Anonymous chat in the Philippines — free, voice or text

The Philippines is one of the most English-fluent countries in the world and one of the most awake at night, for a practical reason: a large share of Filipinos work night shifts on American hours. The interface is available in Filipino, and the site's no-camera rule suits anyone chatting from a shared home or a BPO floor. No sign-up, no app, text or voice.

The table shows 9pm PHT: Australia is at 11pm, Jakarta at 8pm, India at 6:30pm, the UK at 1pm, and the US East Coast at 8am. A Philippine night, from about 1am to 6am PHT, lines up with the American afternoon and evening. How many people are on HearMe at any of those hours is the live count at the top of the page, and we print no other number.

Times are standard time; daylight saving shifts some of these by an hour for part of the year. 'Evening' is 6pm to midnight. This table is only about clocks: how many people are on HearMe right now is the live count at the top of the page, and we print no other number.

Taglish, English, Tagalog, Cebuano or any other language: the chat is in whatever the two of you choose, and voice suits a regional language better than typing it.

By the clock, a Philippine evening is India's and Indonesia's evening, and a Philippine night is the North American afternoon, which is where English practice pairings can happen. The site's interface can be switched to Filipino; the chats are in whatever you both choose.

Nobody can tell you what a stranger will say, but the interest tags people pick and the topics that recur in the General room give a fair idea. If you want a conversation on one of these, set the tag before you start; the matcher prefers someone who picked the same.

• Work: BPO shifts, the account you are on, the client you cannot name.
• Family abroad, remittances, and the relatives in Dubai, Riyadh, Toronto and Los Angeles.
• K-dramas, teleseryes, and what is on tonight.
• Basketball and the PBA, boxing when there is a fight.
• Board exams, nursing, and the plan to work overseas.
• Things you cannot post on Facebook.

The site is built for a phone on prepaid mobile data: text costs nearly nothing, and voice is audio-only, a fraction of a video call, so it works on a prepaid Globe or Smart connection where a video call would stall. If two phones cannot connect directly, a relay server carries the audio without storing it, and a dropped connection tries to reconnect for 30 seconds. Wired earphones fix echo. Nothing to install; the site runs in Chrome and can be added to the home screen.

From the Philippines, the evening is Southeast Asia and Australia, and the night is North America. Indonesia is one hour behind, Australia's East Coast two ahead, India two and a half behind. The US and Canada are 12 to 16 hours behind, so a Filipino 2am is an American afternoon. Dubai is four hours behind, so a Philippine 9pm is a Gulf 5pm. Use the country filter for one place.

HearMe is 18+ and enforces it. Guests never give a name, email or phone number, and the site never asks for a photo. The flag comes from the connection and shows the country only, never the city or barangay. Text is held for 24 hours so a report can be reviewed, then deleted; voice is never recorded and every 1:1 call is private; only a report sends a short clip from just before it for review. There is no camera on the site, which removes the most common pressure on other apps. A block stops you being matched with that person again; bans hold by account, device and network. On a shared phone, clear the site's cookies to drop the guest session and its nickname.