One of my biggest concerns when Travis left for South Korea was figuring out how we would communicate with each other. He wouldn’t be able to take his cell phone because of the international charges and fees he would have. He was able to put his cell phone on a military hold without any fees, and he bought a new phone in South Korea. Thankfully, we have found many ways to talk even on different sides of the world!
For anyone else who is preparing for a move or long trip overseas, I wanted to share what we use to communicate, as well as other free apps for international communication.
Facebook Messenger — We used this while he was traveling. He was able to get wifi in the airports and could send me a message on his iPad to let me know where he was.
Skype — This is great for video chats so you can see each other’s faces.
Kakao Talk — As soon as Travis got a phone over there, he downloaded Kakao, an app basically everyone in South Korea uses. Through this app, we can text each other for free. You can also send videos and photos to each other. You can also use it to call each other for free.
Magic Jack — Travis downloaded this app on his phone too. He is able to call me and anyone in his family using this app for free. It’s free to call anyone in the US or Canada.
Other Apps I’ve Heard About But Haven’t Tried
- Viber
- Avacado
- Pair
- KIK
- Voxer
- Tango
- Google Hangouts
- Oovoo
I had no idea there were so many free apps for international communication! You’ll have to find what works best for you.
Other Apps Great for International Travel
- iTranslate
- Currency Converter
What other apps do you recommend?
This is a great resource list! I wish I knew about some of these when Chase was deployed. We survived off of Facebook Messenger and Skype. I also enjoy WhatsApp for free texts and calls internationally.
WhatsApp — I’ll have to add that one!
iMessage!! We tried Viber and I couldn’t get it to let me add him as a contact which was super strange. We made it easy and he just got an iPhone over in Japan and we communicate through iMessage for free 🙂 It works out perfectly because pretty much everyone on his side of the family, along with his friends, all use iPhone so we can communicate without any issues! I didn’t realize MagicJack had an app. My parents used the actual MagicJack in our home when we moved to Florida so we could make long distance calls to our family back in Maine and New York, but I didn’t realize they had an app now too!
Yes, they sure do. We’ve used it for phone calls before!