For years, WhatsApp users who wanted to make voice or video calls from their desktops were tethered to a downloadable application. That constraint is now dissolving. Meta’s ubiquitous messaging platform has rolled out audio and video calling capabilities directly within its web-based client, a move that may seem incremental on the surface but carries significant implications for enterprise communication, browser-based productivity, and Meta’s broader strategic ambitions.

The feature, which allows users to initiate and receive calls through WhatsApp Web at web.whatsapp.com without installing any desktop software, has been in limited testing for months but is now reaching a wider audience. As Lifehacker reported, the rollout means that anyone with a modern browser—Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari—can now place one-on-one audio and video calls directly from the web interface, provided their browser has access to a microphone and camera.

How the Feature Works—and What It Demands

The mechanics are straightforward but worth examining for what they reveal about WhatsApp’s technical architecture. To use calling on WhatsApp Web, users must first link their browser session to their phone via the standard QR code pairing process. Once linked, the calling interface appears in the left sidebar of the web client, displaying recent call history and offering a direct dial option. Incoming calls trigger browser notifications, assuming the user has granted the necessary permissions.

According to Lifehacker’s walkthrough, the requirements are minimal: a linked WhatsApp account, a browser that supports WebRTC (the open-source framework that enables real-time communication in browsers), and permission grants for the microphone and, optionally, the camera. The calls are end-to-end encrypted, consistent with WhatsApp’s broader security architecture, and the quality appears comparable to what users experience on the desktop application. Group calling, however, remains unavailable on the web client—a limitation that keeps the downloadable desktop app relevant for now.

Why Browser-Based Calling Matters More Than It Appears

At first glance, enabling calls in a browser tab seems like a minor convenience upgrade. But the move is strategically significant for several reasons. First, it dramatically lowers the barrier to entry for WhatsApp calling on work machines. In many corporate environments, employees cannot install unauthorized software on their computers. IT departments maintain strict application whitelists, and personal communication tools like WhatsApp’s desktop client often don’t make the cut. A browser-based solution sidesteps that restriction entirely. If a worker can access a web browser—and virtually all can—they can now make encrypted WhatsApp calls from their office workstation.

This has particular resonance in markets where WhatsApp is not merely a consumer messaging app but a de facto business communication tool. Across Latin America, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and parts of Africa and Europe, WhatsApp serves as the primary channel for customer service interactions, vendor negotiations, and internal team coordination for millions of small and medium-sized businesses. The ability to call directly from a browser tab, without switching devices or installing software, removes a friction point that has long made WhatsApp’s calling feature less accessible than its messaging counterpart in professional settings.

Meta’s Incremental Encroachment on Enterprise Territory

Meta has been methodical in expanding WhatsApp’s utility beyond peer-to-peer messaging. The WhatsApp Business API, launched several years ago, already enables large enterprises to automate customer interactions at scale. WhatsApp Channels, introduced in 2023, added a broadcast capability. And WhatsApp Business, the standalone app for small business owners, has steadily accumulated features like product catalogs, automated replies, and payment integration in select markets.

Browser-based calling fits neatly into this trajectory. While Meta has not explicitly positioned the feature as an enterprise play, the practical effect is to make WhatsApp a more complete communication suite—one that can handle text, voice, video, and file sharing across mobile, desktop application, and now browser environments. That begins to encroach on territory long dominated by dedicated platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet, particularly in the small business segment where WhatsApp already enjoys deep penetration and where the cost and complexity of enterprise communication suites can be prohibitive.

The Technical Underpinnings: WebRTC and the Browser as Platform

The enabling technology here is WebRTC, the open standard that allows browsers to handle real-time audio and video communication without plugins or external software. WebRTC has been supported by all major browsers for years and underpins calling features in Google Meet, Facebook Messenger’s web client, and numerous telehealth and customer service platforms. WhatsApp’s adoption of WebRTC for its web client is technically unremarkable but strategically important—it aligns the platform with an industry-wide shift toward treating the browser as a full-fledged application platform rather than a mere document viewer.

This shift has been accelerating across the technology sector. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), browser-based IDEs like GitHub Codespaces, and cloud gaming services all reflect the same underlying trend: the browser is becoming the universal runtime environment. WhatsApp’s move to bring calling into its web client is another data point in this broader evolution, and it suggests that Meta sees the browser as a critical distribution channel for WhatsApp’s feature set—one that complements rather than replaces native mobile and desktop applications.

Privacy and Security Considerations

WhatsApp has confirmed that calls made through the web client maintain the same end-to-end encryption that protects calls made through the mobile and desktop apps. This is a non-trivial technical achievement, as implementing robust encryption in a browser environment introduces additional complexity compared to native applications. The Signal Protocol, which underpins WhatsApp’s encryption, must operate within the constraints of the browser’s JavaScript engine and WebRTC stack, and Meta’s engineers have evidently resolved the associated challenges.

However, security researchers have noted that browser-based communication inherently introduces certain risks that native applications can more easily mitigate. Browser extensions, for instance, can potentially intercept or monitor web traffic in ways that are difficult for end users to detect. The browser’s permission model for microphone and camera access, while robust, is also subject to social engineering attacks. Users who adopt WhatsApp Web calling should ensure they are using up-to-date browsers, have reviewed their installed extensions, and understand the permission prompts they are accepting.

Competitive Dynamics and the Messaging Wars

The timing of WhatsApp’s web calling rollout is notable in the context of intensifying competition among messaging platforms. Telegram has been aggressively expanding its feature set, including group video calls and screen sharing. Signal, the privacy-focused messaging app, has offered desktop calling for some time. Apple’s iMessage ecosystem, while limited to Apple devices, continues to deepen its integration with FaceTime. And Google has been iterating on its messaging strategy, with RCS adoption gaining momentum following Apple’s decision to support the standard in iOS 18.

WhatsApp’s advantage remains its sheer scale—over two billion users worldwide, according to Meta’s most recent disclosures. But scale alone does not guarantee engagement, particularly as users increasingly expect feature parity across platforms and form factors. By bringing calling to the web client, WhatsApp closes a gap that competitors had already addressed, ensuring that its users have fewer reasons to switch to alternative platforms for any particular communication need.

What Comes Next for WhatsApp Web

The current implementation is limited to one-on-one calls, which leaves significant room for expansion. Group audio and video calling on the web client would be the logical next step, and Meta has historically followed a pattern of testing features in limited contexts before broadening their availability. Screen sharing, another feature available in the desktop application, has not yet appeared in the web client but would substantially enhance WhatsApp Web’s utility for professional use cases.

There is also the question of whether Meta will eventually introduce a full-fledged Progressive Web App for WhatsApp, which could offer offline capabilities, push notifications without requiring an open browser tab, and a more app-like experience on desktop and laptop computers. Such a move would further blur the line between native and web-based applications and could position WhatsApp as a serious lightweight alternative to heavier enterprise communication platforms.

For now, the addition of browser-based calling is a measured but meaningful step. It reflects Meta’s understanding that WhatsApp’s value proposition depends not just on the size of its user base but on the breadth and accessibility of its feature set across every device and platform where its users live and work. In a world where the browser is increasingly the default interface for digital life, WhatsApp’s decision to meet users there—with full calling capabilities and end-to-end encryption intact—is less a convenience upgrade than a strategic imperative.