Community guidelines

Effective October 10, 2026. Contact by email only, at the address in section 15.

Talkoa works because people treat strangers well. Everyone agrees to these five rules before their first call. Be kind: no insults, hate or threats. No sexual talk: this is for friends. Adults only: report anyone who sounds under 18. No scams, no selling: never ask for money or personal details. Speak the language you chose: others chose it too. The rest of this page explains each rule in full. They're part of our Terms.

1. About these guidelines

1.1 These Community guidelines (the "Guidelines") set the standards of conduct for everyone who uses Talkoa. They form part of the Agreement described in section 1.2 of our Terms of service, where they are called the "Rules". Capitalised terms not defined here, including "Account", "App", "Call", "Friend" and "Plus", have the meanings given in the Terms.

1.2 Everyone agrees to the five rules in sections 3 to 7 before their first Call. The App shows them in short form during setup and under Settings, then Community rules. This page is the full version, and it governs.

1.3 The Guidelines apply to every Call, whether with someone you were matched with at random or with a Friend, and to everything else you do in the App, including friend requests, reports, blocks, the listening test and your answers to the question asked after a Call. They also apply to how you use anything you learn in a Call.

1.4 Where someone uses information from a Talkoa Call to threaten, harass or exploit a person they met on Talkoa somewhere else, and that is reported to us with information we find credible, we may act on the Account involved as though the conduct had happened in a Call.

1.5 The Guidelines are the same for everyone. Plus never changes safety: everyone can report and block, and every rule applies equally whether or not a person has Plus.

1.6 The examples in these Guidelines illustrate each rule. They are not a complete list. We apply each rule according to its purpose, and we take account of context: what was said, how and to whom, and whether the other person welcomed it.

2. How Talkoa works, and why it shapes these Guidelines

2.1 Talkoa connects adults who don't know each other for live voice Calls, and lets people who both choose to add each other keep in touch as Friends. Random Calls are matched by language. Each person sees only the other's country and whether their Account is less than a week old, and Friends see a name made from a random ID, such as Blue Heron.

2.2 We don't record Calls, listen to them or transcribe them. That protects everyone's privacy, and it means we can't replay a Call to see what happened. We rely on the people in a Call to tell us when something goes wrong, and on the pattern of reports across many Calls. A report is the most important safety tool on Talkoa.

2.3 You are never obliged to stay in a Call. If a conversation isn't working, for any reason, say goodbye and hang up.

3. Rule 1: Be kind

Purpose

3.1 Talking to a stranger takes some trust. People join Talkoa to practise a language, pass the time or make a friend, and a single hostile Call can be enough to drive them away. This rule protects everyone's ability to take part without being attacked, and particularly people who are attacked for who they are.

What is not allowed

3.2 No insults, hate, threats or harassment. In particular, you must not:

• attack, demean or mock anyone for who they are, including their race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, gender, sexuality, disability or accent, or any similar characteristic;
• use slurs, or describe a group of people as subhuman, diseased, criminal or inferior because of such a characteristic;
• threaten anyone with violence or other harm, whether or not you say you mean it, or wish harm on them;
• harass or bully anyone, for example by repeated insults, humiliation, shouting someone down, or continuing to contact a Friend who has made clear they don't want to hear from you;
• target someone because of the answer they gave about being a woman, or because of their country; or
• encourage others to do any of these things.

Context and edge cases

3.3 Disagreement is allowed. You may argue firmly about ideas, beliefs, politics or sport, provided you don't attack the person you are talking to or a group for who they are.

3.4 Discussing hate, discrimination or a slur, for example to explain what happened to you, to talk about history or the news, or to ask what a word means, is not a breach. Using the same words to attack someone is.

3.5 Friendly teasing that both people are clearly enjoying is part of conversation. It stops being acceptable when the other person isn't enjoying it, or asks you to stop.

3.6 Casual swearing that isn't aimed at anyone is not by itself a breach, but many people find it unwelcome, and you should respect the person you are talking to.

