GAVI — Night Vision Video Chat
Make video calls in the dark
Free (IAPs) From Americos Technologies, gaviapp.com
Made for iPhone, iPod touch Needs iOS 11.0 or later
Video calls are great for keeping in touch with friends and family while traveling (or under quarantine), but nothing spoils the fun faster than not being able to see who you’re talking to in a dimly lit room. GAVI is designed to shed some light on the subject — literally.
When you tap on the flash icon during a video call, GAVI ingeniously adds a white border around the edges to help illuminate your face in a darkened room. Although the developer says calls can be made in total darkness, the iPhone has to be held reasonably close to a subject’s face or the light won’t be strong enough.
To get started, sign up with your mobile number (no password required), then authorize the app to import your contacts. GAVI can only perform its magic when both callers are using the app, so without access to this information you won’t be able to place calls or send in–app text messages.
Contacts must be invited to install and sign up for GAVI, but once they do the only way to find your friends is by searching for them — there’s no way to save a list of favorites. It’s all rather cumbersome, and worse yet, gets expensive pretty quickly. Although free to download, GAVI includes only five minutes of video calling — after that you’ll have to pay a recurring subscription, starting at $1 per month for an hour of talk time. (10 hours for $8/month and 30 hours for $10/month are also available).
THE BOTTOM LINE. A neat idea, but it’s cheaper to turn some lights on. JR BOOKWALTER
OKAY