The Mulaqat blog
Notes from building a random video chat platform: matchmaking, WebRTC, and moderation that has to survive people trying to break it.
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7 min read guideprivacy
Free video chat with no sign up: what those words should mean
There are four kinds of free and only one of them costs you nothing. How to tell which a site is using, what "no sign up" hides, and a four-minute test you can run on any video chat platform including this one.
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8 min read indiaguidesafety
Video chat with strangers in India: a practical guide
Why the site may not open your camera on an Indian Android phone, when the lobby is actually busy from IST, why multilingual users have an advantage here, and the sextortion script to recognise early.
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9 min read engineeringwebrtc
How WebRTC actually connects two browsers
NAT, STUN, candidates, signalling, hole punching and ICE — the real sequence that lets two browsers behind separate routers send video directly to each other, and what happens when it fails.
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7 min read troubleshootingguide
Camera not working on video chat? Eight causes, in order
A black rectangle instead of your face is almost always one of eight things. Browser permissions, another app holding the camera, HTTPS, OS privacy settings, shutters, extensions and in-app browsers — with the fix for each.
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7 min read conversationguide
What to actually talk about with a stranger
Why "hi, how are you" kills a conversation, openers that do not, the one follow-up technique that matters more than any question, and how to leave well.
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8 min read friendshipguide
How to make friends online as an adult
Friendship stopped being automatic when school ended. What the different routes are actually good at, the conversion step almost everyone skips, and an honest account of the limits.
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7 min read culturelanguageguide
Talking to people from other countries: what actually helps
Time zones, speaking so a second-language listener can follow, questions that travel well, subjects to leave alone at first, and why widening a country filter usually beats waiting.
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8 min read omeglealternativessafety
Omegle shut down — what happened and what to use now
Omegle closed in November 2023 after a lawsuit that got past Section 230. Here is what actually happened, the lesson most alternatives ignored, and five questions to ask before you trust a replacement.
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7 min read safetyprivacy
Is random video chat safe?
Partly, and the parts matter. What the platform can design away, what you have to handle yourself, and the two risks nobody can remove — including how the sextortion script works.
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8 min read languageguide
How to practise a language with a stranger, for free
Apps teach vocabulary and leave you unable to speak. Here is how to use random video chat for speaking practice: how to set it up, what to say in the first thirty seconds, and a session structure that works.
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6 min read moderationsafety
Why we weigh reports instead of counting them
A report counter is a weapon. Here is how Mulaqat scores reports so one determined person cannot get anyone banned, and genuine reports still work.
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5 min read engineeringmatchmaking
Matchmaking without starvation
Interest filters make conversations better and queues worse. How Mulaqat relaxes its preferences over time so a niche choice never leaves you waiting alone.
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5 min read privacywebrtc
What peer to peer actually means for your privacy
Mulaqat cannot record your call. Not "does not" — cannot. Here is what the video path really looks like, and what that does and does not protect you from.