It has never been easier to stay in touch with people in different countries. Messaging apps have made it possible for us to stay in constant contact, not just through texts but videos and voice messages. Here are some of the most reliable messaging apps.

Whatsapp is currently the leading messaging app in the world for android phones. It is perfect for texting, sharing images, voice messages.and most recently video calling! We tried the video calling function and the quality of the call was very impressive! Our favorite feature about the app is it’s affordable storage needs and minimal use of internet data.

Kakaotalk is dominant mostly in South Korea but we use it as a family group chat in the US. It offers fun emojis and is easy to use. The service works a little better on iPhones than on androids.

Skype was a leader in video calling across media and still rocks in many ways. But it’s significant need for phone memory and bulky updates make it a better option for iPads, netbooks and laptops and perhaps phones with remarkable memory capacity. Skype emojis are the best and it offers more than just emojis – the video clips and awesome GIFs make it one of the most entertaining ways to chat!

Appear.in needs no downloads or installations and it’s an efficient group video calling option. All you need to go is create a room, send the room link to your contacts and you can invite upto 8 people to join the conversation. The video and audio quality are great too.

GroupMe is another pretty low maintenance group messaging app. It offers free images and GIFs that are free for sharing and expressing yourself beyond emojis. You could also just ‘heart’ a message, when words are not needed. You can create a new event for your email calendar and send invites to your group.
We used Viber for a while but struggled with privacy issues. We would receive calls and friends requests from strangers so we uninstalled it. Facebook messenger is great too but battery and storage usage is a real strain on the phone, and we use messenger only on laptops. Tell us about your favorite messenger apps in the comments below.