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Anonymous chat with no sign up: what each site actually knows about you

By the Switchboard team ·

Checked October 28, 2026Every claim on this page comes from the service’s own privacy policy or terms, read that day.

Every anonymous chat site says it is anonymous. Almost none of them says anonymous to whom. The person on the other end usually cannot see you. The company usually can, and what it keeps ranges from nothing at all to your IP address with every message for six months, or a recording of your screen.

People type “anonymous chat free”, “anonymous chat online” and “anonymous chat room without registration” into a search box and get the same dozen sites back, ranked by whoever paid for the listicle. So this is not a list of anonymous chat sites ranked by how fun they are. It is sixteen services, ours included, ranked by what their own privacy policies say they keep, read this week, with the services whose policies would not load for us left out rather than guessed at. “No sign up” turns out to be the easy part. The retention line is the part that matters.

We run the last entry, a phone line, so we will say which and let you weigh it against the rest.

Key takeaways

What anonymous actually means

Four separate things hide behind the word, and a service can clear one while failing the rest.

  • Anonymous to the other person. They see a nickname and nothing else. Almost every service on this page clears this one. It is the only one most of them mean.
  • No account. No email, no phone number, no login. The browser sites mostly clear it; the apps mostly do not, because an app wants a login to sync.
  • No log. Whether the service writes down your IP address, and for how long. This is the one the homepages never mention and the privacy policies always do. Six months at Chatzy. Three at Voidchat. Thirty days at OpenTalk. Ten at Chatix.
  • Nothing to read back. Whether your messages are kept, and whether a human can read them. ChatAlya says plainly that its text is not end-to-end encrypted and its moderators can read it. Wakie says it may record your conversations. AnonChat stores your photos and voice notes on its servers.

Two more things are true of the whole category. Age checks are a box you tick; StrangerLine says so in writing, Whisperly says it does not verify identity or age, and 7 Cups admits users from thirteen. And the platforms have turned on it: Apple’s App Review Guidelines have said since February 6, 2026 that apps used primarily for random or anonymous chat may be removed without notice1, and Google Play extended its child safety and age-restricted content policies to anonymous and random chat apps on August 26, 20262.

The category earned that. The FTC fined NGL Labs five million dollars in 2024 for an anonymous messaging app that sent fake messages, sold vague hints about who wrote them, and claimed world-class AI moderation it did not have3. Whisper, once the biggest name in anonymous posting, was found in 2014 to be keeping deleted posts with location data, leaked a database of user profiles in 2020, and was shut down for good in July 202545. And every Telegram anonymous chat bot sits on a Telegram account, which is a phone number that Telegram has handed to courts on request since September 20246.

Sixteen services, by what each one keeps

Least kept at the top. Every line is what the service’s own privacy policy or terms say, read October 28, 2026. Services whose policies would not load for us (Chatiw, 321Chat, TalkWithStranger, AntiLand, Chatrandom) are not listed rather than guessed at.

