WhatsApp-Google Duo-Facebook Messenger-Choose The Best Video Calling App

With the increase in number of smartphones and increased telecom bandwidth in India, people are exploring video calling apart from the normal day to day calls with their dear ones. The voice calls are still a first choice for many and is hardly to be replaced by video calls, but that doesn’t mean video calls are a dud.

Most promising video calling apps are available for android and iOS users but the most popular apps in India that come with video calling feature are WhatsApp, Google Duo, and Facebook Messenger.

Let’s take a look of features these video calling apps are offering and comparing them as well that which one suits best in the field of speed and size.

1. WhatsApp Messenger

WhatsApp is undoubtedly the most popular messaging app. Currently it has over 200 million monthly active users in India only. The Facebook-owned app introduced the video calling feature in 2016.

During WhatsApp video calling, user can switch the cameras between the front and rear – the video being captured by your camera will be at the bottom right in a small rectangular widget that can be tapped to make full screen. You also see mute button, and a disable video call button, in addition to the end call button. In case you’re on a voice call on WhatsApp, you will now be able to switch to a video call by tapping a button in the call interface in the latest WhatsApp version for Android and iOS.

2. Google Duo

Google has several video calling apps such as Hangouts, however at the I/O conference in 2016, Google realized to focus more on messaging and calling apps. It launched the Google Allo and Google Duo apps at the conference.

Google Duo is comparatively simpler than WhatsApp since it doesn’t support textual messaging. It comes with voice and video calls only.

The Google Duo has an interesting feature called Knock Knock that lets the person who you are calling see your video before the call is answered. The app was recently updated with a fresh contact list and a recent list.

3. Facebook Messenger

Facebook Messenger was initially launched as one of the suite of apps from the social media giant. Facebook launched its Messenger independent of your Facebook profile however you can use Messenger with your Facebook account as well.

Alternatively you can sign up with your mobile number without having to create a Facebook profile if you don’t wish to.

If to think about which app is better, we can say Facebook Messenger has a lot more features than WhatsApp and Google Duo like lot of stickers, games, automated responses from brand pages, and chatbots, separate tab where your voice and video calls are saved, group calling, better interface, the video call screen has mute, video chat off and end call option.

Apart from above , there are two buttons Chat and Camera. Tapping on chat icon will bring you the chat screen while your video call is still running in a Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode.

WeChat, a Chinese multimedia messaging app recently crossed 1 Billion download which is also offering load of features.

Image credit- Canva