Learn how to communicate with your friends over any OS and everywhere with the best alternatives for FaceTime for Android now.
There is no one could disagree with that the FaceTime application is one of the few things that make iPhone users prouder than they are as they own it.
No matter what you hold in your hands or what the OS you are a fan of, you surely have heard about FaceTime, the most requested iOS-only application from Android users, and one of the most powerful features that you get from having an iPhone instead of an Android phone.
What’s FaceTime?
FaceTime has been officially launched in 2011 as an audio-calling application between Apple devices’ users to communicate with each other, and after a few years, Apple has introduced one of the best video-calling experiences through it.
A small application that has saved a huge amount of money that was spent on phone calls by using the internet connection via Wi-Fi to contact a friend just if you both have iPhones.
This small application was considered to be a quantum leap in communications for users, and a disaster for data providers for two main reasons:
- Providing zero-cost audio and video calls worldwide.
- Providing a higher level of security and privacy than anything else could.
And for these reasons, many countries have blocked it like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Can you get FaceTime for Android?
Unfortunately, the answer is partly no, as you can’t get an application called FaceTime for Android until this moment, but luckily, and with the great evolution for mobile communications, you can now get many alternatives that provide almost all the features you may think about by having the FaceTime App on your phone.
To save you time and money, especially if you are an Android fan who doesn’t like to move into iOS, I will provide you with the best methods and alternatives to get a FaceTime-like App for your Android phone.
All the Apps I’m going to mention in this article is free and available for download via Google Play Store, it may or may not provide the same features you could get from using FaceTime, but they all perform the same as it’s, as they provide you with a free video and audio-calling services with no charges and most of them even doesn’t have any Ads.
Also Read: A Guide to Making The Switch From iPhone to Android
Alternatives to Facetime
Skype – free IM & video calls
The first video-calls and IM application in our list is Microsoft’s Skype, an old but gold video calling application that has great popularity which means you may find it with all your friends by the time you are reading the article.
Skype was first introduced as a Windows OS software and it was competing with Yahoo Messenger! and MSN Messenger, but it was the only one among them who could have stand and fight until now.
The best thing about Skype that it’s available over a wide range of devices and operating systems including Windows OS, Android OS, iOS, Linux and macOS.
Also, Skype doesn’t limit your power by allowing you to contact only someone who uses the same OS as yours, but it offers you a cross-talk feature that can create a communication channel between you and any other one using it by text messages, video calls, and audio-calls.
Get more iOS-like experience by getting iPhone Emojis on Android with no root!
Good for…
- Mostly found in every device for its popularity and availability.
Bad for…
- Calls are not always free.
WhatsApp Messenger
The popular WhatsApp application is also a great alternative for FaceTime for Android phones It was introduced in 2009 and then acquired by Facebook, and as of February 2017, it had more than 1 billion users from all over the world.
In terms of services, WhatsApp offers you a great collection of tools and services like texting, video and audio calling, documents sharing, location sharing, and group chatting and calling too.
In terms of privacy, this one is considered to be the best alternative for FaceTime for Android OS as it has supported end-to-end encryption which makes you and your friend are the only ones who can read your messages and hear your voices with no one else can even the company itself.
The latest feature of WhatsApp is that it’s available for almost every operating system with no restriction in contacting anyone which means that you will be able to talk to your friend who has an iPhone and ask him to call another one via WhatsApp who is using Windows 10 mobile or even Symbian OS.
Good for…
- Free data sharing.
- Available on almost every OS.
- Free text, audio, and video chatting.
- A small amount of data consumed.
- Delete sent messages feature.
Bad for…
- No media saved on the conversation unless downloaded.
Google Duo – High-Quality Video Calls
After long years of trying to provide a true high-quality video calls application, Google has finally managed to do so when Google Due was first-time launched.
Apart from the others, Google Due is the only application that provides you with a feature called Video Preview, which helps you to identify the caller before responding to him so you can protect yourself from hackers.
On the other hand, the worst thing about Google Duo is that it only offers video-calls services without allowing you to text-chat your friends or make an audio-call with them.
Good for…
- Easy-to-use.
- High-Quality video-calls.
- Both cell and Wi-Fi calls.
Bad for…
- No texting nor audio-calls available.
- One-to-one video calls only.
- Requires Gmail account.
Facebook Messenger
This one could be the best option for those who don’t want to consume more space on their phones by downloading an extra application as you may already have it now.
Facebook Messenger is a stand-alone application that allows you to communicate with almost anyone on Facebook, and it offers texting, audio-calling, and video calling too.
It also allows you to share multimedia like photos and videos for free with the ability to keep your media saved on the library of each chat -unlike WhatsApp- to save more storage on your phone.
The best feature of Facebook Messenger is that it’s not only available for every device or OS, but it’s almost installed on every phone as the number of people who don’t have a Facebook account is getting fewer every day.
Good for…
- Simple interface.
- Group chatting.
Bad for…
- Requires registration.
- No document sharing unless you use
- the web-based application.
- Lately, it contains Ads.
- Privacy is not guaranteed.
How To Logout of Facebook Messenger on Android Phones & Tablets
Google Hangouts
If you are a Google fan, and you are looking for a group video-calling application with texting and audio-calling feature, Google Hangouts will be the best choice for you.
This 6-year old application is one of the best places for group chatting along with HD group video chatting with up to 10 users at the same time.
Moreover, you can use Google Hangouts on Android, iOS, Windows OS and any browser using the web-based client.
Good for…
- Group chatting in multiple ways.
- Totally free with no Ads.
Bad for…
- Requires registration.
- Privacy and security are not guaranteed.
JusTalk – Free Video Calls and Fun Video Chat
The latest alternative for FaceTime for Android and the other operating systems in today’s list is JusTalk. A great application with a free voice and video calls along with a text-chatting feature that allows you to make free HD calls over Wi-Fi or cellular.
One of the best features of JusTalk is that it provides you with more fun by adding doodles, recording lively voice and video calls, sending stickers and sharing media.
And even more, it offers low-cost international calls with a feature called Out Call that allows you to reach your friends even when they are offline.
Good for…
- Group chatting in multiple ways.
Bad for…
- Not so popular.
Conclusion
So, these were the best ways to get FaceTime for Android to communicate with your friends without having to buy an iPhone -even if they have it- which is already compatible with Android but without an Android version of it available.
The only thing you will have to do to use these applications is to make sure that your friends have the same video-calling application on their phones so you can communicate with each other.
Due to Apple’s closed ecosystem, FaceTime is not the only application that’s not available for Android, you may also have heard about iMessage which is another application that’s exclusively available on iOS, and we are going to give you some alternatives for it in another article soon.
