Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Chatting is free, with no subscription, no in-chat ads and no signup, and nothing on FlashChat costs money. Optional extras, such as gifts, profile looks, a match pass with filters or calls past the free ones each day, use FlashCoins, which you earn free and cannot buy. Open flashchat.fun in your browser and start chatting in seconds.

No. Open the site and start chatting. On your first visit you get a random vibe-themed name that stays on that device until you change it. Adding a photo, bio, email or password is optional; an email and password let you keep your account, buddies and Saved Chat when you change phones.

No. FlashChat runs in any modern browser on Android, iPhone, tablet, and desktop. There is nothing to install from the Play Store or App Store. You can add FlashChat to your Home Screen for app-like behaviour as a Progressive Web App.

Open flashchat.fun and tap Start Chatting. You're matched with a random stranger in seconds. Once you're talking, tap the video or voice call button to ask for a call; it starts only if the other person accepts.

FlashChat always looks for a human partner first — and re-checks the queue right up to the moment of matching. If nobody is available within the wait window, you may be connected with an AI chat companion instead. FlashBot is the labelled companion; not every AI companion is explicitly labelled. Messages between two human users are never sent to any AI service — see the privacy policy and terms for details.

Yes. No personal information is required. You get a random vibe-themed name, your real identity stays private, and one-to-one chat messages are never written to disk unless someone reports the chat. Other users never see your device identifier, and text chat never shows your IP address.

Not for stranger chats. 1-on-1 stranger messages live in server memory only during your active session and are not written to disk or to a database, unless someone reports the chat: then its last 20 lines and up to three recent photos from the reported person are kept with the report for moderators. Two opt-in exceptions: Room messages are stored as room history, and Saved Chat buddy messages are stored as end-to-end encrypted ciphertext we cannot read: an unread message is kept up to 30 days, a read one disappears within 24 hours of being read. Full details in the privacy policy.

Persistent, end-to-end encrypted messaging with your FlashBuddies: text, photos, voice notes and GIFs. Everything is encrypted on your device before upload, FlashChat's servers store only unreadable ciphertext, and a message disappears within 24 hours of being read (an unread one is kept up to 30 days). Your chat key moves with you: sign in with your email and password (or recovery code) on a new phone, or show a 6-digit pairing code from a phone you already have. See Your chats on every phone.

Yes. Add an email and password under Me → Settings → Account, then sign in on the new phone: your profile, buddies and Saved Chat follow. The Devices list there shows every phone and browser you're signed in on, and you can sign any one of them out. See Your chats on every phone.

Your IP is visible at the network level (every internet service sees this) and is used for rate limiting and abuse prevention. It is never shown in text chat, stored on your profile or written into chat logs. A one-way hash of it is kept with cookie-consent records, and addresses banned for abuse go on a ban list. Any video or voice call can show your IP to the other person, because calls try a direct peer-to-peer connection first.

Go to Me → Settings → Account → Delete account. Deletion is immediate and irreversible: your profile, FlashBuddies, Flash Cards, comments, hearts, room messages and rooms you created, Saved Chat messages, notifications, arcade scores, sign-in records and push subscriptions are all removed. Reports and moderation records may be kept for legal compliance.

FlashChat uses WebRTC, the open standard for real-time video built into every modern browser. The call attempts a direct peer-to-peer connection first; if that fails (common on Indian mobile networks due to CGNAT), it falls back to a TURN relay: FlashChat's own Hyderabad relay first, then Cloudflare's nearest edge. See the random video chat guide for the full breakdown.

Yes. Indian mobile carriers use CGNAT, which blocks direct peer-to-peer connections most of the time. FlashChat detects this automatically and routes the call through a TURN relay so the video call still works on mobile data.

Roughly 4 to 6 MB per minute at the default 480p cap. A 30-minute call uses about 150 MB. On a relayed connection FlashChat lowers the bitrate, and if your network changes mid-call (Wi-Fi to mobile data) it reconnects the call automatically.

Yes. FlashChat works in Safari on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Open flashchat.fun, allow camera and microphone the first time, and you're set. Add to Home Screen for an app-like experience.

Yes. Stay on text, send voice notes or self-destructing photos, or make a voice-only call. Calls are opt-in for both sides: nobody sees or hears the other unless both agree.

FlashChat refuses illegal content in every chat, moderates public rooms, checks photos on its servers and again in the receiving browser, and lets you skip and report in one tap. One-to-one chats are not stored unless someone reports them. Combined with sensible behaviour (never sharing personal information with strangers) it's substantially safer than unmoderated alternatives. See the safety page for the full breakdown.

Illegal content (child abuse, terrorism, trafficking, sextortion) is refused in every chat. In public rooms, words the room doesn't allow are starred out and the message delivered, fast senders are slowed down and links outside an allow-list are removed. One-to-one chats are paced but not word-filtered. Photos are checked on FlashChat's servers, including against known child-abuse images, and again by an image classifier in the receiving browser. Reports go to admin review.

