WhatsApp

WhatsApp is the largest messaging app there is by most measures, and its listing leads with the number: used by over 2 billion people in more than 180 countries, a figure that is Meta's own and that we have not verified. What matters more for anyone choosing a video chat app is what its listing leads with after that — end-to-end encryption, stated in the first paragraph as applying to personal messages and calls, with the line that not even WhatsApp can read or listen to them.

You sign up with a phone number and nothing else; there are no usernames and no separate login, which means your phone number is your identity on the service. Calls run over your internet connection rather than the cellular voice network, up to 32 people at once on a video or voice call, and the listing emphasises that they work on slow connections and across mobile and desktop. Group chats carry messages, photos, videos and documents, and are encrypted like the one-to-one chats.

The app is free and its listing says so twice, including the line that there are no subscription fees. There is no paid tier to understand and nothing sold that changes who you can reach, which puts WhatsApp in a different class from most of the video chat services on this site: the product is not funded by selling control over who you meet. The asterisk on the free claim points to data charges from your carrier rather than to a hidden cost.

The encryption claim is the substance here and it is the strongest version of that claim available: end-to-end by default on personal messages and calls, not as an option you enable. The identity model is the part to think about rather than the part to admire — signing up with a phone number and no username means the service, and anyone who obtains your number, can find you, and it means moving to a new number is how you leave. The listing says nothing about how abuse is handled, which for a service this size is a real omission rather than a young product's gap.

People who want one app for messaging and video with the people they already know, and who value not having to think about encryption settings. It is a poor fit for meeting strangers, which is not what it is for, and its scale means almost everyone you know is already on it.

The default choice for staying in touch, and the listing knows it. Encryption on by default and a phone number as the only requirement make it the simplest secure option here, and the free claim is as clean as it gets in this category. The two things to weigh are that your phone number is your identity, and that the listing describes the protections it offers without describing what happens when someone abuses them.