Chats online, random and one-on-one

Three formats of chats online

Chats online come in three formats, and each one gives away a different amount. Typing hides both face and voice, which suits a noisy train or a quiet office. A voice call adds tone but no picture. Video shows the most: a bad match gives itself away fast, and so does whatever sits behind you.

Ours belongs to the third group, and not by accident. Our rules say a call needs both the camera and the microphone, and an audio chat with the camera off counts as a Premium feature. So every call here is a voice and video chat at once. Typing to random strangers isn't part of the deal.

The five services in the strip below handle typing in two ways. Umingle runs typed chat as its own mode, separate from video, and so does OmegleMe. BOTIM and imo offer typed messages alongside their calls. Whether Meetchi has a text mode is not stated.

Where each one lives differs just as much. Ours skips the download: it sits in a browser tab, on this very page. Umingle is also usable from a browser. OmegleMe is web-based and offers no app for Android or iPhone. BOTIM and imo lean the other way, each as a phone app on Android and iPhone; a browser version isn't mentioned for either. Meetchi does a bit of both, with a web version and an Android app.

The strip below lines the five up on cost, accounts, filters, apps and typed chat. All five were up and running at their latest check. MeetCam, ChatJoin and Parau come up next to these names too, but there's nothing on file about them yet, so they sit outside the strip.

Comparing online chat sites fact by fact

Each row is one service and each column one fact. Price comes in three flavours: Free, Paid, and Free with paid extras for a service whose basics cost nothing while some features are sold on top. Sign-up says whether an account is needed before the first call, or merely offered.

The two filter columns say whether gender or country can be picked, and at what cost; Built into matching means the pick is part of the normal flow, not an add-on. The app column splits support into Android, iPhone and browser, one by one, and the text column tells a separate text-only mode apart from typing during a call. Each column reads across all five at once, so a quick scan down Sign-up settles the account question for every service in one go.

Not listed appears wherever a service publishes nothing on a point, so a gap stays visible instead of being papered over with a guess. A missing fact counts as unknown, never as a no.

Who does our video chat pair you with?

Pairing starts with the gender pick on the first screen. Our rules state that men using the chat are matched with women. Past that choice, it's chance. Nobody hand-picks who comes next, and every call is a fresh draw.

That design suits some people far better than others. It fits men keen to talk by video call with a woman and happy to be seen themselves. It fits poorly when the plan is a mixed crowd or a same-gender match. For the first group, this is chats online at their simplest: one pick, then someone new.

Free or paid, with or without registration

Starting our video chat takes no registration: the chat screen opens without a sign-up form in the way. An email account only comes into it for paid extras. No sign-up doesn't mean no face, though: the camera rule in the answers below still applies. The age question still comes first, and the terms of use apply from the first call all the same.

The five in the strip charge in different ways. OmegleMe is free to use, and imo calls itself free. BOTIM and Meetchi each combine a no-cost tier with things to buy. Umingle doesn't publish a price at all.

Sign-up splits them too. Umingle, OmegleMe and Meetchi let people start without an account; for BOTIM and imo, whether an account is needed is not stated. Meetchi also puts its gender filter behind payment, while ours builds the gender choice into the first screen.

When a call turns into a threat

Now and then, trouble starts after a call has ended: a message claims a clip of it exists, then asks for money or more images. Don't pay. Don't delete the thread either. The screenshots from step four, along with the account name, are what any report will need.

Money requests also turn up in disguise: a link for an age check, a verification fee, a gift card to prove something. Treat any request like that from a match as a warning sign, not a step to follow. Threats that come with a deadline are built to rush a decision; the clock is part of the pressure, not a fact to obey. Telling someone trusted early makes the next steps less lonely.

What does the call need from a device?

The list is short: a current browser such as Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Edge, a camera and a microphone the system is willing to share, and a yes when the browser asks about this site. Browsers ask before any website can use the camera or microphone, which is why a first call starts with a question from the browser. If the browser never asks, the phone's or computer's own privacy settings may be holding the camera back from it, app by app.

A no given by mistake stays with this site in the browser's settings, so that's where it gets reversed, not inside the chat window. The walkthrough for a microphone Chrome has blocked on Windows shows the idea step by step, and the camera follows the same path.

Some trouble has nothing to do with permissions. If a technical error says the chat can't connect to the server, reload the page once, then try another network or browser before giving up on chats online for the day.

Which screens can join the video chat

A phone does the job. Our video chat is a web page, so a phone browser that can use the camera opens it like any other site, and the start button behaves the same way. Headphones keep the other side's voice to yourself in a shared flat, and Wi-Fi spares the data allowance on long calls. Long video calls are hard on a battery too, so a charger within reach saves one from ending mid-sentence.

Tablets work alike. A tablet video call runs in the tablet's own browser, and on an Amazon Fire tablet, as on any other, the call depends on that browser getting camera and mic access. Laptops and desktops can use a built-in camera or a plug-in webcam once the system lets the browser near it. With two cameras connected, Chrome's camera setting lets you choose between them, and some Windows laptops add infrared or depth cameras that a browser may pick by mistake. An external microphone works the same way as a plug-in webcam, once the system lets the browser use it.

Smart watch owners will have to reach for something bigger: calls here are built for phone, tablet and computer screens. And on a small keyboard, chatss online, chattings online or even chats online online are one slip away; the start button doesn't mind any of them.