3.7 Many people on Talkoa are speaking a language they are still learning. Politely asking someone to repeat themselves, or offering a correction they have asked for, is welcome. Mocking how they speak is not.

4. Rule 2: No sexual talk

Purpose

4.1 Talkoa is for friendship, not sex or dating. The person you are matched with didn't choose you and didn't agree to a sexual conversation. Sexual talk between strangers is a common route to harassment, exploitation and blackmail, and it puts at risk anyone who has lied about their age to be here.

What is not allowed

4.2 No sexual comments, requests or sounds, no asking for intimate photos, and no pressuring anyone to move to another app for that. In particular, you must not:

• describe sexual acts, fantasies or body parts in a sexual way, or ask anyone else to;
• make sexual comments about the other person, their voice or their body;
• make sexual sounds, or engage in sexual roleplay;
• ask for intimate images or videos, or offer to send them;
• press anyone to continue a conversation somewhere else for a sexual purpose;
• offer or ask for sexual services, or use Talkoa to look for a sexual partner; or
• threaten to share an intimate image of anyone, or demand anything in return for not sharing one.

Context and edge cases

4.3 Ordinary conversation about relationships, a partner, family life or health, in terms you would use with a stranger in a public place, is not sexual talk.

4.4 Asking someone once, politely, whether they would like to go on a date is outside what Talkoa is for. Repeating it after they decline, or turning it into pressure, is harassment under rule 1.

4.5 Talkoa carries voice only. Asking for photos is therefore always a request to move to another service, and asking for intimate photos is not allowed in any circumstances.

4.6 The threats described in the last item of clause 4.2 are among the most serious breaches of these Guidelines. Where they involve anyone under 18, section 5 also applies.

5. Rule 3: Adults only, and child safety

Purpose

5.1 Talkoa matches strangers in live, private Calls that nobody records. That is not a safe place for a child. We have zero tolerance for child sexual abuse and exploitation, and this rule exists both to keep children off Talkoa and to make sure anyone who targets them is removed and reported.

What is not allowed

5.2 Everyone on Talkoa must be 18 or older. You must not:

• use Talkoa if you are under 18, or give a false date of birth;
• talk to, or try to contact or meet, anyone you believe is under 18, other than to end the Call and report them;
• engage in any sexual talk involving anyone under 18, or describe or request sexual content involving a child, even if you say it is fictional or a joke;
• groom a child, meaning try to build trust with them in order to exploit them, or ask a child for contact details, images or a meeting;
• threaten or pressure a child into sending images or doing anything else, which is sometimes called sextortion; or
• engage in sexual roleplay in which anyone pretends to be under 18.

What to do

5.3 If someone sounds under 18, end the Call and report them with They seem under 18. That report is treated as urgent: the person is blocked, and your report is reviewed before others. Never try to talk to or meet a child.

5.4 If a child is in immediate danger, contact your local police first, then tell us.

Context and edge cases

5.5 Voices can mislead, and you don't need to be sure. A report made in good faith about someone who turns out to be an adult is not a breach, and we will not hold it against you.

5.6 Don't keep someone in a Call to test whether they are a child, and don't try to investigate yourself. Ending the Call and reporting is enough.

5.7 Talking about your own childhood, or about your children in an ordinary way, is not a breach. Any sexualised reference to a child is.

5.8 If the App is told its owner is under 18, it stays closed on that phone until their 18th birthday, including after a reinstall.

How we respond

5.9 We report child sexual exploitation to the authorities, as our Child safety standards describe, including to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and, for Canada, to Cybertip.ca. Anyone who exploits or tries to exploit a child is suspended, and the suspension stays with their phone.

6. Rule 4: No scams, no selling

Purpose

6.1 A stranger who asks for money or personal details is, far more often than not, setting up a fraud. Scams on voice services often begin with friendliness and end with a request. Advertising and recruiting also turn a conversation into a sales pitch nobody asked for. This rule keeps Calls about people talking to each other.

