Skout alternative: nothing to buy before someone notices you
Skout's App Store shelf sells Points in packs — 200 for $1.99, climbing to 13,000 for $99.99 — and its Google Play page prices a single in-app item anywhere from $0.99 to $249.99. Apple adds a Loot Boxes warning, the label for randomised rewards. Messaging on Skout is genuinely free; being noticed is the part with a price list. Veilr's text chat sits at the top of this page: sign in and press start.
Where the Points actually go
Not into messages — into attention. Points become virtual gifts inside Go Live, Skout's broadcast mode, and those broadcasts run on the Live Network, shared across The Meet Group's apps and its partners, so an audience can arrive from outside Skout entirely. The parent company put a number on that layer: around 75% of group revenue in 2019 came from gifts sent during livestreams.
Subscriptions sit above the Points: the App Store listing, checked in August 2026, shows "1 Month Skout Premium" at $9.99 next to a plain "Premium" at $24.99, and neither listing says what you get; Skout's own site offers only that premium features help you find like-minded people faster. Their own help site answered our check with a 403.
What the terms admit
Skout's terms carry a section headed "no criminal background or identity verification checks": the company states outright that it runs no criminal-record checks and does not verify who its users are.
The record behind it is public. In June 2012, after The New York Times reported three cases of adult men posing as teenagers and attacking children aged 12, 13 and 15, Skout closed its 13-to-17 community; founder Christian Wiklund announced it on the company blog, and it reopened that July with the protections rebuilt. In June 2019 the Times named Skout and MeetMe again in a report on adults arranging to meet teenagers; the company answered that it removes roughly 3,000 abusive profiles a day and puts 45% of its staff on moderation. Today registration is adults-only: the terms say "You must be at least 18 years old to register for Skout".
What Veilr gives away
Distance is not the filter. Skout starts from profiles in your area; Veilr starts from one shared queue per mode, with preferences on top rather than separate country rooms, so the person you meet can be anywhere. Some countries are not served — the United Kingdom is currently unavailable. You are not limited to people who speak your language: type in yours and your message can reach your partner in theirs, the original one tap away. Every free account starts with a run of translations, earns more, and Boost lifts the ceiling.
Nothing to spend on being chosen. Set your gender in your profile and you can choose who to talk to: free, tried first whenever someone you asked for is online, and if nobody is, you are connected to someone else rather than left waiting. The other person’s choice is always respected. With Boost your choice is a hard filter and you go first in line; people who registered as non-binary are matched by those who chose ‘Any’. Age and country stay soft on a free account: if nobody matches, the search widens instead of leaving you to wait. Only two things are sold here: Boost, which puts you first in the queue, and extra caption minutes. Nothing is priced per person: no coins, no gems, nothing to spend to say hello.
Text is not the ceiling. Voice and video are the same matching with sound or a camera. On a call between two different declared languages, live captions can start on their own: five free minutes with a new account, then Boost, a top-up or a reward.
A stranger stays a stranger until you both decide otherwise. No one gets into the queue without signing in — there is no guest mode. Your partner sees your gender, your age band and, when it is known, a country flag; in text and voice also a blurred version of your photo, any Verified or Boost badge, and your native language once you set it — that one you can switch off. Boost lets a partner see that photo unblurred for the one chat, and you are not notified. Only someone searching with an age filter sees your exact age. A stranger you are matched with never sees your real name, email address or city. Adding someone to your contacts takes both of you: a one-sided tap creates no contact — it only sends the request. Veilr is adults only, 18+, and our servers refuse a match to an account whose recorded age is under 18.
Skout and Veilr, line by line
| Skout | Veilr | |
|---|---|---|
| Signing up | Email, phone, Apple, Google or Facebook — 18+ whichever you pick | A social account you already have, no guest mode |
| Who turns up | Profiles to browse — their own pitch is "people in your area" | One stranger per match, from anywhere |
| Proof of a person behind the profile | Skout Verified, opt-in: a selfie video checked for liveness, plus an age estimate | A Verified badge from a face check your own device runs |
| Video | Go Live broadcasts with gifts, carried across a partner network | Two people per call, never an audience |
| Languages | A site localised into nine languages | Interface in 16; messages can arrive translated |
| What is sold | Points, Premium, items priced up to $249.99 | Boost and caption minutes |
Three of those rows go to Skout, and the one about proof is the one to sit with. Skout Verified is voluntary, and what it does is serious: it compares a selfie video against other users' scans from the previous thirty days to catch duplicates, holds the biometrics for about a month, and commits not to sell them or use them for marketing. That is a serious answer to bots, and we do not match it. Nineteen years and 50 million-plus Android installs are not something a feature can answer either: the queue there is never empty. If browsing people nearby and watching someone stream is what you came for, Skout does that, and chatting there is free.
How a text chat starts on Veilr
The mode is fixed before the search starts, so nothing here asks for your camera.
- 1. Sign in with a social account you already have — the sign-in screen shows which ones are open to you.
- 2. Set your own gender in your profile: that is what opens the partner filter.
- 3. Press start, and add each other to contacts when the conversation earns it.
Read next
- The comparison index
- Chatib — free chat rooms sorted by subject and country.
- Chitchat — its gender filter sits behind a subscription.
- Azar — gems that burn as you swipe.
- Text chat — this page's mode.
- Video chat — the same matching, with a camera.
Common questions about Skout
Is Skout free?
Chatting is. The money sits in Points for gifts, in Premium, and in items that Google Play lists at up to $249.99 apiece. On Veilr, matching, all three modes and the gender filter cost nothing.
Does Skout have random video chat with strangers?
No. Its video is Go Live — a broadcast to an audience, with gifts — not a one-to-one call with a stranger. On Veilr, video and voice are modes in their own right, and every call is two people.
Who owns Skout?
MeetMe bought it in 2016 for $28.5 million in cash plus roughly 5.37 million of its own shares. In September 2020 The Meet Group was acquired by Parship Group, forming ParshipMeet Group under ProSiebenSat.1 and General Atlantic; in March 2025 ProSiebenSat.1 agreed to buy out General Atlantic's stakes.
Can someone look me up on Veilr?
No. There is no user search, by name or by link, and no profile for strangers to browse. A contact exists only once both of you have agreed to it.
What happens if someone behaves badly?
Report them during the chat and Veilr moves you on to the next partner, then keeps you out of each other's matches for the next 24 hours. Blocking them for good is a separate choice you make yourself. No automated decision bans anybody permanently: automatic penalties are capped at 30 days, and a permanent ban requires a decision by a person.
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