The Best Free Calling Apps for your Mobile Device

Using your operating systems’ phone app is so last century. Why use your dialer when an app can do that and so much more? If your cell contract doesn’t include free minutes or you regularly exceed your allowance, a free calling app can help you stay in touch without costing you money. If that app also lets you chat, share video, images and more, all the better!

These free calling apps will obviously need an internet connection to work. Whether that’s your data plan or WiFi depends on where you are at the time. Just bear in mind that if you’re using 4G, these apps will eat into your data plan, although not by a great deal.

Free calling apps

The criteria for this list was a free app that allowed free calls over the internet. Each of these options work on most phones, are safe to use, include no malware or spy tech that we know of and make calling for free as easy as possible.

WhatsApp Messenger

WhatsApp Messenger has to be one of the easiest calling and messaging apps around. It is also one of the most established and has a huge user base. Available on all formats for free, WhatsApp Messenger enables calling, chatting, file sharing, video calling and more. It also works well on low bandwidth connections and even on 2G if you’re out in the country somewhere.

WhatsApp Messenger is available for Android and iOS.

Facebook Lite

Facebook Lite is Android only unfortunately but the value it offers means it definitely deserves a place in this list. Facebook Messenger is good but it spies way too much. With the amount of data it collects on you, I refuse to use it. Facebook Lite is an alternative. It looks much like the original and works just the same but it doesn’t use as many phone resources or collect anywhere near as much data. For that alone it is worth using.

Facebook Lite is available for Android.

Skype

Skype is now owned by Microsoft but don’t let that put you off using it. It is an excellent calling app that allows both voice and video, offers great quality calls, file sharing, meeting and collaboration. It works both for individuals and businesses and works across devices. While some will prefer more mobile-centric apps, Skype is also worth checking out. It is free to use within the Skype network but offers breakout calls for very little money too.

Skype is available for Android and iOS.

Viber

Viber is another free calling app worth checking out. Trouble is, when I was canvassing opinions for this piece, hardly anyone I talked to used it. If your friends do, it is a good app to use. It offers good audio and video quality, secure connections and allows cross network calls between Android and iOS devices. It also allows file sharing, texts, image sharing and more within an encrypted network.

Viber is available for Android and iOS.

LINE

LINE is another app that should be more popular than it seems to be. It’s mainly a chat app but does offer calling, video and file sharing too. It works in the same way as the others in this list, let it access your contacts, hit one and start a call. Quality is good and the app seems to work much the same across devices. This app is another that only a couple of people mentioned but when I tested it out it worked very well so is worth checking out.

LINE is available for all device types.

Google Hangouts

Google Hangouts isn’t just an Android app but has an iOS version too. It is a good, if somewhat dated chat app that offers text, audio and video across devices. Call quality is usually good, you can transfer files, send images and video, chat, conference and all that good stuff. It isn’t as ubiquitous as WhatApp or Facebook Messenger but still counts its users by the million.

Google Hangouts is available for all device types.

Signal

Signal is known for encryption and security and has the backing of Edward Snowden. The app works just like any other. It allows you to chat, message, call, send images and video and all the usual things you want this kind of app to do. It does it all over an encrypted network with no logging or surveillance that we know of. The self-destructing message option is a useful feature worth mentioning too.

Signal is available for all device types.

Those are what I think are the best free calling apps around right now. Each is free to use, offers free calling over 4G or WiFi and work well in most situations. Do you have any other suggestions for our readers? Tell us about them below if you do!