ALSO CONSIDER...

CLOSE RUNNERS UP THAT MIGHT CATER TO YOUR SPECIFIC SITUATION A LITTLE BETTER.

ZELLO PROUD OF ITS ENCRYPTION. Free | zello.com Calling itself a walkie-talkie app, Zello is a great app for many different occasions. If you need to set up a chat between just yourself and a friend, or your whole social circle, Zello can help. It can even replace the need for two-way radios in a work situation (you know, like a regular phone).

VIBER CONNECT FROM ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. Free with IAP | www.viber.com

This cross-platform app (yes, even catering to the handful of Windows Phone users out there) allows you to connect from anywhere in the world and in any way you can think of. Providing you with audio and video calls, as well as voice messaging and texting, you can also express yourself with GIFs, emoji, stickers and more.

HEYTELL CONNECT YOUR FRIENDS. Free with IAP heytell.com/front.html

While definitely not one of the most attractivelooking apps around, the simplicity with which HeyTell does its job warrants a nod here. Set up your contacts by entering either a phone number or email address, hit the big orange ‘hold to speak’ button and away you go. It’s rather Spartan, though, so don’t expect it to offer a transcription service or anything...

MESSAGES FOR THE IPHONE USERS ONLY. Free tinyurl.com/tla72-messages

Often activated by accident, many iPhone users would be aware of the voice messaging feature embedded into Messages. The little microphone icon sits next to the text field in the app, and starting a message is as simple as tap-andholding the icon for as long as you need. The fact that this feature comes with Messages — an app you’re probably using already anyway — means there’s no setup involved or faffing around with contacts. Plus, without the requirement of a separate app, you don’t need to get your friends to download anything!