The 5 Best Apps For Video Calling | Time

The 5 Best Apps For Video Calling

The future is here: Using your smartphone or tablet, you can place a video call to someone, just like on The Jetsons. Virtually all mobile devices now have front-facing cameras, as do most laptops. So video calling is both easy to use and pretty much everywhere.

To make or receive a video call, you need an app — either one that comes with your phone or one you download separately. But what apps should you use to place those calls? If you and the person you want to engage each have an iPhone or iPad, you can rely on Apple’s FaceTime for video calls. Just open the FaceTime app and tap on the name of the person you want to call, or tap on the name of someone in your Contacts list and tap on the video icon. Android has no built-in equivalent, but supports a variety of video calling apps.

What should you do if you want to cross the signals, say video calling Apple to Android, Mac to Windows or mobile to computer? Let’s check out some of the best apps that work no matter what device you own.

Skype

If you and the person on the other end both have Skype (one of the industry’s longest running messaging apps, currently owned by Microsoft), presto, you can call each other for a video chat. iPhone and iPad users can snag the Skype app from Apple’s App Store, while Android users can grab it from Google Play.

Skype-to-Skype calls are free, as is the software itself. Just fire up the program, find the person you want to call, and tap on the video call button. The bonus here is that you can make or receive a call on your mobile device as well as on a Mac or Windows computer using the Skype software.

Facebook Messenger

If you’re one of the 2 billion people who use Facebook, you should have the Facebook Messenger app. If not, download it from Apple’s App Store or Google Play. Messenger started life as a texting app but now supports video calls.

To kick off a call in Messenger, tap on the name of a friend, then tap on the video call icon to connect. Messenger video calls work on your computer as well. Just surf to the Facebook website in your favorite browser. If you don’t see your list of Facebook contacts on the right, click on the Options icon in the lower right corner to display it. Click on the name of a contact you want to call, then in the chat window, click on the camera icon to place the video call. You can receive Messenger video calls on your mobile device, or through a computer running Firefox, Google Chrome or Opera.

Google Duo

Here’s another cool calling app that works on Apple and Android devices. With Google Duo installed for both you and the person on the other end, you can make and receive both audio and video calls for free. The only downside: the app is relatively new, so you may not find a lot of your contacts using it yet. But if you like the interface, you can always coax them onboard.

Launch the app on your mobile device, then tap on the New Call or Contacts button. You’ll see the names of any contacts who have the app. You can alternately invite other contacts to download and install Duo. Just tap on the name of a person with Duo and you’re immediately connected via video. As an added treat, a feature dubbed Knock Knock lets you see who’s calling before you answer.

WhatsApp Messenger

Another free messaging app for iPhones, iPads, and Android devices, WhatsApp lets you text someone, make a voice call, or place a video call. After you launch the app, tap on the Calls icon at the bottom and then tap on the Contacts icon in the upper right. You’ll see a list of contacts who already have WhatsApp installed and are ready and waiting for you to call them. Tap on the video camera icon and your video call starts immediately. WhatsApp also supports Windows and Macs, so you can use the software to send and receive video calls through your computer.

Amazon Alexa

Do you have an Amazon Echo smart speaker? Then you can make and receive video calls through Amazon’s Alexa app. You don’t need an Echo Show with its display screen, you can just use your mobile phone instead. You should already have the Alexa app as it’s needed to set up your Echo. If not, download it from Apple’s App Store or Google Play.

Fire up Alexa on your iPhone or Android phone. Tap on the Conversations icon and then tap on the Contacts icon at the top. You’ll see the names of contacts who use and have registered with the Alexa app. Tap on the contact you want to call and then tap on the camera icon to place a video call. The call is routed to the person’s Echo device and to the Alexa app, where you can see each other.

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Readmore : Android video chat applications

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Source: time.com

Best Video Calling Apps: Skype, FaceTime, Facebook Messenger, and More

Skype, FaceTime, Facebook Messenger, and More

Image: Amazon

We now have the technology—and the broadband and cellular speed—to see each other when we want to chat. And when it comes to video-calling apps, you’ve got a plethora of options to pick from on phones, laptops, and even TVs. Here are the ones we like the most, ranked.

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1) Microsoft Skype

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  Available on: web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Xbox, Alexa


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  Pro: Apps for just about everyone


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  Con: Some interface annoyances remain


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  Best for: Just about anyone who needs to make video calls

Image: Microsoft

Skype has its annoyances, sure—but considering it’s available on just about every platform out there, is (usually) stable and reliable, and comes with extras like screen-sharing and instant messaging, it stands as our number one choice at the moment. If you throw a bit of money Microsoft’s way, you can even call landlines and cellphones with the app.

With video calling, you can chat with up to 50 different people at once (not that you’d ever want to), and you can make use of an Echo Show or an Xbox if you don’t have a phone or laptop at hand. You get a few cool extra features as well, such as the ability to blur the background behind a speaker (in case your home office is particularly messy).

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2) Apple FaceTime

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  Available on: macOS, iOS


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  Pros: Seamlessly integrated into Apple devices


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  Cons: No love for non-Apple devices


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  Best for: People who only use Apple devices and only associate with people who use Apple devices

Image: Apple

FaceTime is slick, reliable, and easy to use... and it’s also exclusive to Apple devices, which means we can’t put it in the first-place spot. What if your grandparents use Android or your boss uses Windows? Apart from the lack of support for any hardware that isn’t made by Apple, FaceTime is everything you could want from a video calling app.

Group FaceTime is now live as well, of course, which means you can get busy chatting to up to 32 people in the same chat, should you want to subject yourself to that particular kind of nightmare. Apple has thrown in some quirky filters and Memoji stickers, too. And while it might not have some of the ‘power’ features of Skype, the way that it’s built right into iOS and macOS makes it the obvious choice if you’re using Apple hardware.

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3) Google Duo

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  Available on: web, Android, iOS, Google Nest


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  Pros: A breeze to use


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  Cons: Not packed with features


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  Best for: Those heavily invested in the Google ecosystem

Image: Google

Google doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to social and communication apps, so it’s perhaps something of a surprise that Duo is so good—not necessarily in terms of the number of features it offers, but in how simple it is to use and how reliable the video feed usually is. (No doubt Google’s famous algorithms are at work in the background here).

