Brands Can Add Video Chat to iOS and Android Apps with ooVoo

Brands are always looking for ways to add social features to their mobile apps. Thanks to a new release by ooVoo, they can easily add video chat, letting them talk to their fans directly, or letting fans talk to each other.

Video chat company ooVoo announced today that it has released a software development kit (SDK) that lets developers add a new level of interactivity to their products. With the SDK, brands can add video chat to iOS and Android apps. OoVoo notes that support for desktop and online use will come in the near future.

The SDK is free, as is ad-supported video chat on the service. Alternatively, users can pay to skip the ads. Users don't need an ooVoo ID to begin chatting. The SDK includes several developer resources, including a sample multi-way video chat application for iOS and Android, along with the full source code. The SDK allows for up to 720p, 30fps video, with support for full screen rendering and wideband audio.

The SDK lets developers create chats with up to 12 simultaneous streams, but the company notes that users can support more than that, if requested. The service is cloud-based, so all video streams pass through ooVoo's cloud infrastructure.

OoVoo says it now has over 80 million registered users, adding 100,000 new users each day. Besides video chat, the platform lets people send text or video messages, or watch YouTube videos together.

"Face-to-face communication really changes the shared experience across all industries, and that's why we're thrilled to put ooVoo's SDK into developers' hands today," says Jay Samit, president of ooVoo.

For brands looking to differentiate their apps without a lot of expense, ooVoo provides an interesting option. Get creative and think how you could use face-to-face video chat to enhance your company's mobile experience.

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net