Unbeknownst to many, a forked version of the software has been amassing a sizable user population over the past couple of years. Mozilla’s Firefox OS may not have been able to compete with Android in the low-cost smartphone sweepstakes, but it has nonetheless gained significant user-bases. The Firefox OS-based operating system, known as KaiOS, is what drives budget feature phones like the Jio Phone and the Nokia 8110. After Android and iOS, it is the third-largest mobile platform in the world with a combined user base of over 100 million.
While KaiOS certainly has less apps than the other two smartphone platforms, it already offers a number of well-known social media apps in particular. KaiOS is essentially a browser with HTML5 and Javascript, similar to ChromeOS. Therefore, KaiOS apps are typically just locally downloadable versions of mobile webpages. On KaiOS devices, HTML5 applications for services like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp are already pre-installed.
Naturally, JioPhone customers demanded WhatsApp the most, and it was finally released on the platform in June 2019. However, the programme still lacks some of the fundamental capabilities that users of Android and iOS take for granted, such as voice calling and WhatsApp Web. Joe Grinstead, the main software engineer for WhatsApp on KaiOS, laments that it is impossible to predict when either function would be accessible on the platform.
However, WhatsApp will soon make its Status feature available for KaiOS devices. Grinstead stated that the Status feature is atGold Masteron KaiOS, which means that it is prepared to launch, in an interview with Harish Jonnalagadda of Android Central. In addition, Grinstead mentioned that his group is preparing to add more capabilities to the platform during the ensuing months.