Alongside Skype, it’s also one of the few video calling apps you can use inside a web browser, making it a good choice for Chromebooks and on computers where you don’t want to install any extra software. Group video chats only support a maximum of eight people, but you can leave video messages and see a video preview before you pick up a call.

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4) Signal Messenger

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  Available on: Android, iOS


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  Pros: Privacy and encryption


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  Cons: Rather basic functionality


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  Best for: Keeping eavesdroppers out

Image: Signal

Signal doesn’t have the polish of some of the other video calling apps here, but its priority is privacy and security, and we like that a lot (take note, Facebook). Video calls are fully encrypted, as you would expect from Signal, and the interface is basic but effective. Video calls are only available on mobile, though—not in Signal’s desktop apps.

As mentioned, only the very basics are available, which fits in with Signal’s minimalist approach overall—you can see a video feed of the person you’re talking to, and that’s about it. Signal doesn’t support group video chats, and there are no fancy filters. But for the privacy-conscious, it’s just about the best video calling app option out there.

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5) Facebook Messenger

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  Available on: web, Android, iOS, Portal


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  Pros: Fits in with your social graph


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  Cons: It’s Facebook


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  Best for: Not having to install any new apps

Image: Facebook

If you’re actually happy installing a camera made by Facebook in your living room, then the Portal device is a neat way of turning your TV into a Facebook Messenger video calling device—it’ll even follow you around the room automatically. Which isn’t creepy at all! The Messenger app is available for Android and iOS, too, and it runs through the web if you need it to.

Privacy worries aside, we’ve put Facebook in the middle of our rankings because chances are, a lot of your acquaintances are on the network and have the app installed—for launching a quick and easy video call, that makes a difference. A whopping 50 people can get involved in the same video chat, in case you want to have a virtual family reunion.

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6) WhatsApp Messenger

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  Available on: Android, iOS, Portal


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  Pros: Solid, reliable calling


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  Cons: It’s owned by Facebook


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  Best for: When all your friends are on WhatsApp

Image: WhatsApp

WhatsApp is similar to Facebook Messenger in a lot of ways—you can use it through Portal devices, for example—but it has the downside of being owned and run by Facebook and all that that entails. You can’t access video calling on the web, so it’s a no-go for Chromebooks and browsers, and that puts it slightly below Facebook Messenger in our overall rankings.

In terms of the actual video calling, WhatsApp is a robust and reliable option. And if you’re already using the app to chat to all of your friends through the day, then sliding into video chats is easy enough. Group video chats can feature up to four other people, and there are a multitude of ways to launch calls from inside the app, which we like.

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7) Amazon Alexa

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  Available on: Amazon Echo Show, Amazon Fire tablets, Android, iOS


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  Pros: It just works, and you can use it without a phone


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  Cons: You and your friends need to opt into Alexa calling


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  Best for: If you live your life through Alexa

Image: Amazon

Amazon Alexa calling is likely only going to appeal to a small-ish subset of people—primarily those with an Amazon Echo Show or Amazon Fire tablet at home, though the feature can work through the Alexa mobile apps as well. For those of you whose digital lives are Amazon-centric, however, this is actually a decent video calling option. It’s certainly easy to set up and manage, and we found it reliable.

Ideally, you’re going to have an Echo Show and the person you’re calling is going to have an Echo Show, because the Alexa app experience isn’t as good as some of the other apps here. You can even drop in unannounced on family and friends, if they’ve given prior permission for you to do so. Why would anyone do that? No clue—it seems a bit scary to us, but you and your family might be that kind of maniac.

Readmore : Apps for Video Chat on Android

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Source: gizmodo.com

How to Videochat Between an iPhone and an Android Smartphone - Consumer Reports

How to Videochat Between an iPhone and an Android Smartphone

FaceTime: Apple’s well-known videochat app launched in 2010, but until just a few weeks ago, it worked only on the company’s own devices. Now hosts with the latest version of iOS or macOS can send a link to Android users inviting them to join a FaceTime video call. Android users can’t initiate a FaceTime call, however.

Google Duo: This app comes standard on most Android phones, but it’s also available in Apple’s app store. It can be downloaded onto a phone, a tablet, a computer (including via web browser), or even a smart speaker with a display, like the Google Nest Hub Max. Less business-focused than Skype, Google Duo lets you chat with up to eight people. If the person you’re calling doesn’t pick up, you can leave a quick video message.

Instagram/Messenger/WhatsApp: Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, owns all three of these popular apps, and all three support cross-platform video calls. As noted above, Instagram has yet to offer end-to-end encryption for those calls, but the other two apps do provide it. Meta is also in the process of “upgrading” Messenger so that you can make and receive video calls between Messenger and Instagram, though you have to opt in to that option first.

Signal: The messaging app Signal, which runs on most major platforms (including Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows) is frequently recommended by privacy and security experts, thanks to its strong encryption. In addition to text and audio calls, it also offers video calls, and in late 2020, it even added support for group video calls.

Skype: Skype can be downloaded to smartphones, tablets, and computers. It’s Alexa-compatible and can be accessed via web browser and even on an Xbox gaming console. If you use the app for work, it has features that allow you to host up to 50 people, share what’s on your screen, and record the proceedings. It also offers live captioning, a nice extra for multitaskers and the hearing-impaired.

Readmore : Android video chat applications

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Source: www.consumerreports.org

10 Best Voice Chat Apps for Online Gamers

Online games like Fortnite, PUBG, and World of Warcraft involve real-time communication between players. A reliable voice chat app with the right functionality will improve your gaming experience. It’s easier to coordinate with teammates and fun to chat casually while loading screens. There are so many apps to choose from!

This article will go through the best voice chat apps that satisfy the online gamer’s requirements. You might find a couple of surprising options you never considered before.

Discord is currently the most popular cross-platform VoIP app among gamers, as it was designed primarily as a chat service for the gaming community. It offers its users voice chat, video calls, and text group chats. Discord has built-in DDoS and IP protection, which will make your conversations secure. It also supports using different voice changers that will allow you to mask your voice.

Discord is a free app, but if you pay Discord Nitro for $9.99/month or 99.99/year, a new set of features will open for you. Among them are unlimited file size sharing, screen sharing, streaming, and custom-made emojis.

