Fox video call: how a FoxChat Video call works
Everything on the call screen, what each button does, and what to try when the picture or the sound misbehaves.
What is on the screen
A FoxChat Video call is deliberately plain: their camera, yours, and a handful of controls. No feed, no rooms, nobody else watching. Two people and a conversation.
- Next
- Ends this call and finds you someone new. It wakes up a few seconds after the call connects.
- Hang up
- Ends the call. Always available, at any second of any call.
- Messages
- A text box for the things that are easier to type: a name, a link, a word the microphone keeps mangling.
- Their profile
- Where Report and Block live, for the rare call that goes somewhere it should not.
Before the call connects
Pressing start puts you in the queue as a guest. While you wait, nobody can see you. The first time a match connects, your browser asks for the camera and the microphone. Say yes to both; a fox video call with the camera blocked is just a very quiet phone call.
Quick check before your first call: lamp in front of you, not behind. Headphones in if you have them. Close other tabs that might be using the camera, such as a work meeting you forgot to leave.
During the call
Talk like you would to anyone you just met. Most calls are short, and that is normal. Some are not. If you want to carry a conversation past the call, send a message; the thread stays in your messages afterwards.
Calls usually begin with a free stretch. When that is about to run out, a notice appears on screen with the per-minute rate in coins. Keep going and coins are used from that point. Hang up and nothing is charged. There is no hidden meter running in the background.
When it ends
Next connects you to someone else. Hang up simply ends the call. Neither one sends the other person a message about why; you don’t owe anyone an explanation for leaving a call.
If something about the call was not okay, open their profile and use Report, and Block if you never want to hear from them again. The community guidelines list what counts.
Black screen, no sound, or an echo
The other window stays black
Usually a slow connection on one side. Wait a couple of seconds; if nothing changes, tap Next. Switching from mobile data to Wi-Fi fixes most of these.
They can’t see you
The camera permission was probably refused. Open the site settings from the icon next to the address bar, allow the camera, and reload.
You hear yourself
That is the other person’s speakers feeding back into their microphone, or yours into your own. Headphones on either end make it stop.
Nothing works on an old phone
Update the browser. Video chat in the browser needs a reasonably recent version of Chrome, Safari, Edge or Firefox.
Fox video call questions
Can I text during a fox video call?
Yes. There is a message box on the call screen, handy for spelling a name or sharing something that is hard to say out loud. Messages carry on after the call if you both keep chatting.
Why is the Next button greyed out?
It unlocks a few seconds after each call connects, so nobody is skipped before saying hello. The hang-up button works at any moment.
Does the other person see me before the call connects?
No. Video starts when the match connects, not before. Until then you are simply waiting in the queue.
New here? The FoxChat Video home page explains what the site is for, and adding FoxChat to your home screen takes about ten seconds.