Yes. Block a user from their Flash Card or profile — you won't be matched with them again, they can't send you buddy requests, chat invites, or nudges, and their content is hidden from your feeds. Blocking is silent: the other person is never notified.

Only in designated places: Flash Cards explicitly marked 18+ and rooms flagged 18+. 18+ cards stay hidden unless you switch them on in Settings — the setting is enforced on the server — and 18+ rooms ask for an age confirmation before you first join. Photos without nudity (swimwear, short dresses, gym or beach photos) are fine everywhere and shown like any photo. Sexually explicit content is not allowed anywhere, including stranger chat and video calls: it is blocked or reportable.

FlashChat is intended for users aged 18 and above. The Terms of Service prohibit use by minors. Suspected minors should be reported through the in-chat report button or the published grievance officer.

Tap the flag in the chat header, optionally say what happened, and tap Report & Skip. You move to a new chat at once, and the report goes to admin review with the chat's details.

Keep your name, phone number, school or workplace, address and social media handles to yourself, and never send money or gift cards to someone you met in a chat. Start with text before turning on video, skip anyone who pushes to move to another app, and use Report and Block when something is wrong. Self-destructing photos disappear for the receiver, but a screen can still be photographed with another phone.

Photos sent in chat automatically disappear after a 3 to 10 second timer. Once the timer expires the image is permanently removed from the session and is not stored on the server, unless the person who received it reports the sender (moderators then keep it for 180 days).

Tap and hold the microphone to record up to 10 seconds. The voice note plays once for the recipient and then auto-deletes. Like all media, nothing is persisted after playback.

Flash Cards are anonymous public posts. Share thoughts, memes or questions for the community to heart, comment on, share or repost, or start a Spark Chat with you, all without revealing your identity. See anonymous posts.

FlashBuddies are persistent anonymous friend connections. Add someone you click with and you can invite each other straight into a chat, call each other, send nudges and wall posts, and message in end-to-end encrypted Saved Chat, all without exchanging contact details.

Rooms are topic-based group chats holding up to 500 members (1,000 in the official language rooms, 50 in a private room), with roles, rules, pinned messages, slow mode, polls, scheduled events, reactions and edit/delete. Share text, photos, voice notes and GIFs; private rooms can also hold group video and voice calls for up to 15 people. Rooms are public, or private with an invite link or password.

Every profile has a timeline: your post history plus an optional photo strip, going back to the day you joined. Buddies (or anyone, if you allow it) can leave wall posts and send you nudges. You control who can view your timeline and who can post on your wall from Preferences, and you can delete anything on your own timeline.

A built-in mini player with curated Indian and international radio stations plus a Podcasts tab. Audio streams directly from the broadcaster to your browser and keeps playing while you chat or browse other tabs. Free, no account needed.

Yes. The free Arcade has 16 browser games, including Ludo, Chess, Snakes & Ladders, Connect Four, Sudoku, Block Puzzle, 2048 and Quiz Master, with difficulty levels, a daily spin and leaderboards. Seven can be played online against people (Ludo, Chess, Snakes & Ladders, Connect Four, Memory Match, Quiz Master and Sudoku) from an invite link, a FlashBuddy invite, quick match or the Play button in a stranger chat: see Ludo, Chess, Snakes & Ladders and Connect Four. No download required.

Yes. Your best scores are saved with your FlashChat profile and appear on the global leaderboards, with no sign-up needed. If you clear your browser data, sign back in with your email and password to get them back.

Yes — and it's built for India. Servers are hosted in Oracle's Hyderabad region, keeping latency under 50 ms across most of India on Jio, Airtel, BSNL and Vi. FlashChat operates under IT (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2021.

The interface is currently English-first. Hindi support and additional Indian language interfaces are on the roadmap. The chat itself works in any language — type in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Telugu, or anything else and the message relays as-is.

FlashChat is inspired by Omegle's stranger-chat concept but rebuilt from scratch with stronger privacy defaults, India-specific infrastructure, and modern features Omegle never had — self-destructing photos, voice notes, Flash Cards, FlashBuddies, group Rooms, and full IT-Rules 2021 compliance. See the Omegle alternative comparison.

Omegle is not available anywhere. Its founder shut the service down worldwide on 8 November 2023, so it does not work in India or any other country. Sites using the Omegle name today are unrelated copies.

Omegle shut down on 8 November 2023 after 14 years. Founder Leif K-Brooks cited rising moderation costs, sustained legal pressure, and abuse of the platform in his closing letter. The site went offline globally on the same day.

FlashChat publishes a grievance officer with contact details and response timelines per the IT-Rules 2021. The takedown policy covers DMCA, CSAM reporting, government orders, and user-initiated content removal.