The best video chat apps for whispering sweet nothings to one person or performing in front of 99 others
As more people work, learn and play from home during this COVID-19 pandemic, demand for web meeting apps has also skyrocketed.
If you’re in an organisation, the video conferencing app or service you use is probably already decided and paid for. Depending on the number of users and the extra features needed (e.g. automatic transcriptions, call-ins), the fees can be substantial for a large company.
But if you just want to check in with a few colleagues or keep in touch with family and friends, there’s no shortage of good and free video chat apps around. Here are nine you can try.
Zoom
Zoom has an enterprise option that lets you to connect with up to 500 participants but its free Basic tier’s 100-pax limit is more than enough for most people. That coupled with its ease of use (e.g. you don’t need an account if you only join meetings) and high-quality HD video explain Zoom’s meteoric rise with consumers during this pandemic.
For a free service, Zoom Basic offers a lot of features, including saving your meeting recordings locally on a PC in video, audio and text formats and easy screen sharing on both desktop and mobile clients. It works on Windows, macOS, Android, iOS and even Linux.
The most obvious limitation of this free tier is that each group meeting can only last 40 minutes. So while 1-to-1 meetings are unlimited, once you’ve three parties in the chat, it becomes a group meeting and has to adhere to the 40-min cap.
Zoom has also done a good job addressing some early security and privacy concerns — especially the problem of Zoom-bombing. For instance, Basic accounts now require a password for all meetings, even those using Personal Meeting IDs; and waiting rooms are now turned on by default. Support for true end-to-end encryption is expected to arrive soon, too, though this is likely to be a paid feature.
Find out more about Zoom here.
Google Meet
Google Meet used to be the search giant’s premium video conferencing product that’s bundled with a G Suite subscription, but it’s now free for everyone — including free Gmail users. To start a meeting, just go to meet.google.com in any modern desktop browser or open up the Google Meet mobile app that’s available for iOS and Android and sign in with your Google account.
Like Zoom, a free Meet account lets you to create or join a meeting. Additionally, you can do simple scheduling and screen sharing, get real-time English captions and collaborate with others over Google’s productivity apps such as Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Forms.
But take note: meetings are capped to 60 minutes, though Google won’t enforce it until after Sep 30. For now, each meeting can last up to 24 hours and you can have up to 100 participants. To save meeting recordings to Google Drive, you need an G Suite Enterprise Essentials subscription, though.
Google is also keen to point out that Meet’s video meetings are secure. Even for non-subscribers, videos are encrypted in transit and at rest. Also, to minimise attack vectors, Meet doesn’t use browser plugins, meeting codes are complex by default and anonymous users aren’t allowed.
Find out more about Google Meet here.
Microsoft Skype
While Skype was originally designed for VoIP calls, it has since evolved into a capable instant messaging and video conferencing tool. As always, Skype-to-Skype calls are free, but if you need to call a landline or mobile phone number, you need to buy Skype credits or subscribe to a plan.
Skype also works on a ton of platforms: Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Xbox and even Amazon Alexa devices. You can host a video or an audio conference with up to 50 participants and use screen sharing to project your presentations. It supports file sharing, meeting recordings (stored for 30 days), live captions and subtitles and even background blurring.
The latest addition to Skype is Meet Now, which lets you invite anyone even when they don’t have a Skype or Microsoft account. They don’t even need to download the app: when they click on a Meet Now link, the Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome browser should automatically open and bring them to the Skype web client.
And here’s a protip: while a Skype video call has a 50-participant cap, each call can last up to four hours, which is longer than both Zoom’s and Google Meet’s basic plans. But there’s a fair use limit of 100 hours per month with no more than 10 hours per day. So do your sums.
Find out more about Skype here.
Apple Group FaceTime
If your colleagues, friends and family all use Apple devices, then FaceTime is an easy recommendation. For one, the FaceTime app is pre-installed on all current iPhones, iPads and Mac portables. It also works with your phone number or Apple ID, either of which is likely to be already configured on the device.
A proprietary videotelephony solution Apple introduced nearly 10 years ago with the iPhone 4, FaceTime has gained many features over the years. The most relevant one for this current WFH movement is Group FaceTime, which lets you add up to 32 people to a conversation.
Initiating a FaceTime call is as simple as entering the other party’s phone number or email address and tapping on the video or audio call button. You can also join a call started by another person from the Messages app or through the notification that pops up on your lock screen or Notification Centre. And yes, all FaceTime calls are end-to-end encrypted.
