It’s hard to keep in touch with close friends and family who live hundreds of miles away, especially while managing a busy schedule. While I try to check in often, I’ve found some great options to maintain relationships with long-distance friends and family, from sending mini podcasts to starting a virtual book club.

1Sharing Photos

Screenshot by Marissa Zupancic — no attribution

Sharing photos is one of the best ways to keep in touch with long-distance friends and family. Since they aren’t there to experience every moment of my life, I like to send photos of new decor I’ve put up, places I’ve visited, cute photos of pets, and more.

Screenshot of the steps to add the Locket widget to your phone

My current photo-sharing app of choice is Locket, which operates similarly to Snapchat. However, its widget feature for your home screen, which shows new photos as they come in, is one of the reasonswhy I left Snapchat for Locket.

I’m in a group with two of my best friends, which allows us to share photos accompanied by short captions. There’s also the option to react to photos and send messages in the app, where I can directly respond to photos.

Screenshot of how to add the Locket widget to your phone

2Sending Voice Notes

Sometimes, a story I’m excited about sharing is too long to type up as a text. My friends and I frequently send longer-form voice memos updating each other on key parts of our day, exciting job opportunities, or the latest celebrity gossip. It’s a great excuse to hear my friends’ voices and have a more in-depth conversation as opposed to merely texting.

There’s an app called Cappuccino directly designed for this purpose, available oniOSandAndroid. Cappuccino allows you to create mini podcasts with life updates and any other information to then send to your friends. Each short “bean” (audio clip) you send will be added to your friends' cappuccinos, which get compiled and sent to them daily. While this is a great option, sending a voice memo on iMessage gets the job done, too.

Explainer of Cappuccino app that allows three minute audioclips (beans)

3Watching Shows and Movies

Teleparty lets you host a watch party with friends and family. I love watching reality TV with my friends because it’s more fun as a group, so I host watch nights for the latest episodes from The Bachelor franchise. You can connect your accounts for Netflix, Max, YouTube, Hulu, and more!

Teleparty has a chat bar where you can message your friends as you’re watching live, with further options to pause and rewind for snack breaks or any other interruptions. You can downloadTelepartyas an extension on your browser or get the app oniOSandAndroid.

Screen to record a new story on Cappuccino with option to add text, photos, and prompt

4Hosting a Virtual Book Club

My friends and I also started a book club a year ago with the help of the appFable. This amazing reading tracker also lets you start public and private book clubs, breaking down books for discussion by chapter. We typically give each other about three weeks to finish a book, adding commentary to the app as we make progress.

There’s a final review portion that shows what each club member rated the book (out of five stars) and their final review. We also schedule a video call to go over our thoughts on the book, largely guided by the commentary we each wrote on Fable. Fable is also a fantastic book tracker, which iswhy I left Goodreads and now track my books on my Fable.

Cappuccino settings showingn my mugs and time I get my cappuccino

5Setting Up Audio and Video Calls

While this may seem like the most obvious option, calling long-distance friends and family always provides me with an instant mood boost. It can be challenging to carve out time when everyone is available to chat, but even if it’s just a quick phone call, it makes a difference.

I try to video call my long-distance friends at least twice a month and call my family once a week. I especially love to video chat with FaceTime, so I can see my loved ones, their pets, and any other visual components like new furniture, art projects, and so much more.

6Playing Games Online

Finally, I recently discovered thePlatoapp, which allows you to play games and message people in-game. Currently, Plato offers more than 50 multiplayer games on the app, including pool, chess, drawing games, word games, and even an RPG called Dungeon Tales.

No matter what kinds of games you and your friends and family enjoy, there’s something for everyone on Plato. This app is available for free oniOSandAndroid, with in-app purchases for coins that can be redeemed for different aesthetic options, like changing card designs.

There are more ways to keep in touch with long-distance family and friends than just a phone call. Whether you want to watch movies together, start a book club, play games, or share photos, you can keep a strong connection even when apart.