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WhatsApp arrives on Jio's feature phone

Last Updated 14 December 2018, 18:33 IST

As part of further popularising the messaging app, WhatsApp will be available on Reliance Jio’s smart feature phone JioPhone across India.

WhatsApp built a new version of its private messaging app for JioPhone, running the KaiOS operating system, to give people a simple, reliable, and secure way to communicate with friends and family.

The new app offers the best of WhatsApp including fast and reliable messaging and the ability to send photos and videos — all end-to-end encrypted.

Commenting on the development, WhatsApp Vice President Chris Daniels said millions of people across India can now use WhatsApp private messaging on the best-in-class JioPhone across India.

"By designing this new app for KaiOS, we hope to expand the ability for people to communicate with anyone in India and around the world by offering the best messaging experience possible to JioPhone users," said Daniels.

According to telecom analyst, the move of WhatsApp's change in strategy to re-shift its focus on feature phones.

It’s also easy to record and send voice messages with just couple taps on the keypad. To get started, JioPhone users only need to verify their phone number and then they can begin chatting with other WhatsApp users one-on-one or in groups.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited Director Akash Ambani said during the movement of connecting the unconnected, many partners came forward to strengthen the cause.

"One such partner who has really stood by us from the beginning is Facebook and its ecosystem. The result of one such partnership is out for the world to see today. We will be providing WhatsApp, the most used chat application in the world, on all JioPhones starting today," he said.

Ambani also thanked Facebook and WhatsApp team for making this happen.

WhatsApp is available in the JioPhone AppStore starting September 10, 2018 and will be rolled out on all JioPhones by September 20, 2018. People can download WhatsApp on both the JioPhone and the JioPhone 2 by visiting the AppStore and clicking on “download”.

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(Published 10 September 2018, 16:43 IST)

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