ServiceWhat it isSign upWhat it keepsAgeRuns on
SwitchboardA phone callNoneYour number, hashed and encrypted. A first name. Transcripts of what you say to the operator and of any question you leave. No IP, no device ID, no email. Live calls are never recorded18+Any phone
VibyText, nickname roomsNickname onlySays it keeps no chat logs. Names no owner18+Web
WhisperlyVoice or text rouletteNone (guest ID)Guest ID, IP, region, device, session times. No audio stored18+, not verifiedWeb, Android
StrangerLineText, voice or video, 1 to 1NoneGuest data deleted at session end; security logs 90 days; your 18+ click logged 90 days18+ checkboxWeb
ChatixText rooms and 1 to 1Nickname onlyMessages purged after 10 days; ban logs 7 days18+Web
OpenTalkText, voice or video, randomNoneIP and session logs 30 days. No audio or video stored18+ on the webWeb, Android
Ome.ggRandom text and roomsNickname onlyRandom-chat messages 7 days, room messages 30 days, DMs kept as history18+Web
ChatAlyaText and media, 1 to 1NicknameText not end-to-end encrypted, moderators can read it; IP; media deleted within 2 hours18+Web, iOS
VoidchatText roomsNickname, IP logged at signupChat logs and connection metadata up to 3 months18+ gateWeb
Emerald ChatRandom video or textNone requiredIP, browser, OS, referrer, pages and times; account data while active18+Web, Android
ChatibText rooms and 1 to 1Nickname, age, gender, countryIP, city, email if given, plus Microsoft Clarity session recordings of your screen18+Web
ChatzyPrivate text roomsNoneYour IP with every major chat action, kept at least 6 months. Rooms are not moderatedNot statedWeb
AnonChat (app)1 to 1 chat appGoogle, Apple or Huawei loginYour messages, photos and voice notes on its servers, plus IP and device ID17+Web, iOS, Android
Telegram Anonymous Chat bots1 to 1 via a botA Telegram account, which is a phone numberTelegram hands over IP and phone number on a valid court request18+Telegram
WakieVoice, chosen conversationsAccount with phone numberMay record your conversations for safety and quality, by its own terms18+iOS, Android
7 CupsListener chat, 1 to 1Name, email, phone, date of birthDevice ID, IP, ad IDs, location; transcripts may be reviewed; de-identified transcripts kept indefinitely13+ with consentWeb, iOS

The ones that keep the least

Whisperly

A voice or text roulette in a browser, with no account needed: you arrive as a guest ID. Its policy7 lists what it holds, which is the guest ID, your IP, an approximate region, device and browser details and session timestamps, and it states that it does not record or store the audio. Its terms8are adults only and say outright that it does not verify identity, age or background. The gap: no company name and no jurisdiction anywhere on the site, so the policy is a promise with nobody’s name under it. Free to start, with one-time boosts.

Viby

Nickname-only text rooms whose privacy page9 makes the shortest claim on this list: it does not maintain chat logs. That is the best retention line of any anonymous chat room we read. It is also, like Whisperly, a policy with no owner named, updated February 2026.

Chatix

Text rooms and one-to-one chat, nickname only, 18+. Its policy10 gives actual numbers: messages are purged after ten days, and the IP and browser identifiers it keeps for bans expire after seven. Google Analytics runs on the site. A reasonable, specific policy; most of the category does not manage that.

StrangerLine

Text, voice notes, voice calls or video, one to one, no registration. Its policy11 deletes guest data when the session ends, keeps security logs for 90 days, and logs the moment you ticked the 18+ box, with a timestamp and session ID, for 90 days. It is governed by Nova Scotia law and publishes a quarterly transparency report12: in the third quarter of 2026, about 132,000 reports, about 13,500 permanent bans, twelve human moderators, and the line “we won’t pretend that’s the same as verifying your age.” Nobody else here, us included, is that candid in print.

OpenTalk

Random text, voice or video with no name, email or profile. Its web policy13 uses your IP for matching and abuse prevention, keeps session logs of IP, timestamps and events for 30 days, and stores no video or audio. 18+ on the web. Its own transparency report for the second quarter of 2026 lists over 18,000 permanent bans. The owner is not named.

The ones that keep more than you would think

Ome.gg

Random chat and rooms, nickname only, and a clear policy14 updated this week: random-chat messages kept seven days, public room messages thirty, direct messages stored as history, calls not recorded. Honest, and mid-table because of the DM history.

Voidchat

Nickname rooms hosted in the EU. Its policy15 logs the IP you signed up from and keeps chat logs and connection metadata for up to three months. The site gate says 18+; the policy itself only covers under-13s, which is a mismatch worth noticing.

ChatAlya

One-to-one text and media, with the rare virtue of saying the quiet part16: text is not end-to-end encrypted and its moderators can read it. Media is encrypted and deleted within two hours; your IP is collected; servers are in Germany. One of the few on this page still in the App Store.

