How TalkLive works
From the moment you press Tap to Talk to the moment you hear a stranger say hello, here is every step - what happens, where your audio and messages go, and what is kept along the way. No marketing, just the drawing.
1You join a live queue
Pressing Tap to Talk or Tap to Chat puts you in a queue for that mode. There are separate queues: voice searches are matched with voice searches, and text with text, so nobody in a voice call is waiting for you to type, and nobody in a text chat is surprised by a voice. There are no lobbies or profiles to browse - only the people searching at the same moment as you.
The matcher looks for another available person whose settings are compatible with yours. Optional preferences - preferred and avoided countries, interests - steer the search. If nobody suitable is searching, matching widens after a short wait instead of leaving you in the queue indefinitely. Blocks are never relaxed: someone you have blocked is never matched with you again.
2The server introduces you
Once a pair is chosen, both browsers are told about the match, and TalkLive's server passes "signalling" messages between them - the technical details each browser needs to reach the other, such as which audio formats it supports and which network routes it might use. Signalling sets the call up; it does not carry the call. Your match is shown a display name, spirit animal, any interests you added, an estimated country and your local time - never your name, email, number, IP address or city.
3Audio flows, encrypted
For voice, the two browsers use WebRTC - the open standard built into every modern browser - to agree a route and start sending audio, compressed with the Opus codec. WebRTC encrypts that audio in transit. Many networks, including most mobile carriers and office or university Wi-Fi, block direct connections between devices, so TalkLive runs a TURN relay: a server that forwards the encrypted audio when a direct route is not possible. Forwarding encrypted packets is not the same as recording them. A relayed call also keeps each person's network address from the other.
For text, messages travel through TalkLive's server to the other person. That is why typed messages can be kept for a short, rolling period - so that reports can be reviewed - while call audio is not.
4What "not recorded" means, exactly
TalkLive does not record or store call audio. While a call is connected, automated safety checks run on your own microphone to detect abuse - a loudness check on every device, and speech-to-text on desktop browsers - and only a short record is kept, only when a check is triggered. Those checks are the only processing of what is said in a call.
"Not recorded by TalkLive" does not mean "cannot be recorded". The other person controls their own device, and once audio has been decrypted for playback, no protocol can stop a separate recorder. Speak as though what you say could be kept. The Safety Center and Privacy Policy have the full detail.
5The conversation ends when you say so
A call or chat continues only while both of you stay. Next ends it for both of you and starts a new search; Hang Up stops searching altogether. Report ends it and sends the conversation's context to the TalkLive team for review; Block ends it and stops that person being matched with you again. If you both added each other as friends, you can message and call back later through your friends list, without exchanging numbers.
For the story version of these few seconds, read the Journal's What Happens in the Two Seconds After You Press Start. For data use and call troubleshooting, see random call.
Technical questions
Does TalkLive record calls?
No. Call audio is never recorded or stored. Automated safety checks run on your own microphone during a call and keep a short record only when abuse is detected.
Is the audio encrypted?
Yes. WebRTC encrypts audio in transit between the two browsers, including when it passes through TalkLive's TURN relay.
Why does matching sometimes ignore my country preference?
If nobody from your preferred countries is searching, matching widens after a short wait rather than leaving you in the queue indefinitely.
Are voice and text users matched with each other?
No. Voice searches are matched with voice searches, and text with text.
Can the other person see my IP address?
Your match is never shown your IP address. Where calls go through TalkLive's TURN relay, the relay also keeps each person's network address from the other.