WhatsApp gets another rapid update on Windows Phone; improves upon Voice Messaging

By published

What’s another Friday without an update from WhatsApp? (Seriously, the last four updates were all on a Friday, crazy, eh?) The famous messaging service used to see monthly updates but now it seems to be on the Facebook-fast track, getting an update per week. We’re okay with that and we’re sure you are too as the service has steadily grown into a reliable and fantastic messaging app for Windows Phone.

Earlier this week, WhatsApp turned on their Voice Messaging service on all platforms, including iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone. It was a slick move by the company and was seen as a largely successful move to fight off the likes of Voxer and other competitors.

Now, version 2.11.40 is live in the Store and it brings some “Voice Messaging improvements”, which is kind of vague yet also revealing. Clearly that new feature will need a couple of tweaks here and there and that’s what this update brings.

Overall, WhatsApp’s Voice Messaging is a pretty great feature to get tacked on for free. Are you folks using it? Let us know in comments.

Otherwise, grab your WhatsApp version 2.11.40 update here in the Store right now to get your weekend started! All Windows Phones.

Via: WindowsPhoneApps.es

QR: WhatsApp

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino

Daniel Rubino is the Executive Editor of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft here since 2007, back when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, Microsoft Surface, laptops, next-gen computing, and arguing with people on the internet.
94 Comments
  • Meh need data sense :/
  • He's talking about whatsapp, not data sense, lol.
  • Random whining! Achievement Unlocked.
  • +100G
  • Is it worth using vs regular text messaging?
  • I think so, so long as your friends/family are using it too (it's all on platforms, so no reason why not). It's fast, free, you can send photos, video clips, audio, your location, plus have a history of those items, backup your messages and probably more. The really cool part is you know if the recipient received the message and if they read it. It's also based on your phone number, not an account, so it means your friends/family can easily find you on their phones since it checks their phone book. It's really good if you message people over seas.
  • Doesn't he mean to ask if voice messaging is worth using versus regular text messaging?
  • Na. He understood what I meant. :)
  • Bang on with to all your points Daniel..!
    The only hurdle is the always-connected-to-the-internet restriction ... Back home in India, constant mobile data plans are still not as widespread .. only reason to NOT consider Whatsapp imho...
  • What restriction? when your data is off Whatsapp doesn't react, it waits until a connection is made again. :)
  • All true, except that you know if the other person read the message
  • But your messages are not backed up if you change or reset devices. Hope they add backup to Skydrive as a feature.
  • Thank you Daniel. Just the answer I was looking for.
  • Dan, I think as per the FAQ in Whatsapp, it mentions that the first tick mark is "Delivered to server" and the second tick mark means "Delivered to the Mobile". it does not mean that the person has read it.. here is the link
    http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/general/20951546
     
  • The only problem being the battery hog that WhatsApp on WP8 is. It drains my Lumia 920's battery in 4-5 hours on 3g. I am really worried about that and i soo want them to fix that, like on iOS, its not that inefficient. I cant help but compare. :)
  • I certainly think so... text messaging has gone obsolete in my circles and everyone's on Whatsapp these days..
    I quite like the new feature - haven't checked it after this update yet though.. my only gripe being that you have to hold down the on-screen key while recording... hopefully thats changed with this update to a "press-to-start , press-to-stop" implementation..
     
