The 8 Best Hangouts Alternatives (2024) for Android and iOS

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You can use some of the Best Hangouts Alternatives on your Android or iOS device. When it first came out, Google Hangouts was praised as the messaging app of the future. It gave users an all-in-one package that included SMS, IM, voice calls, and video calls, and it worked on almost all platforms. Since Hangouts was made by one of the biggest tech companies in the world, it had a lot of potential, which is why people flocked to the messaging app.

Hangouts’ popularity also grew because it was built into some Google products, like Gmail and Google+ (RIP), and because it came pre-installed on some Android devices. But last year, Hangouts went all-in on business and tried to become an alternative to Slack. This caused a lot of users to look for other Hangouts alternatives.

Best Hangouts Alternatives Comparison Table

Software	Price (USD)	Download Link
Discord	Free or $9.99/month (Nitro)	Download Now
Telegram	Free	Download Now
Spike	$7.99/month (Pro plan)	Download Now
Zoom	Free or $14.99/month (Pro plan)	Download Now
Whereby	$9.99/month (Pro plan)	Download Now
Viber	Free	Download Now
RingCentral	Contact for pricing information	Download Now
Microsoft Teams	Free or $5/month (Essentials)	Download Now

Discord

Feature
Voice chat	High-quality voice chat with low latency.
Screen sharing	Share your screen with other members of the server.
Video chat	Start a video call with other members of the server.
Server customization	Customize your server with roles, permissions, and channels.
Emojis	Use custom emojis or create your own for your server.

Even though Discord is not the same as Hangouts, it can still be used as an alternative. The platform is mostly made for gamers, but it also lets people share files. Discord doesn’t have a way to make video calls, but it does have voice chat and real-time messaging.

So, if you are a gamer looking for the best app to talk to your friends while playing games, you should start using Discord. The Discord app is available on all platforms and works with all of them. This is one of the best Hangouts Alternatives that you can download right now.

Telegram

Feature
Secret chats	End-to-end encrypted chats that self-destruct after a certain period.
Groups	Create groups with up to 200,000 members.
Channels	Broadcast messages to an unlimited number of subscribers.
Bots	Create and use bots for various purposes, from scheduling to entertainment

Telegram is another great instant messaging app that you can use on Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, or the Web. Like Discord, Telegram works across different platforms, so you can stay in touch no matter what device you’re using.

Telegram gives you every possible way to talk that you can think of. You can send messages, make voice calls, video calls, and group voice/video calls. Even though Telegram has a lot of features, its channel-specific features are what people know it for.

Spike

Feature
Unified inbox	All your emails, chats, and tasks in one place.
Real-time collaboration	Collaborate with others in real-time on documents and tasks.
Smart search	Quickly find what you’re looking for with advanced search capabilities.
Priority inbox	Automatically sorts your emails by priority.
Calendar integration	Connect your calendar to see your schedule alongside your emails and tasks.

Spike gives you everything you could ever need from a digital workspace in a single app that works on every platform, including email, team chat, collaborative Notes, and Video Meetings. It is the best alternative to Google Hangouts because of how easy it is to use.

Spike’s Video Meetings and video chat are some of the easiest services in any app to use. Spike Video Meetings are also built into the Spike app, so you don’t have to use Google Hangouts or Zoom. Spike lets you invite people to a Video Meeting through your calendar or by email.

Zoom

Feature
Video conferencing	Host meetings with up to 1,000 participants and high-definition video.
Screen sharing	Share your screen with other participants.
Recording	Record meetings and save them to the cloud or locally.
Virtual backgrounds	Customize your background with virtual backgrounds.
Breakout rooms	Split your meeting into multiple sessions for smaller group discussions.

Zoom has become a popular tool for video collaboration because it can be used for both one-on-one and group calls, and the paid packages let you record or stream meetings. There is also a free option, but group calls can only last 40 minutes with this one. Overall, it is one of the best Hangouts Alternatives that you can download.

Zoom is one of the best options for video conferencing, but it can only be used for simple chat and video calls. Other services have caught up to Zoom in terms of video conferencing, but they also offer deeper team chat, email, collaborative notes, document sharing, and task management to make a full digital workspace within a single app.

Whereby

Feature
Screen sharing	Share your screen with up to 50 participants.
Recording	Record meetings and save them to the cloud.
Custom branding	Customize your meeting room with your own branding.
Waiting room	Hold participants in a virtual waiting room before the meeting starts.
Mobile access	Join meetings from your mobile device.

Whereby, which used to be called Appear.in, is a simple alternative to Google Hangouts. Basically, all you have to do is go to the website, create an account, and give your chat room a name. Once you’re inside, just copy the web address and send it to the people you want to talk to via email, phone, text message, etc.

They will join the chat if they type the address into their Internet browser. Then, you can talk to each other on video, send each other text messages (including links to websites), and even lock the chat room if you don’t want anyone else to join the session. There are also Whereby apps for both Android and iOS.

Viber

Feature
Instant messaging	Chat with friends and family in real-time.
Voice and video calls	Make high-quality voice and video calls.
Public accounts	Follow public accounts for news and updates from your favorite brands.
Stickers	Use stickers and emojis to express yourself in chats.
File sharing	Share photos, videos, and files with other users.

Viber is another alternative to Google Hangouts that takes a more social approach. It has public chat rooms about different topics and lets you buy and add custom emotion stickers to messages. People often compare Viber to Skype, but it’s not the same in two important ways.

First, it never, ever, ever shows ads. Second, calling regular phones through Viber is covered by a flat monthly subscription fee. You don’t pay per call, and international rates vary. But you can only use this feature on the Viber mobile app.

RingCentral

Feature
Cloud phone system	Host virtual phone system with advanced call management features.
Team messaging	Collaborate with team members in real-time with messaging and file sharing.
Video meetings	Host video meetings with screen sharing and recording capabilities.
Contact center	Set up and manage contact center for customer support and sales.
Integrations	Connect with other business tools through integrations.

RingCentral is at the top of the class when it comes to overall performance. RingCentral is an app that you can use on your computer, phone, or tablet. If you work from home or in a hybrid setting, this is a big deal because it lets stay in touch with your team no matter where you are.

With features like HD video conferencing, the app is really an all-in-one way to talk to people. It was made with teamwork in mind. You can join a conference call at any time with up to 200 people. This makes it easy for small businesses to get the whole team on the phone at once.

Microsoft Teams

Feature
Chat and messaging	Chat with team members in real-time with threaded conversations.
Video meetings	Host video meetings with screen sharing and recording capabilities.
File sharing	Share and collaborate on files within the platform.
Team collaboration	Collaborate on projects with shared documents, tasks, and calendars.
Integration with Microsoft Office	Seamlessly integrate with Microsoft Office tools like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Many businesses choose Microsoft Teams, especially if they are used to working with Windows and other Microsoft programs. It’s nice that it can be used on both Android and Apple iOS, so it’s a fairly reliable platform for iPad, Mac, and Windows users alike.

With Microsoft Teams, you can make phone calls, video calls, and group chats all from the same place. It also has integrations, many of which are, as you might guess, Microsoft’s own products. This is helpful if you use Excel and Word a lot for work.

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