Do I have to pay to use CamSkip?
Not to start. New visitors get free matches, and the Reward Center at the top of the match screen gives more several times a day. A match opens with free time; stay on past it and the call carries on using coins, with a notice in the call first.
01The honest answer
Does CamSkip cost anything?
CamSkip is free to start. You can open the site, look around and begin your first video matches without paying and without giving a card number. It is not free forever, and it is not bottomless: free matches run out, and a call that goes on past its free time continues on coins, which are paid.
We say "free to start" everywhere on this site for that reason. It is the accurate phrase. A page that promises everything at no cost and then shows a checkout on the third tap has wasted your time, and we would rather lose a click than do that.
Day one
What do you get when you first arrive?
A guest session and a set of free matches. The guest session is created when the page loads, so there is nothing to register. The free matches are for random one-on-one video chats: tap start, allow the camera, and the first one begins.
We do not print the number of free matches here, because it can change and a stale number is worse than none.
Inside a call
What happens once a match connects?
Each match opens with free time. Stay on past it and the call carries on using coins, and the call shows a notice before that point. So there are two separate things to keep in mind: starting a match uses a free match or coins, and staying on after the free time uses coins for as long as the call goes on.
If your coin balance cannot cover it, you are prompted to top up and the call ends. We do not print the length of the free time or the coin rate on this page, for the same reason we do not print the number of free matches: the call itself is the place that is always current.
Read the notice when it appears. It is the moment to decide whether this conversation is one you want to carry on with coins.
Refills
Where do more free matches come from?
From the Reward Center, which sits at the top of the match screen. It gives out free matches several times a day, and it shows for itself when a claim is ready.
Claiming takes a moment and does not use anything. What you claim there is a free match, which is a free way to begin a call; it does not change what happens later in that call.
Look at the top of the match screen before you assume you are out. A claim may be waiting.
Coins
What are coins for?
Coins do two jobs. They start a new match when you have no free match to use, and they carry a call on after its free time. They are a balance you buy on the site and use on the site.
Buying coins requires signing in, so that the balance is attached to an account you can get back into. A guest can use everything that is free, and decide about coins later or never. A card only comes into it if you choose to buy. The rules on purchases are in the terms of service, and questions about a specific order go to [email protected].
Moving on
Does moving to the next person use a match?
Yes. Each new match counts as one, whether you arrived at it from the start button or from Next. If a chat isn't for you and you move on, the next person you see is a new match and uses a free match or coins.
The skip video chat page explains how moving on works and how to do it without being rude.
No charge
What stays free?
Looking. Opening the site, browsing Who's online, viewing the list by country and opening profiles do not use matches. Neither does claiming in the Reward Center, or reading any page on this site.
What uses a free match or coins, and what does not| Action | Uses a free match or coins? |
|---|
| Opening the site as a guest | No |
| Browsing Who's online and opening profiles | No |
| Claiming free matches in the Reward Center | No |
| Starting a random video match | Yes: a free match, or coins if you have none |
| Tapping Next for a new match | Yes, it is a new match |
| Staying on a matched call during its free time | No |
| Staying on after the free time ends | Yes, coins, for as long as the call continues |
If you are unsure whether something uses coins, ask [email protected].
Spend less
How do you get the most out of what is free?
Four habits, none of them a trick.
- Look before you match. Who's online costs nothing to browse. See who is around, switch the country view, open a profile or two, and start only when someone looks like a person you would enjoy talking to.
- Claim before you start. Check the Reward Center at the top of the match screen when you arrive, not after you have run out.
- Get the camera working first. A match that opens on a black screen or a muted microphone is a match wasted. How to video chat walks through the permission prompt for each browser.
- Break the ice in text. Typing a first line beside the video gets a conversation moving sooner than waiting for the other person to speak. There are opening lines on the girl chat page.
Wording
Why not just say "free"?
Because the word on its own would be wrong. Someone who reads "free video chat" expects to talk for an evening and never see a price. That is not what happens here, and finding it out in the middle of a good conversation is the worst way to learn it.
"Free to start" tells you the two things that matter before you tap: getting in costs nothing, and there is a point where coins come in. Everything else on this page is detail under those two facts. The rest of what the site does is on the features page.
