Zoom vs Facetime: which one you should consider right now?

If you are an iPhone user, you probably use FaceTime to video call your family or friends. FaceTime has a very easy-to-use interface, so much so that your grandparents could easily do it! But the app reaches its limits when you want to use it for more professional purposes, such as teaching an online class, interacting with students or discussions with your team. So Zoom is a better choice for videoconferencing, because it allows you to interact with a large number of fellow users.

Still, it is important to understand that Zoom and FaceTime are not comparable on all fronts. While FaceTime is great for adding video to phone calls, Zoom is a product specifically designed for video calling. Over the past two years, the work-at-home culture has become increasingly popular. Software updates and new gadgets these days also revolve around increasing our WFH efficiency.

And WWDC 2021 has been no different. The iOS 15 update covered a lot, from FaceTime updates to Quick Notes. But what caught our attention is that FaceTime now works with Android and has many similarities to the popular conferencing app Zoom.

Zoom vs Facetime Pricing

Facetime is free and has no premium plans. It is part of the Apple experience, and anyone with a supported device (or a link) can use it. The trick here is that it still works best with Apple devices. Many would find Apple products expensive, and it can be an unnecessary expense if you are already satisfied with a non-Apple device.

Zoom has a free plan, but it has its limitations. With this free plan, you can host up to 100 participants and have unlimited one-on-one meetings. However, each group meeting can only last 40 minutes. If that’s not right for you, you should sign up for one of the paid plans. Prices are affordable, starting at just $14.99 per month per host.

Zoom vs Facetime Comparison Table

Zoom vs Facetime Device compatibility

Zoom is reasonably compatible with all devices. Be it Android or iOS; the application works fine. For macOS, however, you must have macOS 10.9 or later. FaceTime has always been Apple-exclusive, but every device has access to it with the iOS 15 update. To experience most FaceTime features on your iPhone, upgrade your device to iOS 15 or later.

Zoom vs Facetime Video quality

Zoom Meeting app offers 18080p quality and an HD version for video calls. However, the video calls on Zoom are not excellent for recording. At the same time, FaceTime does offer HD-quality video calls and even offers video calls in portrait mode. That means you can blur the background like portrait photos.

Zoom vs FaceTime – Features

Zoom

• Whiteboarding, annotation, breakout rooms and chat for easy collaboration
• Screen sharing, application sharing
• Dynamic voice recognition
• Call scheduling (also offers client, browser and plugin scheduling options)
• Record your meeting to the device or cloud
• Allows up to 1,000 participants with the ‘Large meetings’ add-on
• Free plan imposes a 40-minute time limit on meetings with more than 2 participants.

FaceTime

• Free to use (Apple users only)
• Enables Group FaceTime with up to 32 people
• Use Siri to easily activate FaceTime
• You can also use it on Apple TV, providing a better video calling experience
• Has parental controls that allow parents to set the time limit of a FaceTime call
• Allows you to easily take photos during the call, forward calls, etc.
• FaceTime works over Wi-Fi (iPhone 4 or newer) and mobile (iPhone 4s or newer).
• Calls are integrated with recent calls you make in the Phone app.

Zoom vs Facetime Audio quality

Zoom calls have fairly decent audio quality for both audio and video calls. Although it offers high fidelity audio and background noise cancellation, it doesn’t work quite right. If I got a penny for every time my Zoom meeting was disrupted by background noise, I’d have a nice side income there. FaceTime has promised Spatial Audio and voice isolation with iOS 15 or later updates. Now you may be wondering how Spatial Audio matters at all with FaceTime.

During a video call with your friends or colleagues, you hear their voice on their side of the screen. For example, if person X is on the left side, you will hear their voice coming from the left. This feature will be beneficial to eradicate the monotonous behavior that has come into our system with increasing video meetings. In fact, it will be one step closer to real meetings. Voice isolation acts as a background noise suppressor. It eliminates the noise as much as possible, allowing the receiver to focus on your voice.

Zoom vs Facetime Security And Privacy

Apple is always picky about its privacy and never disappoints its users. FaceTime calls are end-to-end encrypted, meaning you can only access and share data with the sender and receiver. Zoom does not reach FaceTime’s level of security. But that doesn’t mean Zoom is insecure for meetings. It provides security features and enhances the seamless experience. But overall, FaceTime remains the winner.

Zoom: Pros and Cons

Facetime: Pros and Cons

Which one should you consider?

it really depends on what you want to do with the product. If you want to stay in touch with your family or friends and they all have Apple products, FaceTime is an easy-to-use solution that comes pre-installed and works right out of the box. Besides, your grandmother will probably get it to work without help.

In almost all other cases, Zoom is a better service. Its obvious advantage is that non-Apple users can participate in conversations, but there’s also the built-in chat, virtual backgrounds, screen sharing and other features that make it a fully functional solution for video calling and group conferencing.

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