5 Free Ways to Video Chat, Plus a Bonus App

2. Enter your name on the website. Then select Continue. You might need to allow FaceTime to use your microphone and camera.

3. Select Join. Then wait for the call’s host to let you in.

4. Select Leave to leave the call.

iMessage users can easily switch between texts and video chat. Just select the blue video camera icon in the upper right corner of the iMessage screen to go to FaceTime video chat. To go to iMessage when you’re in FaceTime, select the speech bubble icon in the upper left corner of the FaceTime screen.

On privacy. Apple touts its end-to-end encryption for FaceTime. That means only you and the person or people on the other end of your text, audio or video message can see it; anyone who might intercept it en route, including Apple, will not be able to unscramble the data. 

2. Google Meet offers an hour free for most group chats

The free version of Google Meet, the videoconferencing app in the Google Workspace suite, allows a user with a valid Gmail account to host a group video chat for up to 100 people for 60 minutes or have a one-on-one session for 24 hours straight. 

You may not be kicked off for going over. If you do, just ask everyone to rejoin.

You can create a meeting by knowing your friends’ email addresses. They’ll receive a link to click on.

On privacy. When you make a group call on the Meet app, Google says the audio and video has end-to-end encryption and is not stored on the company’s servers. If you store a recording on Google Drive, it also is encrypted.

3. Meta’s Messenger is the most popular pick

If you’re a user of Facebook,the world’s largest social media platform, you’ve likely sent plenty of private messages over Messenger through the years. Built into Facebook, Meta’s flagship app,and as standalone software, Messenger also allows free phone calls and video chats with friends.

For three years, from about October 2020 to mid-December 2023, Instagram users were part of the party and could chat freely with Facebook users. Now all Messenger users must have a Facebook account, and Instagram Messaging users may chat only among themselves. 

The various flavors of Meta’s Messenger allow up to eight people on one video call. Messenger works on devices including:

• Android and iOS phone and tablet apps
• Mac and PC apps
• Web browsers
• Facebook’s old Portal family of smart displays, discontinued in November 2022. 

Nearly 195 million people in the United States used Messenger in May 2024, according to Warsaw-based NapoleonCat social media marketers. And it was the most popular messaging app among 18- to 64-year-olds, according to a Statista Consumer Insights Global Survey released in May 2024.  

Bonus: Meta also owns WhatsApp, the fourth most popular messaging app in the Statista survey. WhatsApp allows groups of friends, up to 32 people, to video chat on Android or Apple mobile devices and Mac or Microsoft Windows computers. 

On privacy. WhatsApp, created in 2009 and bought by Facebook in 2014, was built with end-to-end encryption. Meta says it spent the four months from December 2023 through March 2024 launching the same encryption features for Messenger, first released in August 2011.

4. Work-friendly Microsoft Teams also allows personal chats

If you have Teams as part of the Office 365 suite of apps — more than 320 million people worldwide do — you can invite others without the app into a video meeting. And even if you don’t have a subscription, Microsoft Teams allows chats of up to one hour with as many as 100 people, gratis. All you need to do is create a free account.

If you don’t know a few of your friends’ email addresses, you can invite them with their smartphone numbers. They’ll receive a text message link to join.

When friends click on your email invitation, they’ll see a Join the meeting now link, which can be opened in any of the four most popular web browsers: Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox. Or if they want to join on their smartphones, they’ll be directed to download the Teams app from the Apple App or Google Play store based on the phone they’re using.

On privacy. End-to-end encryption is available in Teams meetings for an additional cost and has to be turned on before a meeting starts. But Microsoft says it uses other safeguards to ensure Teams’ privacy, including encrypting data as it is being transmitted, guarding against eavesdropping and storing any data in its own centers when retaining it is necessary. 

5. Zoom’s ease of use wins over many chat fans

Zoom, which became a star during the pandemic, has evolved from a business-centric tool to a consumer video chatting platform.

It’s easy to use, works with virtually all devices and the free version allows up to 100 video participants on one call. You can record the video call to watch later or share your screen if you want to allow other participants to see what’s on your device, such as a video or photo.

The free version will stop your meeting at 40 minutes. You can leave a chat and start anew to get an additional 40 minutes free.

On privacy. End-to-end encryption has to be turned on, and some features, such as the ability to dial into a meeting, won’t be available. But the security feature is possible when all participants are using the Zoom app. 

This story, originally published June 29, 2020, was updated to include changes in the apps and their popularity among users.