  • You only have to hold down for the walkie-talkie like feature. You can still attach a regular voice note.
  • Try text messaging from your country to Daniel or me ;)
  • Not everyone has unlimited texts on their contracts. Here where I live you need to spend a minimum of about $200/m to get unlimited texts on contract which is retarded. Whatsapp is hugely popular here, all my friend's use it and I can message friends and family overseas for free :)
  • Are you for real ????? ,is it worth using over texts, are your texts instant????
  • Texts are instant and reliable vs whatsapp any day!
  • So when you hit send on a text they receive it immediately??, I've never had any hassle on whatsapp, maybe your phone is buggy??
  • No msg on whatsapp is reliably sent. If you have data connection it will go. With texts it will go even without data! You must be one of the odd ones without any issues with whatsapp
  • Well I have WiFi in work and at home and unlimited data and amber/gdr2, maybe that's why I'm one of the "odd" ones lol !!
  • Whatsapp works without cell service but an internet connection! How often is anybody turning off their data anyway?
  • Got to admit, Whatapp was worthless to me until I went to another country. The only way I was able to communicate with folks back home was through this app. Now that I am back, I'm trying to convince my friends to switch so I can drop my text messaging plan.
  • Keep ehm coming WA
  • Great, still needs attach video option to compete with ios or android version. But almost there now :-)
  • Yeah, I mean obviously that's an OS limitation at this point, but I wonder if long term MS will address that.
  • While on OS limitations, do you know Daniel if time stamp bit has anything to do with OS update or its just something that we can dream of for now?
  • But other apps can access videos from the device no problem. I don't get what OS limitation it could be.
  • No, other apps can't. At least name a few which can.
  • Well, Nokia Video Trimmer will be able to access videos. But you are right, when I think about it, this seems to be the only one.
  • It is not the same the videos taked with the phone than the videos on "Music and videos". 
  • They better address it, it's a huge issue for a lot of apps and is only hurting the platform when I need to tell someone they can't send vids on WA. If they were even considering moving to WP that kills it for most people.
  • No one I know sends videos over whatsapp. I wouldn't mind having it as a feature but it doesn't really bother me.
  • Access to stored video is a big issue with regard to feature parity. What IS under WhatsApp control is returning the option to use the front facing camera for video recorded in the app.
  • Plz background image and multiple image sending and it would be amazing
  • Background image? Sure, if there are people who want it, but then please, please as an option. I don't need pictures of my friends as a background, badly cropped with text blocks over them...
  • Check whatsapp on android, or wechat on windows phone 8 with background images, on every chat u can put different image, its an small thing but makes chatting more awesome, but multiple image sending is a must have, plz whatsapp add that soon
  • That's about you and me but what about the regular-hipster user? they "need" images, that's why whatsapp should bring them to wp :)
  • Wow! Now there's some good, quality, platform support! Good on them! (And I love their app, expecially since the last update)
  • "nicccceee" !!!!
  • It's funny how they go from months of no updates to a non stop flow. 
  • that time during the API agent was long and tiresome. glad its top notch now!
  • Every update they release makes me happier about my decision to stop using and recommending Kik. I just wish they had delivery/sent/read similar to BBM. Unless someone can clarify what the check marks identify.
  • 1 check mark = delivered to WA servers, 2 check marks = delivered to recipient's device. You can use the last seen time to figure out if they've seen your message or not.
  • Thanks for that. Does the time stamp show when they were last using the app? Or the last time they read your conversation? It says, "last seen online at.." what if they opened the app to read another conversation?
  • Even they open the app to read another chat the last seen time will update. It doesn't matter which chat they read.
  • This is the problem. I want the last time they read my thread not the last time they opened the app.
  • That means they read another convo and ignored you :P
  • yup, I prefer this one because you can know though the people you chat is ignoring or not. From the time stamp I could also know wether the people is still using whatsapp or not.
  • iOS users can cheat time stampS
  • This is epic. I figured this feature wouldn't come to the Windows Phone version for months after it hit Android and iOS. I wish more developers were this dedicated to Windows Phone as a platform.
  • So right after they talked crap about wp8 they push rapid updates... (I don't use what Sapp)
