There's more than one app for that!

Never be held hostage to one service or service provider ever again! There is always an alternative.

From messaging to video conferencing to social media to video streaming, to webmail, and browsing - pick a category, any category - and I will give you a host of options to whatever you might be using now.

Messaging

Let’s start with messaging. WhatsApp may be leading the charge, but Telegram and Signal offer basically all the same features for the same price … FREE.

Standard features include end-to-end encryption, multi-media file transfer support, VOIP calling, video calling and link preview.

Video Conferencing

For video conferencing, instead of tying yourself down to Zoom, consider Google Meet, Microsoft Skype or Teams (if you feel like torturing yourself). Free Conference Call, Go To Meeting and Blue Jeans widen the pool.

I like to focus on ease of use, rather than bells and whistles for this one. Can you quickly schedule a meeting, share a link and get started on a call? Great. Need cross-platform compatibility, mobile app, screen sharing, recording, and custom participant controls? You can get that too.

Social Media

For social media, you’ve got, arguably, the most options. Facebook may have billions of users, but TikTok and Twitter are not just immensely popular, they are growing.

The success of social media is defined by who’s where when. Post pictures and videos, comment, like and share, live stream, go short, go long, go audio-only for all I care. Many of the platforms copy each other within weeks of introducing new features so the only real question is … are my friends here yet?

Video Streaming

As with the social media category, the list of video streaming service options is pretty long. The game-changing Netflix still rules the roost (for now), but competitors like Disney+, Amazon Prime, HBO Go, Peacock and Hulu, literally just to name a few, are gaining fast.

Standard browser features include incognito or private browsing mode, autofill, cookie and pop-up blocking and password management.

This is the first category that shakes things up. The fact that all the services have, practically speaking, all the same features is of no consequence to the fact that they all have custom content. Let’s face it, you need them all because they each have one exclusive series or movie that is all the rage and you just gotta watch.

Webmail

Whereas you can pretty much live without messaging, video conferencing, video streaming or social media, you cannot live without webmail. Gmail took over the top spot from still going players like Outlook (née Hotmail) and Yahoo!, but sexy new players like Mail.com and Proton mail may be where the action is heading.

For me, the big caveat is reliability. If it is reasonable to believe that the service will be around five or ten years from now, then that is where I will be. Losing a 15-year-old message or not having access to recovery information lost is a now-defunct service IS THE WORST. So choose wisely.

Web Browsing

Finally, let’s talk about the oldest internet-based service category on this list - browsing. As it stands today, most people use Google Chrome. I qualify this statement because the market leader changes often.

The chromium-based Microsoft Edge is gaining ground fast while perennial underdog Mozilla Firefox continues to impress. Underground favourites like the privacy centred TOR, Duck Duck Go and Opera are capturing more attention daily. Before you ask, yes, Internet Explorer is dead.

Seek out specs on speed, security and system resources to suggest the right surfing tool. Seriously though (smile), each browser handles settings differently but pound for pound you won’t lose with the big three - Chrome, Edge and Firefox.

The Apple Garden

Apple users often play by themselves in a walled garden. They rely on iCloud of email, FaceTime for video conferencing, Apple TV for video streaming, Safari for browsing and iMessage for messaging. We haven’t got our own social media though. 🙁

The reality is, it is really very hard to differentiate most of these services on features. Instead, focus on how the user interface suites you.