The success of Facebook, WhatsApp, and other social networks has proved that how social we are. From Video Chat to Voice Calls to Sending texts, all of this now happens on these messengers or social apps. But when it comes to group video chat, the options are very limited. All these chats or communications that we do are free. But, in actual, they are pseudo-free. We give up our privacy. Almost all the things we do on the internet, that we think are free are not. Our privacy is always at stake.
Our location, our interests, our fingerprints, our conversations, our data – we share almost everything with them and we think we use their services for free. We don’t realize the need for privacy because it comes free. And whatever is free, we rarely value it. But, by neglecting our privacy, like we always do, we’ll lose the power to sue them one day if something happens. And this will be because they know everything about us and we know nothing about them. This data can be also used against us anytime.
Also Check – Protect your privacy from prying eyes
But is there any solution to protect our privacy? Well, there are many solutions available if we search the internet. We should minimize the use of such apps because we don’t want anyone else to know when we leave home, when we come back, where we stay, and whom do we meet. Then, why them? Anyways, I am going to share with you an amazing communicator which is not only secure and free to use, but it contains lots and lots of features. You’ll stop using other video/chat apps after you meet Jitsi. Let’s take a look at Jitsi:
No SignUp Required: To start using Jitsi, you don’t need anything. Not even an email or a phone number, because Jitsi requires no signup. Jitsi is similar to IRC (Internet Relay Chat) with tons of extra features. To get started, all you have to do is to open this URL – https://meet.jit.si . You’ll get the screen as shown below.
Then, type anything in the box and click on ‘Go‘. You’ll need to provide some permissions to it. Once given, the only thing you need to do to chat with your friends or group of friends is to share the link. As shown below, once you click on share link, you’ll get a couple of options and you can invite your friends and chat seamlessly.
Jitsi is the easiest way to connect with your friends. You can do a video chat, audio chat or can even send text messages to each other. You can also share documents, play YouTube videos and can even share your screen. Perfect for a team. Isn’t it? And, Jitsi is absolutely free to use. Also, it has no limit on the number of friends that can connect at a time. If a group chat or some meeting is going on, and you want to say your point, you can use the Raise Hand option so as to notify everyone that you want to present a point.
On Jitsi, you can share your screen and play with a number of options that Jitsi gives you. Also, since anyone with the link can join, you can throw someone out anytime. Jitsi is not a social network but it is definitely the best way to connect with your friends for free. Also, if you’re a developer, you can contribute to Jitsi as Jitsi is open-source and its source code can be downloaded from here.
On Jitsi, you can also do the live streaming.
“While Jitsi allows for a high number of participants to go into a conference, sometimes you need an audience that exceeds the practical limits of two-way communication. Enter live streaming.”
To start live streaming, you need to go to the Creator Studio on your YouTube account and Click on “Live Streaming” there. If you are live streaming with this account for the first time, you need to do an extra step i.e. validate your account. Once validated, Click on Stream Now option on YouTube. Then, at the bottom, you’ll see Encoder Setup section. In this section, click on Reveal Button and you’ll get a key.
Copy this key and come back to Jitsi. You’ll see a Live Streaming button on Jitsi. Click the button and you’ll be prompted with something like this:
Paste your key in this box and click on Start live streaming. And that’s it! Your live streaming will start and anyone with the link (YouTube Live Streaming Link) can view the live streaming. Hence, you can share your conference or meeting with a very large number of audience.
Today, most of the people connect with their friends or colleagues using their smartphones. So, if you think Jitsi is not that useful as you’ll rarely use a website to meet someone or to do a video chat, then, fortunately, you’re wrong. Jitsi has an Android as well as an iOS app which you can download for free from here:
For Android app, click here.
For iOS app, click here.
How do you compare Jitsi with other apps/websites available in the market? Let us know in the comments section below. And, if you have any suggestion about the features that can be added in Jitsi, you can email us at [email protected] or open an issue on their Github repository.