Discord is available through a web browser, so you won’t have to download the app directly to your computer. But this voice chat service is also available to Windows, Linux, and macOS users as a downloadable app. If you prefer to use your smartphone, Android and iOS support this app too. Perhaps this diversity is what made Discord so popular outside of the gaming community and why it’s now used by teachers, corporations, and other professionals and non-professionals.

As a Discord user, you can host a server or join hundreds of other servers, depending on your interests. As a server owner, you will be able to control who can join, who can post messages or read them, and who can publish server information outside of it. You can set member roles targeting each specific individual and give them different permission levels. Discord also supports the use of bots to control a server. Their roles vary, from greeting new members to playing music on demand.

Another VoIP app available on different operating systems and platforms is Mumble. This open-source platform is considered one of the top chat services for gamers. This app uses end-to-end encryption to protect the data across all the servers. It can simultaneously hold over 100 voice participants and is optimized for low-latency communication.

This voice chat software will allow you to play positional audio over several games, and the administrators will have permission to manage various features such as hosting and deciding who gets to use the server. However, using Mumble on mobile phones can be challenging, and most users prefer third-party apps such as Plumble or Mumblefy.

Mumble is an efficient choice for gamers. However, while it may be free as a client app, if you want to host a server of your own you will have to pay $7.50/month for a server version. It’s mainly a voice chat platform, but also supports text messages.

TeamSpeak 3 is one of the oldest and best voice chat apps for gamers. It uses the Opus Codec for high-quality Voice over Internet Protocol and AES encryption for additional security. But that’s not why this app is so popular. Most gamers prefer it because it’s designed to give powerful administrative control to its users so they can manage their servers how they like.

TeamSpeak limits the number of users per server to 32, but with a non-commercial license, you can increase this number to 512. It also supports quick file transfer, different sound packages, and game overlay. TeamSpeak 3 has a very simplistic and user-friendly layout, although the design is a bit outdated. Unfortunately, there are no video chat options as its main focus is on providing high sound quality. But that is precisely why this app has very faithful users.

Blizzard has its own voice chat that quickly became popular among gamers because it has a very stable and high-quality connection. The app is free, and you can use it on your Windows or Mac OC, as long as you have the Battle.net app.

There is no limit on the users, and you can add different effects to the voice chat through Blizzard’s app. Because this is an integrated voice chat system, it is very easy to connect with your online friends and coordinate the game. Switching through different Blizzard games while staying on the same voice chat is easy.

The downside of Blizzard Voice Chat is that it was designed only for Blizzard games, and you can join only one game chat channel at a time. But this shouldn’t be a problem if you are a fan of games such as Overwatch or World of Warcraft, and you must maintain voice communication with your in-game teammates.

Most PC gamers already have a Steam account, and a Steam client installed and constantly running in the background; they prefer to use its integrated text and voice chat system. SteamChat lets you connect with your friends through shareable URLs that you can click and join the group chat. Chat administrators set the roles for the group members and allow or don’t allow the invitation of new members, manage group information, and manage content sharing.

Aside from text, you can send other media through SteamChat, such as GIFs and audio clips. The coverage of SteamChat and the Steam platform is global with servers worldwide. This makes communication with distant friends crystal clear and connectivity very good.

SteamChat can also be used in a browser or mobile phone app, and is entirely free. It will allow you to make chat groups for your friends according to the games you play together.

Google Hangouts is a voice call platform designed for sophisticated video conferences of business corporations. And although this is how Google Hangouts is mostly used, many gamers use it to chat while playing together simply because of its high voice quality.

Many people have a Google account, which is all it takes. You can start the chat from your email page or directly from the browser. Google Hangouts allows you to make high-quality video calls with up to 10 other users. There is no need to use push to talk or mute your microphone. Google will detect the main speaker at the time and give that user a priority.

You can even share your screen through Google Hangouts, while the audio chat will remain unbroken. You can stream your gameplay through a Google+ profile or a YouTube link. All live meetings will be saved as Youtube videos and you can either share them with your friends and audience or keep them for personal use.

Old gamers will remember that they used to use Skype to talk to their friends while playing games. Since then, Skype has lost popularity among the gaming community. But it remains a viable option, especially if you need to make video and voice calls or share files and your screen with your team members.

The good thing is that many people with whom you may be trying to connect already have skype. If your friends are new to gaming but they are familiar with this chat application, there is no reason why you shouldn’t use it. You can opt to make a group chat with your friends, but keep in mind Skype allows only up to 10 people in one group session.

Element is becoming more and more popular, especially among gamers. It’s all in its open source state-of-the-art design and the fact that this is a free voice and video conferencing app. All calls and chats made through this software will receive end-to-end encryption making your conversations and file sharing secure.

Element is created with open standard communication protocol Matrix. This protocol makes Element integrated with Facebook, WhatsApp, bots, and various other services Matrix has to offer. File sharing is effortless with Element. This platform provides different file management tools to keep everything in order. There is even a notification system that you can set to remind you about things that matter the most to you and your gaming team.

Designed for companies that need to keep tabs on their freelance workers, NuovoTeam is an excellent choice for professional or very dedicated gamers who need a messaging app. The program can track productivity and manage the work process, but it is also used for communication. With its unique Push to Talk (PTT) solution, NuovoTeam gives you the experience of a Walkie Talkie. NuovoTeam has also developed a PTT app for smartphones.

The PTT feature makes it possible to create several groups based on the games you and your friends play, or you can use a business model and create groups based on the tasks, location, or departments. NuovoTeam will allow you to connect with your fellow gamers and take up the role of a leader. You can monitor your playmate’s activities, location, and tasks performed.

NuovoTeam is not a free platform. You need to pay around $5 per team member per month for a business plan. But the price is worth it when you consider all the features you get, from Private chat channels, unlimited text messages, location and task tracking, VoIP calls, encryption, and much more.

Ventrilo is an old VoIP software. It is a practical, low-latency, and free chat program that will allow you to connect with your gamer friends in no time. It’s a lightweight, background running program that won’t affect your gameplay. Ventrilo is built on a client-server architecture, meaning you can rent a connection or run it on your own. Many gaming platforms will offer a Ventrilo server for you to use.

What’s your favorite voice chat app? Do you prefer Discord, or are you sticking to the classics like Ventrilo and TeamSpeak? Let us know in the comments below!

