An OmeTV alternative without the camera (Monkey and Umingle too)
When Omegle closed in 2023, random chat moved to video apps: OmeTV, Monkey, Umingle. All three put your face on screen the moment you connect. If you would rather talk first and show nothing, Always Somebody is the same idea, a random stranger one-on-one, with the camera taken out.
What the video apps are
OmeTV is a free random video chat with phone apps; its own page says it connects you to random people worldwide, like Omegle did. Monkey calls itself a random video chat and runs as an Android app and in the browser. Umingle is a newer random video chat with interest matching. They are good at what they do: fast, worldwide, and video first. Everything below is about what happens when you take the camera away.
How Always Somebody is different
- Text first, voice if you both say yes, never video. Nobody sees your face, your room or your IP address. Voice calls go through a relay.
- Nothing can be shown to you. The most common complaint about video roulette is what people are shown before they can press Next. In a text chat there is nothing to show. Photos only exist between friends, and they are checked before they are sent.
- Near you first. The globe shows where people are right now: green dots are people online this minute, red dots are areas where somebody was around earlier. We look for somebody close to home first, then your province or state, your country, the world. Choose Anywhere to skip straight to the world.
- In your language. Every message is translated as it is sent. You write in English, the other person reads it in theirs, and you read their reply in yours. On a video app you can see the other person and still not understand a word.
- Save the good ones. If you both tap Save, you become friends and can message each other later, even when one of you is offline.
- Leave a hello. Nobody online in a place you care about? Tap a red dot and leave a hello; the next person from that area gets it when they come.
- No sign-up. No email, no phone number, no account. Open the page and start.
- Reports that count. When several different people report someone, that person is kept apart from everyone else and then paused.
- Adults only. Always Somebody is for people 18 and over.
What you give up
Faces. You will not see who you are talking to, and they will not see you. If what you liked about Omegle was the webcam, the video apps above are where that went, and this page is not trying to talk you out of them. Always Somebody is the quieter room next door: the same stranger, the same one tap to the next person, and a conversation that starts with words.
Nobody around?
Always Somebody is new, so some hours are quiet. If nobody is free after a few seconds, you can chat with Sunny while you wait. Sunny is an AI and is always labelled as one. You stay in line, and we switch you to a real person the moment one is free. Or tap Tell me when somebody’s here and close the tab; we send one notification when the next person arrives.
Also see: what's different from Omegle, text-only chat, random text chat, talking to strangers safely.