Talk to strangers online

Why talking to strangers is worth doing

Almost every conversation you have is with someone who already has an opinion of you — colleagues, family, the same group chat as last year. A stranger has none of that. They do not know your job, your history, or what you said last week, and you will probably never speak to them again.

That turns out to be freeing rather than pointless. People say things to strangers they would not say to anyone who has to keep seeing them. It is also the fastest way to hear how someone in a completely different country actually thinks, rather than how the internet says they think.

How it works here

Press start. You go into a queue. You are matched one-to-one with another person who is also waiting, and the conversation opens immediately. Skip whenever you like and you are matched with someone else.

There is no signup, no email confirmation and no password. The first time, you give a display name, your gender and your age and confirm you are 18 or over. The whole flow from arriving to talking is about ten seconds.

• One-to-one, never a group room
• Text or video, your choice
• Unlimited skips, no explanation needed
• Message text is not stored after the conversation ends

How to do it without regretting it

The rules are boring and they work. Do not give out your full name, your address, your workplace, your school or your phone number. Do not let someone move you to another app early — that is the most common opening move of anyone running a scam.

If a conversation turns unpleasant, skip. You do not owe a stranger politeness, an explanation, or a second chance. If it is worse than unpleasant, report it before you skip so a human sees it.

Be sceptical of anyone who is unusually complimentary within the first minute, anyone who claims a coincidence that is too neat, and anyone who asks for money for any reason at all.

What this is not

This is not a dating site. There are no profiles to browse, no likes, no matches to come back to and no way to find the same person again once the chat ends. If you are looking for something ongoing, this is the wrong tool.

It is also not a support service. If you need to talk to someone because you are in real distress, a trained volunteer at a crisis line will help you far more than a random stranger will.