This app is focused on voice chat for gamers, but it also offers a text chat feature. This comes in handy when you want to share a link with your friends or when one of your team members is too shy to talk. Ventrilo will remain stable and offer a secure connection even for people with weak hardware. The only downside of Ventrilo is that there are no new updates, and the user interface might feel outdated.

Readmore : Android video chat applications

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Source: www.online-tech-tips.com

Video chat app Zoom unveils new products as its stock nosedives | Business Standard News

Video chat app Zoom unveils new products as its stock nosedives

As countries reopen and millions rejoin offices, video collaboration and chat app Zoom has seen a massive erosion in its stock value -- nearly 80 per cent -- from its high in 2020.

The demand for Zoom soared in the two years of the pandemic as companies shut offices and employees had to work from home.

Remote learning and telemedicine also gave a boost to Zoom Video's cloud-based services.

Now, the growth of Zoom has slowed down as in-person meetings resume and schools/colleges reopen.

Zoom is now undergoing a year of transition in 2022.

Alarmed at its slow user growth, the company has unveiled latest innovations in the Zoom platform to help businesses improve customer and employee experiences for the new 'work anywhere' workforce.

For example, 'Zoom IQ for Sales' is a conversation intelligence solution for sales professionals, as well as new Zoom Events and Webinar functionalities such as backstage and Webinar session branding aim to put engagement at the centre of the experience and transform the way we work, connect, and collaborate.

The new products announcements helped Zoom stock zoom 8 per cent on Wednesday.

"Following our recent launch of Zoom Contact Centre, Zoom IQ for Sales, and our latest Zoom Events innovations mark further steps in Zoom's journey to establish new heights for customer experiences and flexible collaboration across the workforce," said Oded Gal, Chief Product Officer at Zoom.

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Readmore : Android video chat applications

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Source: www.business-standard.com

15 Awesome FaceTime Alternatives for Cross-Platform Video Calls on Android & iOS « Smartphones :: Gadget Hacks

In these times of social distancing, video calling is becoming the technological substitute for face-to-face connections. For those who carry an iPhone, the art of video calling defaults to FaceTime, the native app on iOS that is exclusive to Apple devices. But what do you do if you or the other party is on Android?

Unless hell freezes over, Android devices will never have a FaceTime app (FaceTime for web is another story). But that doesn't mean that those who prefer Android can't join in a video call with iPhone fans. It just means that everyone needs to decide on a common platform that can break the OS barrier. So, those who refuse to let their choice of mobile device dictate who they can converse with over video, this article is for you.

What Makes a Good FaceTime Alternative

To qualify as FaceTime alternatives in close approximation to the original recipe, video calling apps should support more than two callers (FaceTime can handle up to 30), include a desktop option, and provide augmented reality camera effects (at least for mobile) that serve as a substitute for Animojis and Memojis, the virtual masks generated via ARKit and the TrueDepth cameras on iPhone X and later.

In most cases, FaceTime alternatives will also double as iMessage alternatives, since most apps don't bifurcate chat and video.In addition, to approximate the ubiquity of FaceTime, these options are listed in relative order of popularity. Because, if you've ever tried to convince luddite friends to download, install, and user a new app, you know that you're better off skating to where the puck is.

App 1: Facebook Messenger

For most mainstream consumers, Facebook will be the most common platform that friends and family will already have access to. Along with a web app for desktops and a plethora of AR camera effects for those using the mobile app, Facebook Messenger surpasses FaceTime with support for up to 50 participants in group video calls as well as the ability to identify whether your friends are online. There's a version for kids, too. For privacy, Messenger includes a secret conversation mode for end-to-end encryption.

While it checks a lot of boxes as a FaceTime alternative, Messenger requires a Facebook account. And, despite more than one billion monthly active users, Facebook's privacy issues make it more likely that Messenger will be a difficult sell for some.

As an added bonus, Facebook Messenger when run on Facebook Portal smart cameras adds even more features, from exclusive AR effects to shared streaming video watching experiences.

Image via Facebook

App 2: Snapchat

Ask the average Snapchat user what they consider to be the top feature of Snapchat and you're likely to think of its augmented reality camera effects, chat, and stories features before remembering that Snapchat does video calls as well. In 2018, the app gained Group Video Chat, which can handle up to 16 participants and supports Snapchat's AR Lenses.

While Snapchat lacks the web-based app that Messenger has, it does have a desktop client, Snap Camera, that facilitates not only video calling but also AR effects.

Snapchat boasts more than 200 daily active users, but that's still a far cry from what Facebook claims. And its userbase skews younger, so your mileage may vary based on your peer group. Moreover, Snapchat also has a better reputation with privacy.

Image via Snap

App 3: Google Duo

As the caretaker for Android, it would make sense that Google would have an entry on this list in Duo. Like FaceTime and unlike the aforementioned apps, Duo is dedicated to video calling and does not include text chat. Duo also matches Messenger and Snapchat with a web app for desktop and, like Facebook, has its own line of smart home displays in the Google Nest product line that can receive video calls.

Though it is a Google product, you do not need a Google account to get started on the mobile app. Rather, Duo authenticates via the user's mobile number, which also facilitates discovery of others on Duo. It also supports end-to-end encryption by default.

Duo also includes a limited roster of augmented reality effects. However, Duo Effects, which provide AR masks that behave similarly to Animojis, are available in video calls for Pixel devices only. For all others, AR effects are limited to video messaging. In addition to few AR effects, Duo has a limited capacity of seven uses in a group video call. UPDATE: Duo has now raised the limit to 12 people in a video call.

App 4: Line

A dark horse among the top options, Line's popularity peaked in 2016. But, while it doesn't have the brand name appeal that its predecessors on this list have, it does check off all of the boxes needed to simulate the FaceTime experience.

In addition to mobile apps and desktop clients, Line provides a variety of AR effects, including games and Animoji-like virtual puppets, for video chats.

While Line boasts up the ability to host chat groups of up to 200 people, its video calls cap at four participants, which pales in comparison to other options. The app is monetized through in-app purchases, subscriptions, and advertising, so the experience can get a little salesy.

App 5: Instagram

Sure, Instagram has a larger user base than Snapchat, which means you are more likely to have friends that already use the app. And it supports group video calls of up to six people. Therefore, it should be a more favorable option as a video calling app, right?

However, it's a mobile-only platform. Also, Instagram does support AR effects in video calls, but the digital magic is only available on iOS at the moment. But, if you're on the go and AR isn't necessary, Instagram is a decent option for smaller groups and has a high likelihood.

