How OpenTalk works, minus the fine print.

Open OpenTalk, tap one of the three mode pills (video, voice, text), then start. For video and voice your browser asks for the camera or microphone once. Seconds later somebody random joins, introduced by a card that lists nickname, age, country, level and language.

After that you are simply talking. Carry on while it is fun; tap next the moment it is not. You can change the mode before any match, so a text chat can turn into video chat on the next round.

Each OpenTalk match arrives with a short introduction on screen: nickname, age, country, level and language. That gives you a better opener than a plain hey, and it helps you guess whether the translate button will get a workout.

What you will not find is a filter panel. You cannot ask for a certain country, and there are no beauty effects smoothing anyone's face. The person you see is the person who pressed start at the same moment you did, which is exactly the point of a random pairing.

Next ends the current conversation and pulls in somebody new, with no confirmation box and no awkward goodbye. Report sits in the same window; tap it, choose a reason, and the chat goes to moderators while you carry on. Translate appears under typed messages in random chats, private calls and live rooms, and turns a line of Vietnamese or Portuguese into your own language in place.

Those three cover almost every situation. Enjoying it: stay. Bored: next. Uncomfortable: report, then next.

• Next: move on right away
• Report: flag it and keep going
• Translate: read any typed line

Every new member starts with free matches. Above the matching screen sits the Reward Center: when its countdown ends, you can claim a reward such as more free matches or some coins. The next countdown begins the moment you claim, so you can collect several times a day. Miss a week and you lose nothing, because there is no streak counter. We set the amounts and timing, and they may change.

Open the matching screen and glance at the top. If the Reward Center timer is still running, keep chatting and come back later. Once it hits zero, a tap collects the prize, which might be extra free matches or a few coins, and a new timer starts counting from that tap. There is no daily reset wiping out what you have, and skipping a day costs you nothing.

Coins only come into play when you want more than the free side offers. OpenTalk never sneaks a paid call past you: with too few coins, the top-up screen appears before anything is charged.

• More random matches after the free ones
• Private one-to-one video calls
• Gifts in calls and live rooms
• Entry to some paid or ticketed live rooms

Prefer to choose? Who's online lists the people currently around, and any of them can receive a private call request from you. Its Live tab holds rooms you can swipe through, chat in with translation, send gifts to and spin a prize wheel in. A few rooms are gated: they want a ticket, a follow first, or a paying account.

Inside a room, swipe up or down to reach the next one, and tap the call button to invite that person to a private call with just the two of you. Some rooms put free gifts in the tray from time to time, so the gift panel is worth a look even before you own any coins.

Sometimes a random match is worth more than one conversation. OpenTalk has profiles, follows and messages for exactly that: follow the person before you part, and they are easy to find again. Later you can message them, spot them in the online list, or send a private one-to-one call request when both of you have time.

Nothing about this is required. Plenty of people treat OpenTalk as a string of short, separate conversations and never follow anybody, and that works just as well.

You can chat as a guest without filling anything in. Logging in ties coins, VIP, follows and message threads to you rather than to one browser, which matters once you add the OpenTalk app to your phone. The rules for all of it are in the terms of service, and safety covers reporting.

VIP is an optional membership. Members carry a VIP badge, which they can switch off if they prefer to stay low-key, and the coin packs they are offered carry member prices. It does not change how random matching works for anyone else.

OpenTalk lives on the web, which means no store listing and no apk file. Open the site in your phone browser, choose add to home screen from the share or browser menu, and an icon appears that launches OpenTalk full screen like any other app. Sign in once there and the coins, follows and messages from your laptop are waiting.