Video group chat is an awesome feature for families and for business colleagues. But until now, free versions of video chat software have been limited to two-party calls, like FaceTime. Well, a new, free app for iPhone and iPad has just been released yesterday that shatters this two-party limitation, according to an Oct 1 article in the Wall Street Journal.
It allows up to 10 people to simultaneously participate in one chat session (in real time), without having to pay for a subscription or join a social network. What's more, participants can share videos and photos (with high audio and video quality) live during a chat, which the developer, Net Power & Light, Inc, calls a “gathering”. Net Power & Light Inc is know for its educational apps.
The app is called Spin and it's designed to take full advantage of the iPhone and iPad's touch features. You enter and leave chats by swiping, you zoom or pinch to increase or decrease the size of the tiles that participants appear in. Participants can also alternate between using front or rear cameras so, for example, one moment you may see the person's face as she uses the front-facing camera and the next moment you might see the environment around her after she turns on the back-camera.
One of the really awesome features is that you can not only show your chat participants the videos and photos on your iPad or iPhone (if you want to share them), but you can also show them pics and videos stored on your Facebook page.
Spin chats can start with either spontaneous invitations or by a future appointment, which make the potential of Spin very exciting. Friends or family members can gather for an impromptu get-together; businessmen and educators can schedule chat sessions for future meetings and long distance collaboration and learning.
Right now Spin is compatible with iPad 2+, iPad Mini, iPhone (it's optimized for iPhone 5) and iPod Touch 4+. An Android version of Spin will be available sometime next year.
