Battle ensues among tech’s top guns over best video chat app.
To Zoom, or not to Zoom? That is the question.
Zoom videoconferencing’s Brady Bunch grid of faces has become synonymous with working, learning and even partying from home during the coronavirus pandemic. But the world’s new favorite app stumbled when hackers figured out how to bust into private conversations. Week after week after week, security and privacy researchers found more holes in Zoom’s protections.
Now tech’s big guns are trying to replace it. Facebook has rolled out Messenger Rooms; Google made a free version of Meet, its service built for businesses; and don’t count out Apple’s FaceTime, Epic Games’ growing Houseparty and Microsoft’s old faithful Skype.
So we decided it’s time for a video faceoff.
We looked for the single best video chat app to bridge all aspects of our shelter-in-place existence, rather than workfocused systems (which are probably chosen by somebody else, anyways). We ran all six on problematic WiFi networks, graded clarity with an old-fashioned eye chart and tested with people who have different tolerances for learning new software.
Now it’s time to name some winners, which we dubbed the Chatty Awards. Our testing found some apps excelled in particular areas — so we’re giving out awards for technical categories that might matter to you, such as best picture quality, special effects and security.
Best video quality: Skype
No video chat app looked great every time, but one had clear video more often than the others: Skype. The app that helped create the idea of video chats with grandparents is still in the game.
A close runner-up was Zoom, which uses software smarts to up (or down) scale when needed. For example, it sends over an HD image when someone is looking at you in full screen mode.
Best special effects: Facebook Rooms
Sure, Zoom lets you insert yourself into a virtual background or clear up some wrinkles, but that’s nothing compared to the world of augmented-reality special effects.
Facebook Rooms come knocking with the best selection of filters that move with your face (a dog that is also a hat, goth makeup), immersive 360-degree backgrounds (fall into a ballpit, or a black hole) and physical games like competitive burger eating, where virtual burgers fly around that you grab with your mouth. Just note, they’re only available on Facebook’s mobile apps, not on the Web version of Rooms.
Best privacy and security: Apple FaceTime
Most of the security pros we spoke with said FaceTime was their go-to of our mainstream options. The problem is, of course, it only works if everyone you need to speak with also has Apple devices.
Group video calls of up to 32 people using FaceTime meet the gold standard of security with end-to-end encryption. That means they can’t be seen or heard by anyone else who might try to intercept them.
Best for a party: Houseparty
It says it right there in the name. Houseparty, which Fortnite maker Epic Games bought last year, is a funky little video chatting app made for having fun and maybe a drink with other people. There’s a desktop computer app, but the mobile version is where the real good times happen, with built-in games to fill in awkward silences and the option to meet new people and split off into separate rooms if you find like-minded friends.
By far the most social of the video chat contenders, Houseparty recently invited celebrity guests to film segments that any group could watch together, such as Idina Menzel flubbing the words to “Frozen” or Zooey Deschanel being Zooey Deschanel.
Best overall video chat app: Zoom
Zoom defines much of what we need from a group video conference. It gives you the simplest way to get up to 49 people together on one screen in happy rows of boxes, regardless of whether they have an account or whether they want to use an iPhone, Windows PC or an oldfashioned landline. Usually, everyone just has to click one link to get in.
And then there’s simplicity. Our families and friends all know how to Zoom. Even after a week, we still can’t quite figure out — or trust — the sharing mechanisms of Facebook’s Rooms. Skype recently added a one-link-to-join option like Zoom, but you can’t use it for a scheduled meeting or put it behind a passcode. Houseparty is fun, but requires too much coordination when you actually want to meet someone at a particular time.
Most importantly: Zoom’s main business is selling video chat software. It’s the only service we tested that you have to pay for after a limited window — $15 per month for calls lasting longer than 40 minutes. But we actually find that reassuring compared to some of its rivals mainly in the advertising and gadget-selling business. We know we sound like a broken record, but remember: If the product is free, that means you’re the product.