

One advantage that Hangouts has over FaceTime is its data latency management. Gmail's native chat apps have had several different identities over the years (including Google+, but let's not talk about that), and the team has refined it a lot during that time.Ĭhat offers simple person-to-person connections on Android as well as iOS. So, not only does Chat work great on every Android phone, but you can also take it to your desktop-even your Linux or Mac desktop. One of the best things about it is that it's cross-platform and linked to your Google ID. With freshly added video and audio calling features, Google Chat on Gmail has replaced (Opens in a new window) Google Hangouts as Google's out-of-the-box FaceTime alternative, and it's a pretty good video-chatting and texting tool. And pour one out for Houseparty, formerly one of the finest and most enjoyable video chat apps (Epic shut it down). For more full-featured tools for businesses, you should check out our roundup of the best video conferencing software. We unreservedly recommend the apps on this list. While it’s easy to just stick with Hangouts, there’s certainly a lot to be gained from experimenting with other Android FaceTime alternatives, depending on what friends, family, and co-workers are using. We took the leading candidates for a test drive to compare them with each other, taking into account price, reliability, restrictions, and features.ĭevelopers are constantly improving the experience, too, so you can expect the apps in this feature to see new services and better stability the longer they’re offered. If you need an Android alternative to FaceTime, you have not one, but several, to choose from.

That’s what’s great about the open marketplace of ideas that is the Google Play store. With an Android phone, though, you can’t. You don’t video chat someone, you FaceTime them. FaceTime, iOS’s native video app, is a solid program that has been polished to a shine, and it’s quickly becoming a generic verb like Xerox. That said, Apple’s experience in mobile software gives the company the edge in a number of areas, and video chatting is one of them. If you’re not an iPhone owner, but still want to get in on the smartphone action, that’s totally okay! There are plenty of great Android phones. How to Set Up Two-Factor Authentication.How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac.How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files.How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill.How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad.How to Block Robotexts and Spam Messages.
