Azar

Azar is a random video chat service: you switch on your camera and get paired with a stranger for a one-on-one conversation. The web version at azarlive.com works, but there is no guest mode. You can only sign in with a social account such as Google, and the site asks you to confirm your age before you start.

The desktop page is built around a large video panel showing a live counter of people currently matching. During our test it showed more than 200,000 users, and the chat felt busy. Next to the panel is a grid of profile photos marked as online, but small print says these are models used for illustration, so they are not real users waiting for you. Most conversations were in English, with Turkish and Arabic also present. The top bar has links to your match history, messages, a blog and a shop selling gems, the site's in-app currency, along with a banner offering bonus gems on the web.

Moderation is easy to see. We found a rules page, a report and block option, a profanity and spam filter, and signs of moderators or staff. We saw no banner or pop-up advertising during the test. The site makes its money from the gem shop instead, which is promoted prominently but did not get in the way of chatting.

On the first visit a cookie banner appears. It has a clear "Continue without accepting" link and a "Personalise my choices" button next to "Accept", so you can turn down tracking. We noticed no suspicious redirects, forced downloads or browser warnings. The site also worked well on a phone.

Azar suits adults who want quick, random face-to-face video chats with a large international audience and don't mind signing in with a Google or other social account. If you would rather stay anonymous without linking an account, the social login requirement will put you off.