Chatingly video chat: one stranger, one tap.

A Chatingly video chat begins with a single button. Press start, give your browser the go-ahead for the camera and microphone, and Chatingly looks for somebody else who pressed start around the same moment. You do not browse a gallery, rate photos or wait for anyone to accept a request. The next thing on your screen is a real person looking back.

That speed is the whole appeal of Chatingly video. The distance between being bored on the sofa and saying hello to a stranger in another city is barely a moment, and nothing in between asks you to prove who you are or write a bio.

If the first match is not your kind of conversation, press next. Chatingly drops that connection and starts looking again straight away, and the person you left gets a fresh match too. Nobody is told why, and nobody expects a reason.

Every Chatingly match opens with a strip of basics about the other person: the nickname they picked, their age, the country they are in, the language they speak and their level on Chatingly. It is enough to start a conversation ("so what time is it where you are?") without handing over anything personal.

Your own card works the same way. The stranger gets the same basics about you, along with whatever your camera frames. Keep your surroundings in mind: a window with a street sign or a letter on the desk says more than you might intend.

• Chatingly picks your match at random, and that unpredictability is exactly what keeps every round a genuine surprise.
• One stranger per match, always. No third person can drop in and nobody watches from the sidelines.
• A conversation runs until one of you decides it is done, and either side can end it instantly.

Good random video chat has no timer running in the corner. If the two of you are laughing about the same terrible film, keep going for as long as you like. Type into the chat panel when the audio drops or a word gets lost; every typed message carries a translate button, so a match in Brazil or the Philippines can write in their own words while you read the English version.

Some matches deserve a second meeting. On Chatingly you can follow somebody from their profile and message them later, and the online list lets you ring a particular person on a private video call. Private calls are paid with coins, and Chatingly checks your balance before the call starts rather than surprising you afterwards.

Chatingly has three matching modes, and video is only one of them. Before you press start you can choose voice, where the other person hears you but sees nothing, or text, where the whole conversation is typed. Plenty of people warm up that way and bring the camera into a later round. The full routine is on the text to video page.

Whichever mode you choose, the rest of Chatingly behaves the same: random pairing, the same card, the same next and report buttons.

Chatingly video chat is free to start. Newcomers begin with a stock of free matches, then the countdown box called the Reward Center drops in more (sometimes coins instead) whenever its timer runs down. After the free ones are used, matching continues with coins. The plain guide to what is free on Chatingly lays out every piece.

Nothing about that needs a card on day one. Guests can match immediately, and signing in only becomes useful when your balance and preferences need to show up on a second phone.

Chatingly runs inside the browser, so a laptop with a webcam and a phone held at arm’s length get the same experience. On a phone, the front camera fills the screen and the next button sits under your thumb. If you would rather launch Chatingly from an icon, the home screen guide shows how to pin it on iPhone and Android without any download.

Good light helps more than any expensive camera. Face a lamp or window rather than having the light at your back, and the stranger on the other side will actually see your expression.

Chatingly is an 18+ service, and a few things get people removed fast: showing nudity to someone who did not ask for it, harassment, hate speech, threats, recording people to shame them, and anyone who looks underage. Each call has a report button that sends the session to Chatingly’s moderators. Use it and then press next; you do not have to argue first.

For a fuller, more honest look at the risks of meeting strangers on camera, read is Chatingly safe.