Video chat with strangers around the world

Who is actually online

Mostly people who are bored somewhere it is late. Students, people on night shifts, people who have just moved to a city where they do not know anyone, people practising a language they are learning.

The mix changes completely with the hour. The same site at nine in the evening and four in the morning is two different places, and the late one is usually the more interesting of the two.

It is not a dating site

We say this on the rules page and it is worth repeating here, because it is the single biggest cause of bad conversations. People who arrive looking for a date treat everyone they meet as a yes or a no, and everyone can feel it.

The conversations that work are the ones where neither person wants anything from the other.

Practising a language

One of the better uses, and the country filter makes it practical. Set it to Spain and you will be speaking Spanish within a minute, with someone who has no idea how long you have been learning and no reason to be polite about it.

A stranger who will never see you again is a more useful practice partner than a friend who is being encouraging.

The etiquette nobody writes down

Have a light on. A dark rectangle gets skipped, every time, and people assume the worst about why you are hiding.

Do not eat, and use headphones if you can — your speakers going back into your microphone is the most common reason someone leaves a conversation that was otherwise fine.

Reading the room in the first second

You will make a decision about someone before either of you speaks, and so will they. Knowing what people are reacting to is most of the skill.

Dark rooms get skipped. Faces cropped so only a forehead is visible get skipped. Groups of people get skipped by anyone who wanted a one-to-one conversation, because it feels like an audience.

The people who get talked to look like they are expecting a conversation: lit, centred, and not already doing something else.

What to do about bad behaviour

Press Report, then Next. The report reaches a person with the conversation attached, and you are already talking to someone else by the time it is read.

Do not argue with them first. There is no benefit — they cannot follow you, message you or find you again once you press Next, and staying only gives them what they wanted.

If it involved someone who appeared to be a child, report it and also email [email protected]. That category is not part of the normal ban ladder; it is permanent and reported onward where the law requires it.

Frequently asked questions