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Text chat or video chat: which one should you pick?
Both connect you to one stranger at a time. What differs is the pace, the pressure and how much of yourself you show.
13 October 2026 · 4 min read
The short answer
Pick text if you want to think before you answer, chat somewhere that is not private, or keep as much of yourself hidden as possible. Pick video if you want the conversation to feel like meeting a person, and you are somewhere you are happy to be seen and heard.
Side by side
| Text chat | Video chat | |
|---|---|---|
| What the other person gets | A random name and the words you type | The same, plus your camera and microphone |
| Pace | As slow as you like; you can reread before sending | Real time, with tone and expression doing half the work |
| Where it works | Anywhere, including a train or a shared room | Somewhere with decent light, a steady connection and some privacy |
| Your IP address | Never shown to the other person | Each side can learn the other's, because the call is a direct connection |
| What you need | A browser | A browser, a camera and a microphone you allow the site to use |
When text is the better choice
- You are practising a language and want time to build a sentence.
- You feel anxious on camera, or just do not feel like being looked at today.
- You want to talk something through with a person who will never know who you are.
- Your connection is slow. Text works on almost anything.
When video is the better choice
- You want to hear a laugh and see a reaction, not read "lol".
- You are practising speaking and listening, not just writing.
- You find it easier to trust a conversation when you can see the person in it.
On randomchat.social a video chat keeps the message box alongside the call, so you can still type a spelling, a song title or a joke that works better written down. You can mute your microphone or turn your camera off at any point.
The privacy difference, plainly
Video shows more than your face: the room behind you, anything on the wall, and your voice. As on any video call, the other person could record their screen. We do not record calls, and picture and sound never pass through our server, but that direct connection is also why each side can learn the other's IP address. None of this applies to text chat. The privacy policy has the full detail.
You do not have to choose once
The mode is a switch, not a commitment. Plenty of people use text chat on the way home and video chat once they are in. Both are free.
Keep reading
Or skip the reading and start a chat.