How PandaLive works, screen by screen

PandaLive has four main screens, reached from the icons along the bottom: Messages, Who's online, the match screen and the video feed. Everything else, from a person's profile to the coin wallet, opens on top of one of those four. Learn them once and the rest of the site makes sense.

On the match screen you choose Video, Audio or Text from the switch at the bottom, then press Start random chat. The site looks for someone available and connects you. Video turns on both cameras, Audio is voice only, and Text is typing with no camera or microphone at all.

Your browser asks for camera or microphone permission the first time you pick a mode that needs one. Allow it; most browsers remember the choice after that. The two buttons at the top of the screen are History, which lists the people you have matched with, and VIP next to your coin balance.

Which mode suits which mood is mostly common sense: Text for a noisy bus, Audio for when your hair is a disaster, Video for when you actually want to see who you are talking to. You pick again before each match, so nothing locks you in.

A match opens with a countdown on screen. That first stretch is covered by your free matches. Shortly before the countdown ends, a note in the chat says billing is about to start; if you both keep talking after that, the call is charged in coins by how long it lasts. Hang up whenever you like; Next becomes available a moment into the match.

Next takes you straight to someone new. Holding it back for those first seconds gives the other person a chance to say hello before either of you moves on. Ending a call before its countdown runs out sends you back into matching; ending it afterwards stops there.

If your coin balance gets low after the free stretch, a prompt offers a top-up. Closing it is fine; the call simply stops when there is nothing left to cover it. Where the free part ends and what coins cost is spelled out on the page about what is free.

The Who's online screen is for choosing rather than leaving it to chance. Tabs across the top sort people by Popular, Online, New and Following, and a second row filters by language: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, French and more. Tap a card to open that person's profile.

When people are broadcasting, a pink LIVE banner sits at the top of this screen and takes you straight to the rooms. That banner is the shortcut most people use to find Panda Live streams.

Most of the video feed is short clips people have posted, one per screen. Swipe up for the next one, and use the buttons on the side to message or call the person in the clip. The tab names can vary, so look for the one marked Live.

The Live tab in the video feed is the odd one out. Each screen there is a room someone is broadcasting from, and joining means watching with your camera off while others in the room see your name pop up as you join. You can type in the room chat and, if you want, send gifts or ask for a private call. You cannot broadcast yourself.

Open anyone's profile from the online list, the feed or a room, and you get three things to do: follow them, send a message, or start a call with the video button. That is the only call button on a profile, so if you would rather warm up with a few lines first, use the message button.

Following puts them under the Following tab on Who's online, which is how you find someone again after a good conversation. There is no friend request to wait on; following is one-sided and instant.

Each text message has a small translate button next to it. Tap it and the bubble switches to your language; tap it again and the original comes back. After you have done that once, new messages arrive already translated, and you reply in your own language without copying anything into another app.

It is a feature of written messages. On a call, people tend to mix a few words of each language with plenty of pointing, and a typed line in the message thread fills the gaps.

They go to History, the button at the top left of the match screen. It lists the people you have recently matched with, so a conversation that ended too soon is not lost. Open one, look at their profile, and follow or message them from there. Messages you have sent live in the Messages screen.

Whether you come in as a guest or with an account, it is worth following anyone you want to find again, because History is a list of recent matches rather than an address book. The guest-and-account page explains when making an account is worth it.

Everything above runs in a browser tab, but you can pin PandaLive to your home screen so it opens full screen like any app. The steps differ between iPhone, Android and computers, and the PandaLive app page walks through each one.

If you are still deciding whether this kind of site is for you at all, the safety guide covers what PandaLive asks of you before you start, and the coins page shows what you would eventually be paying for.