How to Make Free Calls From Desktop, Android and iOS Devices
The Best Apps to Call From Any Device
Calling is one of the basics of Telephony. Calling made human progress grow by leaps and bounds when technology like Pagers, Telegrams and other means of communication failed to bring real-time interaction to life. Often in the near past calling people was associated with spending a huge amount of money. This was so because there were only a few official ways and channels to make a real-time call.
Today calling has become such a basic need as well as a use case that calling is often bundled with modern-day apps as a basic feature. Making free calls from your desktop, Android and iOS devices has never been easier. With the advent of technology, you no longer need to rely on traditional calling. You can make free voice and video calls to anyone, anywhere in the world. Read on to know which services can be best to do this.
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Ways to make free calls on desktop, Android, and iOS devices
Several ways allow you to make free calls from your desktop, Android, and iOS devices. Some of the popular options include:
VOIP Calling:
VOIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, which is a technology that allows you to make phone calls over the internet. You do not need to rely on traditional telephone lines.
Instead, VOIP technology converts your voice into a digital signal and sends it over the internet. This allows you to make calls from your computer, smartphone, or other internet-enabled device using a VOIP service provider. There are many different VOIP providers are available.
App-to-app calling:
App-to-app calling is where a person makes calls from one mobile app to another using the internet to transmit voice or video. you can use app-to-app calling with any smartphone or other device having the Internet to make free or low-cost calls to other app users anywhere in the world.
Examples of such calling might be using WhatsApp, Telegram, Google Meet, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, Signal or other applications which facilitate such app-to-app calling.
App to Phone:
App-to-phone calling is where you make phone calls from a mobile app to a cellular network. App-to-phone calling allows making calls to anyone, anywhere in the world, even if they don’t have an internet connection with your smartphone or other internet-enabled devices.
WiFi Calling:
Wi-Fi calling is a recent technology that allows you to make phone calls over a Wi-Fi network instead of using a cellular network. You can make calls from your smartphone or other devices that support Wi-Fi calling.
It is useful in areas with poor cellular coverage. To use Wi-Fi calling, your device must support the feature and your carrier must also support the service.
Apps to Make Free Calls
Several apps allow you to make free calls from your desktop, Android, and iOS devices. Here are some of the popular options:
WhatsApp:
Whatsapp is the world’s most popular messaging app. It is a cross-platform app. WhatsApp is available in both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store for PC. There’s also a web app and standalone desktop apps for both Windows and Mac.
WhatsApp features voice and video chat, and end-to-end encryption on all messages. Although it requires an existing phone number at sign-up and does not support calls to non-users and cellular networks.
Skype:
Skype is no longer dominant but you can still use it in a web browser, on a Mac, Linux. It offers Skype-to-Skype calls for free. Unlike Whatsapp, you can pay to make calls on national landlines and mobile numbers. Calling require Skype Credit to pay for minutes, or you can buy their subscription which starts at $2.99 per month and which is still cheaper than many phone operator plans in First World countries.
Additionally, you must have a Skype Number, which will cost $6.50 per month to receive a call from a landline or mobile number. There are numerous plans that are available offering different numbers of minutes and supported countries.
Signal:
Signal Private Messenger is similar to WhatsApp but it puts security and privacy first. It offers cross-platform messages, calls, and video chats service without exploiting its users from prying eyes and data-hungry corporations. Signal is a non-profit organization with no incentive to sell your data (P.S. At least for now!).
TextNow:
TextNow is a mobile app that offers app-to-phone calls for free within the US and Canada. It works on Android and iOS and no phone number is required during sign-up. You will be assigned a number from them when you sign up for their service.
TextNow Offers unlimited domestic phone calls and SMS messaging in the US and Canada. Of course, it can’t provide everything for free that’s why the app is supported by advertisements that you can eliminate with a paid subscription. On the downside, TextNow is not available on PC.
Talkatone:
Talkatone is similar to TextNow. It provides you with a free US phone number to send and receive texts. You can use Talkatone to make calls via Wi-Fi or cell data and It is also available for both Android and iOS. It is also supported by ads and the paid version is a one-time payment of $9.99.
Google Voice:
Google Voice is a telephone service offered by Google. Users can set up call forwarding, which allows them to forward Google Voice phone numbers to any other phone number, such as their home, office, or mobile phone. The personal plan is free with limited features and the business plan allow more feature like an international calling. It is not a surprise that Google Voice seamlessly integrated with other Google Workspace apps and services.
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