When we think about free video-calling, a lot of options come to our mind. Skype is one of the popular options among other video calling tools. Popularity, however doesn’t make Skype a perfect video calling tool. If you are looking for an alternative to make free video calls, the latest version of Mozilla Firefox comes to your rescue. Firefox’s latest version comes with a new feature called Firefox Hello, which lets you make free video calls directly from the browser
In order to use Firefox Hello to make free video calls, you need to download the latest version of Firefox (36.0.1). If you are already using Firefox, update it to the latest version by clicking on the Menu button located at the top right , click on Help and then About Firefox. You will notice a pop-up window that will update Firefox and then you might have to restart your computer if required.
Hello extension will be automatically installed with the latest version of Firefox. It has a smiley face icon that can be located at the top right of your browser.
If you don’t find the Hello icon, you can add it to the extensions toolbar. Click on the Menu button (three lines) and then Customize . You will find the ‘Additional Tools and Features’ page with lot of options, including Hello. You just have to click and drag the Hello icon to the Firefox extensions toolbar.
Once you have clicked on the ‘Get Started’ button, you can start video calling immediately by clicking on the blue ‘Start a conversation’ button.
You can log in to your Firefox account by clicking on Sign In or you can Sign Up if you don’t have an account. Your email address will appear at the bottom after you have signed in, above your status. You can change your status by clicking on Available or selecting Do Not Disturb
You can also start the free video call without having the need to sign in. Just click on the ‘Copy Link’ to copy the chat link and email it to the friend whom you would like to chat with. Once your friend clicks the link, the Hello icon will change to blue, letting you know they are there.
You can name every conversation on Hello and every call link is saved. You can also import contacts from your Gmail account or add new contacts using their names and email addresses.
Hello is an amazing new feature in Firefox that lets you make video calls for free. This feature is still in Beta and is only available on the latest version of Firefox. Hello lets you make calls to mobile devices as well. The person you’re calling can receive the call in Firefox, Chrome or Opera browsers (Internet Explorer and Safari are not supported). Do try out Hello and let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.