The best iPhone apps for free phone calls: make free phone calls from your iPhone
Paying for phone calls on your iPhone is a waste of your money. It’s easy to make free phone calls on the iPhone. This guide to making free iPhone phone calls has five of the best services to use.
In this feature, we look at some terrific apps for
making free online phone calls using the iPhone. If you make many phone
calls on your iPhone, it's worth taking the time to set up a free online
phone service. Because the iPhone is a modern smartphone, apps can use
the iPhone's persistent internet connection to make and receive free
phone calls online.
This feature looks at the following:
- What is the easiest way to make a free online phone call?
- Which free online phone call apps offer the best audio quality?
- What is the best app to install to make free phone calls when abroad?
Free online phone call services are officially known
as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). Some VoIP services are well
known, such as Skype, and some are up-and-coming, like WePhone.
With a VoIP app on your iPhone, you can make and
receive free audio calls to people using the same app. All of these
phone apps and services enable you to make free calls to anybody else
using the same service, but each has its own special features. Some of
them can also connect to a landline or mobile network to place regular
phone calls; others are easy to set up, and some enable you to send free
text messages. Each app in this feature is terrific in its own way, but
which is the best free phone call app?
Placing a free audio call on the iPhone is ideal when
you and the other person are in different countries. Placing overseas
phone calls can be expensive, but with a good phone app you can place a
call for free. Just be careful when you are abroad that you do not end
up paying data roaming charges (because the phone call is over the
internet it uses your data charge, and data can be expensive when you
are overseas).
1 FaceTime audio
If both you and your friend are using Apple devices,
FaceTime's Audio Only mode is the easiest way to make free phone calls.
You don't even need to install an app, since FaceTime is preinstalled on
any iOS 7 device (and many earlier versions of iOS too, but the
audio-only feature is only available on iOS 7). Follow these steps to
place a free phone call using FaceTime:
- Tap on FaceTime and Contacts,
- Locate the person you want to call (use the Search box at the top to find them if your list is too long).
- Tap the FaceTime Audio icon (shaped like a phone).
You can chat to each other using FaceTime Audio just
like you would with a normal phone call. On the FaceTime Audio display
screen are icons for Mute, Speaker and Contacts, and you tap the red End
FaceTime icon to finish the call.
2 Skype
Skype
is a big name in free online phone calls. You can download the Skype
app from the App Store and use Skype to place free phone calls to other
Skype users. Skype has an advantage over FaceTime in that it can work
with Skype on other devices, such as Android phones and non-Apple
computers; Skype is therefore a more rounded service. Skype can also
place calls to landlines and mobile phones, but for this you'll need to
put credit on your Skype account.
Best for: Skype is best for people with lots of contacts worldwide.
See also: Skype review
3 Truphone
Truphone
is one of the leading rivals to Skype, and while it offers largely the
same functionality it has a couple of neat features that make it worth
investigating. Firstly Truphone uses intelligent routing to place the
audio via Wi-Fi or Cellular (picking the best network for the call);
this results in higher-quality audio conversations.
Truphone also offers a service called TruSIM that gives you a local number in countries where Truphone operates. TruSIM
means you can place and receive phone calls using a local phone number,
so other people can contact you by phone and pay local rates.
Best for: Truphone is probably the best choice for world travellers.
See also: Truphone for iPhone review
4 WePhone
WePhone
is another good option for making free phone calls. It has similar
features to other services here, but is easier to set up and use than
any other service in the list. There's no registration service required,
and you can add phone call credit as an In App Purchase.
WePhone is a lot cheaper than regular phone calls and
you can record calls. Where things get odd is that you pay extra for
higher audio quality, with a Standard, Gold and VIP service. But WePhone
is an easy system to set up, so if you're looking for a service to make
phone calls on a regular basis to non-tech savvy friends, then WePhone
is a good option.
Best for: WePhone is best if you have non tech-savvy friends.
5 Viber
Another free voice app to look at is Viber. Viber enables you to send texts and calls for free to other Viber users (the service claims over 200 million).
One neat thing about Viber is you can have extremely
large group conversations with up to 100 people involved at once. Viber
has also got a lot of quirky features like stickers and emoticons (Viber
is aimed at a younger market). Viber is easy to use, and if you're
trying to keep in touch with younger family members, or friends, this is
a good way to make the conversations more fun.
Best for: Viber is best for keeping in touch with the kids
source : http://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/iosapps/5-best-free-phone-call-apps-for-iphone-3513098/.
0 commentaires: