It’s another day to be fascinated by the significant power of technology. During these hard times of COVID-19, we moved into new ways to make sure that we are able to have video call with either our loved one, or just for office meetings with our colleagues. 

Today as we keep talking about tech as usual, I am going to introduce to you all the apps that are going to make your video call EASY! Let’s do this! 

1. ZOOM

Zoom Cloud Meetings is a proprietary video teleconferencing software program developed by Zoom Video Communications. The free plan allows up to 100 concurrent participants, with a 40-minute time restriction. Users have the option to upgrade by subscribing to a paid plan. 

 Zoom was originally founded in 2011. A beta version of Zoom, which could host conferences with up to 15 video participants, was launched on August 21, 2012. On January 25, 2013, version 1.0 of the program was released with an increase in the number of participants per conference to 25. By the end of its first month, Zoom had 400,000 users, which rose to 1 million by May 2013. After the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, by February 2020, Zoom had gained 2.22 million users in 2020 – more users than it amassed in the entirety of 2019 with the company's share price spiking by 35 percent.On one day in March 2020, the Zoom app was downloaded 2.13 million times. In April 2020, Zoom had more than 300 million daily meeting participants.On August 24, 2020, Zoom experienced widespread outages for several hours before service was restored. Its headquarters are located in San Jose, California. Zoom also has offices in Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Zoom is compatible with Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, and Linux. It is noted for its simple interface and usability, regardless of technological expertise. Features include one-on-one meetings, group video conferences, screen sharing, plugins, browser extensions, and the ability to record meetings and have them automatically transcribed. On some computers and operating systems, users are able to select a virtual background, which can be downloaded from different sites, to use as a backdrop behind themselves.

Use of the platform is free for video conferences of up to 100 participants at once, with a 40-minute time limit if there are more than two participants. 

2. SKYPE

Skype is a proprietary telecommunications application that specializes in providing VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, debit-based calls to landline and mobile telephones, and other features.

First released in August 2003, Skype was the creation of Niklas Zennströmand Janus Friis, in cooperation with four Estonian developers. In September 2005, eBay acquired Skype for $2.6 billion. In September 2009, Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board announced the acquisition of 65% of Skype for $1.9 billion from eBay, which attributed to the enterprise a market value of $2.92 billion. Microsoft bought Skype in May 2011 for $8.5 billion, replacing their Windows Live Messenger with it. As of 2011, most of the development team and 44% of all the division's employees are still situated in Tallinn and Tartu, Estonia

Skype was founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennström, from Sweden, and Janus Friis, from Denmark. The Skype software was created by Estonians Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, Jaan Tallinn, and Toivo Annus. Friis and Annus are credited with the idea of reducing the cost of voice calls by using a P2P protocol like that of Kazaa. An early alpha version was created and tested in spring 2003, and the first public

On 17 June 2013, Skype released a free video messaging service, which can be operated on Windows, Mac OS, iOS, iPadOS, Android, and BlackBerry.

Between 2017 and 2020, Skype collaborated with PayPal to provide a money-send feature. It allowed users to transfer funds via the Skype mobile app in the middle of a conversation.

In 2019, Skype was announced to be the sixth most downloaded mobile app of the decade, from 2010 to 2019.

3. FACETIME

FaceTime is a proprietary videotelephony product developed by Apple Inc. FaceTime is available on supported iOS mobile devices running iOS 4 and later and Mac computers that run Mac OS X 10.6.6 and later.

Apple bought the "FaceTime" name from FaceTime Communications, which changed its name to Actiance in January 2011. On June 7, 2010, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced FaceTime in conjunction with the iPhone 4 in a keynote speech at the 2010 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference.

In May 2011, it was found that FaceTime would work seamlessly over 3G on all iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch models that supported it. Even though FaceTime worked only over 3G at that time, it now supports 4G LTE calls on networks all over the world, availability being limited to operators' GSM plans.

In 2018, Apple added group video and audio support to FaceTime which can support up to 32 people in iOS 12 and macOS Mojave.

On June 7, 2021, during Apple's WWDC Keynote, it was announced that FaceTime will be made available for Android and Windows users via the web. A new feature called SharePlay was announced for FaceTime on iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Montereyat the same event.