Chatzy

Private rooms, no sign-up, running since 2001. The policy17 is the most explicit on this page about logging and the least anonymous as a result: each major chat action, entering a room, posting a link, is logged together with your IP address, those logs are kept at least six months, and the terms say rooms are private and not monitored. Private from moderators, then. Not from the log.

Chatib

Rooms and one-to-one text from Algo Media in Israel. You give a nickname, age, gender and country; the policy18 collects IP, country and city, an email if you add one, and runs Microsoft Clarity, which records sessions, heatmaps and clicks. An anonymous chat site that keeps a replay of your visit.

AnonChat and the Telegram bots

Both run by Stivisto Inc. in Canada. The AnonChat app needs a Google, Apple or Huawei login and, by its policy19, stores your messages, photos and voice notes on its servers for sync and logs your IP, device identifier and OS, with Google Analytics, Firebase and Sentry underneath. Its Anonymous Chat bot on Telegram20 reports over 1.6 million monthly users and sells a gender filter, and it runs on your Telegram account, which is your phone number. Anonymous to the stranger. Not to anyone with a court order6.

Wakie

The longest-running voice-chat app and a good one, but it is on this page under a different heading from the browser sites for a reason. It needs an account with a phone number, and its terms21, updated February 2026, say it may record your conversations for safety and quality reasons, with moderators able to review reported chats. Pseudonymous, not anonymous.

7 Cups

Often recommended as anonymous listening, and the most data-hungry entry here. Its policy22 asks for a name, email, phone number and date of birth, collects device IDs, IP, mobile ad IDs and location, says it may occasionally review chat transcripts, keeps de-identified transcripts indefinitely, runs interest-based ads by default, and admits users from thirteen with consent. Mozilla put a privacy warning label on it23. It may still be the right service for someone who wants a trained listener. It is not an anonymous one.

Anonymous chat apps after Apple’s rule

Two things to know before searching the App Store for an anonymous chat app. First, an app is structurally the least anonymous way to do this: it can read a device identifier that a browser tab cannot, and it almost always wants a login to sync. Second, Apple no longer wants the category. Since February 2026 its guidelines say random or anonymous chat apps may be removed without notice1.

When we searched the US App Store on October 28, 2026, AntiLand, Chatrandom, Chatspin, OmeTV and Monkey returned nothing. Wakie, AnonChat, ChatAlya, 7 Cups and Connected2.me were still listed. Emerald Chat24, which collects IP, browser and page data and offers a paid gender filter, is on Android and the web only. No company has published a statement about any of these absences, so read them as what we observed, not as a confirmed reason.

The route with no screen: a phone call

Full disclosure: this one is ours.

Switchboard is a phone number. You call it, an AI operator asks what is on your mind, and you leave a question in your own voice. Strangers hear it and record answers in theirs, and we text you when one lands. When somebody who fits is already on the line the operator can connect you live, one to one, but that is the exception rather than the promise.

Run it through the four tests above. Anonymous to the other person: they hear your first name and your voice, never your number. No account: there is none anywhere in the product. No log: a phone call carries no IP address, no device ID, no email and no cookie; what we hold is your phone number, stored hashed and encrypted, a transcript of what you told the operator, and what the operator took from it, usually a first name and a city. Nothing to read back from a live call: conversations between people are never recorded or transcribed. The one recording that exists is the question you deliberately leave, announced before you record it and screened before anyone hears it. Its audio is deleted within thirty days; its transcript stays with your profile until you ask us to delete it. Our own privacy page lays out the full collect-and-don’t-collect table.

Calling in, leaving a question, hearing answers and live conversations are all free; nothing on the line is metered right now. The line is 18+. We are new and the network is small, so some hours you will be talking to the operator before anyone else.

The line is open

Ask a stranger.

Call in with what’s on your mind. Get advice, perspective, or simply someone to talk to.

