Chat with strangers near you
Most stranger-chat sites throw the whole planet at you at once. Always Somebody looks close to home first: your area, then your province or state, then your country, and only then the world. Here is how "near" works, what people near you can see, and what happens when nobody is around.
How near works
- No GPS, no permissions. We use the rough location of your internet connection, the same city-level guess every website gets. We never ask your phone for your position and we never know your street.
- Widening circles. When you tap Start talking we look for somebody in your area, about a hundred kilometres across. Nobody there? Your province or state. Still nobody? Your country, then the whole world. You can see which circle you landed in.
- Or skip all that. Choose Anywhere and we match you with the first free person on Earth. Messages are translated as they are sent, so a different language is never a problem.
Why near is better for a first chat
Somebody near you is awake when you are. They know your weather, your prices, the thing that happened downtown this week, the team everyone is annoyed about. Small talk is easy when you share a place, and easy small talk is how real conversations start. It also means that if you both tap Save and become friends, you are friends with somebody in your own time zone.
What people near you can see
By default the other person sees your province or state and your country. You can choose to show only your country, or to show your city. Never your street, your exact spot or anything that identifies you: everyone here is "Somebody" until you decide otherwise. The privacy policy has the details.
The map of who's around
The globe on the home page is the honest picture. Green dots are people online this minute; red dots are areas where somebody was around this month. Every dot is an area about a hundred kilometres across, never an exact spot. Tap a green dot to chat with that person. Tap a red dot in your own area and leave a hello: the next time somebody from there comes back, they get your message and can answer you.
Nobody near you right now?
It happens, especially in smaller places and at odd hours; the site is new. The circles widen on their own, so you still get a real person, just further away. If nobody at all is free you can talk with Sunny while you wait. Sunny is an AI, always labelled, and you stay in line for the next real person.
Safety, since it's close to home
Being near somebody is a reason to be a little more careful, not less. Don't give your address, your workplace or your full name to someone you just met. Never send money. Links aren't clickable here, on purpose. Next ends a chat instantly, Block makes sure you never meet that person again, and reports from several different people keep someone away from everyone. Adults only, 18 and over.
In Canada: chat with people in Canada, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary. Also see: someone to talk to right now, random text chat.