Video chat apps were once considered the best option for connecting with family and friends thousands of miles apart. However, they have become more relevant in recent times when staying indoors has become a norm. App developers used this opportunity to create the following best video chat apps of 2021 with the most versatile experience.

Zoom
The video chat app has become synonymous with online lectures and conference meetings when the covid-19 outbreak forced the world to go under lockdown. Zoom is a high-quality video chatting app that can be used online or downloaded for free on almost every platform. You can connect with up to 100 users, which is ideal for conducting lectures and office meetings. Although its paid version offers unlimited video-calling, its free version offers a time-limit of 40 minutes, post which you need to reconnect to a new session. Other features include virtual background, collaboration tools, and record meetings.

Facebook Messenger
Facebook, one of the widely used social media platforms, added a video calling feature to its Messenger app back in 2015. Its video calling feature allows connecting to at least 50 other users. Available on Android iOS, Windows, and Mac platforms, it enables you to set instant meetings or schedule them in advance. However, it lacks business-friendly features like screen presentation and other collaboration tools, essential for online lectures and business meetings. It’s one of the best video chat apps of 2021.

Discord
If you are an avid gamer or a programmer, you may have come across this video chat app. Discord is commonly used by people to connect with common interests and professions. The video chat application allows creating individual servers similar to online gaming. The only difference being, Discord also allows its users to connect via video. It’s one of the best video chat apps of 2021, typically for technical reasons. While initially, they allowed only 10 people to connect in a session, they increased it to 50 at the beginning of 2020. Discord is available for download on almost every platform, including Android, Windows, iOS, Mac, Linux, and Ubuntu.

Skype
Skype is one of the oldest video-calling apps, developed solely for desktop systems back in the early 2000s. They later expanded their services to smartphones and even gaming consoles like Xbox. It allows you to connect to 100 users and has other features like file sharing and screen presentation. One of the exciting features of skype video calling is using live captions and subtitles during audio or video calls. Skype can be used as a web application or can be downloaded for free on every major platform.

Facetime
Facetime, available exclusively on iPhones, is one of the best apps for seamless video calling. Although it is not versatile as other video chat apps like Zoom and Facebook Messenger, Facetime offers uninterrupted video calling due to its powerful servers. You can connect to 32 other users on a single Facetime session.

Google Duo
The video chat application allowed only one-to-one calling when it was released in 2016. Google Duo was probably launched to compete with Facetime, as it is solely dedicated to video calling and does not have any additional features. Like Facetime, Google Duo also allows connecting to 32 users. “Knock Knock” is one of its key features, which acts as a digital peephole, allowing the user to see the caller in real-time before they can answer. Google Duo is available as a web application and can also be downloaded for free both on Android and iOS devices.