Sites like ChillHub: six things to check before you choose

By checking a few things yourself, before you spend an evening on any of them. Sites of this kind all promise roughly the same: meet someone new, face to face. Where they differ is in the practical details, and those are easy to test if you know what to look for.

This page does not list other sites or rank anyone. Names change and lists go out of date within months. What lasts is a way of choosing, so here are six questions you can put to any 1 on 1 video chat site. None of them needs an account to answer. For each one there is a quick way to check, a reason it matters, and, so that we are held to the same standard, what ChillHub does.

Open the address on your phone. If the first thing you see is a button to a store, the site is really an app, and trying it means installing it, granting permissions and making room for it. That is a fair trade for something you already know you like. It is a lot to ask for something you only want to try.

A site that runs in the browser can be tested and forgotten with nothing left to uninstall. If you end up using it often, most browsers will let you add it to your home screen.

ChillHub runs in the browser on a phone or a computer. The ChillHub app page shows how to put it on a home screen on each kind of device.

Count the screens between arriving and seeing a person. An email field, a password, a photo upload and a list of interests all come before the thing you came to try. Some people do not mind that; plenty give up at the second screen.

There is nothing wrong with accounts. They are useful later, when you have contacts you would be sorry to lose. The question is only whether the site lets you find out what it is like before it asks you to commit.

On ChillHub a guest session is created when the page loads. You tap Start, allow the camera, and you are matched. Signing in can wait until you have people you want to keep.

Look for a list of the people who are around right now. It answers two things at once: whether anyone is there at the hour you tend to be free, and where they are from. If part of the appeal is talking to someone whose day is nothing like yours, you will want to know that people from more than one region use the site.

A list also gives you a second way in. Random matching is fun when you want a surprise; choosing is better when you are curious about one country, or when you would like to read a profile before you say hello.

ChillHub has a Who's online list that can be viewed by country. Tap a face to open the profile, and from there you can follow the person, send a message or start a video call. The page on how to meet people from other countries shows how to use it across time zones.

On a video call between strangers there is always a word that will not land: a name, a city, a dish, a song. A text box next to the picture fixes that in a second. Check that the site has one, and that it is usable while the video is running.

Then check translation. If you hope to talk to people abroad, a site that can translate what you type opens up far more conversations than one that leaves you both guessing. Ask what exactly is translated, because text and speech are different things.

On ChillHub you can type during a call, and typed messages can translate automatically. The translation applies to text, not to speech. The page on the 1 on 1 video call shows where typing helps most in a conversation.

Test on the phone you actually carry. Open the site, start a call and look at three things: whether the other person fills the screen, whether your own picture stays out of the way, and whether the controls can be reached with a thumb. A site designed for a desktop monitor is tiring on a small screen.

Try it on Wi-Fi and, if you can, on mobile data. Video cares more about a steady connection than a fast one, and it is better to find out how a site copes before you are in the middle of a good conversation.

ChillHub works in current phone browsers as well as on a laptop. Hold the phone upright; that is the shape a call is laid out for.

This is the check that decides what a site is for. You have a lovely conversation, the call ends, and then what? If there is no way to find that person again, the only thing left to do is look for someone new. With a follow button or a contact list, a good call can be the first of several.

Look for three things: a way to save a person, a way to write to them when they are not online, and a way to call them directly.

On ChillHub you can follow a person, and from their profile you can send a message or start another video call. The features page lays out what you can do and where each thing is found.

Both are worth a look on any site, and both have their own pages here. On cost, a fair site says "free to start" and then tells you what happens next; Is ChillHub free? does that for this one. On safety, the sensible habits are the same everywhere, and the safety page sets them out.

If what you are really choosing is a friend app, the questions change a little. The page on apps to make friends has seven of its own.