Random text chat with strangers

Random text chat pairs you with one other adult for a typed, one-to-one conversation. Your camera and microphone are never requested in text mode, and nobody can see or hear you. There is no profile to fill in: you type, they type, and either of you can move on whenever you like. It is a free stranger chat: you can text strangers from any browser without an app, an email address or a username.

If you miss Omegle’s text chat, the idea is the same: a random stranger, one-to-one, no account, Next whenever you like. RandomHey is an independent service, not affiliated with Omegle, and adds optional interest and language matching.

Start a text chat

How random text chat works

1. Optionally add up to five interests, up to three languages you speak and what you would like to do.
2. Press Text. You wait until another person looking for a text chat is available.
3. When you are connected, you both see the same optional conversation starter. Type and press Enter to send. Either of you can ask for another topic.
4. Press Next to meet someone else, or Stop to leave. Nobody is reconnected automatically.

Who you are matched with

You are only paired with someone else who chose text, never with someone you blocked or who blocked you. Among the people waiting, matching prefers, in order, a shared language, shared interests and the same goal:

• Just talk: an open conversation with whoever is available.
• Practise a language: chat with someone who speaks a language you are learning.
• Talk about interests: meet someone who added the same topics. Similar words count as the same interest, for example “soccer” and “football”.

When someone has waited about 20 seconds, waiting time comes first, so nobody waits forever for a slightly better match. If you both chose the same interest or language, you are told when the chat starts. The details are on how matching works.

Why choose text chat instead of video

• Nothing to show. No camera, no microphone, no room behind you.
• Works anywhere. A bus, a library or a shared flat: typing is quiet.
• Time to think. Useful when you are practising a language and want to write it properly.
• Lighter on data. Text uses far less bandwidth than a video call.

If you would rather see the person you are talking to, start a video chat instead.

Staying safe when you text strangers

• Report and Block are always visible during a chat and for a short time after it ends.
• Blocking ends the chat at once and stops you being matched with that person again.
• Reports are reviewed by people. You can attach the last messages so a moderator sees what happened.
• Links are not clickable and files cannot be sent, which removes a common route for scams.
• Never share your name, address, phone number, social media or photos. Nobody legitimate needs them.
• If someone asks you to move to another app or asks for money, end the chat and report it.

No automated system catches everything. Read about our safety features and their limits and the community guidelines.

What “anonymous” means here, in detail, is on the anonymous chat page.

What gets stored

Messages are relayed through our server and kept in a short-lived buffer so a brief network drop does not lose them. The buffer holds at most 100 messages and is deleted within five minutes after the chat ends. It is only kept longer if you submit a report and choose to include an excerpt.

Limits

• Messages are plain text up to 2,000 characters. Links are not clickable and files cannot be sent.
• Very fast repeated messages are slowed down to limit spam. Stop always works.

Text chat questions

Start a text chat