Images via Instagram

App 6: WhatsApp

WhatsApp was already a popular option for voice over internet (VOIP) calling before Facebook acquired it and has since grown to more than a billion users. So, as a FaceTime substitute, there's also a high likelihood that friends and family are already on the app for some WhatsApp video chat. Like Messenger, WhatsApp has a web-based app and the Portal line of smart cameras supports calls to WhatsApp users.

But there are some key differences between Messenger and WhatsApp. Unlike Messenger, WhatsApp doesn't require a Facebook account...for now. All you need to login is your mobile number, which is also used to find friends who are using the app, a benefit that Google borrowed for Duo. WhatsApp also has desktop apps for Mac and Windows and supports end-to-end encryption.

Yes, it's missing the augmented reality effects at the moment. And it only handles video calls of up to four people. But, again, that could change as Facebook proceeds with its messaging app unification.

App 7: Skype

There was a time that Skype was synonymous with video calling, but the Microsoft subsidiary doesn't command the attention that it once did. However, it is still a powerhouse. In addition to the flexibility of mobile and desktop apps, Skype can support up to 24 video callers, less than FaceTime and Facebook Messenger but more than most others.

On the downside, Skype is relatively no-frills compared platform, so don't look for AR effects. But for video calls between medium-sized groups, Skype is a name to remember.

App 8: Zoom

As most of the white-collar world has relocated to remote home offices, Zoom has increased in popularity. With its ability to host video conference calls of up to 100 participants (capped at 40 minutes) on the free tier and the option to use mobile apps along with a desktop client, Zoom supports screen sharing and session recording.

Zoom isn't all business, either, as it has a neat trick that uses a green screen effect to change virtual backgrounds behind the user.

Nonetheless, Zoom is designed more for hosting meetings than casual chats. You don't select a few friends from your contacts and start an impromptu video chat; you host a meeting and invite attendees via email or a URL. And if you need to handle more than 100 participants and 40 minute sessions, you're looking at a subscription starting at $14.99 per month per host.

App 9: Marco Polo

One of the drawbacks for video calling compared to text messaging is that the former requires participants to be available at the same time, while the latter (depending on the patience of the sender) doesn't necessarily need to be time-based.

Marco Polo solves that by combining the two. Instead of real-time video chats, you send short clips to each other in succession. The result is like watching stories on Snapchat or Instagram but the content is coming from different creators in sequence. The app also supplies uses with AR effects to use in their videos.

Alas, it's not a true-blue video calling app, and it also lacks a desktop experience. But, it's a fun way to keep in touch.

App 10: Houseparty

Houseparty was a hot name in social apps for a minute. But then Epic Games acquired Houseparty in June 2019, and its mobile apps have not received an update since then, so Houseparty's existence in its current form may be short.

Nonetheless, Houseparty is now experiencing a renaissance of sorts as a social distancing solution. Its mobile apps along with its MacOS client and Chrome extension are still available, along with its unique headline feature that enables you to join on-going sessions once they are online. While it doesn't offer AR effects, Houseparty does have a selection of parlor games to play between video chat participants.

Images via Houseparty

App 11: Discord

If you're a gamer, you're probably already in a few Discord groups. The app has been indispensable as a group chat app to coordinate raids and whatnot.

But discord handles group video calls of up to eight people on its free tier. In addition to its mobile apps, Discord has a desktop client and a web app. While it doesn't have AR goodies, you're likely to find common ground with this app among your gaming buddies.

App 12: Bunch

Speaking of gaming, Bunch has a very unique angle on group video chats: it lets up to six people play along in the same mobile game. The app's video chat multiplayer mode is compatible with several popular titles, including Playerunknown's Battlegrounds (a.k.a. PUBG), Call of Duty Mobile, Minecraft, Roblox, and Clash Royale, and it also has five exclusive games bundled with it.

As a FaceTime substitute, though, Bunch is limited. It's a mobile-only platform and it doesn't have the AR bells and whistles. But that multiplayer game mode really helps it stick out.

App 13: Squad

If Zoom is a bit overkill for a casual video chat between friends but you still want to share what's on your screen, then Squad is the app for you. With support for up to nine video callers, Squad lets each participant share the screen of their mobile device. In addition, you can watch YouTube and TikTok videos together during active calls.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Squad is also among the video calling apps that are mobile-only and do not include AR effects. But, like Houseparty and Bunch, its unique features help make up for its shortcomings.

App 14: Signal

If privacy is paramount in your cross-platform communications, Signal is the answer. While many of the apps covered here offer end-to-end encryption in varying forms, Signal commits to sending everything with end-to-end encryption with no ads or tracking. The platform also has a desktop version.

However, Signal's video calls are limited to one-to-one. And there's no AR to speak of. But, when erring on the side of privacy, sometimes sacrifices must be made.

App 15: Viber

With roots as a VOIP app, Viber has been around for a minute. Like Signal, the app boasts privacy with end-to-end encryption, but it also offers a desktop apps for PC, Mac, and Linux.

However, Viber is also limited to one-on-one video calls. However, there are several bells and whistles like stickers and chat extensions for sharing videos and music in chats. And, as of June 2021, Viber includes AR Lenses powered by Snapchat as well.

As you can see, there are many options for cross-platform calling, with several strong offerings that match or exceed FaceTime feature-for-feature and others that offer their own unique bells and whistles. So, while we're all social distancing, at least if you use an iPhone you can reach over the walled garden and connect with the rest of the world.

Don't Miss: Use FaceTime's Group Chat on Your iPhone to Talk to More Than One Person at a Time

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Readmore : Android Video Chat Apps

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Source: smartphones.gadgethacks.com

Around is the new floating head video chat multitasking app – TechCrunch

You have to actually get work done, not just video call all day, but apps like Zoom want to take over your screen. Remote workers who need to stay in touch while staying productive are forced to juggle tabs. Meanwhile, call participants often look and sound far away, dwarfed by their background and drowned in noise.

Today, Around launches its new video chat software that crops participants down to just circles that float on your screen so you have space for other apps. Designed for laptops, Around uses auto-zoom and noise cancelling to keep your face and voice in focus. Instead of crowding around one computer or piling into a big-screen conference room, up to 15 people can call from their own laptop without echo — even from right next to each other.

