Apps to chat with people from other countries, honestly
The best apps to chat with people from other countries, by goal: pen pals, language exchange, live rooms or voice. Honest picks, including my own limits.
The right app to chat with people from other countries depends on what you want from the conversation. If you want to practice a language, use a language exchange app such as HelloTalk or Tandem. If you want slow, thoughtful pen pals, Slowly is built for that. If you want a community around a shared interest, Discord servers and subreddits for a country or a language work well. If you want live group conversations with real, verified adults, in rooms you can come back to, with translation when you do not share a language, that is the gap I built Hashti to fill. Below is how each one feels in practice, and where each one falls short, including mine.
Who I am and why I care
I am Armenian-Iranian and I live in Los Angeles. Growing up, the people I most wanted to talk to were often in another country and spoke another language. Half the time we had no app that fit. Either it was built for dating, or it was built for flashcards, or it was full of bots.
So I built Hashti. That means I am biased. I will tell you where I think my app is the right pick and where it is not. When I say something about another app, I am sticking to what is stable and widely known about it, and I will flag when I am giving an opinion.
First, decide what kind of conversation you want
People type "chat with other countries people app" looking for very different things. Be honest with yourself about which one is yours:
- I want to learn a language. You need native speakers who want to learn yours back.
- I want a friend far away. You want depth and patience, not speed.
- I want to find my own people. Diaspora, expats, people from your hometown.
- I want to hear what life is like somewhere else. Curiosity, live conversation, many voices at once.
- I just want to talk to someone right now. Speed matters most.
Each of those points to a different app.
Language exchange apps: HelloTalk and Tandem
These are the obvious picks if language is the goal. The idea is simple. You list the language you speak and the one you are learning, and the app matches you with people who are the reverse. You help them, they help you.
What is good:
- Everyone there has a reason to talk.
- Partners will correct your mistakes, and most people are patient about it.
- Both apps have tools inside the chat for corrections and translation.
What to know:
- The best features sit behind paid plans. That is fair, but go in knowing it.
- Conversations are mostly one to one. If you freeze up with a single stranger, it can feel like an exam.
- Some users treat these apps as dating apps, and people, especially women, say they get unwanted messages. That is a common complaint, not a rare one. Use the block button freely.
My opinion: if you are serious about a language, start here. I wrote more about this in my post on learning a language by talking to native speakers.
Pen pal apps: Slowly
Slowly is a pen pal app. Letters take time to arrive, and the further away the other person is, the longer it takes. That sounds like a gimmick. It is actually the point. You write longer, you think more, and you get real letters back.
What is good:
- Depth. People write about their lives, not just "hi, where u from."
- Less pressure. Nobody expects an instant reply.
What to know:
- It is slow on purpose. If you want to talk tonight, this is not it.
- No live voice.
My opinion: Slowly is one of the kindest corners of the internet. If you want a friend in another country and you are patient, try it.
Communities: Discord and Reddit
Almost every country, city and language has a subreddit, and many have Discord servers. r/Iran, r/armenia, language-learning servers, expat groups for every capital. These are free and often very active.
What is good:
- Huge, real communities.
- Discord has voice channels, so you can actually talk.
- You can lurk first and learn the culture before you speak.
What to know:
- Quality depends entirely on who runs each server or subreddit. Some are great. Some are toxic.
- Anyone can make an account in a minute, so banned people come back easily.
- No translation built in. If you do not share a language, you are copying text into a translator.
My opinion: for niche interests, nothing beats a good Discord server. Finding the good one takes trial and error.
Random video chat sites
You know the type. Press a button, see a random face, press next. They are fast. They are also, in my experience, the worst way to meet someone from another country. You get seconds, not a conversation, and the moderation problems are well documented. I would skip them, and I wrote a longer post on what actually replaced Omegle if you want the detail.
Live rooms with translation: where Hashti fits
Here is the gap I saw. Language apps are one to one. Pen pal apps are slow. Discord has no translation and no identity checks. Random chat is chaos.
What I wanted was a room. A public room with a name and a topic, like "Tehran tonight" or "Armenians in LA" or "learning Spanish, beginners welcome," where people from different countries can talk live, and come back tomorrow.
That is what Hashti is. You can browse public chat rooms by topic, join one, and talk by text or voice. If you click with someone, you can move to private chats, calls or a walkie-talkie.
Translation, when you share no language
This is the part that matters most for talking across borders. Hashti's live translation covers 29 languages. You write in Farsi, the person in Brazil reads Portuguese, and they reply in Portuguese that you read in Farsi.
It is part of Hashti Plus, which is $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. Everything else in the app is free. I want to be clear about that, because "free app" that turns out to be paid is the oldest trick there is. The rooms, chats, calls and walkie-talkie are free. Translation is the paid part.
Machine translation is good, not perfect. Jokes and slang still get mangled sometimes. If a translated message sounds rude, assume the translation slipped before you assume the person is rude.
Safety, because strangers are strangers
Every Hashti account is checked once against a government document. The photo is deleted after the check. A fingerprint of the document stays, so the same document cannot open a second account. Unverified accounts cannot host rooms, speak in voice rooms or message strangers. Twelve verified reports closes an account permanently. Hashti is for adults, 18 and over. The details are on our safety page.
Hashti is not a dating app, and I do not want it to be one. It is a place to talk.
Where Hashti falls short
- It is iPhone only for now. It is out on the App Store. Android is in a closed test.
- The interface is in English. A Farsi interface is being built. Translation works inside conversations, but the menus and buttons are English today.
- It is new. Some rooms are busy, some are quiet. A brand new app does not have the crowd that Reddit has.
- Verification is a step. Some people do not want to show a document to any app. I understand. If that is you, Slowly or Discord may suit you better.
My short list
- To learn a language: HelloTalk or Tandem.
- For a deep, patient friendship: Slowly.
- For a specific niche or hobby: a good Discord server or subreddit.
- For live group conversation with verified adults, across languages: Hashti.
- To stay in touch with someone you already know abroad: whatever they already use, usually WhatsApp, Telegram or WeChat. I wrote about that in my post on how to communicate with people in other countries.
Tips that work on any app
A few habits make cross-border chat go better wherever you do it:
- Lead with a real question. "What is the food you miss most when you travel?" beats "hi."
- Write short sentences. They translate better and read easier for non-native speakers.
- Say your time zone. "It is 9 pm here in LA" saves confusion.
- Learn three words of their language. Hello, thank you, sorry. People notice.
- Do not share personal details early. No address, no workplace, no money talk, ever, with someone you just met.
- Leave when it feels wrong. Block, report, move on. You do not owe a stranger a conversation.
The world is full of people who would enjoy talking to you. The trick is picking the app that fits the conversation you actually want, and being a little patient while the first awkward messages turn into a real one.
Hashti is free, and it is 18+. Hashti Plus — live translation, writing help and catch-ups — is $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year, and nothing else costs anything. How rooms work is on the rooms page, and how reports and the ID check work is on the safety page.