The out-of-the-box alternative to FaceTime isn’t all that bad. Hangouts is Google’s service for both real-time text chat and video. One of the best things about it is that it’s massively cross-platform and linked to your Google ID. Not only does Hangouts work great on every Android phone, you can take it to your desktop—even your Mac desktop. Hangouts replaced Google Talk as the native chat app within Gmail (and Google+, but let’s not talk about that) a few years back, and the team has refined it a lot since then.
A cool about Hangouts is that it works beyond simple person-to-person connections. The platform supports multiple-person conversations for up to 10 people. Google also offers a mobile version for iOS. One advantage that Hangouts has over FaceTime is its data latency management. Apple recommends using FaceTime while connected to a wireless internet connection; Hangouts handles standard cellular data rates much better. In addition, voice calls to other Hangouts users are completely free.