imo Alternatives for Free Video Calls on Weak Connections

imo (Google Play, App Store) is a free chat and video calling app from Pagebites, Inc., sold on its promise that calls hold up on 2G, 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi. It still works. The Android app was updated on October 8, 2026 and has passed 1 billion downloads. The free app shows ads, and the iPhone version sells coins and a Premium Member plan.

Some familiar names are gone. Microsoft retired Skype on May 5, 2025 and points users to Teams Free. Google folded Duo into Meet in 2022. Meta shut down Messenger Lite for Android on September 18, 2023. The eight picks below are free to call with, run on ordinary Android phones, and either adapt to bad networks or publish how they handle them.

For other messaging jobs, see our pages on WhatsApp alternatives, private, encrypted messengers, apps for channels and large groups, Viber alternatives and username-based chat apps.

Prices below are as of November 6, 2026. Our method is on How we review tools.

Quick comparison

WhatsApp

The Play listing promises calls that work "even on slow connections," and Meta has published the engineering behind it. Its June 2024 post on MLow describes an audio codec that keeps wideband speech at 6 kbps, and notes that tens of millions of daily WhatsApp calls come from phones more than 10 years old. With 10 billion Play downloads, most people you call from imo can already be reached here.

Group calls take up to 32 people with no time limit, according to WhatsApp's calling page. Calls are end-to-end encrypted. Besides the phone apps, you can call from the Mac, Windows and iPad apps or from a web browser, which helps when a phone battery is dying.

Best for: Anyone whose imo contacts already have WhatsApp on their phones.

Pricing:

• Free voice and video calls; mobile data charges may apply
• In-app purchases available

Watch out for:

• Ads have arrived. Since June 16, 2025, Meta shows ads in the Status row of the Updates tab. Private chats stay ad-free.
• The 32-person cap is the lowest of the big apps here. Viber allows 60 and Signal 75.

Official site: WhatsApp. Our listing: WhatsApp.

Telegram

Telegram is the only app here that publishes a figure for its data-saving switch. The calls announcement says calls tune themselves to network speed, ping and packet loss, and connect peer to peer when they can. Turning on Use Less Data in Data and Storage settings cuts usage by a further 25 to 30 percent, with lower sound quality as the cost.

Group calling changed on April 30, 2025. You can now add up to 200 people to an active call, the call is end-to-end encrypted, and everyone can compare four emojis to check it. Call links and QR codes let people join later. Official apps cover Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, Mac and Linux, plus two web versions, and the client code is open source.

Best for: People on capped mobile data who want a setting that measurably lowers call usage.

Pricing:

• Voice and video calls are free for everyone, Premium or not
• Premium has no public price on telegram.org. The amount shows in the app, varies slightly by country, and is cheaper through @PremiumBot

Watch out for:

• A bug report titled Bad audio/video calls quality has been open since March 12, 2021. Comments through November 2025 describe calls failing to connect on Android and Windows.

Official site: Telegram. Our listing: Telegram.

Google Meet

If you once used Google Duo, Meet is the same app under a new name. In 2022 Google changed the Duo app name and icon to Google Meet and raised the call limit from 32 to 100. You sign in with the Google account an Android phone already has, so there is often nothing new to set up.

Google's Meet page says mobile calls and 1:1 calls have no time limit and that video quality adjusts to what the connection allows. Meetings started on a computer follow the personal account rules: up to 100 people, 24 hours for two people, and 60 minutes once a third person joins.

Best for: Former Duo users and anyone who wants long one-to-one video calls on a Google account.

Pricing:

• Free with a Google account
• Group calls up to 24 hours need Google One Premium 2 TB, Google AI Pro or AI Ultra. Google AI Pro lists at $19.99 per month in the US

Watch out for:

• On a computer, free group meetings play a chime at 50 minutes and end at 60 unless the host upgrades.

Official site: Google Meet.

Viber

imo users who call relatives without smartphones will find Viber useful for one feature. Viber Out, described on the Play listing, calls landlines and ordinary mobile numbers abroad, sold as a subscription or as a block of minutes. App-to-app calls stay free. Rakuten Viber updated the Android app on November 4, 2026.

