We all love getting friends and family in one place for regular catch ups. And because with Skype, group video calling is available to everyone free on their mobile devices, tablets and computers, it’s easier than ever.

Advertisement For a long time, Skype was the world leader when it came to VoIP apps. It was so popular, in fact, that “Skyping” became a verb. But with so many complaints of low quality calls, too many crashes, and a general distrust of Microsoft, for many, Skype lost its appeal, despite Skype has a new version for the iPhone, redesigned from the ground up and packed with features. Skype 5.0 for iPhone looks and feels like the Android and Windows Phone apps, yet customized to fit.

Since Skype’s heyday, however, many other apps have launched that enable you to call others from your devices. If you’re fed up with Skype then, you might want to try these alternatives. For something much simpler than Skype, a service like Appear.in might be for you. If you want something with even more features, try out Viber. And then there are all the options in between. (Web, Android, iOS) A direct competitor to Skype, offering free user-to-user calls and (mostly) free calls within the U.S.

Since its launch just a few short years ago, Google Hangouts has rapidly grown to rival Skype in terms of user numbers while, according to many, surpassing Skype’s call quality. While you could use Hangouts as just another messaging app, that’s the last thing we need. It’s first-and-foremost a way for you to voice and video call up to 10 contacts (simultaneously) on,. The For the longest time, Hangouts on desktop was a nightmare. Now, it has got a major update on the web in the form of an all new dedicated web app.

Is pretty impressive, too. On your smartphone, this works over data (or Wi-Fi if you’re connected), so calls over Hangouts do not use any of your included minutes. The contacts that Google Hangouts adds to your account can be both from your phone contacts, and your email contacts. If those contacts are Google Hangout users, you can call them entirely for free.

You can call landlines and mobiles from Hangouts, too. Almost are entirely free from any country where Hangouts is available. To make other calls though, you’ll have to add some credit to your account., and pay a relatively. (Web, iOS) One of the easiest ways to start a voice or video call. No sign ups, no downloads. If you want an incredibly Simply put, it is now possible to integrate Appear.in within your own website and blog. But why should you care?, Appear.in is what you’re looking for.

How to retrieve computer name in excel vba 2011 for mac. You don’t need to sign up to anything. You don’t even need to download anything!

There is an app, though, if you’re interested. Simply create a “Room” link, and share that link with whoever you want to chat with (up to eight people). When a recipient clicks the link, the room will open in their browser (this works on mobile, too). You can choose to either have a voice or video call, and you can also share your screen. And if you’re worried about privacy, you can “lock” your call to prevent anyone else from joining if they somehow found your unique link. (Web, Android, iOS, Windows, Mac) Like WhatsApp, you can make domestic and international calls too.

Like a lovechild between WhatsApp and Skype, ooVoo is a free cross platform (, iOS, Windows, ) app that allows free calls to other ooVoo users, and paid calls to landlines and mobiles. It’s group video calls are of particularly high quality, which is the main reason it’s included in this list. If you start a Web-Based ooVoo chat, up to 12 people can join for free, without signing up or downloading anything. All you have to do is send them a unique link. All calls can be recorded, and screens can be shared.

It’s unlikely many of your contacts use the app, but if they do, it also doubles up as a messaging app, where you can record and send text messages and videos. It’s basically like, but also allows calls to landlines and web-based calls to non-users. Offers free calls and chats between users. Also, includes games, public chats, and calls to mobiles and landlines. If you make a lot of There's no reason to spend a dime on roaming fees.

Yet, I constantly hear about people forking over their hard-earned money to talk with friends or family while traveling abroad., Viber is a massively popular ad-free option, available on most platforms including the desktop (on Mac and Linux, too). Viber offers free text chat, voice and video calls to anyone else who uses the app (which currently has over 800m users). Each call can hold up to 40 people. Other domestic and international calls are charged at a very affordable rate, starting at just over $0.01 per minute. As well as voice and video calls, you can also send documents and text, image, and video messages via the app. All messages are encrypted.

To differentiate Viber from other options, it also has a decent selection of games so you can challenge your friends to a duel. There are also a range of public chats you can join to keep in contact with your favorite brands and topics. (Web, iOS) Like Appear.In, an extremely easy way to host a group video chat. No download required. Just like Appear.in, Talky sells itself as “a truly simple video chat [with] screen sharing for groups”.