Reliance JioPhone likely to get WhatsApp soon

Reliance had announced the launch of 4G and VoLTE-enabled JioPhone on July 21 last year, available free of cost with a deposit money of Rs 1,500.

Reliance had announced the launch of 4G and VoLTE-enabled JioPhone on July 21 last year, available free of cost with a deposit money of Rs 1,500. Photo: Reliance Jio

NEW DELHI: Reliance had announced the launch of 4G and VoLTE-enabled JioPhone on July 21 last year, available free of cost with a deposit money of Rs 1,500. Aimed at over 50 crore feature phone users, the 2.4 inch device has 2MP rear camera and houses 2000mAh battery. The JioPhone has a single Nano-SIM slot and a microSD card slot. According to industry sources, Jio carries more than 100 crore GB data per month. With 27 per cent market share (by shipment), Reliance JioPhone has become the leading feature phone brand in the country in the fourth quarter last year. Now Reliance JioPhones, which run on KaiOS, a Linux-based light mobile Operating System (OS), may soon get WhatsApp. According to Wabetainfo.com, a fan site that tests new WhatsApp features early, as of February 2018 KaiOS Technologies have acquired many new partners, including Facebook that also owns the popular messaging platform. "After stopping support for BlackBerry OS and Windows Phone 8, the Facebook-owned messaging platform is focusing to develop the app for this platform, providing an app for JioPhones," the website said late on Wednesday. "We remember WhatsApp will stop to support Nokia S40 on next December 31, leaving the Symbian platform, but KaiOS will be supported instead," the website added. KaiOS combines the powerful capabilities of a smartphone with the affordability of a basic handset. "The highly-coveted social media app has made its way to KaiOS-powered feature phones. This partnership supports access to Facebook via a native KaiOS app, thus allowing more users to connect with their friends and families," KaiOS wrote in a blog post last month. The OS originates from the Firefox OS open-source project started in 2011 and has continued independently from Mozilla since 2016. KaiOS was first launched publicly in the US market in 2017. The mobile OS supports 4G/LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS and is compatible with chipsets from major manufacturers.