Regardless of the pandemic situation, there are plenty of industries that didn’t stop working. However, in order to work efficiently – there is at least minimal contact required.
But it’s hard to hold meetings or conference calls with the lockdown in place, don’t you think?
Video conferencing apps are on the rise and a couple of software have had a significant increase in use.
Therefore, it’s very possible to stay in touch with your clients, hold meetings with your staff, and even have interviews.
And here are the 10 best free video conferencing apps everyone is grateful for nowadays!
Free Video Conferencing Apps
If there was no internet, we wouldn’t be able to stay connected and keep the economy moving on the scale we are right now.
And The pandemic situation brought a lot of uncertainty, however, almost every one of these apps here is good enough to study online in school or work remotely during the Covid 19. All you need is any of these apps below with a laptop or tablet will help you keep up with your studies, even if you’re stuck at home.
Down below, you will find 10 best video conferencing apps that will keep you going even in the worst known pandemic situation for the last couple of decades.
1. Zoom
Zoom has been around for quite a long time now, but it was only recently when it became a number one free video conferencing software due to the Covid19 situation.
It is available as a browser extension so you can stream directly from your laptop’s camera/microphone input or as an app you can download directly to your computer.
The moderator creates a room and with a share of a link, he/she invites other members to join his virtual meeting room.
The functions are pretty simple and even if you are late for your meeting, it will take you less than 5 minutes to set up Zoom.
All you need is a camera and a working microphone to participate and the best thing is – there is no limit on the number of members that can join the virtual meeting room.
2. WhatsApp
Who doesn’t have a WhatsApp app installed on their smartphone nowadays, right?
WhatsApp has been around for a long time now and it became extremely popular when Facebook purchased the app.
Even though it is a messaging app – it also has the ability to handle group calls. It can accept up to 30 members in a call and all you need is a smartphone with a front-facing camera and an integrated microphone.
What’s so convenient about WhatsApp is the ability to use this app almost everyone has installed on their smartphone to hold a call without a computer being involved.
Windows has millions of users and Microsoft has been very strong in the software industry. Their most innovative app is called Microsoft Teams and it is an ideal app for companies who utilize Office 365 for their business needs.
The best thing about this conferencing app is that it has the ability to integrate other Microsoft products such as Word, Excel, and Powerpoint into the call so everyone can be in the loop.
If your company is already an Office 365 user – Microsoft Teams shouldn’t cost anything at all and yet you would get a reliable way to keep in touch with everyone at once.
4. Jitsi
Jitsi is an open-source video conferencing app that you can use to start a multi-user conference with your clients or join other Jitsi members in their calls.
Since it’s an open-source, it’s a fully free app and you even have full control over the software with plenty of customizable options to choose from.
What’s even best is that you can use Jitsi for video conferencing even without creating an account – which is why we believe that Jitsi is one of the easiest conferencing apps to set up.
It’s available for use in a browser or as a standalone app for iOS and Android devices.
What’s the first place you head to when you need a new email address? Google Gmail.
Now that almost everyone has a Gmail address – everyone can take advantage of Hangouts Meet which is well incorporated into Gmail.
Hangouts Meet is also very well integrated with G Suite which is one of the reasons why most teams who utilize tools from G Suite would benefit from having their virtual conference held at Hangouts Meet.
It’s an app that has been developed to cater the business type of audience – it can hold a large number of users at once without facing any connection difficulties.
And since almost everyone has a Gmail address – there is no additional setup required.
6. Skype
Skype used to be – and still is one of the most popular video calling apps.
With a simple account creation, you can use Skype even inside your browser without any download requirements.
The only downside is that it has a 50-participant limit so it’s an ideal software for small to mid-sized companies.
Skype even comes installed with most Windows computers so you won’t have to wait for your colleagues to set up their Skype app or create an account.
Skype for Business is an add-on that is worth checking out. Even though this addon is a paid option – it can hold up to 250 participants at the same time which is ideal for larger companies.
FreeConference is one of the easiest free video conferencing apps to set up as it doesn’t require the actual software to be installed.
Instead, all you need to do is a fully working browser to join a video conferencing call. There’s even an app available for smartphones which is a great way to keep everyone in the meeting, even if the member of your team is on the go and doesn’t have access to a computer.
The big downside is that FreeConference limits the video conference call up to 5 participants only. This makes it ideal only for the smallest teams out there.
If your team has more members than this – you will have to end up paying for the additional slots to your conference call. Therefore, don’t let the Free in the app name fool you!
Cisco is a perfect video conference app for companies that have up to 100 members as this is the limit this app puts on each conference call.
This app is very efficient at screen sharing which is very often for a team that’s working remotely – but it even has 1GB of cloud storage for free.
This allows conference call participants to share files directly in the app without having to use third-party software.
We believe that this ensures a better workflow and keeps things tidy – even if you are working from your virtual office at home!
9. Lifesize Go
You might have never heard of Lifesize, but it is a video conferencing app that has been with us since 2003!
It’s actually a company that supplies businesses with high-quality conferencing endpoints, touchscreen conference room phones, and even a cloud-based collaboration platform.
Therefore, it’s a company that knows exactly what a remote team needs in order to stay efficient and keep working as if they are in their own offices!
They have plenty of paid options that are really worth their value – however, their browsed-based option called LifeSize Go is an app that is really easy to set up and it is available for any browser and computer there is.
There is no actual app installation required and you can get going in less than 5 minutes without requiring actual LifeSize hardware.
10. FaceTime
Apple is a very popular company in both entertainment and business – therefore, there are millions of iOS users.
FaceTime is a video call app integrated into every iPhone, iPad, Mac computer and MacBook laptop ready for streaming at any moment.
If your team is staying away from Windows and is doing its best to utilize Apple’s OS – FaceTime is the best way to hold a video conference.
It’s free, it’s very efficient thanks to Apple servers, and all you need to create a group call is either an iPhone, iPad, or Apple computer.
Conclusion
What do you think about remote working and studying online?
Would you rather wait out the pandemic situation and get back to work when everything gets back in normal – or you are fine with working and managing a team remotely?
As long as you have a very efficient video conferencing app that will keep you working efficiently – you won’t have a problem working the way you used to in your offices.
Some teams were able to improve communication, become a bit more digitized, and even improve their workflow – which is always a bonus!
Which one of these free video conferencing apps is your favorite?
Feel free to leave us a comment down below and let us know what you think! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments section down below!