiate a voice call by selecting a friend, tapping the menu option, and selecting the “Free Call” option. Within the iOS app, users can initiate a voice call by selecting a friend from their conversation list and tapping the three dots (or “i” icon if you have an older version) in the upper right hand corner, which reveals a “Call” option.

Facebook Voice Calling Feature in iOS and Android

That said, users won’t receive a normal phone call. Instead they’ll receive a push notification on their screens with the caller’s name. Also, users can only connect with a conversation partner who also has Facebook Messenger for Android installed on their phone.

On Android devices, an incoming call shows up like a normal phone call with the calling party’s full screen picture. On an iPhone, the call is denoted by a push notification. Calls can only be made between users who have the Facebook or Facebook Messenger app installed on their phone. It is not available on the web version of Facebook Messenger.
Users cannot ring up a Facebook friend who is logged in through the website or mobile without the messenger.

Landline numbers cannot be dialled using this new voice-calling feature.

Earlier this month, Facebook finally introduced its Messenger app for the Windows Phone platform, specifically Windows Phone 8. The Facebook Messenger app for Windows 8 notably doesn’t support a few features available for other platforms, such as voice messaging, and chat heads.In late February, the company announced the closure of its Facebook Messenger service for Windows and Firefox platforms.

While this move clearly indicates that the social networking giant is taking its Indian market seriously, tell us what you feel about this move in the comments section below.