“Traditional videoconferencing tries to maximize visual presence. But too much presence gets in the way of your work,” says Around CEO Dominik Zane. “People want to make eye contact. They want to connect. But they also want to get stuff done. Around treats video as the means to an end, not the end in itself.”

Around becomes available today by request in invite-only beta for Mac, windows, Linux, and web. It’s been in private beta since last summer, but now users can sign up here for early access to Around. The freemium model means anyone can slide the app into their stack without paying at first.

After two years in stealth, Around’s 12-person distributed team reveals that it’s raised $5.2 million in seed funding over multiple rounds from Floodgate, Initialized Capital, Credo Ventures, AngelList’s Naval Ravikant, Product Hunt’s Ryan Hoover, Crashlytics’ Jeff Seibert, and angel Tommy Leep. The plan is to invest in talent and infrastructure to keep video calls snappy.

Around CEO Dominik Zane

Around was born out of frustration with remote work collaboration. Zane and fellow Around co-founder Pavel Serbajlo had built mobile marketing company M.dot that was acquired by GoDaddy by using a fully distributed team. But they discovered that Zoom was “built around decades-old assumptions of what a video call should be” says Zane. “A Zoom video call is basically a telephone connected to a video camera. In terms of design, it’s not much different from the original Picturephone demoed at the 1964 World’s Fair.”

So together, they started Around as a video chat app that slips into the background rather than dominating the foreground. “We stripped out every unnecessary pixel by building a real-time panning and zooming technology that automatically keeps callers’ faces–and only their faces–in view at all times” Zane explains. It’s basically Facebook Messenger’s old Chat Heads design, but for the desktop enterprise.

Calls start with a shared link or /Around Slack command. You’re never unexpectedly dumped into a call, so you can stay on task. Since participants are closely cropped to their faces and not blown up full screen, they don’t have to worry about cleaning their workspace or exactly how their hair looks. That reduces the divide between work-from-homers and those in the office.

As for technology, Around’s “EchoTerminator” uses ultrasonic audio to detect nearby laptops and synchronization to eliminate those strange feedback sounds. Around also employs artificial intelligence and the fast CPUs of modern laptops to suppress noise like sirens, dog barks, washing machines, or screaming children. A browser version means you don’t have to wait for people to download anything, and visual emotes like “Cool idea” pop up below people’s faces so they don’t have to interrupt the speaker.

Traditional video chat vs Around

“Around is what you get when you rethink video chat for a 21st-century audience, with 21st-century technology,” says Initialized co-founder and general partner Garry Tan. “Around has cracked an incredibly difficult problem, integrating video into the way people actually work today. It makes other video-call products feel clumsy by comparison.”

There’s one big thing missing from Around: mobile. Since it’s meant for multitasking, it’s desktop/laptop only. But that orthodoxy ignores the fact that a team member on the go might still want to chime in on chats, even with just audio. Mobile apps are on the roadmap, though, with plans to allow direct dial-in and live transitioning from laptop to mobile. The 15-participant limit also prevents Around from working for all-hands meetings.

Competing with video calling giant Zoom will be a serious challenge. Nearly a decade of perfecting its technology gives Zoom super low latency so people don’t talk over each other. Around will have to hope that its smaller windows let it keep delays down. There’s also other multitask video apps like Loom’s asynchronously-recorded video clips that prevent distraction.

With coronavirus putting a new emphasis on video technology for tons of companies, finding great engineers could be difficult. “Talent is scarce, and good video is hard tech. Video products are on the rise. Google and large companies snag all the talent, plus they have the ability and scale to train audio-video professionals at universities in northern Europe” Zane tells me. “Talent wars are the biggest risk and obstacle for all real-time video companies.”

But that rise also means there are tons of people fed up with having to stop work to video chat, kids and pets wandering into their calls, and constantly yelling at co-workers to “mute your damn mic!” If ever there was a perfect time to launch Around, it’s now.

“Eight years ago we were a team of locals and immigrants, traveling frequently, moving between locations and offices” Zane recalls. “
We realized that this was the future of work and it’s going to be one of the most significant transformations of modern society over the next 30 years . . .
We’re building the product we’ve wanted for ourselves.”

One of the best things about working remotely is you don’t have colleagues randomly bugging you about superfluous nonsense. But the heaviness of traditional video chat swings things too far in the other direction. You’re isolated unless you want to make a big deal out of scheduling a call. We need presence and connection, but also the space to remain in flow. We don’t want to be away or on top of each other. We want to be around.

Readmore : Android Video Chat Apps

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Source: techcrunch.com

Zoom, WhatsApp, Houseparty: When picking a video chat app, favor privacy | Fortune

Zoom, WhatsApp, Houseparty: When picking a video chat app, favor privacy

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In Techland, everyone loves a good rivalry. There are the smartphone wars (iOS vs. Android). The ride-hailing rumblings (Uber vs. Lyft). The music match-ups (Spotify vs. Pandora). The video-streaming vendettas (Netflix vs. Quibi—lol, just kidding!).

Virtual conferencing software, somewhat amazingly, bucks the trend. While Zoom has rocketed to prominence during the time of quarantine, people are just as likely to use one of the many other options on the market: Apple’s FaceTime, Facebook’s WhatsApp, Microsoft’s Skype, the list goes on.

How do they all stack up against each other? Since the U.S. National Security Agency published its report assessing the security of various video chat apps, two respected non-profits have followed suit. Consumer Reports, known for its independent product testing and reviews, and the Mozilla Foundation, the group behind the Firefox web browser, surveyed the privacy implications of some of the most popular options.

The privacy policies leave much to be desired. That was the standout finding from Consumer Reports, which looked at the legalese behind Cisco’s WebX, Microsoft Teams and Skype, and Google’s Meet, Duo, and Hangouts.

The terms of service for these services’ data collection and sharing remain unclear. To quote the report, all three companies “reserve the right to store information on how long a call lasts; who’s on it; and everyone’s IP, or internet address,” data they can then combine with other information to build profiles of people. In an accompanying statement, Katie McInnis, Consumer Reports’ policy counsel, demanded that the companies manage this information with care and “ensure that they are respecting the digital rights of users.”

