Your conversation. Your privacy.

Side by Side connects two guests for temporary text and video conversations. You do not need a profile or account. Guest access does not guarantee anonymity.

What the service processes

The service creates a random guest identity and a session that expires after one hour. A short-lived token is kept in your browser’s session storage. Queue state, room membership, message identifiers, and safety restrictions let us connect you to one person at a time.

Text and connection signaling pass through our servers in transit. We do not save chat contents, SDP descriptions, ICE candidates, audio, or video. Messages shown in your browser are cleared when you start a new conversation or close the tab. Delivery is temporary: messages sent during a disconnect may be lost.

Optional location matching

Nearby matching uses a single device location reading for each search, requested when you choose to share location. We keep coordinates and reported accuracy only in temporary matchmaking queue state, for at most ten minutes. They are removed when you match, cancel, or your queue lease expires, normally within 15 seconds after disconnecting. We do not save location history or send coordinates or exact distances to your match. Infrastructure backups may retain deleted state under the provider’s retention policy. A nearby label describes matching eligibility, not proof of someone’s physical location; browser readings can be spoofed.

You can always use Anywhere without location permission. Country matching uses each person’s explicitly selected country, not verified presence. Strict searches never expand automatically. You can approve each offered expansion, change the radius yourself, or opt into expansion up to your chosen maximum before searching. We never automatically switch to Anywhere.

Video and network addresses

Camera and microphone access starts only when you choose video and press Start. Video and audio use WebRTC directly where possible, with an independent TURN relay when necessary. Direct connections may expose your network address to the other participant. Choose relay-only video before starting if you want to avoid direct peer connections.

Other participants can record or capture your conversation using their own tools. Side by Side cannot prevent this. Do not share identifying or sensitive information.

Video content checks

During video calls, the browser samples the other person’s video about every 1.5 seconds after each check finishes. A verified ONNX model runs locally when available. Model files are downloaded in the background and cached on your device for later visits. Local checks do not upload frames. Temporary capture pixels are cleared and inference runs in a background worker. A missing or unverified model is shown as unavailable. The operator can also select the previous NSFWJS local detector.

Repeated high-confidence flags cover the remote video and offer Report, Leave and Next. The classifier can miss nudity or flag harmless content; it is not proof of misconduct, a guarantee of safety, or tamper-proof enforcement. Loading, paused and unavailable states are shown explicitly. No frames are attached to reports: you choose whether to submit a written report for review. A detection claim alone cannot impose a permanent ban. An optional remote inference service can be configured by the operator. It receives sampled JPEG frames only when both participants explicitly opt in for that room, while local checks are unavailable. No complete video is sent or saved by this application. Frame payloads and scores are not saved to our database or attached to reports. If a remote service is enabled, its identity and retention terms must be disclosed before use. Without that configuration and consent, remote checks are unavailable. You can withdraw consent in the call or leave; an already transmitted frame cannot be recalled.

Safety records and retention

Session records expire after one hour and are deleted after a further day. Minimal conversation history and room membership are retained for up to 24 hours. Reports include the reason and any details you supply; they are retained for up to 30 days for operator review. Guest identities, blocks, and restrictions are retained for up to 30 days, except identities with an active ban. A daily cleanup job applies these limits, so deletion may take up to an additional day.

To limit automated abuse, the service processes network addresses into daily rotating keyed pseudonyms. Raw addresses are not written to application storage or application logs. Infrastructure providers and anti-abuse services may process connection metadata under their own policies.

Your choices

You can leave at any time, disable your microphone or camera, use text mode, report an interaction, or block a guest. Clearing browser data removes your local credential, but does not immediately erase safety records. Guest identities cannot be recovered after their credentials are lost.