You can video call without phone, number, nor email. Here, if you can video call, of course you can do group chat, voice, upload files, and share screen too. Thanks to Element and several other choices, now this is possible. It is very useful for everybody in teams or groups today especially when work from home becomes a norm. What to prepare and how to do it? This article explains it briefly special for you and your friends.
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Choices
Your choices are between 
Element, 
Movim, 
Session, 
Jami, 
Jitsi, and Big Blue Button. You and your friends should choose one choice. This excludes choices with phone or email requirement such as Signal or Zulip. They all support voice calls except one as explained briefly below:
- Element
Access: https://app.element.io
Matrix based complete communication solution.
- Movim
Access: https://movim.eu
The best Xmpp messenger with voice - video - share screen features.
- Session
Access: https://getsession.org
Australian messenger, no web & video/voice calls currently.
- Jami
Access: https://jami.net
GNU operating system's telephony, accessible everywhere except at web.
- Jitsi
Access: https://meet.jit.si
Public video call platform which is free - instant - stable, no signup.
- BBB
Access: https://bigbluebutton.org
Public video call like Jitsi plus education tools integration.
Preparations
- You and your friend (at least two persons).
- Yours and your friend's devices (at least two devices). The device may be a computer, a laptop, or a smartphone.
- An internet access for both.
- Webcam (optional).
Communication
This simple tutorial picks up one example, that is Element, that can represent all choices presented here. The signup is anonymous, easy & quick, with all the most complete features you can get for free (gratis). To do communication is like below:
1) Turn on your computer, laptop, or phone.
2) With web browser, go to https://app.element.io.
3) Register, make yourself a username & a password.
4) Login, welcome yourself for the first time.
5) Make a call, by finding and voice/video calling him/her.
6) Make a group call, by making a group and do group voice/video call with members
For more specific guide with pictures, please read more Element here, Jami here, Jitsi here, BigBlueButton here, Movim here, and finally Session here.
Notes
The Communication section above is applicable to all choices except Session (for today) mentioned here. You can use Jitsi instead of Element, for example, to do so, and so do other choices like Jami or Movim. Enjoy your communication!
See Further
- List of Video Calling Solutions
Learn more about other choices like Mattermost or RocketChat.
Learn more about our alternative world in a bigger picture.
This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.