When you can’t reach someone on the phone, most of us will go with the next best option of just leaving a text message. But when you need to get the message across, nothing beats the sound of your voice, which is why voicemail is still so important, despite its declining use.
While this approach still works when you give someone a call, the interaction is quite different when using messaging services like WhatsApp, because you usually don’t have that option. However, it looks like things are about to change, with WABetaInfo sharing its findings on a new feature that will allow users to leave a voice message when a call isn’t answered.
Is this a feature people want?
We say that things could change because this feature isn’t quite live in the standard version of the app, and can only be experimented with in the beta at this time. As far as how the feature will work, it’s not all that complicated. You call someone you’re trying to reach on WhatsApp, and when they don’t answer, you’ll be given a new option that will allow you to record a voice message.
It’s going to be kind of nice to have this option, because up until now, you just kind of left it at that, or messaged the person, or hoped that they would see your missed call and give you a call back. Naturally, you can always leave a voice message for anyone at any time, but this is a nice way to utilize the feature in a new way.
If you’re curious about trying this out, you can always jump into the beta by opting in from the Google Play Store. There’s no cost, and if you don’t like the beta, you can always just go back to the public release at any time. Of course, you can always just wait it out too, since it looks like it will arrive for public release sometime in the future.