FaceTime can also be a lot of fun as it lets you add filters, labels and shapes, as well as Animoji and Memoji effects. In a group chat, the tile of the person speaking will grow larger automatically but this animation can be jarring on a phone screen. Thankfully, the new iOS 13.5 update has an option to disable this dynamic tile resizing.
Find out more about Group FaceTime here.
Facebook Messenger Rooms
If there’s an opportunity to connect people, you can count on Facebook being there. The newest entrant in this multi-party video chat space, Messenger Rooms is built right into the Facebook and Messenger apps but also accessible through browsers such as Chrome. It’s also coming soon to Instagram, WhatsApp and Portal.
The appeal of Messenger Rooms is that there’s no time limit for calls and each chat room can hold up to 50 people. The most obvious way to create a room is through your News Feed, but you can also do it in Groups and Events. And while you’ve to sign in to Facebook to create a room and share it, the people you invite don’t have to be Facebook users and can simply join as guests.
To be clear, Facebook isn’t pitching Messenger Rooms as a business video conferencing tool, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it as such — especially when it supports features like screen sharing. On the mobile apps, you also have access to spiffy camera filters, immersive 360-degree backgrounds and AI-powered mood lighting.
Regarding privacy, while Facebook promises not to watch or listen in to your calls, Messenger Rooms calls aren’t end-to-end encrypted. More importantly, as a user, you should take time to vet who can join your room. You can read Facebook’s detailed explainer here.
Find out more about Messenger Rooms here.
Jitsi Meet
If you’re one of those who don’t feel comfortable using video chat products made by big tech firms, take a look at Jitsi Meet, which prides itself for being a secure and fully featured open-source video conferencing tool. It’s free to use and you can even deploy it on your own hardware.
Jitsi Meet doesn’t use accounts at all. To start a meeting, just head over to meet.jit.si, enter a unique meeting name and hit the Go button. Jitsi Meet works on most modern browsers, but it also has mobile apps on the Apple App Store, Google Play Store and F-Droid (a repository that contains free and open-source Android apps).
Using Jitsi Meet is super simple. There’s a meeting link to send to other participants and there’s a password field that you should definitely set to prevent randoms from gatecrashing the meeting. There are also controls that let you toggle tile view, start a screen recording or share a YouTube video and blur your background. Currently, the maximum number of participants a meeting allows is 75.
Finally, 1-to-1 Jitsi Meet calls are already end-to-end encrypted, but not so for calls that involve more people. The good news is that the Jitsi team has been working on end-to-end encryption for all calls for some time now and is making good progress.
Find out more about Jitsi Meet here.
Houseparty
If you play Fortnite, you probably have heard of Houseparty, the video chat platform that Epic Games acquired in June last year. Really, if you just want to connect with friends and have some fun, this is the ‘party’ to drop by.
Houseparty has dedicated apps for iOS, Android, Windows and macOS; if you live in Chrome, you can also use its Chrome extension. During the sign-up process (it doesn’t use your Epic account) that’s best done on a phone, you’ll need to provide details such as your email, name, birthday and phone number (for verification). The app will also ask to access your phone contacts and Facebook friends so that it can find other Houseparty users to let you add them as friends.
A Houseparty chat isn’t really meant to be an organised event. Instead, open the app anytime you’re bored and look for friends who are also online to start a chat. You can also jump into an existing conversation that doesn’t involve you, provided the room isn’t locked. While each room can only hold up to eight people, many parties can happen at the same time — so feel free to party hop. Oh, did I say that you can attend parties hosted by celebrities, too?
There will be moments when you run out of things to talk to your friends. If you’re on mobile, the gang can continue the fun with Houseparty’s built-in games such as Heads Up!, Trivia, Quick Draw and Chips and Guac. Sweet!
Find out more about Houseparty here.
WhatsApp and Google Duo
To end this list, we’ve Facebook’s WhatsApp and Google’s Duo, which (in my opinion) are better for staying in touch with friends and family than for conducting virtual business meeting marathons.
WhatsApp has long offered a group video calling function but Facebook has recently bumped up the per-call user limit from four to eight people. And since it’s cross-platform, both iOS and Android users can use it. Security-conscious folks will also be glad to know that WhatsApp calls are end-to-end encrypted.
Another cross-platform alternative is Google Duo, which supports up to 12 participants per call. The nice thing about Duo is that it also works on desktops through the web browser as well as on smart displays such as Google’s Nest Hub Max. Like WhatsApp and FaceTime, Duo uses end-to-end encryption so only those in the chat can see the call.
Find out more about WhatsApp here and Google Duo here.