The surprise finding from the Mozilla report was that Zoom has really stepped up its game since security researchers pointed out its flaws in recent weeks, while other apps, like Houseparty, seem mostly to have gotten a pass on scrutiny. That latter app, owned by Fortnite-maker Epic Games, apparently continues to accept weak passwords like “12345,” and lets people “sneak” unnoticed into contacts’ virtual rooms. Since Houseparty caters a younger demographic, the security and privacy of the service matters even more.

Because there is so much variety in the video-chatting category, narrowing down the selection can be difficult. Safety seems as good a grading criterion as any.

Robert Hackett

Twitter: @rhhackett

Email: robert.hackett@fortune.com

THREATS

Under COVID of darkness. The UK's foreign minister, Dominic Raab, is warning that hackers are using the cover of the COVID-19 pandemicto perpetrate data breaches. Britain's cybersecurity chief describes how people's attention has been pivoting to the healthcare and biopharma industries as well as research institutions. Meanwhile, Mark Esper, the U.S. Defense Secretary, warned that China and Russia are using the pandemic as a way to gain influence around the world by trying to send acutely afflicted countries, like Italy, aid. 

Suit up. There were some developments in the Facebook WhatsApp lawsuit accusing Israeli spyware maker NSO Group of helping to spy on WhatsApp users. WhatsApp says the defendant's law firm has a conflict of interest because it previously represented WhatsApp in another suit. Shortly afterward, NSO Group disputed some of WhatsApp's allegations, including that it used computer servers in the U.S. hosted by L.A.-based QuadraNet to target WhatsApp users. Meanwhile, an unrelated lawsuit filed by Apple is said to be "chilling" cybersecurity research. 

*Slides eye-level slot and asks for password* Two-thirds of respondents to a recent survey admitted they "always or mostly use the same password or a variation," even though 90% acknowledged they knew the practice was risky. Aware of people's bad habits, the folks behind the web browser Mozilla Firefoxupdated its password manager, Firefox Lockwise, to alert people when they're using a password that is known to have been compromised. Another welcome, though long overdue update: Google Nest security cameras are going to start requiring people to use two-factor authentication. 

Cat got your tongue? Open source investigative news site Bellingcat recently published a number of fascinating security-related stories. There's the recent attempted coup in Venezuela by a private company in the U.S., Silvercorp USA, that has run security at Trump campaign rallies. Then there's the story of Russian citizen Dmitry Badin, who Germany just indicted for allegedly hacking the Bundestag, Germany's parliament. (In 2018, the U.S. indicted the same guy for allegedly helping to hack the Democratic National Committee.) Plus, there's a deep dive into a recent pro-China propaganda campaign on Twitter.

Caught with pants down. Web domain host GoDaddy recently disclosed a data breach affecting as many as 28,000 customers. The breach started in October, it said, noting that it had reset people's passwords as a result. Also, CAM4, an adult website, potentially exposed a whole heap of information—nearly 11 billion records—in an unprotected online database containing people's email addresses, hashed passwords, and correspondences with the company. 

Is Kim Jong Un planning a pool party?

ACCESS GRANTED

We all know by now: Social media allows misinformation to run amok. But Guillaume Chaslot, a former Google engineer, knows better than most exactly how and why this happens. Britain's The Daily Telegraphinterviewed the anti-tech crusader about how YouTube, in the quest for engagement and advertising profits, prioritizes provocation and extremism over accuracy.

Just after midnight on Good Friday, firefighters were called to tackle a 70ft blaze that had engulfed a telecoms mast in Solihull’s Chelmsley Wood.  

Days later, engineer George Davis and his team were threatened with broken bottles and bricks while working on a telecoms line in Putney. “The gentleman thought we were installing 5G,” says Davis. “He’s not the first person to threaten us… people just look at things online and believe it.”

FORTUNE RECON

Airbnb to cut nearly 2,000 employees due to the coronavirus pandemic by Danielle Abril

California to sue Uber and Lyft for classifying drivers as contractors by Joel Rosenblatt

Apple’s WWDC developers conference will be livestreamed on June 22 due to coronavirus by Jonathan Vanian

Photo essay: What life looks like in Europe as the continent starts to reopen by Mia Diehl and Katherine Dunn

Cord cutting is speeding up as the coronavirus pandemic squeezes consumers by Aaron Pressman

Goldman Sachs doubts there will be a Round 3 of PPP loans for small businesses by Anne Sraders

Uber’s (potentially) twisty Lime deal by Lucinda Shen

ONE MORE THING

The National Cybersecurity Centre in the UK has decided to stop using the terminology "blacklist" and "whitelist," opting instead for the more neutral "deny list" and "allow list." The reasoning, the government group says, is to avoid "casually pejorative wording" with potentially racist overtones. "No, it's not the biggest issue in the world—but to borrow a slogan from elsewhere: Every little [bit] helps."

The choice reminds me of something I do when reciting my favorite poem by the short-lived, 19th-century writer Stephen Crane, "Should the wide world roll away." In my own reading, I like to swap "black" for "bleak" and "white" for "warm."

Readmore : Apps for Android Video Chat

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Source: fortune.com

Meta adds a new ‘Calls’ tab to Messenger | Engadget

Meta adds a new ‘Calls’ tab to Messenger

Meta’s Messenger app has become an incredibly popular way to make free voice and video calls. Now, a new design tweak will make the call button (slightly) easier to find. Meta is adding a dedicated tab for audio and video calls to the function bar at the bottom of the app. The new tab will appear alongside “Chats”, “Stories” and “People”, and open up to a list of the user’s contacts, along with separate buttons for voice and video calls. It’s a subtle change, but likely a move to make Messenger seem more like a messaging and calling app in the style of Whatsapp. Prior to the change, users had to open up a separate chat thread with a friend in order to call them. The new feature allows users to dial friends directly,and may also serve as an introduction to those less familiar with Messenger’s calling features.

According to Meta, daily audio and video calling on Messenger has increased by 40 percent since early 2020. The company expanded the features available to its encrypted messaging earlier this year, adding reactions, stickers, message-specific replies and forwarding. Meta’s plan is to eventually make end-to-end encryption the default for Facebook and Instagram in 2023. It’s added a number of AR effects to its video calls, letting users experiment with filters, masks and animations.

As far as free messaging apps go, Messenger has a long list of competitors, including Google Voice, Viber, Signal and WhatsApp, which Meta bought in 2014. While emphasizing the audio and video functions doesn't do much to make Messenger stand out from the pack, it remains one of the few major apps in this crowded field, other than FaceTime, that doesn't require a phone number to use.

