--- title: The Best Apps to Stay Connected During Isolation description: Our favourite video apps to stay connected with friends & family during isolation. image: https://www.distilagency.com/hubfs/SDS-BLOG-BEST-APPS-TO-STAY-CONNECTED-COVER.jpg --- [![DISTIL_Logo](https://www.distilagency.com/hubfs/DISTIL_Logo.png)](https://www.sydneydesignsocial.com) - [Services](https://www.distilagency.com/all-services) - [Branding & Creative](https://www.distilagency.com/branding-creative) - [Digital Marketing](https://www.distilagency.com/digital-marketing) - [Partnerships](https://www.distilagency.com/partnerships) - [Work](https://www.distilagency.com/work) - [Blog](https://www.distilagency.com/blog) - [Resources](https://www.distilagency.com/resources) - [TikTok for Business](https://www.distilagency.com/tiktok-guide-for-business) - [Facebook for Business](https://www.distilagency.com/resources/beginners-guide-to-using-facebook-for-businesses) - [Instagram for Business](https://www.distilagency.com/how-to-use-instagram-for-your-business) - [Digital Marketing Guide](https://www.distilagency.com/a-guide-to-digital-marketing-for-hospitality) - [Graphic Design Guide](https://www.distilagency.com/en/resources/graphic-design-for-hospitality) - [Contact](https://www.distilagency.com/contact) [ALL BLOGS](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/) ### The Best Apps to Stay Connected During Isolation # The Best Apps to Stay Connected During Isolation Thanks to the virus that must not be named, the government has, much like an angry parent sending their child to their room, ordered us all to stay home. In addition, on Monday 31 March it was announced that gatherings of more than 2 people (outside your isolation buddies) are now illegal in NSW and if you’re caught out, you risk up to[6 months in prison and/or an $11,000 fine](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-31/coronavirus-rules-explained-when-you-can-leave-house-in-nsw/12105782). We’re all doing our best to get used to this new ‘normal’ (honestly, it’s so far away from that) and staying connected with friends and family is more important than ever. In the age of quarantine, staying in touch can prove difficult but luckily, technology in 2020 is pretty ace and a bunch of tech savvy people have made it possible for us to virtually hang out. ## FaceTime If you have an iPhone, you automatically have access to Apple’s own video app, [FaceTime](https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT204380). FaceTime is built into every Apple product (iPhone, iPad and Mac) and to use the app is much like making a regular phone call – absolutely foolproof. You are however only able to call people using Apple products, so it won’t work with your anti-iPhone friends (there is always one). ## Zoom [Zoom](https://zoom.us/) has been around for a while and has long been used in business. It has recently exploded and is now being used among people all over the world. In fact, Zoom has [gained more users so far this year](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/26/zoom-has-added-more-users-so-far-this-year-than-in-2019-bernstein.html) than it did all of 2019.   It’s super easy to use and the organiser simply shares a link for people to join. The free version of the app allows you to invite up to 100 people on a chat and the call is restricted to 40 minutes. One-on-one chats can however go for as long as you want. A premium account will let you invite 1,000 people but let’s be honest, who even knows that many people and more importantly, who wants to talk to that many people at the same time. Oh, and there is a secret [‘beauty’ filter](https://www.thecut.com/2020/03/how-to-look-better-during-zoom-video-calls.html) in case you overslept for your virtual coffee date.   ## House Party Unless you’ve been isolated from the internet over the past week, chances are you’ve heard about [House Party](https://houseparty.com/). The app has gone viral in the last few weeks and simply put it’s a video call apps, a face-to-face social network, allowing people to virtually hang out with friends. However, House Party has few unique features that differs it from other apps: - **Games –** the app has games like quizzes and trivia that you can play while chatting. Basically, you can turn your night on the couch into trivia at the pub. Only you can wear sweatpants. - **Open rooms –** up to 8 people can join but if you don’t lock the room (chat), people (literally anyone) can sneak into your chats. Much like there was always someone that crashed high school house parties, people can crash your virtual party. Could make for an interesting night. ## Facebook Messenger It comes as no surprise that ol’ mate Zuckerberg has his own app for communication and the app, just named ‘[Messenger](https://www.messenger.com/)’, is available to everyone with a Facebook account. Up until end of last year, the app was available to people without an account too. Messenger is free, you can host group video calls for up to 8 people and the app has interactive features like face filters. ## Instagram To help people connect, [Instagram](https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/coronavirus-keeping-people-safe-informed-and-supported-on-instagram)has launched a new co-watching feature. The new feature allows you to look at Instagram posts together with friends over video chat. To start the video chat just click on the video chat icon in the inbox.   Iso-life is challenging in many ways but perhaps the silver lining is that we have more time to (virtually) connect with friends and family and man will we appreciate the simple things in life when it’s all over. But for now – video calls are where it’s at! [![Subscribe to our Blog](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/4606896/b12e331e-6b95-4d0f-84b1-92447056b5a8.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/4606896/b12e331e-6b95-4d0f-84b1-92447056b5a8)   8/04/2020 ![Jessica Spork](https://www.distilagency.com/hubfs/J-Brodd-1.jpg) [Jessica Spork](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/author/jessica-spork) Post Tags [Social Media](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/tag/social-media), [Coronavirus](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/tag/coronavirus), [Apps](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/tag/apps) ### Categories - [Social Media Marketing (82)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/tag/social-media-marketing) - [Digital Marketing (78)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/tag/digital-marketing) - [Social Media (55)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/tag/social-media) - [Instagram (45)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/tag/instagram) - [Graphic Design (44)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/tag/graphic-design) ### Featured Reads ![ Featured Post Image ](https://www.distilagency.com/hubfs/Marketing_Calendar_BlogBanner_V1-1.jpg) ### [2025 Marketing Calendar](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/2025-marketing-calendar) ![A GIF of a pair of hands holding a restaurant menu, moving back and forth. ](https://www.distilagency.com/hubfs/DISTIL_BLOG_Banner_Menu_Design.gif) ### [Elevate Your Brand: Menu Design and Branding Strategies for the Food, Beverage, and QSR