Send them a chat link. It opens in the browser, so the other person can write to you without installing your messaging app, creating an account or giving you a phone number, and you do not have to install theirs. It is the usual gap with people you meet at a conference abroad, on a trip or at an international workshop: each of you has a messenger, and it is not the same one.
Where the gap shows up
The messaging app people rely on differs from country to country, and KakaoTalk, LINE, WeChat and WhatsApp are each the everyday default in different places. So someone you meet away from home often uses a different app from you. It comes up most in these situations:
- Someone you met at a conference or a meetup in another country
- A fellow traveller from the same tour or itinerary
- Participants from abroad at a workshop, a festival or an exchange programme
- A student or new colleague who has not yet set up the messenger everyone around them uses
Why the usual workarounds fall short
Asking the other person to install your app means a download, an account and, on many apps, a phone number check before the first message. Installing theirs puts another account on your phone for a single conversation. Swapping phone numbers leaves both numbers with someone you may never meet again, for a conversation that may be over in a week. A link asks for a browser and nothing else.
What each side needs
| You | The other person | |
|---|---|---|
| To start | A FadeTalk account, in the app or on the web | A browser and a display name |
| Shown to the other side | Your nickname and a generated avatar | Their display name, with a guest label |
| Phone number shown | No | No |
| Translation | Only when both of you turn AI on | Only when both of you turn AI on |
How to set it up
- In the FadeTalk app, open the Links tab and tap New link.
- If you will be in touch for more than a day, open More options first and set Chat expires to 7 days. If they may open the link later, as when you send it after you have parted, also set Link expires to 3 days or 7 days. A link expires after 24 hours by default.
- Choose a purpose. The link is created and copied, and its QR code appears.
- If you are still together, show the QR code on your screen for them to scan. If you have already parted, send the link wherever you are in touch: by email, in an event app's messages or on social media.
- They open it, pick a display name and write to you. If they are already signed in to FadeTalk, they join with their account instead.
When you do not share a language
FadeTalk can translate messages, on one condition: translation uses AI only when both of you turn AI on. If either of you leaves it off, there is no translation. Either way, short sentences help, and so does writing dates, times and places in full. FadeTalk itself is available in English, Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Spanish.
When you keep in touch
A single-use link lasts up to 7 days. If you will work together or stay in touch after the event or the trip, agree early on the channel you will keep using: an email address, one of your two messaging apps, or FadeTalk accounts on both sides. When someone signed in joins by a single-use link, the chat ends when the link expires or is burned unless you two are connected, and connected accounts stay in each other's list after a chat ends.
For the address on your name tag or slide, see what to put in your bio or on a name tag instead of your phone number. For a chat with everyone at an event, see how to set up an event group chat without collecting phone numbers.