  • When/where did they talk crap about WP8? Link? I don't remember seeing that.
  • Not really talking smack but saying they couldn't do certain things on wp8 and before that I think it was a year since their last update.
  • Saying the truth is not talking crap, Developers still can't access the video library due to os limitation.
  • I wonder why when I send a voice message it looks like in the article's picture, but when I receive one it's just like the old sucky way of jumping into the music player and play the message
  • Is the other person using the new way or old way?
  • The problem is that the one who send u sends the old way, tell him that there is this new way to send audio, then u will also get the way u send it
  • Someone is not doing it right. It even sounds different, you can tell the difference. Voice recording is more clear
  • Well, my friends and I have all tried out the voice messaging.  So far, it's mostly been digtial farts, burps, and toilet flushes that have been flying through the whatsapp airwaves.  
  • Its pointless. Most likely never get a decent internet signal tonsend whatsapps anyways. Specially when travelling.
  • Need to concentrate on the pointless toast/push notification error reboot phone message.
  • You must be loaded to use cellular data when travelling over seas.. Lol.
  • 6 dollars a day to use data overseas, at least my plan in like that.... Not cheap if you ask me, but I always used it
  • Anyone else getting the message that "there is a problem with push notifications" and that a phone restart is required? Getting this almost everytime i use whatsapp. And i have tried restarting my phone but it keeps happening.
    Any ideas/news on a fix?
  • WhatsApp I believe is working closely with Nokia...its clear that Nokia should run all of Windows Phone.
  • Daniel, did you know they also turned the voice messaging for Symbian? 
    http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/flow/item/18109_Whatsapp_for_Symbian_updated_w.php
  • i was looking forward to this update. the voice messaging took AGES to be uploaded. and thats not because of a throttled data plan or a slow connection, it was just slow...
  • Would be nice to be able to use the front facing cam when creating/sharing a video on this app.
  • Voice chat in wechat is better.. Haha whatsapp should make a free call since its logo is a phone
  • The update now allows you to know when somebody is recording a voice msg to you..
  • I'll just wait for Hemlis. :)
  • :)
  • Till now no update we cannot send music file and video file is must need
  • Os limitation..
  • Yeah it's a great feature addition. Works pretty well.
  • Did anyone noticed that the app title (the one you see at the top of the app) is now all caps ("WhatsApp" vs. "WHATSAPP")
  • It was always WhatsApp..even the autocorrect in WP8 corrects it that way, in my knowledge. :)
  • I mean the title at the top after the app is loaded, the one that you can see above the chat list, not in the tile, is now written "WHATSAPP" instead of "WhatsApp"
  • Music files that are sent to me by my friends on WhatsApp don't seem to play on my Lumia 920. I wonder why, cuz i thought that almost all the music formats are supported on the Lumia 920. Any thoughts.?
  • BBM anyone?  ;) ;)
  • WhatsApp or WHATSAPP or whatever is a reason why I'm so disappointed in WP and my Lumia 820.  I stayed loyal to Nokia (switched to Lumia after using Nokia X7), and in terms of using WhatsApp, which is one of the most important application for me, and I made a huge mistake.  I really don't understand if it's WhatsApp, WP or Nokia issue that notifications are from time to time late, and arriving only when I use the application itslef (not arriving when in backround), and as user, I really don't care.  It's so frustrating, that I'm actually thinking about leaving Nokia, leaving WP, and do what my friends were suggesting me, got myself Android, where obviously there aren't such issues.  I was looking forward to each new update, but no significant improvement.
  • Once more notifications are lagging, stop publishing banana versions!!
  • Ate there any one who is facing notification issues with whats app after amber update
  • I am facing notification issue in whatsapp and it is really annoying because at times i miss some important messages as we cant just open watsapp every 5 minutes to check if there is any new message o r not. This is very disappointing.. :(
  • I too have some problems with my whatapps, so i read and resolved from these link
    http://www.phonesappstabs.com/problems-with-my-whatsapp-messenger
    I think it will help...
  • Updated today in India but I dont use the voice feature.
  • None of the group messages are visible in groups after the update. Is there anyone else with the same problem or am i the only one with this problem?
  • nokia 510 main whatsapp install ni ho rah kea karna cahye  
  • helo plz mujy batain k nokia 510 main whatssapp instal kasy karo    
  • plz reply me