WhatsApp

© WhatsApp

Texting is the new talking. Some people may still prefer the personal connection from hearing a friend’s voice … but you can’t use emoticons in a voice conversation. While our thumbs may have adapted to this new medium, some service providers have not. And unless you have an international texting plan, keeping in touch with your friends at home — or new friends where you are — can get pricey.

Because of our geographical isolation, the Americas sometimes fall out of the loop with some things (**cough** soccer **cough**). One of these things is WhatsApp, a little-used app in the States, but wildly popular abroad. WhatsApp allows users to text using the Internet instead of by-text charges. That means you can focus your entire phone plan on Internet data and forget all about how many texts you think you’ll send this month. It also means you can keep in touch with your friends back home and even send them pictures — why wait until your return to make them jealous?

© WhatsApp

WhatApp is free to download and works on almost any phone. Subscription is free for the first year, and after that it’s only 99 cents a year, so do your own cost analysis comparison with text messages.

The best part is almost everyone in Europe and Asia uses it regularly. It’s designed for international communication, so it makes it easy to keep in touch with your friends at home when you’re away and your friends away when you’re at home.