The best video chat apps of 2026

WhatsApp is the safest bet when you want to call a group and have no idea what phones everyone uses. It works the same on iPhone and Android, and many people already use it for messages, so there is a good chance nobody on the call has to install anything new.

Group calls take up to 32 people, and WhatsApp puts no time limit on them, which matters for a long Sunday call with grandparents or a weekly catch-up that runs over. Calls are encrypted end to end, so only the people on the call can hear and see it. You can share your screen from a phone, tablet or laptop through the More Options menu during a call, handy for walking a parent through a settings screen.

You are not stuck on a small phone screen either. WhatsApp has apps for Mac, Windows and iPad, and you can make and answer calls from WhatsApp Web in a browser.

Calls are free. The only cost is data, so if you call over a mobile network instead of Wi-Fi, your carrier may charge for it. The main limit is size: a family reunion or a class of 40 will not fit, and LINE or Zoom handle bigger groups.

FaceTime is Apple's own calling app, and if everyone you call has an iPhone, iPad or Mac, it is the easiest choice on this list. You sign in with your Apple Account, and calling someone works like a phone call: tap their name and they ring.

Group FaceTime takes up to 32 people. SharePlay lets everyone on the call watch a show from the Apple TV app or listen to the same album in Apple Music at the same time, with shared play and pause controls, though each person needs their own subscription or purchase to watch or listen. You can also share your screen, add live captions and move a call from your iPhone to your Mac without hanging up.

Friends on Android or Windows are not left out entirely. You can send them a FaceTime link, and they join in a browser such as the latest Chrome or Edge, without logging in. They cannot start a FaceTime call themselves, so someone with an Apple device has to set it up and share the link.

Apple notes that Group FaceTime may not be available in every country or region, so check before you rely on it for a call with relatives abroad.

Google Meet is the easiest way to get a mixed group onto one call. Anyone with a Google Account can start a meeting and send a link, and guests join from Chrome, Firefox, Edge or Safari on a computer, or from the Meet or Gmail app on a phone.

The free version allows up to 100 people. Group calls with three or more people end after 60 minutes, and Meet warns everyone with a chime at the 50-minute mark. One-to-one calls on a computer can run up to 24 hours, so a long chat with one friend is fine.

Paid Google One and Google Workspace plans lift the limits: group calls up to 24 hours, up to 1,000 people on the top plans, recordings and transcripts, polls, breakout rooms and AI noise reduction. Gemini in Meet can take notes for you on plans that include it.

The 60-minute cap is the thing to plan around. A book club or family quiz night that runs long will get cut off, so either start a second meeting or pick WhatsApp or Zoom Pro.

Zoom is the name most people know from work, and it is the right choice when you host calls that run long or need to look organized: a weekly online class, a club meeting, a call with a client. Guests join from a link you send them.

The free Basic plan allows 100 people for up to 40 minutes per meeting, which is the shortest free limit on this list. That is fine for a quick check-in and too short for most family calls.

Pro is where Zoom earns its place. It costs $16.99 a user a month, or $14.16 a month billed yearly, and lets meetings run up to 30 hours with 100 people. Business, at $21.99 a month or $18.33 billed yearly, adds features for companies.

If all you want is to see your family on a Sunday, WhatsApp will be simpler, and its group calls have no time limit.

Microsoft Teams (free) is where Microsoft sent everyone when it retired Skype on May 5, 2025. If you still have a Skype account, you can sign in to Teams with the same details, and your Skype contacts and chats carry over, which makes it the shortest path back to the people you used to call on Skype.

The free version runs meetings of up to 60 minutes. You can share a meeting link with anyone on any device, share your screen, and turn on live captions in more than 40 languages, which helps relatives who are hard of hearing or calling in a second language. Recording calls and the Copilot AI features are paid extras.

Teams Free is less natural for casual calls than WhatsApp or FaceTime, since it grew out of Microsoft's workplace app and carries some of that weight. It makes sense if you already have a Microsoft account, if your contacts lived in Skype, or if you want live captions on a group call without paying.

Signal is the app to choose when privacy comes first. It is run by an independent nonprofit funded by grants and donations rather than by a large tech company. Messages and calls are encrypted end to end, and Signal says it cannot listen to your calls.

Voice and video calls are free with no long-distance charges, one to one or in a group. You can use Signal on Android, iPhone and iPad, and on Windows, Mac and Linux computers.

The drawback for most people is that the other person needs Signal too, and fewer of your friends will have it than WhatsApp. Signal's own site does not state a group call size, so test a large call before you plan around it. For a journalist talking to a source, a lawyer calling a client or anyone who would rather not hand their call history to a big tech company, that extra step is worth it.

LINE is a messaging app whose group calls are far larger than anything else here: up to 500 people can join a voice or video call. That makes it worth knowing about for a school reunion, a big family group or a community chat that has outgrown WhatsApp's 32.

On a phone, up to six people appear on screen at once, and you swipe to see the others or double-tap a friend to make their video full screen. Calls start from a group chat with the phone icon, and you can choose video or voice before you join. LINE runs on iPhone, Android and iPad, with desktop apps for Windows and Mac, though calls are not available on the LINE for Chrome browser version.

Calls are free, and LINE recommends a flat-rate data plan because calls over a mobile network use your data. The drawback is reach. Everyone on the call needs LINE and needs to be in the group chat, so it works best where your circle already uses it.

Messenger is Meta's chat app, and its main advantage is your contact list. If you know someone through Facebook but have never swapped phone numbers, a school friend or a cousin abroad, Messenger lets you call them anyway, one to one or in a group video call.

The app is free, with optional paid avatar items. Beyond calls, you can send files up to 100 MB, such as Word, PDF and Excel documents, and choose chats encrypted end to end that disappear a set time after they are read.

Meta's App Store listing does not give a group call size, so for a big call WhatsApp's 32 or LINE's 500 are the known quantities. Messenger also ties you to Facebook's world, which some relatives will welcome and others will refuse. Use it for the people you only know through Facebook, and keep your main family calls on WhatsApp or FaceTime, where the group limits are published.