Anonymous chat with strangers: what Omegle knows, and what they see

What makes Omegle anonymous

There's nothing to sign up for. We never ask for your name, email or phone number, so we don't have them. You don't pick a username either: in the chat you're just "You" and they're just "Stranger".

When a chat ends, it ends. No friend request, no follow, no way for that stranger to find you again on the site.

Strangers don't get your IP address

On a lot of video chat sites, your browser connects straight to the other person's. That's fast, but it also hands them your IP address, which can give away your rough location.

Here, all voice and video goes through our server. You connect to the server, the stranger connects to the server, and neither of you ever connects to the other. So the stranger never sees your IP address, and you never see theirs.

Anonymous chat vs private chat

Those two get mixed up a lot. Anonymous means nobody knows who you are. Private means nobody else can see what you say.

Omegle is anonymous towards the stranger. It isn't private towards us, because we record chats for moderation. A messaging app with end-to-end encryption is the opposite: private, but everyone knows exactly who you are.

For a quick chat with strangers, anonymous is usually what you want. Just don't treat it as a diary.

What the stranger can see

The tech protects your IP. It can't protect you from your own camera. The stranger sees and hears:

• your face and your voice
• everything behind you: posters, mail on the desk, the view out the window, a school or work uniform
• whatever you type or say, including the name you let slip
• anything you show them, for as long as it's on screen

And they can record it

Any stranger can record their screen, and no website can stop that or even detect it. Assume every chat might be saved.

This is how sextortion works. Someone gets you to undress or do something sexual on camera, records it, then demands money. If it happens: don't pay, stop replying, save the messages and go to the police. The safety tips explain where to get help taking images down.

What we store (anonymous isn't invisible)

To us you're not fully anonymous, and we'd rather say so up front. For every conversation we store the mode, start and end time, each participant's IP address, the chat messages, and a recording of the voice and video. Recording starts when you press start, so the wait for a stranger is included.

Moderators can watch recordings and live chats. It all gets deleted automatically after 30 days, unless it's been reported to the police or is part of an investigation. We don't sell it and we don't use it for ads. Full details are in the privacy policy.

Why keep anything? Because a site where anyone can chat with strangers attracts people who shouldn't be there. Without recordings, a report is just your word against nobody's.

How to stay anonymous on camera

A few habits do most of the work:

• Keep your full name, school, job and social handles out of the chat, even when it's going great.
• Check your background before you press start. A blank wall beats a bedroom full of clues.
• Be careful with "add me on Snap?". Moving you to another app is how a lot of scams begin.
• Don't show anything you'd mind seeing online later. Turning the 18+ switch off also keeps nudity blurred on your side.
• If a chat feels off, press Esc. You don't owe anyone an explanation.

Ready to chat with strangers?

Used with a bit of sense, anonymous chat is a great way to meet people you'd never cross paths with otherwise. Most strangers are just as curious as you are, and science agrees it usually goes better than you expect.

Need an opener? Grab one from our icebreakers, then start a video chat.