The Most Popular Video Apps for Quarantine Reviewed

Video Apps

We are living through extra ordinary times. Me and Melin often used video apps for meetings with each other or clients so this wasn’t too much of a adjustment for us. We also love to keep up with all the latest technology so given the fact that video chat apps have never been so popular we thought we would do a short description for the most popular ones. 

here we go; 

Whereby previously known ad Appear.in 

First of all can I just say, Appear.in was the best link url ever, i was truly saddened when they changed their branding. Oh well we just got to trust that it was for the better and get over that.

Okay, Whereby is  free web app. The ease of it that all you need is to sign-up online, and claim a link for yourself or business, then each time you need a video meeting, you can just share that same link. You can lock the room so other people can’t randomly come in, they’ll have to knock for you to let them in.

The free version has some great features like being able to watch YouTube videos together, which obviously we love! 

In a nutshell..

Whereby Free

• Max 4 people allowed on one call
• You can personalise your own link
• There is a chat feature available during the call
• Emoji /  reactions available for quick gestures
• You can share your screen
• You can integrate Youtube
• Mobile app available and it’s great apart from the fact that you can’t share your screen if you are on mobile. 

When you pay

You get cool features like recording your meetings, integrations with Trello or Google Drive

Google Hangouts

We all know Hangouts but Google had been making constant changes and it i snow trying to be a web and mobile app on its own. However we are all used to using it as an extension to our Google Calendars. So we find it useful to auto- create a link via calendar for meetings however the we don’t like the view on the free version, so we don’t use it very often. 

So in short

• Max of 50 people allowed on one call – which is pretty cool
• (downside to the 50 people allowance) You can only view people in full screen option, whoever speaks gets the screen time
• There is a chat available but no cool reactions
• Phone app available
• All you have to do is have a Google account 
• Links are so random, you can’t have a memorable link or a chat room to claim.

If you are paying though;

• You get 2 different viewing options. (tip: You can have a grid view via an Chrome an extension)
• You get an option created for  joining the meeting via phone line, on Google Calendar

House Party 

This app is totally free, and currently doesn’t have a paid plan. Wooop woop! Party over here and part over there! The logic of this video app is completely different as this is a mobile only application. This app completely took of during the pandemic, we never even heard of it before. 

How intrusive it can be is quite worrying from a security point of view. So I advise never do anything you don’t want to get caught doing while you are on the app. 

Quick summary;

• If you haven’t figured out how to sneak in, people can instantly access your camera and scare the living hell out of you when you think you are just changing your setting for something. Yes this has happened to me! Too many times! Be careful kids, don’t be like me.
• You can have a party with maximum of 8 people
• You can see who is in a room with who, and join them only if they haven’t locked the room
• Yes you can lock a room
• There are online games available, which to be fair is quite fun to play. 
• You can send a facemail with your room of friends to your other friends
• It says you can share your screen, but this hasn’t really worked for us…

Zoom

We are little bit shocked on why Zoom has become a phrase these days, it totally took of even though it is very similar to all the other web video apps. We have joined a few Zoom meetings and decided that our favourite thing about it is the options to view the call participants in various ways. 

I think the fact that you can see everybody in a grid at the same time is  the reason why the Zoom photos took off. 

• You can have maximum of 40 mins sessions at once
• It allows up to 100 people online at the same time, which is pretty damn good for a free service
• You have limited settings like presenting mode and reactions
• But you can screen share

On the Paid version 

• The host has a lot of options like controlling the participants sounds and videos on/off
• The host can also break people into groups
• There is of course no time limit on the sessions when you pay. 

Facetime

No biggie but it’s important to highlight the all time heroes that were always there, before the madness. For Apple users, FaceTime is a very quick and easy way to call friends and family.  

Things to remember;

• You can use your computer to make calls too. 
• You can add people to your calls
• believe or not you can have up to 32 people on a call

WhatsApp

Same as FaceTime but WhatsApp of course can be used between anybody who has the app regardless of your devices’s make. 

A few things to remember; 

• You can still use WhatsApp messaging while video chatting
• You can make a call to groups on WhatsApp
• Unlike FaceTime you can only have up to 4 people in a chat

That’s it for now. Hope you enjoy the read. Do let us know if you are fan of a video app that we haven’t mentioned and we’d be sure to check it out. Keep safe & sane friends!