Updated Sept 2020
Gone are the times when our jobs were confined to office cubicles and bound by the good old-fashioned nine-to-five working day.
Today, the workplace has no boundaries. Teams are increasingly dispersed across the country and the globe, employees make use of flexible working hours to strike a better work-life balance, and millions of Americans are learning to embrace remote working as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To keep up with these changes, small businesses must adapt their approach to business communications and ensure that their teams, clients, and vendors can easily stay in touch.
Video conferencing is one of the most powerful tools for enabling teams to stay productive when in-person meetings are out of the question. It keeps collaboration flowing: no matter where they are, your team members can host live meetings, conduct virtual presentations, arrange brainstorming sessions, and have impromptu one-on-one discussions with their peers. No other technology comes quite as close to capturing the all-important spark of face-to-face interactions.
When it comes to picking the right video conferencing tool for your business, you’ll need a solution that offers a robust and user-friendly tablet and mobile app. After all, modern-day workers are constantly on the move and have come to expect a consistent user experience across all the devices they use for work.
In this post, we’ll dive into the world of business-centric video conferencing apps for Android. As the most widely used mobile operating system on the planet, and with well over a hundred video conferencing apps listed in the Google Play Store, the wealth of options available on the Android platform can sometimes make it a challenge to find an app that’s truly suited to your needs.
That’s why we’ve created a shortlist of what we deem to be the best Android video conferencing apps on the market right now so you can get a better sense of what’s on offer (no prizes for guessing our top pick!).
What we’ll cover:
- What to look for in a business-focused video conferencing app
- The 7 best business video conferencing apps for Android
Let’s start by looking at the features you should look for picking a video conferencing app for your business.
Shopping for a video conferencing tool? (Or just curious about what to look for?) Grab the free checklist to help you choose the right one for your team or business.
What to look for in a business-focused video conferencing app
Virtually all the top video conferencing solutions on the market come with an accompanying tablet and mobile app for use while on the move. Some of these solutions cater both to consumers and businesses, while others—like RingCentral—have been built exclusively with businesses in mind.
When it comes to business communications tools in general, we think that unified solutions offer customers the best bang for their buck. A tool that gives you video conferencing, phone conferencing, and team messaging all under the same hood can end up being a less expensive alternative to having multiple subscriptions for different tools. What’s more, when a single solution can handle a greater proportion of your communication needs, you’ll save yourself the hassle of having to constantly switch between apps on your smartphone.
In any case, whether you’d prefer a single-function video conferencing app or something with multichannel functionality, there are some basic features you should look for as standard:
- Simplicity: There should be no confusion about how to create a new meeting, invite participants, or join scheduled calls.
- Screen share: You should be able to share your screen or specific items on your device like documents and images with the rest of the meeting
- Markup tools: For the sake of better collaboration, your participants should be able to live-annotate or highlight what’s being shared on screen.
- Recording: It should be easy to record your video meetings and save them for later.
- In-meeting chat: Participants should be able to send each other messages within the virtual meeting room.
- Host controls: Meeting organizers should be able to control participant permissions.
Always make sure to read the reviews. Smaller players may market themselves more heavily on aesthetics and being a David as opposed to a Goliath, but customer reviews don’t lie. Some video conferencing tools aren’t as robust when it comes to the mobile experience, and if your team needs to have meetings on the go from time to time, this is a big point to consider.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the best video conferencing apps on the market right now:
7 best business video conferencing apps for Android
1. RingCentral
The RingCentral app for mobile offers a unified solution for on-the-go team communication, bringing together HD-quality video calling, phone, team messaging, file sharing, and task management into one easy-to-navigate workspace.
You can access video conferencing by simply clicking on the “Video” icon once you’ve logged into the app:
Here you’ll find the option to either instantly launch your own video meeting, schedule one for a later time and date, or join someone else’s by entering a unique Meeting ID. When you join a meeting, you can choose to connect your audio with either your smartphone data/Wi-Fi connection or mobile carrier minutes.
The app’s “Schedule” feature lets you create and send invites for upcoming meetings and quickly join meetings that are already in your diary. When creating invites, you can specify your meeting options, such as whether the video will be turned on or off when participants join, whether participants can join before the host turns up, and whether, for added security, the meeting will require a password before joining.
RingCentral is a PCMag’s Editors’ Choice Award winner because of its reliable service and easy-to-use app (among other reasons)!
You can sync your phone’s calendar with the app to automatically display your scheduled meetings alongside your other calendar items and also set custom notifications to alert yourself whenever a scheduled video meeting is coming up.
When in a meeting room, you can easily mute/unmute yourself, enable/disable video, share your screen, annotate shared documents and images, and initiate a private or public chat with other meeting participants:
The app also gives hosts a range of in-meeting control features. For example, as the host, you’ll be able to mute/unmute everyone, lock the meeting to prevent anyone else from joining, and disable your attendees’ ability to annotate what’s on the screen.
On top of these core video conferencing features, the RingCentral app has some other useful highlights. For example, if you’re half-way through a video meeting on your desktop but need to travel somewhere else, you can seamlessly switch your meeting from desktop to mobile (or vice versa) instead of disconnecting and cutting the conversation short.
Best Android video conferencing app if you need…
Rock-solid video functionality that comes with other communication options built in, like phone calls, team messaging, screen sharing, and more.
🕹️ Get a hands-on look at how RingCentral works by booking a product tour:
💰 You can also use this calculator to see roughly how much your business could save by using RingCentral to support your team’s communication with each other—and clients.
2. Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a multi-purpose team productivity app, combining team messaging, HD audio and video calls, and a host of task management tools like to-do lists and calendars.
