Widely used messaging application WhatsApp is bringing its status feature to the Jio Phone, Joe Grinstead who is WhatApp software engineering lead for KaiOS said in an interview with Android Central. Soon, users having a Jio Phone will be able to post status messages just like users on Android and iOS devices do. It is to note that WhatsApp started supporting the Jio Phone in 2018 and had a very limited set of features which are eventually increasing with time. Facebook-owned company has extended its WhatsApp reach to KaiOS-based clients too and now every KaiOS device including Nokia 8110 4G or supported phones can get WhatsApp. This decision was taken last year in July.
The Status feature on WhatsApp for Jio Phone is currently at “Gold Master” stage. This means the company is ready to roll it out. While the feature is nothing new for all Android and iOS users, KaiOS users on the other hand are likely to find it as a welcome change. To be sure, WhatsApp on KaiOS is designed as a product with a minimum variable.
Further, Grinstead said that voice calling support has been present on Android for more than 5 years now, introducing this feature for KaiOS can be challenging and therefore, the company is still unclear whether it will be able to get the voice calling feature for all Jio Phone users.
Jio Phone users got to use the popular messaging application WhatsApp by the end of 2018 as the company made the official announcement in July 2018. As soon as it was rolled out for the Jio Phone, the company decided to make it available for all phones working on KaiOS platform which led to a surge in number of users. More than one crore users came in on the platform within two weeks of its introduction in KaiOS.
