Advantages and Disadvantages of Video Chat Apps

Video chat is a visual communication done online via webcam or dedication software. The dedicated software is the video chatting or video conferencing app available online. If you are a developer and want to create a video chat app, refer to the How to build a video chat app article. You will get to know the steps and available online platforms to build video chat apps. Video chat app is a valuable business tool in remote work. You can learn the types of video chat apps and their advantages & disadvantages in this guide.

Types of Video Chat Apps

The video chatting apps are categorized into various types as per the communication requirements of each business. Each video chatting app has its own purpose, and you have to build it accordingly.

• Video conferencing apps
• Social Media
• Online dating apps
• Entertainment apps

Video Conferencing Apps

Video conferencing apps are built especially for business, work, and e-learning. The main purpose of this app is to accommodate a larger number of participants (nearly 500) for the conference in a single call. This kind of video chat app requires excellent audio and video quality that adjusts itself according to the internet connection speed. Zoom, Skype, and Google Meet are examples of video conferencing apps.

Social Media

Some of the social media messenger apps have a video chat facility. Though it is a messaging app, you can have a face-to-face chat with your friends. The availability of video chat features has made these platforms more popular. All the popular social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, have a video chat option.

Online Dating Apps

Online dating apps such as Tinder and Bumblebee have a video chat facility. It is used to communicate with people and find your match. The users who have shown mutual interest can only access the chat or video chat option on online dating apps.

Entertainment Apps

The video calls can also be built specifically for entertainment purposes. Such video chat apps are Houseparty, Discord, and Rave. Houseparty and Discord are best for the gamers. You can play simple visual games such as Pictionary, Heads Up, or many other games while video chatting with your friends and family. Rave is a video chat app used to watch a movie together with your friends and family.

Advantages of Video Chat App

Video chatting has become a valuable business tool since the pandemic. As a lot of people prefer it the most, let’s take a look at the advantages of video chat apps.

1. Easy Communication

Video chat apps are the easiest way to communicate online. It gives you the effect of speaking with the person or people in person. If you speak in a voice call or chat, your tone of speed may cause a misunderstanding as there is no face-to-face interaction. But that’s not the case in video chatting; you can speak with verbal and non-verbal cues, so chatting might be more effective.

2. Saves Money and Time

Convenience is one of the main advantages of video chat apps. You can attend a meeting or chat with a friend in a video call and save your time and money on your travel. You can virtually communicate with anyone anywhere.

3. Efficient for Work and Learning

During the pandemic, the most helpful tool was the video chatting or conferencing apps. It has saved the long break in the children’s education and work. The children had online classes, and the employees had their meetings and discussions on the video conferencing apps.

If there is a natural calamity, you could ask the children to come to school and ask the employees to come to work. Instead, you can continue the class or meeting in any video chat app.

4. Improve Productivity

Another advantage of video chat apps is they help us do multiple tasks all at once. If you are on a business trip, you can easily attend the meeting via the video chatting app. It also simplifies your process as you can spend more time video conferencing rather than traveling. You can start the meeting anywhere at any time and don’t need any video equipment, such as a webcam on your smartphone or PC with a built-in camera. All you need is to download the best video chatting app online.

5. Builds Relationship

It helps reduce the distance between people. If you are missing your favorite person who is miles away, you can chat with them in a video call. It gives immense pleasure to meet them daily, even if a distance separates you.

6. Accurate Records of Meeting

Video chatting helps you record your classes and meetings. So, you can maintain a record of your employees’ presentations or performances in the meeting. This is an advantage of saving the recorded classes for learning.

Disadavantages of Video Chat App

While there are advantages, there are also certain disadvantages, such as video chatting apps being considered an ineffective way of communication.

1. No Personal Interaction

Though it is a virtual face-to-face communication, it is not as effective as your meeting in person. The employees are just communicating through the screen, and it lacks face-to-face contact. This will not let the employees know their co-workers, clients, or managers and improve their connections.

2. Network Issues

Sometimes, the video may lag or freeze, or the call may get disconnected. The video chat app requires a stable internet connection on your device, and it does not work when there is a network connectivity problem. This was the greatest drawback of communicating via the video chat app.

3. Lack of Security

Is there a tight security on video chat apps? It is not sure whether every video chatting app has a secured space for its customers. There was an incident in 2020 where the hackers took advantage of video conferencing and created chaos.

Frequently Asked Questions