Appear.in is a free online application that allows us to conduct video conferences, share the desktop, create webinars, and any type of online meeting in a comfortable and simple way.
In a world where telecommuting and decentralized teams are increasingly common, the need to hold an online meeting with several participants is becoming more frequent every day.
There are many solutions available (Skype, Teamviewer) and, ultimately, they all work correctly. However, the normal experience is that 5-10 minutes before the meeting starts, there is an exchange of emails or calls with phrases like:
Do you all have it installed? What version do you have? Do you have the meeting ID? Can everyone see you? Can you all hear me?
This is where Appear.in stands out, making creating an online meeting easy and simple. It just works. No registration, no need to install anything.
How to create a meeting in Appear.in
To create a meeting, simply go to their website and create a room. Or, if you have previously created a room, you can join it again.
Now invite participants by sending them the link to the room. That’s it, that’s how easy it is to have an online meeting.
In the free version, we can invite up to 8 people, although they warn that in the free version the video quality may suffer with 4 or more participants. Participants can broadcast video or share their screen (but not both simultaneously).
We can enlarge the window of one of the participants or make it full screen. Of course, we also have controls to mute the phone, pause our video broadcast, and change the camera or audio device that we want to transmit.
There is also a chat available in the room, useful if we want to send web page addresses, a phone number, for example. This prevents us from having to dictate them and the rest of the participants from writing them down.
Appear.in has a Premium version that increases the number of participants to 12, and allows simultaneous sharing of video and desktop, useful for presentations or demonstrations. It costs $12/month per room.
In short, a very useful tool for holding online meetings with people inside or outside of our organization, and stands out for its ease of use compared to traditional alternatives.