A group call holds 60 people, you plus 59 others, and a phone shows eight at once. The download page still offers a 32-bit Windows build next to 64-bit, Mac and Linux, which matters on an old family PC. Desktop needs an active Viber account on a phone first.

Best for: Families who mix app calls with cheap calls to landlines and basic phones.

Pricing:

• Viber-to-Viber calls are free
• Viber Out is paid by subscription or minutes. Rates are not listed on the public page and show in the app
• Viber Plus removes ads for a monthly fee shown only in the app, in select countries

Watch out for:

• The free app contains ads, and the ad-free Viber Plus plan is not offered in every country.
• Screen sharing in group calls works only on desktop.

Official site: Viber. Our listing: Viber.

Signal

Signal is run by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, carries no ads, and its Play listing says no data is shared with third parties. Group calls reach 75 people, per a 2026 note on the call links post. The Play listing still says 50. Since November 2024 you can make a reusable call link, require approval to join, and let people raise a hand to speak.

Apps exist for Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, Mac and Linux, though the desktop apps need Signal on a phone first. The Play listing adds that you can now register without a phone number, which costs a small one-time fee to keep spam out.

Best for: Families who want encrypted group calls from an app with no ads and no data sharing.

Pricing:

• Free, funded by donations
• Registering without a phone number needs a small one-time in-app purchase; the amount is not listed on the Play page

Watch out for:

• Video quality draws complaints. A February 2026 Foliovision post calls Signal video poor for years and points to a five-year-old GitHub issue.

Official site: Signal. Our listing: Signal.

Messenger

Some relatives never installed a separate chat app because Facebook already gave them one. Messenger calls them for free, and Meta says its MLow codec, built for weak networks and old phones, has fully launched on Messenger calls. The Android app passed 5 billion Play downloads and was last updated September 9, 2026.

The light version is gone. Messenger Lite, about 760 million downloads across its versions, stopped working on Android after September 18, 2023. Meta sent those users to the full Messenger app or to Facebook Lite to send and receive messages.

Best for: Calling people whose only messaging app is the one that came with Facebook.

Pricing:

• Free to call and message; in-app purchases available

Watch out for:

• No lightweight Messenger app exists since Messenger Lite closed in 2023, so on Android you are back to the full Messenger app or Facebook Lite.

Official site: Messenger.

Botim

Botim began as a calling app and now sells itself as calls plus money. The Play listing from ALGENTO DMCC promises voice and video calls that are "secure and reliable, even on low bandwidth," with picture-in-picture and call hold. It has more than 100 million downloads.

The money side, Botim Money, sends transfers, pays bills and offers a prepaid card, but the App Store listing says these services work only in the UAE. A VIP plan removes ads, raises video to 720p and adds background blur.

Best for: People in the UAE, or calling family there, who also want bill payments and transfers in the same app.

Pricing:

• Free with ads
• VIP from AED 4.99/month, Family Bundle for 1+4 people AED 14.99/month, yearly AED 49.99
• The UK App Store lists BOTIM VIP Monthly at £1.29

Watch out for:

• The Play data safety section says location and financial info may be shared with third parties.
• Botim does not publish a group call size on its listings or VIP page.

Official site: Botim.

Jitsi Meet

Everyone else on this list needs both people inside the same app. Jitsi Meet sends a link that opens in a browser, so a cousin on a work laptop can join without installing anything. The code is open source, and the project site offers a server download for anyone who wants to host calls on their own machine.

On phones, the Android app from 8x8 has 10 million downloads and was updated July 9, 2026. Its listing names server power and bandwidth as the only limiting factors, and publishes no participant cap.

Best for: One-off calls with people who will not install a new chat app.

Pricing:

• Free on meet.jit.si
• Self-hosting is free; you pay only for your own server

Watch out for:

• Since August 24, 2023, creating a room on meet.jit.si needs a Google, GitHub or Facebook sign-in, despite the "no account" line on the homepage. The first person in must sign in or wait for a moderator.

Official site: Jitsi Meet. Our listing: Jitsi Meet.

How to choose

When to stay with imo

Keep imo if the people you call are already on it and your calls hold up. The app is still updated and free. It has features the others lack, such as web call links for people without the app, VoiceClub voice rooms, a Hajj and Umrah assistant, and translation of text messages. Moving only makes sense when the people you call move too.

Frequently asked questions