Industries](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/elevate-your-brand-menu-design-and-branding-strategies-for-the-food-beverage-and-qsr-industries) ![ Featured Post Image ](https://www.distilagency.com/hubfs/DISTIL_Open_House_Blog_Banner.jpg) ### [Introducing Distil Open House](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/distil-open-house) ### Archive - [March 2020 (8)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2020/03) - [April 2020 (7)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2020/04) - [February 2019 (6)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2019/02) - [October 2018 (5)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2018/10) - [January 2019 (5)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2019/01) - [May 2019 (5)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2019/05) - [October 2019 (5)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2019/10) - [May 2020 (5)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2020/05) - [June 2020 (5)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2020/06) - [November 2020 (5)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2020/11) - [July 2021 (5)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2021/07) - [September 2021 (5)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2021/09) - [December 2021 (5)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2021/12) - [August 2018 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2018/08) - [March 2019 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2019/03) - [June 2019 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2019/06) - [August 2019 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2019/08) - [September 2019 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2019/09) - [November 2019 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2019/11) - [December 2019 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2019/12) - [January 2020 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2020/01) - [February 2020 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2020/02) - [July 2020 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2020/07) - [August 2020 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2020/08) - [September 2020 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2020/09) - [October 2020 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2020/10) - [January 2021 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2021/01) - [February 2021 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2021/02) - [March 2021 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2021/03) - [April 2021 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2021/04) - [May 2021 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2021/05) - [October 2021 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2021/10) - [April 2022 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2022/04) - [March 2023 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2023/03) - [June 2023 (4)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2023/06) - [November 2018 (3)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2018/11) - [December 2018 (3)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2018/12) - [April 2019 (3)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2019/04) - [July 2019 (3)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2019/07) - [August 2021 (3)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2021/08) - [November 2021 (3)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2021/11) - [July 2023 (3)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2023/07) - [April 2024 (3)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2024/04) - [July 2024 (3)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2024/07) - [September 2018 (2)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2018/09) - [December 2020 (2)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2020/12) - [January 2022 (2)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2022/01) - [February 2022 (2)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2022/02) - [March 2022 (2)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2022/03) - [May 2022 (2)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2022/05) - [May 2023 (2)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2023/05) - [September 2023 (2)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2023/09) - [October 2023 (2)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2023/10) - [December 2023 (2)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2023/12) - [March 2024 (2)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2024/03) - [June 2021 (1)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2021/06) - [August 2022 (1)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2022/08) - [September 2022 (1)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2022/09) - [December 2022 (1)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2022/12) - [January 2023 (1)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2023/01) - [August 2023 (1)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2023/08) - [November 2023 (1)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2023/11) - [January 2024 (1)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2024/01) - [February 2024 (1)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2024/02) - [June 2024 (1)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2024/06) - [August 2024 (1)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2024/08) - [November 2024 (1)](https://www.distilagency.com/blog/archive/2024/11) See all ### Subscribe to our blog ##### Distil #### Branding, Design & Digital Marketing - - - - - - - [![Distil_Logo](https://www.distilagency.com/hs-fs/hubfs/DISTIL_Logo.png?width=95&name=DISTIL_Logo.png)](https://www.sydneydesignsocial.com) - © Copyright 2025 ##### Follow us! - - - - ![](https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=203210420347760&ev=PageView&noscript=1) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Jessica Spork", "url" : "https://www.distilagency.com/blog/author/jessica-spork" }, "dateModified" : "2020-04-08T02:28:30.472Z", "datePublished" : "2020-04-08T02:28:29.000Z", "headline" : "The Best Apps to Stay Connected During Isolation", "image" : [ "https://www.distilagency.com/hubfs/SDS-BLOG-BEST-APPS-TO-STAY-CONNECTED-COVER.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www.distilagency.com/blog/the-best-apps-to-stay-connected-during-isolation", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://www.distilagency.com/hubfs/Distil_Logo_Wordmark_Primary_Black-2.png" }, "name" : "Distil Agency" } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : "https://www.sydneydesignsocial.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Sydney Design Social/Home/logo.png", "url" : "http://www.sydneydesignsocial.com/" } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement" : [ { "@type" : "ListItem", "item" : { "@id" : "http://www.sydneydesignsocial.com/", "name" : "Home" }, "position" : 1 }, { "@type" : "ListItem", "item" : { "@id" : "http://www.sydneydesignsocial.com/services", "name" : "Services" }, "position" : 2 }, { "@type" : "ListItem", "item" : { "@id" : "http://www.sydneydesignsocial.com/work", "name" : "Work" }, "position" : 3 } ] } ```