Update 6/2/22 1:13PM ET: This post has been updated to clarify the 40 percent increase since 2020 pertains to daily calls on Messenger. 

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Readmore : Android video chat applications

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Source: www.engadget.com

LOVE unveils a modern video messaging app with a business model that puts users in control – TechCrunch

A London-headquartered startup called LOVE, valued at $17 million following its pre-seed funding, aims to redefine how people stay in touch with close family and friends. The company is launching a messaging app that offers a combination of video calling as well as asynchronous video and audio messaging, in an ad-free, privacy-focused experience with a number of bells and whistles, including artistic filters and real-time transcription and translation features.

But LOVE’s bigger differentiator may not be its product alone, but rather the company’s mission.

LOVE aims for its product direction to be guided by its user base in a democratic fashion as opposed to having the decisions made about its future determined by an elite few at the top of some corporate hierarchy. In addition, the company’s longer-term goal is ultimately to hand over ownership of the app and its governance to its users, the company says.

These concepts have emerged as part of bigger trends towards a sort of “Web 3.0,” or next phase of internet development, where services are decentralized, user privacy is elevated, data is protected and transactions take place on digital ledgers, like a blockchain, in a more distributed fashion.

LOVE’s founders are proponents of this new model, including serial entrepreneur Samantha Radocchia, who previously founded three companies and was an early advocate for the blockchain as the co-founder of Chronicled, an enterprise blockchain company focused on the pharmaceutical supply chain.

As someone who’s been interested in emerging technology since her days of writing her anthropology thesis on currency exchanges in “Second Life’s” virtual world, she’s now faculty at Singularity University, where she’s given talks about blockchain, AI, Internet of Things, Future of Work, and other topics. She’s also authored an introductory guide to the blockchain with her book “Bitcoin Pizza.”

Co-founder Christopher Schlaeffer, meanwhile, held a number of roles at Deutsche Telekom, including chief product & innovation officer, corporate development officer and chief strategy officer, where he along with Google execs introduced the first mobile phone to run Android. He was also chief digital officer at the telecommunication services company VEON.

The two crossed paths after Schlaeffer had already begun the work of organizing a team to bring LOVE to the public, which includes co-founders Chief Technologist Jim Reeves, also previously of VEON, and Chief Designer Timm Kekeritz, previously an interaction designer at international design firm IDEO in San Francisco, design director at IXDS and founder of design consultancy Raureif in Berlin, among other roles.

Image Credits: LOVE

Explained Radocchia, what attracted her to join as CEO was the potential to create a new company that upholds more positive values than what’s often seen today — in fact, the brand name “LOVE” is a reference to this aim. She was also interested in the potential to think through what she describes as “new business models that are not reliant on advertising or harvesting the data of our users,” she says.

To that end, LOVE plans to monetize without any advertising. While the company isn’t ready to explain its business model in full, it would involve users opting in to services through granular permissions and membership, we’re told.

“We believe our users will much rather be willing to pay for services they consciously use and grant permissions to in a given context than have their data used for an advertising model which is simply not transparent,” says Radocchia.

LOVE expects to share more about the model next year.

As for the LOVE app itself, it’s a fairly polished mobile messenger offering an interesting combination of features. Like any other video chat app, you can video call with friends and family, either in one-on-one calls or in groups. Currently, LOVE supports up to five call participants, but expects to expand that as it scales. The app also supports video and audio messaging for asynchronous conversations. There are already tools that offer this sort of functionality on the market, of course — like WhatsApp, with its support for audio messages, or video messenger Marco Polo. But they don’t offer quite the same expanded feature set.

Image Credits: LOVE

For starters, LOVE limits its video messages to 60 seconds, for brevity’s sake. (As anyone who’s used Marco Polo knows, videos can become a bit rambling, which makes it harder to catch up when you’re behind on group chats.) In addition, LOVE allows you to both watch the video content as well as read the real-time transcription of what’s being said — the latter which comes in handy not only for accessibility’s sake, but also for those times you want to hear someone’s messages but aren’t in a private place to listen or don’t have headphones. Conversations can also be translated into 50 languages.

“A lot of the traditional communication or messenger products are coming from a paradigm that has always been text-based,” explains Radocchia. “We’re approaching it completely differently. So while other platforms have a lot of the features that we do, I think that…the perspective that we’ve approached it has completely flipped it on its head,” she continues. “As opposed to bolting video messages on to a primarily text-based interface, [LOVE is] actually doing it in the opposite way and adding text as a sort of a magically transcribed add-on — and something that you never, hopefully, need to be typing out on your keyboard again,” she adds.

The app’s user interface, meanwhile, has been designed to encourage eye-to-eye contact with the speaker to make conversations feel more natural. It does this by way of design elements where bubbles float around as you’re speaking and the bubble with the current speaker grows to pull your focus away from looking at yourself. The company is also working with the curator of Serpentine Gallery in London, Hans Ulrich-Obrist, to create new filters that aren’t about beautification or gimmicks, but are instead focused on introducing a new form of visual expression that makes people feel more comfortable on camera.

For the time being, this has resulted in a filter that slightly abstracts your appearance, almost in the style of animation or some other form of visual arts.

The app claims to use end-to-end encryption and the automatic deletion of its content after seven days — except for messages you yourself recorded, if you’ve chosen to save them as “memorable moments.”

“One of our commitments is to privacy and the right-to-forget,” says Radocchia. “We don’t want to be or need to be storing any of this information.”

LOVE has been soft-launched on the App Store, where it’s been used with a number of testers and is working to organically grow its user base through an onboarding invite mechanism that asks users to invite at least three people to join. This same onboarding process also carefully explains why LOVE asks for permissions — like using speech recognition to create subtitles.

LOVE says its valuation is around $17 million USD following pre-seed investments from a combination of traditional startup investors and strategic angel investors across a variety of industries, including tech, film, media, TV and financial services. The company will raise a seed round this fall.

The app is currently available on iOS, but an Android version will arrive later in the year. (Note that LOVE does not currently support the iOS 15 beta software, where it has issues with speech transcription and in other areas. That should be resolved next week, following an app update now in the works.)

Readmore : Android Video Chat Apps

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Source: techcrunch.com