WhatsApp has been rumoured to be working on an alternate verification method to authenticate users’ accounts on its platform. Now, WABetaInfo has confirmed that the Meta-owned instant messaging app is now rolling out the Flash calls feature on Android version of the app.

Flash calls are supposed to make WhatsApp users’ life easier and the process faster at the time of logging into the account.

So, the question here is what is Flash Calls and how it will help make the verification process faster on WhatsApp. Let us explain:

What are Flash Calls and how it works
Flash Calls is WhatsApp’s new automatic authentication process that allows users to log into their WhatsApp account without manually entering the six-digit OTP received via SMS or call.

The process is almost automatic and the verification process is also almost instantaneous. Until now, WhatsApp used to send a six-digit code via SMS or via call after entering the phone number at the setup screen.

With the new Flash calls verification method, neither WhatsApp will send the verification code nor users will need to enter it. As a part of the feature, WhatsApp users will receive a short call sort of a missed call from WhatsApp and using that WhatsApp will authenticate the users’ account and allow them to log in almost immediately.

Basically, users will receive a call from WhatsApp and then the call will automatically get disconnected. It is important to note that the missed call notification will be there in the call history.

Things you’ll need to make this feature work
Usually, we give WhatsApp a lot of permissions such as location, call and SMS access, storage access, etc. For the Flash calls verification feature to work, users will also need to provide access to their call log. So that WhatsApp can verify your phone number and let you log into the account.

Why only the Android version of WhatsApp is getting this new feature?
As per the reports, the Flash Calls feature will be available only on the Android version of the app. That’s not because WhatsApp has decided to offer the feature only on Android, it’s because Apple does not allow public API for apps on iOS which limit apps’ ability to access call log on the iPhone.

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NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday asked the edible oil manufacturing and marketing companies to immediately reduce the maximum retail price (MRP) of imported cooking oils – palm, sunflower and soyabean – by up to Rs 10-12 per litre. The government told the companies that the change in prices should start reflecting within a week considering the recent reduction in international prices due to their increased availability.
India meets nearly 60% of its edible oil demand from imports and hence the fluctuation in international prices have direct bearing on the domestic market. Officials said the representatives of all major companies have agreed to reduce prices and comply with the Centre’s advice in the next one week.
This will bring some additional relief to consumers. In the past one month, there has been a marginal decline in the prices of all major edible oils, except for groundnut and vanaspati. “The prices have dropped also because of the measures that the government has taken in the past few months. They can’t be allowed to keep selling at earlier rates when the international prices have fallen,” said a source who attended the meeting chaired by Union food secretary Sudhanshu Pandey.
The government, in the meeting, cited how global prices have declined in the past one week. It also asked them to ensure uniformity of MRP for the same brand of oil across the country. Currently, the difference in MRPs of the same brand of oil in different regions is around Rs 3-5 per litre.
The ministry also raised the issue of rising consumer complaints against edible oil brands with regard to the unfair trade practices. News agency PTI quoted Pandey stating that some companies are have packaging that claims that edible oil is packed at 15 degrees celsius. The secretary said ideally, they should pack at 30 degrees celsius. By packing at 15 degrees celsius the oil expands and weight gets reduced. But the reduced weight is not printed on the package, which is an unfair trade practice. “For instance, the companies are printing stating that edible of 910 gram is packed at 15 degrees celsius, but the actual weight would be less at 900 gram,” he said.

MI5 director general Ken McCallum, left, and FBI director Christopher Wray attend a joint press conference at MI5 headquarters, in central London.

LONDON: The heads of MI5 and the Federal Bureau of Investigation warned Wednesday about China’s commercial espionage thrust in the West, in a rare joint address at the British intelligence service’s London headquarters.
Speaking to an audience of officials and business executives in Thames House, MI5 director general Ken McCallum and FBI director Chris Wray said the threat from Chinese spies is paramount in both countries and only continues to grow.
McCallum said MI5, the British domestic intelligence service, had sharply expanded its China-focused operations.
“Today we’re running seven times as many investigations as we were in 2018,” he said.
“We plan to grow as much again, while also maintaining significant effort against Russian and Iranian covert threats.”
He said Chinese intelligence takes a slow and patient approach to developing sources and gaining access to information, and few of those targeted recognised themselves as such.
“Hostile activity is happening on UK soil right now,” he said.
“By volume, most of what is at risk from Chinese Communist Party aggression is not, so to speak, my stuff. It’s yours — the world-leading expertise, technology, research and commercial advantage developed and held by people in this room, and others like you.”
Wray said China’s threat was a “complex, enduring and pervasive danger” to both the United States and Britain, as well as other allies.
China is “set on stealing your technology, whatever it is that makes your industry tick, and using it to undercut your business and dominate your market,” he added.
The two also warned that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, which Beijing views as its territory, would cause a massive disruption to global commerce and industry.
They urged businesses to stay alert and report possible threats.
“The Chinese Communist Party is interested in our democratic, media and legal systems. Not to emulate them, sadly, but to use them for its gain,” said McCallum.
Beijing rejected the accusations, describing them as “completely groundless”.
“The so-called cases they listed are pure shadow chasing,” the spokesperson of the Chinese embassy in Britain said in a statement posted on the mission’s website.
“They spread all kinds of lies about China in order to smear China’s political system, stoke anti-China and exclusion sentiment, and divert public attention in order to cover up their own infamous deeds.”