  • Free to call in
  • Free to talk
  • No app, no account

Dead, renamed or settled

  • Whisper is gone. Removed from the app stores through late 2024 and early 2025 and discontinued in July 20254. Its old domain now serves something unrelated.
  • Omegle shut down on November 8, 2023, as a term of settling a product liability suit brought on behalf of a child25. Anything calling itself the new Omegle is not.
  • E-chat did not respond when we tried it, and its last archived capture is from March 2024. Treat it as dead.
  • Chatiwi is not Chatiw. It is an explicit sex-chat site trading on a similar name.
  • Y99 is alive and asks for nothing to join, but it advertises teen rooms, states no age rule for adults, and names no owner anywhere on the site26. Not a place for an adult looking for anonymous chat.
  • NGL settled with the FTC in 2024 and is banned from offering anonymous messaging to anyone under 183.

Staying anonymous, wherever you go

  • Read the retention line, not the homepage. “Anonymous” on the front page and “we log your IP with every action” in the policy can be the same site.
  • Prefer a browser tab to an app, and a phone call to either. An app can read a device ID; a tab cannot; a call has neither.
  • Do not hand away in the chat what the service was careful not to take. A full name, a number, a workplace, a photo.
  • Nobody on this page verifies age. Several say so. Choose the adult-only services and expect the checkbox to be the whole gate.
  • None of these is therapy or a crisis line. If you need more than conversation, 988 in the US27 and MIELI in Finland28 are free and staffed for it.

Questions people ask

What is the best anonymous chat site with no sign up?
Judged by what it keeps, which is the only honest way to judge anonymity: Viby says it keeps no chat logs at all, Chatix purges messages after ten days, StrangerLine deletes guest data when the session ends, and Whisperly stores no audio. All four open without an account. The catch is that the two that keep the least, Viby and Whisperly, name no owner and no jurisdiction, so you are trusting a policy with nobody's name on it. Switchboard is the route with no site at all: a phone call, where the line holds a hashed number and a first name and never records a live conversation.
Is there an anonymous chat room with no registration?
Yes, several. Chatix, Ome.gg, Viby and Voidchat are text chat rooms that ask for a nickname and nothing else. Chatzy opens private rooms with no sign-up at all, but logs your IP address with every major action and keeps those logs for at least six months, which is the opposite of what the search was for. Read the retention line before the room name.
Are anonymous chat apps really anonymous?
Mostly no. The apps are the least anonymous part of the category, because an app can read a device ID. AnonChat stores your messages, photos and voice notes on its servers and logs your IP and device identifier. The Telegram Anonymous Chat bots run on a Telegram account, which is a phone number, and Telegram has handed over IP addresses and phone numbers on valid court requests since September 2024. Wakie requires a phone number and says in its terms that it may record your conversations. 7 Cups collects a name, email, phone number and date of birth and keeps de-identified transcripts indefinitely. Anonymous to the other person, usually. Anonymous to the company, almost never.
Is there a free anonymous chat app?
Free, yes; anonymous, see above. If you want free anonymous chat without an app, the browser sites in the table need no install and no account. If you want it without a screen, call Switchboard: +1 (878) 728-8604 in the United States or +358 45 490 3279 in Europe. Calling in, leaving a question in your own voice, hearing the answers strangers record, and live conversations are all free; nothing on the line is metered right now. 18+.
Why are anonymous chat apps disappearing from the App Store?
Because Apple changed the rules. On February 6, 2026 its App Review Guidelines began saying that apps used primarily for random or anonymous chat do not belong on the App Store and may be removed without notice. Google Play followed on August 26, 2026, applying its child-safety and age-restricted-content policies to anonymous and random chat apps. When we checked the US App Store on October 28, 2026, AntiLand, Chatrandom, Chatspin, OmeTV and Monkey returned nothing, while Wakie, AnonChat, ChatAlya, 7 Cups and Connected2.me were still listed. No company has published a statement, so treat absence as what we observed and the guideline as the likely cause.
Can an anonymous chat be traced?
If the service logged your IP, yes, through the service. That is why the retention column matters more than the word anonymous on the homepage. Chatzy keeps IP logs six months or more, Voidchat three months, OpenTalk thirty days, Chatix ten, and Chatib adds session recordings of your screen through Microsoft Clarity. The lower you go on that list, the less there is to hand over. A phone call to Switchboard has no IP in it at all; what exists is a hashed phone number, and the person you talk to never sees it.
Is this a crisis line?
No, deliberately not. Switchboard is a social line: ordinary conversation with ordinary people, not counselling, therapy or crisis support. If you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 in the United States, or MIELI's Crisis Helpline in Finland. Those are free, staffed by trained people, and what they exist for.

