Voice and video calls

Calls are private and one-on-one. Nobody else can join, not even moderators, and nothing is recorded. Every call starts as voice; video needs both of you to have a verified ID.

Who you can call

You can call someone when your messages go straight to their chats (not to their Requests):

• your keyholder, or someone whose key you hold,
• your family,
• someone who follows you,
• anyone who has accepted your messages or written to you.

Their Who can message me setting and blocks apply to calls too. See Private messages.

Who can call you is up to you: in Settings → Messages → Calls, choose Anyone who can message me (the default), Only my keyholder, the people I hold, and family, or Nobody. When someone can't call you, they just see that you aren't taking calls right now. Calls about a penance, between a keyholder and someone they hold, aren't affected: the locked member's hard limits decide those.

• Voice calls don't need a verified ID.
• Video needs both of you to have a verified ID. See Verify your ID.
• An account flagged as possibly under 18 can't make or take calls until a person has checked its ID.
• You can't call someone who's already on a call, or start a call while you're live. You can call the same person up to 6 times an hour.

Make a call

Open your chat with them and tap the phone (voice call) or the camera (video call) at the top. You can also tap Call or Video on the Keyholder or Pairing page, on the Live page under Calls, or, as a keyholder, on the page of the person you hold.

• Video looks dimmed when the other person hasn't verified their ID. Tapping it tells you so; you can still call with voice.
• If you haven't verified, tapping Video opens the ID check right there. Once you're verified, the call starts with your camera on.

You'll see "Calling…" with their name. They get a notification, and CageCheck rings for them if it's open. If nobody answers within 3 minutes, the call ends.

Answer or decline

When someone calls while CageCheck is open, a banner appears at the top with their name and Voice call… or Video call…. It rings (not in Discreet mode), and phones vibrate.

• Red: Decline. The caller sees Call declined.
• Green phone: answer with voice. Your camera stays off.
• Green camera: answer with video. It's only there when you've both verified your ID.

If CageCheck is closed, you get a notification that they're calling, as long as you've allowed notifications. Opening it (or the call on the Live page) shows who's calling, with Decline, Voice and Video. Nothing connects until you choose, so it keeps ringing for them.

A penance call is always answered with video. See Live penances.

During a call

• Mute / Unmute.
• Video turns video on. When you've both verified your ID, your camera comes on, and the other person is told they can turn theirs on too. Each of you decides about your own camera: tap Camera off to turn yours off, and Video to turn it back on.
• You choose when to see their video. If the other person turns their camera on while yours is off, you see their picture with Show video. Their video only appears once you tap it, or once your own camera is on.
• Flip (phones, with your camera on) switches between your front and back cameras. Settings (computers) lets you pick another camera or microphone.
• Chat (phones) opens a text chat for the two of you. On a computer, it's on the right.
• The timer at the top shows how long you've been talking.

Without video, you see the other person's picture, with a gold ring while they're speaking.

Verify your ID during a call

If you haven't verified and tap Video, the ID check opens on top of the call, and the call keeps going while you do it. With IDCheck (Beta), most members are verified in a few seconds, and video comes on as soon as you are. If your ID is flagged for a person to check, the call stays voice. If the other person hasn't verified, the call stays voice; they can verify from their side the same way.

If someone's verification is removed during a call, the call carries on as voice.

End a call

Tap End call, then End call again to confirm. The call ends for both of you. Either of you can end it at any time, for any reason. Tapping the X (phones) or Back (computers) asks the same question.

A call also ends by itself if the person who called leaves or loses their connection for 3 minutes, if a pairing between you ends, or if either of you blocks the other.

Calls in your chat

Every call shows up in your chat with that person:

• Voice call · 12 min or Video call · 3 min for a call you had,
• Missed voice call for a call you didn't answer (it counts as unread, and you get a notification),
• No answer, Declined or Cancelled for calls you made,
• with Call back (or Call again) right there.

A call can't be unsent. Delete chat removes it for you, like any message.

Leave a message when nobody answers

When your call isn't answered (they declined, it rang out, or you hung up first), the call screen offers Leave a message:

1. Tap Voice message, or Video message if you've verified your ID.
2. Talk for up to 60 seconds, then tap Stop. It stops by itself at 60 seconds.
3. Listen back, then tap Send, or Record again.

It goes in your chat like a voicemail. You can leave one message per call, within 15 minutes of the call ending. There's no message after a penance call.

When someone leaves you a message, you get a notification ("Left you a voice message"). In the chat, tap ▶ to play a voice message. A video message is blurred until you tap it, if you've chosen to be asked before photos are shown. If you haven't verified your ID, you see that a video message arrived and Verify my ID to watch it. Voice and video messages are kept as long as photos in messages, then deleted; the chat shows when. If one is unwanted, report the chat: moderators get a copy. See Block and report.