How MiniChat works, one screen at a time

No. The MiniChat site does not open with a login box. While minichat.me is loading, your browser is handed a guest session in the background. That session is the reason a random video chat can begin without delay; it also keeps track of your free matches and remembers the people you follow.

There is no username to invent and no password to forget before your first conversation. Treat the sign-in as an optional extra for later, worth doing once you care about holding on to your account.

Three things, in this order:

A call has very few controls, which is deliberate. Next ends this chat and finds another. The message box lets you type alongside the video, and incoming messages can be translated with a tap. You can switch your camera off for a voice-only call. Follow saves the person so you can find them again. Gift sends a small paid animation if you feel generous. Block and report are there for the rare bad apple.

Of these, Follow is the one people forget. A random match does not come back on request, so if the conversation was good, tap Follow before either of you presses Next.

For what to say and how to look your best on camera, see MiniChat video call.

Every person you follow, and everyone in the Who's online list, has a profile page. Three buttons there matter:

Use the second entrance. Next to Start there is a button called Who's online. It opens a list of people who are online now, each with photos and a short profile. Tap one and you are on the profile page described above, where you can follow, message or call.

Whether to press Start or to pick from the list is a matter of mood, and the two are compared side by side on the MiniChat video call page.

On the match screen. New visitors start with free matches, more are handed out by the Reward Center, which is at the top of that screen, and coins take over after that. The rules are set out in full on is MiniChat free, so they are not repeated here.

Less than you might expect, and that is the point. Open minichat.me again in the same browser and the guest session is still there: the people you followed are in your list, and whatever free matches you had left are where you left them. The camera prompt does not reappear, because the browser kept your answer. Start is in the same place.

What does not carry over is a different browser or a different device. A guest session belongs to the browser that created it. That is the one practical reason to sign in.

Only if you want to keep your account. A guest session lives in one browser, so clearing your browser data or switching phones starts you fresh. Signing in ties your follows and coins to an account you can open again. Two sensible moments to do it: before you buy coins, and once you follow people you would not want to lose.

To open MiniChat from a home-screen icon instead of typing the address each time, follow the steps on the MiniChat app page. And before your first call, a two-minute read of is MiniChat safe is time well spent.