The most anonymous chat on this page has no screen. Try it for two minutes.

The line is open

Ask a stranger.

Call in with what’s on your mind. Get advice, perspective, or simply someone to talk to.

  • Free to call in
  • Free to talk
  • No app, no account

Sources

  1. 1. 9to5Mac on Apple's App Review Guideline 1.2 change (February 6, 2026). https://9to5mac.com/2026/02/06/apple-says-random-or-anonymous-chat-apps-no-longer-welcome-on-the-app-store/
  2. 2. Google Play policy updates (August 26, 2026). https://developer.android.com/distribute/play-policies
  3. 3. FTC v. NGL Labs (July 9, 2024). https://www.ftc.gov/node/85821
  4. 4. Wikipedia, Whisper (app). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisper_(app)
  5. 5. HotHardware on the 2020 Whisper database exposure. https://hothardware.com/news/whisper-exposed-database
  6. 6. Malwarebytes on Telegram sharing IP and phone numbers (September 2024). https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2024/09/telegram-will-hand-over-user-details-to-law-enforcement
  7. 7. Whisperly privacy policy. https://whisperly.live/privacy
  8. 8. Whisperly terms. https://www.whisperly.live/terms
  9. 9. Viby privacy policy. https://viby.chat/privacy
  10. 10. Chatix privacy policy. https://chatix.chat/privacy/
  11. 11. StrangerLine privacy policy. https://strangerline.io/privacy/
  12. 12. StrangerLine transparency report, Q3 2026. https://strangerline.io/report/transparency-report-q3-2026/
  13. 13. OpenTalk web privacy policy. https://opentalk.club/web-privacy.html
  14. 14. Ome.gg privacy policy. https://ome.gg/privacy
  15. 15. Voidchat privacy policy. https://voidchat.org/privacy
  16. 16. ChatAlya privacy policy. https://www.chatalya.com/privacy
  17. 17. Chatzy privacy policy. https://www.chatzy.com/privacy.htm
  18. 18. Chatib privacy policy. https://www.chatib.us/user/privacy_policy
  19. 19. AnonChat privacy policy (Stivisto Inc.). https://anonchat.com/privacy/
  20. 20. Anonymous Chat bot on Telegram. https://t.me/chatbot
  21. 21. Wakie terms (updated February 16, 2026). https://wakie.com/docs/terms_en/
  22. 22. 7 Cups privacy policy. https://www.7cups.com/Documents/PrivacyPolicy/
  23. 23. Mozilla, Privacy Not Included: 7 Cups. https://foundation.mozilla.org/privacynotincluded/7-cups/
  24. 24. Emerald Chat privacy policy. https://emeraldchat.com/privacy-policy/
  25. 25. C.A. Goldberg on the Omegle shutdown settlement (November 2023). https://www.cagoldberglaw.com/ca-goldberg-pllc-requires-omegle-com-to-shut-down-forever-as-settlement-term-in-product-liability-lawsuit-for-sex-trafficking-our-client/
  26. 26. Y99 privacy policy. https://y99.in/privacy
  27. 27. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (US, call or text 988). https://988lifeline.org/
  28. 28. MIELI Mental Health Finland, Crisis Helpline. https://mieli.fi/en/support-and-help/crisis-helpline/

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