Bored online - things to do that aren't another feed

Best for: A big, international crowd with proper phone apps and moderators watching the feed.

A stranger's face in ten seconds

OmeTV is one of the larger random video chat services and it shows: you rarely wait for a match, and the mix of countries is wide. It runs in a browser and as apps on both phone platforms. Moderation is active, with reports handled fast, and the site publishes rules that get enforced. There's a country filter if you want it, and you can chat by text inside the video call, which helps when the languages don't line up.

Best for: Matching by shared interests instead of pure luck, with text, video and group rooms in one place.

Text chat matched by interest, no camera needed

Emerald Chat tries to fix the thing that makes random chat tiring: talking to people you have nothing in common with. You add a few interests, and it leans matches toward people who picked the same ones. It has one-on-one text, one-on-one video and group chat rooms, plus a karma score that rewards people who don't get reported. You can use it without an account, but the account unlocks the matching and keeps your karma.

Best for: Text-only chat rooms and one-on-one chats without a camera, an account, or an app.

Text rooms, nickname only

TalkWithStranger is a text chat site: rooms by topic, one-on-one random text, and forum threads for slower conversation. Nothing asks for your camera. You pick a nickname and go. That makes it the easy choice for anonymous chat when you're bored but don't want to be seen. The rooms have moderators and the site has been around long enough to have a regular crowd, so it's rarely empty even at strange hours.

Best for: Millions of user-made characters to talk to for free - a fictional villain, a language tutor, a friend.

Talk to any character you can think of

Character.AI is less a companion app and more a library of personalities. Users build characters - anime leads, historical figures, tutors, 'your supportive best friend' - and anyone can chat with them. The writing quality is the best of the free options and the roleplay is deep. It runs on the web and in apps. Free is generous; the paid c.ai+ tier gets you faster replies and priority access when it's busy. Explicit content is filtered out, firmly.

Best for: Voice calls with strangers about a topic you post - talking without a camera or a keyboard.

A voice call from a stranger

Wakie is voice. You post a topic ('can't sleep, talk to me about anything' works fine), and someone who likes it calls you. No video, no face, just a voice conversation with a stranger. It started as an app for waking people up with a phone call from a random person, and it kept that spirit. It's phone-only and needs an account. The free tier covers normal use; there's a premium for extra features.