If you’re concerned about Zoom and its privacy blunders, you might be interested in Facebook’s new standalone Messenger app for Mac (and Windows, though it’s not new). You can now chat with up to 8 people at once from your computer, making it a more personal way to interact with your friends.

How it works: Facebook Messenger is available as a single app for Windows 10 and macOS from each of the platform-specific app stores. Once downloaded, you log in with Facebook and you’ll be presented with a window with all of your Facebook Messenger chats in it. Create a group of up to 8 people (including yourself), click the video camera icon and you’ll be chatting, camera to camera, in no time. In our testing, we were able to connect desktop, laptop, and mobile versions of Messenger without a hitch.

Why you should care: Current quarantine restrictions have us all staying home and working en masse. Zoom has become the darling of our need to collaborate and socialize, but the company has had some issues with privacy and security of late. That’s not to say that Facebook is any better at protecting your privacy, but if you’re already part of the Messenger experience on your phone or the web, it’s a seamless way to connect with others.

In short: Granted, Zoom can connect up to 100 people at once (and you get fun virtual backgrounds to play with) and Google Hangouts is a robust solution too, but Messenger is something we probably already use and 8 people is generally enough for a good conversation (or a drink).