The 12 Best Video Calling Apps for Australians

Gone are the days of stirring, pixelated and jumpy video chat. High speed nbn is now making it easier than ever for people to connect face-to-face over their phones, tablets and laptops in high definition.

Here are our picks for the best video chat services dominating the technology sphere right now.

Skype

The world’s most popular video chat service, Microsoft’s Skype is a video talking behemoth that can do video calls for up to 10 people, group calls for up to 25, and video conferences with an audience of up to 250 online attendees.

It also works across a number of platforms. You can make video calls from a Windows PC, a Mac or even an Xbox One, while calls can be received on Android, iOS and many Smart TVs.

Skype is free to use in a limited capacity, with prices for enterprise extras starting at around $2 per month for each user.

Anymeeting

Focused on delivering high quality video group chat to small teams and businesses, Anymeeting offers free video chat and subscription services for larger groups.

Anymeeting boasts interoperability between all supported platforms (Windows, iOS, Android and OSX) and video quality automatically resizes to fit the screen.

FaceTime

One of Apple’s most popular (and exclusive) products, FaceTime is available on iOS and Mac OSX 10.6.6 and up. It’s perfect for quick and reliable 1 on 1 video chat with friends and family.

FaceTime’s exclusivity can be a double edged sword, however. If one of your friends or family doesn’t have an Apple product, they’re left out in the dark.

Duo

Google’s answer to FaceTime, Duo is a recent addition to the app market, offering one-on-one video chat for friends and family. In typical Google fashion, it’s fast, fun and easy to use.

Already boasting 10 million downloads on the Play Store, Duo could be the simple answer you’re after for personal and intimate one-on-one chats.

Voca Video Chat

Available across the globe, Voca has a fantastic freemium price structure with free voice calls on devices with the Voca app installed. There’s also cheap international calling and apps for both iOS and Android devices. Prices are super low and quality is decent for what you pay (usually nothing). It’s definitely worth a look if you’re after free voice calling over VOIP.

Gotomeeting

If you’ve got high speed nbnTM, you’ll love Gotomeeting. It’s absolutely jam packed with useful features, from platform interoperability across Windows, Mac, Android and iOS to screen sharing features, recording and uploading to YouTube.

Gotomeeting can support a maximum of of six video streams, but has chat capacity for up to 100 people. The bevy of useful features and simple interface make Gotomeeting feel like a really useful program for distributed teams, educators and remote working groups.

Talky

Talky is a free service for up to 15 people to host simple video conference without even requiring a sign up. It’s easy to start a room, invite attendees and join the conversation. It runs through a web browser and has apps for both major platforms.

In truth, Talky is a fully functional demo for Talky-On-Premises, a paid service that lets businesses run their own Talky environment on a private or business network.

Viber

Used all over the world, Viber has lots of cool add-on features, like the ability to use stickers and text in your chat. You’ll need to sign up with a mobile number, but it’s not too difficult to sync your PC or Mac to your account. With so many people already using this service, Viber offers a good alternative to some of the bigger players for staying in touch with family and friends.

Oovoo

Oddly named Oovoo has big aspirations. Offering up voice and video chat with video conferencing for up to 12 people simultaneously, Oovoo is a good choice for small, distributed teams who want a well priced package with multi-platform capabilities.

Oovoo works across Windows, OSX, iOS and Android, and calls can be received via Facebook, which is definitely a handy little feature.

Google Hangouts

Ever the bridesmaid, Google Hangouts has been through a number of changes over the years; however, its video chat capabilities remain intact and always useful.

Part of Hangout’s allure is its ease of use. Anyone with a Google account (Gmail) can log in with a web browser, and there’s apps for iPhones and Android, of course. Supporting video conference capabilities, it remains a great free alternative.

Facebook Video Chat

While technically Facebook’s video chat works through Skype, it does make life super easy if you’re already chatting through FB or Messenger. Not everyone knows about this handy feature, so next time you’re on FB, why not give it a try. Check the link above if you need help getting it setup.

Appear.In

Launched in August of 2013, Appear.In lets you video hold conference calls with up to eight people, and you don’t even have to create an account. It’s so easy to use they even advertise it as ‘one click video conferencing.’

Creating rooms is straightforward, but you will need to enter an email address to ‘claim’ the room, lock participants or change the layout. Appear.In works though Firefox, Opera or Chrome browsers and also has support for phone apps.

Contact us today to find out which plan is best for your needs.