What each one asks for before the first message
| To take part you need | Runs in a browser | |
|---|---|---|
| An account registered to a phone number | Only once the account exists on a phone | |
| Discord | An account: email, username, password, date of birth | Yes, once you have an account |
| klaklak | The link, and a nickname of up to eight characters | Yes, that is the only way it runs |
That is the difference the whole site is built on. The barrier is not on you, who would happily install anything to get the job done. It is on the other five people, one of whom will not install an app for a single afternoon, one of whom does not want to hand out a phone number, and one of whom is on a work laptop that will not let them install anything at all.
When this is the right choice
The group is temporary. A conversation for one job, one event or one evening does not justify a server or a group that then has to be wound up. Here you stop opening the link and the room clears itself.
The people are not in your circle. A client, a contractor, somebody replying to a listing, a stranger you are arranging something with. Adding them to WhatsApp means exchanging numbers; inviting them to Discord means asking them to register. Sending a link means sending a link.
Somebody cannot install software. Work laptops, school computers, library machines and locked-down company phones all still have a browser. Being a web page and nothing else is why this works in places an app does not. The honest limit is that a network administrator can block a domain outright, and if they have, nothing on our side changes that.
You do not want the conversation to persist. A room holds fifty messages and disposes of itself after a day of quiet. Nothing is archived and nothing is exportable, including by us.
When you should use WhatsApp or Discord instead
Being straight about this is more useful than pretending otherwise, and it is not a close call in either direction.
Use WhatsApp or another messenger when the group is people you already know and will keep talking to, when you want messages waiting for you when you open the app, when you need voice or video, when you want photos and files to go back and forth, and when it matters that the conversation is still there in six months. It is also end to end encrypted, which this is not.
Use Discord when you are running a standing community rather than a conversation. Channels, roles, persistent membership, bots, voice rooms and a history that goes back years are all things it does that a self-erasing room cannot and should not try to do.
Use this when the conversation has an end, the people are not otherwise connected to you, and every extra step you ask of them is a person who will not turn up.
What you are giving up, plainly
No notifications, so nobody knows something was said until they open the room. No voice or video. No photos, files or attachments: it is text only, and the site never asks for a camera, a microphone or a location. No history beyond the last fifty messages. No end to end encryption, though the connection is encrypted in transit and private one to one messages inside a room are passed between the two browsers rather than stored.
What you get in exchange is that the person you are trying to reach is talking to you about ninety seconds after you send them a link, and that neither of you has an account to deal with afterwards.
How to set one up
Put a name after the address that is specific to the occasion, such as klaklak.com/hallway-repaint, and send that address to the people you want in it. Everybody who opens it is in the same room. If a name is short and obvious you may find strangers there, so make it long enough that nobody would type it by accident.
Questions people ask
Can people join from a work laptop where I cannot install anything?
Yes. There is nothing to install, because it is a web page: it opens in whatever browser is already there. The one thing outside our control is a network administrator who blocks the domain, and if they have, nothing on our side gets round it.
Does it do voice or video calls?
No. It is text only and never asks for a camera or a microphone. If you need to talk rather than type, this is the wrong tool and you should use something built for it.
Can I send photos or files?
No. Messages are text. It keeps the site small, the rooms disposable and the privacy story simple, but it does mean anything visual has to go somewhere else.
Will people get a notification when somebody writes?
No. There are no accounts and no app, so there is nothing to notify. Everybody has to be in the room to see what is said, which is why this fits arranged conversations better than an ongoing group.
Should I use this instead of a Discord server?
Not for a community. Discord does standing membership, channels, roles, voice and years of history, and a room that clears itself after a day is bad at all of those. Use this for a conversation with an end and Discord for a group with a future.
Do the other people need to give a phone number?
Never, to us or to each other. There is no field for one anywhere on the site. All anybody needs is the link and a nickname of up to eight characters.
Is it really free?
Yes. No paid tier, no trial, no advertising in the chat and no data sold. Rooms clear themselves out, so there is very little to store and very little to pay for.