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Group meeting apps allow colleagues, customers, and friends to stay connected without traveling to see each other. From quick voice calls to video meetings, group meeting apps facilitate all forms of group communication.
As remote teams become the norm, communication tools like video conferencing solutions and online meetings will shape the way you stay in touch. Full of advanced features like screen sharing and high-quality video and audio conferencing, meeting applications provide more than audio calls.
But, with such variety in the group meeting applications available, finding the right one can be a challenge.
What apps can you group call on?
For conference calling on your cell phone, you can turn a standard phone call into a conference call. This allows voice calls to be upgraded from two-way conversations to multi-party conversations.
Video and audio are available through some group chat apps. You can split conferencing apps into two categories, according to usage: consumer and business.
Consumer
- Skype
- FaceTime
- Facebook Messenger
- WhatsApp Web Messenger
- HouseParty
- Marco Polo
- Discord
Business
- RingCentral Video by RingCentral
- Slack
- Microsoft Teams
- Workplace by Facebook
- Flock
- Chatwork
These consumer audio and video call app options are best suited for group calling in a consumer world. All available as free options, these group meeting spaces are great for talking to friends and family.
While they do include conferencing features like instant messages, they lack sought-after business features like recording functionality and meeting scheduling. For example, you can start a meeting on the fly, but you can’t send an invite ahead of time.
For business use, web conferencing apps, like RingCentral Video, are more suitable. Audio and video is just the start. With conferencing features like file sharing and screen sharing, you can do far more than voice calls with a business meeting app.
Features that set business apps apart from consumer apps include:
- Up to 200 meeting participants
- HD video conferences
- Available as a desktop app, or for mobile and tablet
- Secure meeting space
- Meeting scheduling app
- Unlimited audio conferencing
- Desktop and application sharing
- Integrations with other business apps
- Calendar integrations for Outlook, Google, and more
- Basic reporting
- 24/7 phone support
- Inclusive toll-free minutes
Which app is best for group video calling?
Choosing the best group calling app is a bit like buying a car. Everyone has different needs and different budgets.
Some consumer apps offer group video calling and work fine. But, these are subject to time limits and minimal features.
When selecting a free conference call app, meeting limits will always apply. Examples of meeting limits applied by free conference call service providers include:
- Time restrictions (30 or 40 minutes meetings tend to be free)
- Lack of reporting
- Limited meeting recording functionality
- Support during office hours only
- No guaranteed availability SLA
- Lack of reporting and analytics
If these aren’t applicable to your needs, a free consumer app could be all you need.
For business use, we’d recommend actual business conferencing software. For remote teams, advanced features like screen sharing and file sharing are a crucial part of the video meetings experience:
In this case, you might need to do a little homework to find the best group video calling app. Or it might already exist in communication tools you use. For example, collaboration tools like RingCentral Video by RingCentral offer video conferencing included as part of its business team collaboration tools. You can host web conferences direct from your desktop app or mobile device.
By choosing the right business meetings tool, you’ll cover all bases and make sure you’re using the best video group calling app for your business. Everybody can interact through their apps for teams and external users can join just by clicking a meeting link.
What is the best free online meeting tool?
You can get free options of the best online meeting tools, even those designed for businesses.
Although, you’ll probably have to upgrade to business meeting software to benefit from a more advanced web conferencing tool. But, it can also be helpful to use the free tier to get used to the features that differ from consumer apps.
Most web conferencing software facilitates conference calling. The best support audio conferencing and video conferencing. In RingCentral’s free web conferencing software, you can access all these features:
- Video conference calls
- Unlimited 1:1 calls
- Screen sharing
- File sharing
- Annotations
- Cloud recording
- Integration with Outlook and Google Calendar
- Join meetings from computers, mobile, telephone, and room systems
The best free video conferencing app is the one that ticks the most boxes your business needs. You won’t always need to turn on your video. For example, if you need to check in with a group of people for a quick call. In this case, video conferencing apps have the added benefit of being flexible in terms of meeting type. You can host audio calls, video chats, or instant messages when scheduling a group meeting.
Remember, some free video conferencing solutions restrict their usage and features. So, when you're testing out the free options, test as if you were using it in a real-world scenario.
What is the best meeting app?
By 2020, the best meeting apps are cloud meeting apps. You can access these anywhere with the internet or a mobile signal. The conference call app you choose should be available to join via desktop or mobile, as well as laptops and tablets.
Consumer chat apps provide basic video calling, they lack the sophisticated features of a virtual meeting app.
With business meeting apps, you can host a feature-rich virtual meeting from the comfort of your living room or in the boardroom. The best meeting apps also connect to video conference rooms without needing extra equipment.
With conferencing tools like screen sharing and high-quality video, RingCentral provides a consistent meeting experience for meeting participants that join from anywhere. For example, you can join from your mobile while on the train and still see shared screens and annotations.
The best video meeting apps are available with free options to get you used to video chats and other premium features.
To learn more about getting started with RingCentral Video for free, get a demo and see how it works.