The StrangerBeing Guide, Click by Click

Pick video or text on the match screen, allow your camera if you chose video, and you’re matched with one stranger. Talk while it’s good, press Next on video when it isn’t, and follow anyone you’d like to find again. That’s the whole loop; the six steps below add the detail.

You don’t need an account for any of it. The site opens as a guest session in your browser, on a phone or a laptop, and every step here works the same on both. If you only want the short version, the home page lets you talk to strangers instantly with one click.

Go to the match screen. At the bottom you’ll see the modes: Video, Audio and Text. Video and Text are the two doors most people use; tap one, then press start.

Choose by where you are rather than by mood alone. In a quiet room with a bit of light, the video door gives you a face to talk to. On a bus, in a shared bedroom or when you simply don’t feel like being looked at, the text door is the better fit. You can switch before every match, so nothing you choose tonight locks you in. For a deeper look at each, there’s a page on cam chat and one on random text chat.

The first time you open the video door, your browser asks for permission to use the camera and microphone. Say yes, and it remembers for next time. If you say no, the video door can’t start, but the text door still works.

Before you allow it, glance at what’s behind you. A bedroom wall is fine; a window with your street sign, a stack of mail or a work badge is not. Thirty seconds of checking now saves a lot of worry later.

On the video door, one stranger appears and the conversation is yours to start. Say hi and ask something easy to answer: what time it is where they are, what they’re eating, what they’re supposed to be doing instead. If it doesn’t click, press Next. The chat ends, and the search for someone new begins.

On the text door there’s no call. A message thread opens with one person, and you type to each other. When it runs out, go back to the match screen and start another. Stuck on the first line? The list of conversation starters is sorted by situation, so you can borrow one that fits.

If a conversation was good, tap Follow before either of you moves on. You can also do it from their profile afterwards. Following doesn’t share your number or anything outside StrangerBeing; it just keeps their profile within reach.

Following is the one step that needs a signed-in account. Matching works as a guest, but when a guest taps Follow, the site asks you to sign in first, and the follow goes through once you have. If you’d rather stay a guest, you simply skip this step.

Not every good chat needs a follow. Some conversations are perfect as one-offs, a few minutes with someone you’ll never see again. Follow when you actually want to say more.

Your conversations collect in the Messages list. Open a thread to write to someone you’ve followed or talked to before. Text messages can be translated automatically, which helps when the other person writes in their own language.

A profile also has a video call button. It only starts a call when you press it, so following someone never puts you on camera unexpectedly. If you’d like to see someone again rather than type, that’s the way.

Open the video feed and choose the Live tab, or go straight to the live rooms. Pick a room to watch. You can type a comment that scrolls across the stream, send a gift paid with coins, or use the button in the room to start a one-to-one chat with the person who’s live.

You can watch but not go live yourself. Live rooms are a gentle way in for evenings when you want company before you say anything.

There is. Besides Video and Text, the match screen has an Audio mode. It uses your microphone only, so the other person hears you without seeing you, and Next works there the same way it does on video. Pick it at the bottom of the match screen, next to the other two.

The two doors are the main way in, but the voice mode is there when you want it.

Your first matches cost nothing, and rewards that show up as you chat add a few more. After those, calls run on coins: when the free part of a call ends, the call timer starts again from 00:01, and if your balance runs low a top-up prompt appears.

Gifts in a live room are paid with coins as well. You never need a card just to try things out.

VIP is an optional membership in the wallet. The full explanation, including what coins can and can’t do, is on is StrangerBeing free.

You can, in Safari, Chrome or most other modern browsers, with no download. Every step in this guide works the same on a phone, and you can add the site to your home screen so it opens with one tap like an app.

The video door uses your front camera in portrait; the text door is handy on the move. Home-screen instructions for iPhone and Android are on the StrangerBeing app page.

Get out of the chat before anything else. On video, press Next to move on; in a text thread, close it. Then open the person’s profile, where Block stops them reaching you through messages and Report sends us the account with the reason you pick. More on staying in control is on is StrangerBeing safe.