Pink Video Chat App That Lives in Your Browser

Be honest: how many apps on your phone did you open once and never again? Most video chat apps ask for a few hundred megabytes, then a login, then a stack of permissions before you have said a single word to anyone.

PinkChat takes the other route. It is a website built to behave like an app, so there is nothing to download and nothing to keep up to date. You open the page, allow your camera and you are in. When you are done, you close the tab and your storage is exactly as it was.

• Works on any phone. Android, iPhone, a cheap tablet, even an older handset. If it has a modern browser and a camera, it works.
• Always current. There is no version to update. You get whatever we shipped most recently every time you open it.
• Easy to leave. If it is not for you, closing the tab is the whole uninstall.

The one thing a browser cannot do is send you push notifications the way a store app might. For a site built around "meet someone right now", that trade-off tends to suit people fine.

This is how the pink app video chat experience feels closest to a real app: one icon, one tap.

Menu wording differs slightly between phone makers and browser versions, so if you do not see it straight away, look for a line with "home screen" in it.

Because it is the same site everywhere, you can start a chat on your phone in the evening and use your laptop the next day. If you want to know what happens in the first few seconds of a chat, that is a pink video call: one tap, a flicker and a face.

If the picture stays black, the cause is almost always a permission. Your browser asks once, and it remembers what you answered. If you tapped Block by accident, it will not ask again until you change it.

1. On Android Chrome, tap the lock icon next to the address, then Permissions, and allow Camera and Microphone.
2. On iPhone Safari, open Settings, then Safari, then Camera and Microphone, and set them to Ask or Allow.
3. Reload PinkChat and tap Start again.

More device problems, such as echo or a frozen picture, are covered in the help center.

Some people want to type first. Others want to hear a voice before they commit to video. PinkChat gives you text, voice and video from the same start screen, so you do not need three separate apps for three moods. Pick a mode, tap Start and switch your camera on or off as you go.

Want to see who is around before you tap? Pink live video chat explains who tends to be online and when.

• Watch your data. Video uses more of it than text. Wi-Fi keeps things smooth and keeps your mobile bill unchanged.
• Mind the battery. A long video call will drain a phone faster than most apps. Plug in if you plan to stay a while.
• Keep your screen private. Notifications from other apps can pop up on camera. Switch on Do Not Disturb first.
• Read the safety basics. Eight short safety tips are worth two minutes before your first chat.