Who – Live Video Chat

My Experience with Who – Live Video Chat

I’ve been using this app on my Samsung Galaxy S23 for about five months now. A buddy from work kept telling me it was a great way to meet people in other countries without the hassle of dating app nonsense. So I caved and gave it a shot. First week? Honestly, kind of cool. I connected with a girl in Brazil named Luisa on a Tuesday afternoon while I was waiting for my car to get new tires. We actually talked for like an hour about samba music and her cat. But that was the peak. After that, it’s been downhill. The app started crashing every time I tried to swipe more than three profiles in a row. Then the video quality dropped, like someone turned down the resolution on purpose. I contacted support about the freezing issue—sent a detailed message with a screen recording and everything. Got a reply three days later saying “try reinstalling,” which I’d already done twice. I pushed back and they basically ghosted me. That’s where I lost trust. It feels like a toy that breaks if you actually use it seriously.

Features Worth Noting

The gender and location filters are the main reason anyone would use this. You can narrow down to specific countries or age ranges, and that’s nice if you’re trying to practice a language or just want to talk to someone from a certain region. The virtual gifts system is there, but it’s mostly a way to drain your wallet—more on that later. I’ll give credit where it’s due: the interface is simple enough that my grandma could figure it out. Big buttons, clear icons, not a cluttered mess. There’s also a built-in game feature, some little trivia thing you can play during a chat, which is actually decent for breaking the ice when the conversation stalls. But half the time the game just crashes back to the main screen on my S23, so it’s hit or miss. The swipe mechanic is fast and smooth when the app isn’t acting up, which is rare lately.

What Needs Work

Where do I start. The stability is trash. I’ve had the app close itself randomly during a chat at least a dozen times in the last two months. That’s not a network issue—I’m on fiber at home and 5G on the go. The matching algorithm feels rigged. You’ll get matched with the same person three times in ten minutes if you swipe past them, which is weird and annoying. Also, the moderation is a joke. I reported two accounts that were clearly bots with fake photos and “add my Telegram” in the bio. Support never even confirmed they looked into it. One of those accounts is still active a month later. And the video filter options are clunky. They lag behind your face like a bad Snapchat from 2016. For an app that’s been out this long, it just doesn’t feel polished. It’s like they spent all their time on the payment system and forgot the actual video chat feature.

Pricing

The app is free to download, but don’t get comfortable. You get a handful of free “coins” when you sign up, which let you send virtual gifts or extend chat time. After that, you’re paying. A basic gift costs around 10 coins, which is about a dollar if you buy the smallest pack. The bigger packs are worse value—100 coins for $9.99? That’s steep for a digital flower that disappears after five seconds. There’s also a subscription called VIP, but I haven’t tried it because the reviews say it barely changes anything except removing ads and giving you a badge. Honestly, I don’t think the free experience is worth the frustration, and the paid options feel like a trap. You’ll burn through coins fast if you chat with anyone popular on the platform.

Developer Notes

Media Republic Apps seems to push updates every few weeks, but they never fix the core problems. The last update added more gift options and a new filter that made my phone warm enough to cook an egg on. I’ve seen the same bug report about incoming video freezing on the first frame for over three months across different versions. They clearly have a team that’s focused on monetization features rather than quality of life. I’d rather see one update that just stops the app from crashing than ten updates with new ways to spend money. Also, they don’t have a public roadmap or changelog that tells you what they actually changed. It’s frustrating because the concept is solid, but the execution feels like an afterthought.

Security & Privacy

This part genuinely concerns me. The app asks for camera and microphone access, obviously, but it also requests location permissions even when you’re not using the filters. That’s sketchy. I denied background location access and it still works, but why even ask? There’s no two-factor authentication for accounts, and the password requirements are weak—I just used “password123” and it accepted it. I’ve seen profiles with obviously stolen photos (like a Instagram model’s pictures) and nothing happens to them. The privacy policy is the usual wall of legalese that basically says they can share your data with “third-party partners.” Given the support team’s track record of not responding, I don’t trust them to handle a data breach well. If privacy matters to you, keep your conversations light and don’t share anything personal. I’ve started using a Google Voice number for any cross-platform chats that come out of this app.