Random video call with a stranger, live in seconds

Pressing Start puts you in the queue of people looking for a call right now. Every second or so, the matcher looks through that queue and picks the best partner for you. It works through a short list of preferences in order:

1. Someone new. People you met within the last hour are held back while there are new people to meet. The more often you've met someone, the longer they're held back. That's why pressing Next keeps bringing new faces instead of the same few.
2. Someone who shares an interest. If you added interests (up to eight, in your own words), we look for someone who added one of the same. After about four and a half seconds without a shared interest, you're matched with anyone online, so you're never stuck waiting.
3. Whoever has waited longest. Among equally good matches, the person who has been searching longest goes first.

Two people never meet if one of them reported the other, and two tabs of the same browser are never matched with each other.

Once you're paired, your two browsers set up the video call directly with each other over an encrypted WebRTC connection. When your networks don't allow a direct connection (some mobile networks and offices don't), the call is relayed through our own server instead, so it still works. If your phone briefly loses signal, your match waits ten seconds for you to come back before moving on.

During the call you can type in the chat, send reactions and high-fives, drop an icebreaker question, or invite your match to one of six video chat games. When you're done, press Next (or Esc on a keyboard) and the whole thing starts again.

“Camera blocked” or no camera prompt

Your browser remembered an earlier “Block”. Chatingly shows the steps for your browser, but here they are too:

• Chrome on Android: tap the icon left of the address bar, then Permissions, and set Camera and Microphone to Allow. Reload the page.
• Safari on iPhone: tap “aA” in the address bar, then Website Settings, and set Camera and Microphone to Allow. Or go to Settings → Apps → Safari → Camera.
• Chrome, Edge or Firefox on a computer: click the icon left of the address bar and allow the camera and microphone for chatingly.com, then reload.

Black screen or “camera in use”

Only one app can use a camera at a time on many devices. Close Zoom, Teams, Discord, OBS, WhatsApp video or another browser tab that has the camera open, then reload. On a laptop, check for a physical privacy shutter or a keyboard key that turns the camera off.

Stuck on “connecting”, or calls keep ending

The video couldn't get through your network. Try switching between Wi-Fi and mobile data, move closer to your router, or turn off a VPN or data saver for a moment. School and office networks sometimes block video calls entirely. Chatingly gives up on a call that can't connect within a few seconds and finds you someone else, so a stuck call fixes itself.

They can't hear you, or you can't hear them

Check the microphone button in the call isn't muted (M on a keyboard), that your phone isn't on silent for media, and that a Bluetooth headset isn't still connected in another room.