Ben Stegner
Nobody wants to download a bunch of software,
work with a complicated system, or pay money to join a group conference
call. We’ve got good news: There are several awesome, simple services
that you can use for personal video conference calls that don’t cost
anything.
Appear.in offers about
the simplest video conferencing you can imagine.
Visit the site and you can create a chatroom with the URL of your
choice. Then, just send that link to your friends through text, email,
or any other means and they’ll instantly join you. There’s no software
to download and any modern browser will work fine.
The
service allows up to eight people in one room. You can “lock” a room if
you’re the owner, which requires guests to “knock” when they visit the
link. This lets you see who’s trying to join and deny them if you see
fit. Screen sharing and text chat (with stickers!) are included — it’s
as simple as that.
While other tools offer more functionality,
Appear.in is your best choice for quick, simple meetings with no set-up.
It’s perfect for chatting with folks who aren’t tech-savvy.
ooVoo
has been around for a while, but it’s resurrected into quite an
impressive form recently. Still free of charge, the service now features
apps for Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and even Windows Phone and Amazon
Fire Phone. It’s not available in browser, so ooVoo geared towards
groups who all use the app instead of ad-hoc meetings like Appear.in.
True
to its name, FreeConference offers powerful video conference calls at
no cost. You’ll find more business-oriented features on this service
than the others, such as dial-in numbers for audio participants.
FreeConference lets you schedule meetings and send out reminders
automatically, but you can also start meetings instantly if you don’t
need advance notice.
The free plan is limited to 400 audio callers,
10 users in the online meeting, and 3 people broadcasting video. You’ll
have to upgrade to a paid plan to raise those numbers and add features
like
call recording, but you shouldn’t need them for personal use.
Another
service with a business focus, Voxeet prides itself on its proprietary
TrueVoice technology that brings crisp, clean voice quality to calls.
This claims to bring concert-hall quality with no static or dropped
words, which is great for important calls. Guests can easily join calls
from their browser with no PIN calls or call-in numbers.
If you regularly organize meetings among friends and need a wide set of features, Voxeet is worth a look.
No
list of video calling apps could be complete without Skype, if for no
other reason than many people you know likely already use it. Using apps
for Android/iOS, Windows/Mac, or just
in your browser, Skype lets you connect with your friends
for easy video calls. Screen sharing is supported as well.
A
maximum of 25 people can join an audio call, but Skype vaguely says
that the maximum number of video callers varies by device. Note that
Skype’s fair usage policy
holds that a group video call can only last for four hours. You
shouldn’t have any problem calling with ten or so friends, as long as
each has a strong internet connection.
If you need a more
business-focused solution, Skype for Business Basic offers the
fundamentals of the Skype for Business platform, including Free/Busy
status and meeting support. For most people, though, regular Skype
should be sufficient.
Though
close in name, this tool is different from the aforementioned
FreeConference. FreeConferenceCall boasts the largest number of
participants by far, with support for a staggering 1,000 people.
Screen sharing comes standard,
and the service offers several apps to expand your experience as well.
Guests simply have to enter a meeting ID into the website to join
instantly.
How Do You Hold Meetings?
These six
tools offer different feature set for varying user needs. If you just
want to hold a quickly family call, it doesn’t get much easier than
Appear.in. Friend groups can take advantage of ooVoo’s fun options.
Skype is great because almost everyone uses it, while
FreeConferenceCall, FreeConference, and Voxeet bring business-level
features to personal calls for free.
