Duo is available from the App Store and Google Play Store and can be downloaded for free.Īpples brilliant plan of keeping FaceTime and iMessage only on iOS is pretty lame at this day and age. We all likely know someone who doesn't use an iPhone, and Duo seems to be a good alternative for those looking for a FaceTime-like feature on Android. This may be a deal breaker for those who like to chat on multiple devices, but for those looking for easy video calling, it's worth a try. Think of it like a FaceTime video preview that's available before the FaceTime call is accepted.īecause Duo uses a phone number for authentication, the app is not available for the desktop, and you are only able to use one device associated with a certain phone number at a time. One new feature, however, is called Knock Knock, which is a sort of video caller-ID that lets the person receiving a call see what the caller is doing before answering. When in a video call, you get many of the features you'd expect from a service like FaceTime, including mute, switching between the rear and front-facing camera, and ending the call. You sign into the app using your phone number, and once logged in, you have a list of contacts to call pulled from the existing contacts in your phone. The Duo app is rather simple, with a similar interface on Android and iOS devices. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.