Imagine you’re sitting at your computer, and with one simple action in your browser, you start an online video call with a co-worker in another building, or your brother across town, or your best friend in Florida.
The call doesn’t cost you anything; there’s no account to setup, and no download.
Welcome to the latest kid on the block for online video calls: Firefox’s new Hello feature, released this week in Firefox 35.
Introduced as a beta feature last fall, Hello is a WebRTC-based chat service that allows you to start a conversation by sharing or emailing a link to your conversation partner.
The other person doesn’t need to be on Firefox; they can use Chrome or Opera to join the conversation. Unfortunately, Safari and Internet Explorer won’t work since they have no support for WebRTC (as of January 2015).
Once you’ve selected the Hello icon from the toolbar or from the Firefox Customize panel, a small windows displays with a self-view until the other person joins the conversation.
While you’re waiting for them to join, you can continue to browse the web in another window or tab. Hello notifies you when the other person joins the conversation by changing the Hello button to blue and sending an audio alert.
You might ask, is it really that easy?
Yes, it is. It just works.
Hello Video Calling
I tried Hello out yesterday when I updated Firefox to the latest version.
After updating, I didn’t see the Hello icon on my toolbar, so I went looking for it in the Customize panel (select the Firefox menu button at top of the browser, select Customize).
After a quick drag and drop, I was ready to test it out.
I selected the Hello button from the tool bar and then selected the Start a conversation button.
The small window displayed in my browser, and I entered the email address of my friend Dino Baskovic, who offered to test out Hello with me.
Within seconds, Dino and I were on a video call, chatting about Hello.
The audio and video worked perfectly.
It was that easy.
Firefox Hello has a few other options to make it more useful. It allows you to contact someone directly, if you both have Firefox Accounts.
If they’re online, you can call them directly within Firefox.
Another helpful feature is the ability to import your Google contacts, using the Import Contacts option within the Hello address book. You’ll need to sign into your Google account to grant permission.
Elusive Unicorn?
I’ve been writing about easy-to-use video conferencing and video call applications since 2010, looking for the elusive unicorn: a video conference/call application that doesn’t make me think.
An application that:
- I don’t have to download
- Doesn’t require me to create an account
- Has easy-to-find controls
My quest led me to check out Sococco, as well as Talky.io and Appear.in.
And now Firefox Hello is joining my list of video conferencing and video call applications. But it’s not my elusive unicorn. Yet.
What Hello Can’t Do
Hello can only carry on a conversation with one person at a time. If you’re looking for a video conference with more than two people, Hello is not the choice for you.
It also doesn’t have any screen sharing options, but Firefox has plans to add screen sharing and other online collaboration features in the future.
Summary
Hello is an easy-to-use video chat application I can see many people using to connect with each other on the web, whether for work, fun, or just shooting the breeze with friends who live far away.
How about you? Have you found a video chat or conferencing application that’s easy to use? I’d love to hear about it.
Updated January 16, 2015: Added What Hello Can’t Do and Summary subheadings
Updated December 27, 2016: Unfortunately, Firefox removed the Hello feature and it’s no longer available.
Do you know if this works for more than one person at a time like Google+ hangouts?
Hi Virginia,
Thanks for stopping by. Hello only works for two people at a time. Firefox has plans to expand features in the future, including adding screen sharing and more online collaboration tools.