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New Meeting Rooms: The entire world is encountered by a challenging situation with the coronavirus (COVID -19) pandemic, privately and professionally together. The outbreak is affecting very speedily within the world. COVID-19 has brought several breakdowns with it. It has also triggered a critical disruption throughout the global economy.

The whole nation is under lockdown, moving from one place to another or from one country to another has been strictly restricted, Offices, Schools and colleges all are closed, and the whole market got shut except our daily essential things to break the chain.

In this sensitive time, every business faced a lot of difficulties to continue their work and process which was very essential to protect our work and economy also. COVID-19 has significantly changed the bounds of professional life.

To save our work and make our time valuable, all professionals are doing “Work From Home”, which is the perfect solution for saving our life from this pandemic. Presently, our new office is our home. We all, give our best in our work to ensure and maintain the productivity of our duty. But working from home is not easy because teamwork is required for overcoming the obstacles during work.

Communication is the life-line of teamwork. And to keep the communication and knowledge exchange, virtual meetings are coming into view. Virtual meetings have become the norm. The best part of it is, a virtual meeting will help you in business meetings with staff members and colleagues, holding training sessions with employees, conducting a fun activity for staff, client interactions, and many more. Even common people are also utilizing the virtual meeting process to connect with their family, friends, or with their loved ones.

Fortunately, modern technologies facilitate us to hold virtual meetings without needing to be in the same place and to rescue from this type of pandemic situation. In this neoteric world, several apps have been introduced to facilitate communication among people.

In this article, we will let you know about some popular apps which can be used for virtual meetings, whether it is for personal or professional needs. Based on your needs and specification you can choose your best app option.

1. Microsoft Skype: (A Free Application)

Microsoft Skype is one of the most popular, widely used, free video, audio calling platforms. Skype is user-friendly, easy to use, and very rich when it comes to attributes. Any business organization whether it is small or large can convey their message or knowledge to their employees and co-worker with the help of Skype.

Skype is a Hybrid communication app, which can be installed on any mobile, laptops, and computers whether it is Android or iOS and it can also access through the internet browser. It is built on Android, iOS, Mac, Linux, Alexa, Xbox, etc. It offers users to communicate across multiple devices. It’s a reliable and stable platform that is being used by many people for free for several years with success.

Skype has the ability to link a group of up to 50 people with Instant messages and file-sharing options for free. Additionally, Skype offers some other unique beneficial features like screen sharing, instant messaging, file sharing, background blur, immediate communication and many more.

Pros:

1. Skype offers security while the transmission of calls or messages.
2. Skype is assisted by diverse platforms like Android, iOS, Windows, or Mac.
3. It offers an inexpensive paid subscription plan for premium users.
4. Skype improves Productivity and Communication of business by providing instant communication on any platform.
5. It is very simple to install and a safe communication platform for several devices.

Cons:

1. The main disadvantage of Skype is that it utilizes strong data connectivity.
2. Skype does not offer any language interpretation services.
3. The sound quality of a Skype call is based on the bandwidth and affected by it directly.

2. Google Duo: (Get it for Free)

The duo is a free, end-to-end encrypted voice and video call application, Produced by Google. Google Duo is easy to install, free to use and works significantly across both Android, iOS, and web app devices.

Duo relies on the phone numbers of consumers and permits you to reach people in your phone’s contacts list easily. It has a splendid functionality called Knock, Knock which will permit you to view a live video of your caller before you answer.

The application’s interface is insanely simple which lets users use it very smoothly. The Duo is a cross-platform application that gives the ability to different platform users like Android and iOS to interact with each other without any struggle.

Duo exhibits the feature to support groups calling for up to 12 people at a time. There are a few pros and cons of Duo which separate it from other applications are listed below:

Pros:

1. Google Duo is very easy and simple to use on any platform like Android, iOS, and Web Apps.
2. The duo provides high security with end to end encryption.
3. It only needs the phone number of a user and offers a high quality of calling.
4. The duo does not have the limitation of bandwidth, it will keep continuing your call in any bandwidth.
5. It has the ability to switch automatically between WiFi and Mobile Data.

Cons:

1. The main and only drawback of google duo is the limitation of people in a group call. The Duo only permits 12 people for a group calling.

3. Apple FaceTime: (Preinstalled On Apple Devices)

FaceTime is a video and audio calling application and Apple’s product. Apple FaceTime can be only used by an Apple user for calling whether it is an iPhone, Mac, iPad, iPod or touch. It offers persistent integration with iPhone and MacBook.

FaceTime is one of the free, easy to use and reliable applications of Apple which offers an effective calling to its iPhone users. It provides the ability to connect with up to 32 people at a time for any group calling.

Pros:

1. Apple FaceTime’s main advantage is that It permits 32 people at a time for group calling.
2. It offers more effective and high-quality calling among iPhone users.

Cons:

1. FaceTime has the biggest disadvantage i.e it is only built for Apple users and for Apple devices.
2. It consumes high data.

4. WhatsApp: (Get it for Free)

WhatsApp is one of the most common, widely used apps in the whole world. It is a cross-platform, instant messaging app that is used to send images, videos, files, audio & video calling, user location, and more. It always gets an update with some new features; WhatsApp Business is one of them which is being used by most of the companies.

It provides all the basic and advanced features that a user needs but WhatsApp can permit only 4 people at a time for a group call. Otherwise, it is the simplest application that can be used by any people easily.

Listed below are some Pros and Cons of using WhatsApp for communications:

Pros:

1. WhatsApp is free, ultra-convenient to use applications.
2. It is across-Platform application that is used on any Android, iOS, and even on web applications.
3. It offers end-to-end encryption to secure the messages and callings of a user.

Cons:

1. WhatsApp’s biggest disadvantage is the limitation of people in a group call. It permits only 4 people for a group calling.
2. It does not offer that much of video or audio calling quality that other platforms do.

5. HouseParty: (A Free Application)

HouseParty is a fun, social networking app. It is a free, easy to use, application available for several platforms like Android, iOS, Chrome, and Mac.

Its user-friendly and appealing interface attracts users more rapidly and easily. It’s a social networking app that allows eight people for a group call at a time. Through this app, users can play games with their group people. In this pandemic situation, an app like HouseParty can be used to add a fun element in the work environment.

It has one feature through which people get irritated that it does not need a call, users automatically get notified when any friend opens the app and others can join chats with them. Also, it has security and privacy issues.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global humanitarian disaster that is affecting hundreds of thousands of people every second. There are a huge number of people and countries that are affected due to COVID-19.

So, these are a few communication or virtual meeting apps that can be used to maintain the consistency and productivity of the work.