Fun WhatsApp alternative that lets you make calls and chat

LINE lets you call, chat, and send photos to others for free, from your smartphone or computer, as well as follow companies and celebrities, and share updates with friends in a social network-style Timeline. 

Chat and share to connect with your friends

LINE allows you to chat with your friends, as well as make free video and voice calls to other users of the service. This includes the ability to make calls between the Android and iPhone versions of LINE. You can also make premium calls to your non-LINE contacts from within the app, or block or hide any contacts you don’t want to be able to contact you.

Hidden Chat is a Snapchat-like feature where if you open the ‘Hidden Chat’ option you can send time-limited secure messages that will only be displayed for a set amount of time once the recipient has opened them.

The app also has a Timeline feature, which gives it a social network feel, as your friends using LINE can like and comment on what you post. You can write a post, or share a photo and sticker. Businesses and celebrities are now using LINE so you can add them as contacts to keep up with what your favorite celebrities are doing or what stores, brands, or restaurants have on offer.

If not many of your friends are using LINE then you can shake your phone (or just touch the screen) to find random people to chat with nearby.

There are lots of stickers, emojis, and themes on offer, and LINE has also spawned a lot of spin-off apps that allow you to play games, take photos, and more. You can now choose whether to receive messages from these linked apps. 
 

High-quality calls

LINE is easy to set up, allowing you to register with your phone number or email address (the latter option only gives you access to text chat, though).

The voice and video call functions of LINE work very well and the sound quality is excellent. There is a slight delay in calls both via WiFi and 3G, though the quality is still better than both fring and Skype.

Text chatting in LINE is easy, with support for group chats of up to 100 people, and a good selection of emoticons to add to your conversations. Unlike WhatsApp, LINE allows you to chat between the desktop and mobile versions of the application.

LINE’s increasing focus on Groups, Timeline, and other social elements has also brought many new features. These include group calls, adding photos to comments, recording and uploading videos, and calling people directly from notifications.

The user interface includes so many options that you can end up getting lost and unable to get back to the home screen or your past chats. This is especially true from Timeline. 

Now with artificial intelligence integration

OpenAI’s ChatGPT API, the most popular and widely used artificial intelligence-based chatbot, can now be enjoyed within the LINE app. Nicknamed AI Chat-kun, the integration allows its users to enjoy the full-fledged version of the chat service without having to leave the app. Users can send in almost any command—from writing 3000-word essays, asking for advice, creating a travel itinerary, crafting email templates, looking up recipes, and so much more.

While a majority of LINE users are Japanese, the ChatGPT feature is only available in English and optimized for PCs—thus, non-English speakers and mobile users might encounter a few difficulties using the integrated AI service.

More than just your average chat app

LINE is an interesting alternative to apps such as WhatsApp, Tango and Viber, as it allows you to make good quality video and audio calls on your phone for free while bringing in some extra features, such as time-limited messages and a whole host of linked apps. Overall, LINE offers you a lot of features in just one app while still working smoothly and being easy to use.