How anonymous chat works here, step by step

Getting into a conversation takes three steps: open the site, pick a mode, and tap start. There is no sign-up form in between.

The order is the same on a phone, a tablet or a laptop. Only the size of the buttons changes.

Before your first chat you are asked for almost nothing: no real name, no phone number, no email address. You will be asked to confirm your age, and your browser will ask about the camera or microphone only if you pick a mode that uses them.

That short list is what makes it possible to chat anonymously from the first second. The table shows each item and when, if ever, it comes up.

Anonymous, on this site, means the stranger you meet gets no name, number or email from us, and you never have to type yours to begin. What they learn beyond that is up to you. For habits that keep you anonymous beyond the product itself, read how to chat anonymously.

It does not mean nothing is recorded. A matching service leaves a trail on the server side: when a chat started, which mode it used, reports filed by or about you, and technical logs like device type and a rough region taken from your IP address. The privacy policy lists every category in plain language, along with how to ask for deletion.

You set the mode before each match, and the next match can use a different one. There is no profile setting that locks you in.

People switch for ordinary reasons. It is late and a partner is asleep, so text wins. You are on a walk with earbuds in, so voice fits. You had a good text chat last night and feel like seeing a face tonight, so video.

Skip ends the current chat and finds someone new, block keeps that person from being matched with you again, and report sends the chat to our moderation team. All three sit on the chat screen and all three are free.

You do not owe anyone an explanation for skipping. A two-second chat that ends with next is normal here.

Free matches come from two places: a starter set every new user receives, and the Reward Center at the top of the start match screen.

The Reward Center keeps track of time you spend online. Once you have been around long enough, a claim opens up and adds free matches to your balance. Then it starts over, so a claim can come around several times in one day.

You will not find the exact amounts or waiting times written here. Those are settings we adjust, and printing a number would make this page wrong the next time they change.

When the free matches are gone, the next match uses coins. How coins work covers that side, and the free anonymous chat page explains what is free and why it has a ceiling.

On a phone it runs inside the mobile browser, and you can add it to your home screen so it opens full screen like an app. There is no app store listing to hunt for and no download to approve.

On iPhone, open the Share menu in Safari and choose Add to Home Screen. On Android, open the Chrome menu and look for Install app or Add to Home screen. The anonymous chat app page walks through it with more detail.

You can leave any chat instantly with next or by closing the tab. Nothing holds you in a conversation, and the other person is not told why.

Leaving for good depends on whether you ever signed in. With no account, closing the tab ends the session, though ordinary server logs are kept for a limited period as the privacy policy describes. With an account, email [email protected] from the address tied to it and ask for deletion.