With the expensive international rates cell phone carriers charge, it can be difficult to go abroad and keep in touch with loved ones back home. Fortunately, the rise communication via apps has made it easier for travelers to stay in contact with family and friends. Whether it’s going on a brief vacation or studying abroad for an entire semester, these five smartphone apps are essential to staying connected across borders.
1. Skype
Pros
- Skype’s popularity means most people have an account and it is easy to find people on the system.
- Requiring only Wi-Fi, the app allows free phone calls and video chats with other Skype users on a computer.
Cons
- Skype charges a fee to make a call to a contact who is using a landline or mobile phone.
2. Viber
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Pros
- Viber allows users to share their location with their friends and easily instant message or call each other over Wi-Fi and 3G/4G.
- Compared to other platforms, the app reportedly does not drain the phone’s battery or take up as much memory.
- Viber also lets users send multimedia texts (photos, videos, audio) without any additional costs.
Cons
- There is no ability to call or message non-Viber users.
3. WhatsApp
Pros
- Similar to Viber, WhatsApp uses Wi-Fi and 3G/4G to share users’ location via Google Maps and send multimedia messages.
- WhatsApp also lets users change the wallpaper of their conversation screen and inform them when their conversation partner has received the message, similar to Apple’s iMessage read receipts.
Cons
- The app is free to use for the first year but will cost $0.99 after the trial year.
4. WeChat
Pros
- The app features the same services of other communication platforms but also allows users to see which friends are nearby and chat with each other via a walkie-talkie function over Wi-Fi or 3G/4G.
- A few countries in Asia including Japan and South Korea have been developing a universal Wi-Fi system that can make WeChat and other apps dramatically easier to use.
Cons
- WeChat has peak popularity in Asia but it’s slowly growing its user-base in the U.S.
5. Google Hangout
Pros
- Google Hangouts can support video chat for more than two people.
- The app allow users to adjust the quality of the video call. Being abroad often means limited bandwidth signal for cell phones, and enabling users to manually adjust the quality of call makes it easier for them to make the call without interruption, despite the video not being clear.
Cons
- The app requires users to have a Google account.
(Screenshots by Lauren Hain, The Eagle.)