The app provides all the basic features you’d expect from a good video conferencing solution and lets you pinch the screen to zoom in whenever someone’s sharing a document:
The in-app search function makes it easy to find images, documents, and spreadsheets from previous team conversations. You can also access cloud storage directly through the app, making on-the-go file sharing and editing a breeze.
Microsoft puts a strong emphasis on the fact that the Teams app isn’t just for work—it’s about helping you organize your whole life. For example, the app lets you separate your work and personal calendars, share your location with colleagues and family so they know where you are, and store confidential information like passwords and logins using the app’s “Safe” feature.
Microsoft Teams has recently rolled out some new features to help frontline workers stay in touch. One example is “Walkie Talkie,” which helps you reduce the number of devices you have to carry by transforming your smartphone into a simple press-to-talk walkie-talkie:
Best Android video conferencing app if you need…
A single app to organize work and personal life. You will need a Microsoft 365 subscription though.
3. Google Meet
Available for all Google Workspace customers, Google Meet offers secure video calls for up to 250 participants for businesses and educational organizations.
All the essential video conferencing features are included, such as in-meeting chat, screen sharing, and call recording. All your recordings are automatically saved to Google Drive:
Inviting people from both inside and outside of your company is easy. You simply send them a meeting link, and they can either join with one click via their web browser or from within the Google Meet app itself.
For situations in which you want to broadcast to a very large audience, you can use the view-only mode that lets up to 100,000 viewers tune into the event.
A clear benefit of Google Meet is its full integration with the rest of Google Workspace, which means Google users can join meetings directly from their Google Calendar and access files in Google Drive without ever leaving the call. All meetings are encrypted in transit and are protected by an array of counter-abuse measures to prevent people from hijacking your calls.
A standout feature of this app is the real-time closed captions function, powered by Google’s own speech-to-text technology. This feature ensures that you can follow along with the meeting discussion even without audio.
Best Android video conferencing app if you need…
Video conferencing only and are already a Google Workspace business subscriber.
4. Cisco Webex Meetings
Cisco Webex Meetings powers more than 25 billion meetings, events, and virtual training sessions every month.
The app provides high-quality audio and video conferencing for up to 200 participants and offers all the essential video conferencing features like in-meeting chat, screen sharing, meeting recording, and content annotation functionality:
Cisco Webex account holders can schedule meetings directly within the app. Participants can join by simply tapping the link in their calendar or email invitation, but invitees that don’t install the app will only be able to join the meeting audio.
Webex Meetings also has a “People Insights” feature that lets you learn more about your participants during a meeting. These profiles provide information about things like the participant’s title, work history, and who they report to.
If you’re a big Google user, the app lets you use voice-commands through Google Assistant to organize notes and follow up with meeting attendees without using your hands:
Another useful feature lets you change your video background to make it easier for other participants to focus on you during meetings. Your device must have Android 8.0 or later and at least eight cores for this feature to work.
Best Android video conferencing app if you need…
A slick and feature-rich solution and have the hardware to get the most out of it.
5. GoToMeeting
GoToMeeting is a mobile meeting app providing screen sharing, meeting scheduling, in-meeting chat, and cloud recordings.
The latest update to the app gives you a six-screen camera view when nobody is sharing their screen. You cannot currently switch from this six-screen view to having just the active speaker on screen, but this capability is expected to be rolled out soon. As the host, you can easily hand over screen-sharing controls to other meeting attendees so they can walk through documents, reports, and slides with the rest of the group.
Calendar sync lets you join a meeting with a single tap. Creating a meeting invite within the app is also straightforward, but the Android version doesn’t let you set up a password-protected meeting.
One of the app’s most unique features is the “Commuter Mode”, which can save up to 90% of your cellular data by disabling screen and video sharing and leaving you with just a mute/unmute button:
Best Android video conferencing app if you need…
A sturdy solution with an intuitive user interface and no more than six video streams at a time.
6. Join.me
Join.me is another tool that focuses purely on video and audio conferencing and allows for up to 10 participants on video meetings.
As with all the other apps in this list, Join.me includes basic video conferencing features like screen sharing, in-meeting chat, meeting recording, and an in-app meeting scheduler:
The app also comes with some basic customization options, such as the ability to change your background image.
Host controls include the ability to lock your meeting and to hand over the presentation controls to another participant. You can also zoom in on shared screens to make sure you don’t miss any presentation details.
Best Android video conferencing app if you need…
A lightweight video conferencing tool equipped with the bare essentials. Best suited for teams of 10 people or fewer.
7. Zoho Meeting
Zoho Meeting lets you host or attend video meetings of up to 100 participants. The Android app comes equipped with cloud recording, in-meeting chat, meeting scheduling, and a soon-to-be-unveiled screen-sharing option. Creating a meeting is easy, and you can send participants the meeting link or key using your device’s messaging app:
Once you’ve signed in to the app, you can launch an instant video call, schedule an online conference, and view a list of all your upcoming meetings.
The Zoho Meeting app also lets you attend webinars in listen and view-only mode and lets you participate in live polls and Q&A sessions as well as allowing you to use a hand-raising feature for when you want to ask the presenter a question (subject to the webinar organizer’s approval).
Best Android video conferencing app if you need…
A tool that can host large groups without screen sharing functionality (for the time being).
Ready to pick a video conferencing app for Android?
Selecting a suitable video conferencing app to use across your team’s Android devices can be a pretty research-intensive activity given all the options out there.
As we’ve seen, there are some key features you should expect to get from any video conferencing app worth its salt, such as basic host and participant controls, recording capabilities, and calendar integration. Whether any additional features and functionalities are necessary will depend on your specific team requirements.
But if you’re looking for a clean and intuitive solution that has the benefit of integrating multiple communication channels into one beautiful app, why not download the RingCentral Android app and give it a try?
Originally published Sep 30, 2020, updated Jan 30, 2023
