People who have Duo set up on their phone shows up to the top of the list. In contrast, Google Duo lists all of your contacts within the main screen itself. Want to start a new call? You must search for contacts manually, and that gets tedious fast. But sometimes, it feels as if Apple went a bit too far in that direction. Google Duo - User InterfaceįaceTime is very minimalistic. It also sports a few options not present in FaceTime, such as the ability to limit cellular data usage and a nifty low light mode for better-looking video calls at nighttime. Totally annoying.īut Google Duo has all of its settings, which includes the block list, within the app itself. Want to block a user? You must take the long trip to the Settings app. Google Duo - Built-in SettingsĪlmost all of the iPhone’s native apps require you to dive into the Settings app whenever you want to make a modification. So no one should be able to snoop in on your conversations. That aside, both FaceTime and Google Duo encrypt your calls completely. Google Duo even sports a creepy (and privacy-invasive) feature called Knock Knock that lets you see a contact’s live video stream before you answer their call - the same goes the other way around. And the fact that you have to give Google Duo permissions to your contacts, camera, and microphone do feel a tad unnerving. Google, on the other hand, has a track record of collecting data. FaceTime - Better PrivacyĪpple is best known for its strong stance on privacy. The app even lets you share stuff from your photo library.īut since you can effortlessly do all of this using iMessage, you aren’t missing out on anything with FaceTime. Once you are done, you can easily send them to your Duo contacts. It takes some getting used to - perform a swipe-down gesture, and you can start recording or composing your messages. Google Duo takes things a step further with its ability to send video, voice, and text messages. Google Duo - Send MessagesįaceTime serves a single purpose - to video or voice chat with others. If you plan on chatting with dozens of people at once, then stick to FaceTime. On the other hand, Google Duo’s cap at 12 people per group call (still a lot) feels paltry by comparison. FaceTime lets you group chat with up to 32 people at once. But Apple knows its hardware and software the best, and it shows. FaceTime - Group Callsīoth FaceTime and Google Duo support group calls. But I did encounter annoying lags more frequently than with FaceTime. I had no issues with connectivity, and both voice and video calls sounded great. But in my experience, FaceTime calls almost always sound amazingly clear, videos rarely stutter, and lagging issues are few and far between.įor a third-party app, Google Duo also performed admirably well. FaceTime - Call QualityĬall quality is largely subjective since a lot depends on network conditions. If there’s a solid reason to use the app on your iPhone, then this is it. It also has a web version, which means that you can Duo with PC and Mac users as well. On the other hand, Google Duo works on iOS and Android, so you can communicate with anyone regardless of the platform. You have a service that works flawlessly on Apple hardware, but when it comes to chatting with contacts on Android, consider yourself out of luck. And that is perhaps both its greatest strength and weakness. Outside the iPhone, FaceTime is only available for the iPad and Mac. But as a third-party app, there’s always cause for concern that it might just break down at the worst of times. Once you’ve installed it and provided the required permissions, you are pretty much done. To Google’s credit, Duo requires little effort to set up on the iPhone. Apple has also polished it to near perfection over the years, and this translates to fewer bugs and issues. And it ‘just works.’ Open the FaceTime app, and you are good to go - it’s that simple. FaceTime - iOS IntegrationįaceTime is designed for the iPhone. But is it good enough to replace FaceTime? After using Google Duo on the iPhone for the past few weeks, here’s what I think.
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