An online video call with someone you picked

It is a video call you place to a specific person, straight from the browser. You look at who is online, choose a person and ring them. No phone number changes hands and nothing has to be installed first.

The usual calling tools are built around people you already know. Mixu is for the other situation. It is eleven at night, you feel like talking, and everyone in your contacts is asleep. Here the contact list is the page called Who's online, and the people on it are up and ready to talk.

You choose from Who's online, then check the profile before you ring. The list shows people who are on right now with a photo, a name and a country. Nobody on it is a stored contact or a phone number; each face is a person who is on Mixu at this moment.

Three things happen: a permission prompt, a ring and an answer. The first time you call, the browser puts up a prompt asking if mixu.cam can have the camera and the microphone. Say yes, or the other person will see and hear nothing. The browser remembers the choice, so later calls skip this step.

Then the call rings on the other side. When they pick up, your picture and theirs appear and you are talking. If the person is busy with another caller or has just gone offline, the call does not go through. Leave a message from the profile, or go back to the list and ring someone else.

Yes. On Mixu a profile is the thing you call, so there is no number to ask for and none to give out. Staying a guest is fine as well, because the site sets up a guest session the moment it loads.

Following does the job of saving a contact. Tap follow on a profile or during a call and that person joins the list of people you follow. Next time, open the list, tap them and use the video call button again. If they are offline, the message button on the same profile lets you say when you will be around.

Almost always because one side's connection cannot keep up. Video quality drops to whatever the slower link can manage. Wi-Fi near the router beats mobile data in most homes. If the image stalls, pause any downloads, close spare tabs and give it a moment to recover.

A picture that freezes while sound carries on usually points at your own upload. Moving one room closer to the router often fixes it. Which browsers behave best on each device is covered on the Mixu app page.

Say one friendly line and then end it. A long farewell is not owed to someone you met ten minutes ago. "I have to go, it was nice talking" and a wave is plenty. Then close the call. If you enjoyed it, follow them first so the profile is easy to find.

There is one exception. If someone is abusive, asks for money or shows something they should not, skip the goodbye entirely. End the call and report them; the safety tips show where the buttons are.

Then let Mixu choose. Tapping start matches you with someone at random instead of ringing a person you picked. That route is a 1v1 video chat and has a page of its own; what a call includes once you are connected is on the Mixu chat page.