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FAQ

How Switchboard works

Everything people usually ask before their first call. Something missing? Write to team@switchboard.onl.

The basics

What is Switchboard?
Switchboard is a phone line where you leave a question in your own voice and strangers answer it in theirs. You call the number, an AI operator asks what's on your mind, and you record your question. People with no stake in your life hear it and record answers back, and we text you when an answer arrives. There's no app, no feed, and no profiles to scroll.
Will I speak to someone live?
Usually not, and that's the design rather than a shortfall. You leave your question as a voice message and the answers come back to you later, so neither of you has to be free at the same moment — the person best placed to answer you is rarely awake, unoccupied, and on the line at the exact minute you call. Occasionally, when someone who fits is already on the line, the operator may offer to connect you live there and then.
How do I use Switchboard?
Call +1 (878) 728-8604 in the United States or +358 45 490 3279 in Finland. On your first call the operator talks with you for a couple of minutes to learn your first name, languages, and what you're interested in. After that, calling in takes you straight to the question you want to ask — or to the answers waiting for you.
How long does it take to get an answer?
We text you as soon as someone responds. Most questions are answered within a few hours. You hear the answers by calling back in — they're played to you on the line, never sent as files or posted anywhere.
Can I answer other people's questions?
Yes, and it's the other half of the line. Questions waiting for answers are listed on this site — what each one is about, the asker's first name, and a two-digit dial code. Call in, dial the code, and record what you'd say. Your answer reaches that person and nobody else.
Do I need to download an app?
No. Switchboard works over an ordinary phone call from any phone — smartphone or flip phone. There is nothing to install and no account to create; your phone number is your key.
How much does it cost?
Calling in, leaving a question, and hearing the answers people record for you are all free. The only thing that's metered is live talk time — the minutes you spend in a real-time conversation with at least one other person — and your first 30 minutes of that are included. After that you can top up whenever you like: 30 minutes for $6 (€5 in Finland), or 3 hours for $32.40 (€27), which is 10% off. Talking with the operator never costs anything. Standard call rates from your carrier may apply.

Privacy & anonymity

Is Switchboard anonymous?
Yes — by architecture, not just by policy. Everything goes through Switchboard's systems: the person answering your question hears your voice and nothing else, and on the rare live call you dialed our number, so did they, and the bridge between you happens on our side — neither caller ever sees the other's caller ID. Your phone number is stored hashed and encrypted; it's used to recognize you when you call, to text you when an answer arrives, and to meter live minutes, and it is never shown to another caller. Other people know only what you choose to say — typically a first name, a city, and whatever your question reveals. Compare that to app-based services, where an account, an email address, and a device ID travel with you into every conversation. On Switchboard there is no account and nothing to log into: the phone call is the whole product. Is Switchboard safe? A plain-English privacy guide.
What does Switchboard store — and what does it never have?
We store your phone number (hashed and encrypted, never shown to other users), the light profile the operator builds from your setup chats — first name, age, city, languages, interests — plus summaries of those operator chats, your minute balance, records of blocks and reports, and any voice messages you choose to leave, for at most 30 days. What we never have: audio or transcripts of your live conversations, because they are never recorded in the first place. There's no contact-list upload, no password, and no email required. You can ask us to delete your data at any time; details are in the terms. Terms & privacy.
Are my conversations recorded?
A voice message is a recording — deliberately, because that's the point: your question has to exist as audio for someone to hear it later and answer it. The operator always tells you before recording starts, so you'll never be recorded without knowing it. Live calls are the opposite and always have been: a real-time conversation between two people is never recorded and never transcribed. It happens once, and then it's gone. Only your setup chats with the AI operator are processed by AI, to build your profile and route your question to the right people.
What happens to my voice message?
It goes out to people who might have something useful to say, and their answers come back to you. What the question is about, along with your first name and a two-digit dial code, is listed on this site so anyone who can help is able to find it — the recording itself is only ever played to people on the line, never posted publicly, never downloadable, never sent as a file. Every message is screened before anyone hears it. Messages are deleted, audio included, after 30 days at the latest, and blocking someone stops their messages from reaching you.

Voice, not text

What makes anonymous voice different from anonymous text?
Tone survives. A voice carries hesitation, warmth, and irony that text flattens, and in controlled experiments people who connected by voice formed stronger bonds than people who typed — with none of the awkwardness they predicted. Anonymity does its half of the work: research on why people seek anonymity online (Nitschinsk, Tobin, Varley & Vanman, 2023, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin) finds the central healthy motive is safe self-expression — saying what you actually think without it attaching to your name. Text-based anonymity has a known failure mode, though: when the other person is just words on a screen, it's easy to stop treating them as a person. Hearing a human voice pushes back on that, while a text thread also leaves a transcript that can be screenshotted and reposted. Nothing here can be: a live call exists once and is gone, and a voice message can't be downloaded or forwarded — it's played on the line and deleted within 30 days. We wrote up the research properly, sources and all. Benefits and risks of anonymous voice chat.
Is Switchboard an Omegle alternative?
In spirit, yes — a stranger, no sign-up, nothing that outlives the exchange — but by voice instead of video, over an ordinary phone call, and usually as a question and an answer rather than a live chat with whoever happens to be there. We wrote an honest comparison of the alternatives, including the ones that compete with us. Omegle alternatives without the camera.

Safety

Who is answering my question?
Real people who called the same line you did and chose to answer you — not staff, not volunteers on a rota, and not an AI. The operator routes your question by topic and language, so it reaches people with some reason to have a view on it. The whole point is a perspective from outside your own circle. Switchboard is for people 18 and older.
What is the AI operator?
The operator is an AI switchboard attendant that answers when you call. Its only job is to understand what you want to ask, take your question, and get it to people who can answer — it doesn't try to keep you on the line, and it hands you over to real humans as fast as it can. It's the only AI on the line: every answer you hear is a person's own voice.
What if someone is rude or abusive?
Every message is screened before it reaches anyone, so most of it never gets to you in the first place. Beyond that you can block or report anyone — from a live call, or after hearing a message they left. Blocking stops their messages reaching you at all. Numbers that violate the rules get suspended or banned, and rate limits keep spammers out.
What are good safety habits for anonymous voice calls?
The same ones that apply to any conversation with a stranger, adapted for the phone:
  • Ask what you came to ask, but share only what you'd tell a stranger at a bus stop — a first name, a city, what you're into. Keep your last name, address, workplace, and social handles out of the recording.
  • Remember a message outlives the moment. A live call exists once; a question you record is heard by people you'll never meet, for up to 30 days. Say only what you'd be comfortable having heard by any of them.
  • Keep money out of it. Nobody on Switchboard has a legitimate reason to ask for money, gift cards, or your phone number. If someone asks, hang up and report them.
  • Voice-only removes the camera risk — there's nothing to see, screenshot, or rebroadcast, and no message can be downloaded or forwarded.
  • You can hang up at any time, from any conversation. No explanation owed.
  • Use block and report — from a live call, or after hearing a message. That's what gets bad numbers suspended.
  • Switchboard is conversation, not counseling. If you're in crisis, contact a crisis line — 988 in the US, MIELI (09 2525 0111) in Finland.

Ready to try it?

🇺🇸 +1 (878) 728-8604 · 🇫🇮 +358 45 490 3279

Switchboard — the social utility