What is not allowed

6.2 Never ask anyone for money, gifts, crypto, codes, passwords or personal details such as an address or bank information. No advertising, promoting other apps or channels, or recruiting. In particular, you must not:

• ask for money or anything of value for any reason, including an emergency, a medical bill, travel costs, a loan or a gift;
• ask for gift card codes, verification codes, one-time passcodes or passwords of any kind;
• ask for anyone's address, bank, card or identity details, or their workplace or school;
• promote an investment, trading scheme, cryptocurrency or way to make money;
• advertise a product, service, website, app, group, channel or social media account;
• recruit anyone for a job, a business, a cause or an organisation; or
• use a friendship formed on Talkoa to build trust in order to ask for any of these things later.

Context and edge cases

6.3 Talking about your job, your studies or something you enjoy is ordinary conversation. Steering the conversation towards getting someone to buy, join, follow or subscribe is not.

6.4 Talking about your faith or your politics when the subject comes up is allowed, within rule 1. Trying to convert or recruit people, or doing so in Call after Call, is not.

6.5 Two adults who have become Friends may decide for themselves to share contact details. We advise against it, as section 4.2 of the Terms explains. Asking for contact details as a matter of routine, pressing someone who hesitates, or doing it to move a conversation somewhere for a purpose these Guidelines prohibit, is a breach.

6.6 Collecting money for a charity is still asking for money, and is not allowed.

6.7 We never need your password, a code or your payment details from you. Payments for Plus are handled by Google Play. Anyone who asks for them in a Call is breaking this rule, whoever they say they are.

7. Rule 5: Speak the language you chose

Purpose

7.1 The person you were matched with chose the same language. Talking in it is the point. Many people come to Talkoa to practise a language, and a Call in a different one wastes their time.

What is required

7.2 Speak the language you were matched in for the Call. Calls in languages other than English unlock with a short listening test, and have a daily limit without Plus.

7.3 After a Call you'll be asked whether the other person spoke the chosen language. A language can be taken back if several people say no.

7.4 You must not:

• join a language queue in order to talk in a different language;
• have someone else take the listening test for you, or use tools to pass it; or
• answer the question after a Call falsely, for example to punish someone you disagreed with.

Context and edge cases

7.5 You don't need to be fluent. Speaking the language imperfectly, slowly or with an accent is exactly what Talkoa is for, and should not be answered with a no.

7.6 A word or sentence in another language to explain something, or a brief switch to get past a misunderstanding, is not a breach.

7.7 Answer the question after a Call honestly, about the language only. It is not a rating of the person or the conversation. If someone broke another rule, report them instead.

7.8 If you think a language was taken back from you by mistake, you can ask for a person to review it, as section 12 describes.

8. Other conduct that is not allowed

8.1 The following are also not allowed, whichever rule they fall under. Each is part of these Guidelines in the same way as the five rules.

Recording and streaming

8.2 People speak freely on Talkoa because Calls are live and nobody keeps them. Recording or streaming a Call without everyone's clear permission is not allowed, and it is never allowed where the law forbids it.

8.3 This covers recording audio with another app or another device, transcribing a Call with a tool, broadcasting it live, and sharing a recording, transcript or clip of it anywhere.

8.4 Permission must be clear, given during the Call, and given by everyone in it. Even where the law where you live allows a person to record a conversation they are part of, these Guidelines require everyone's permission. Permission to record is not permission to publish, unless that was agreed too.

8.5 You don't need a recording to report someone, and you shouldn't make one to gather evidence. Report the Call in the App. If a matter involves a crime, tell the police, who can advise you about evidence under the law where you live. Telling someone about a conversation without identifying the other person is not a breach.

Recordings, music and synthetic or automated voices

8.6 Talkoa is for people talking to people. Playing recordings, music or a synthetic or automated voice instead of talking is not allowed. That includes software that converts your voice into someone else's or into a generated voice, text-to-speech, automated callers, and scripts or bots that place or answer Calls.

8.7 Background sound you can't avoid, such as traffic or a television in another room, is not a breach. Playing a few seconds of a song because the other person asked to hear it is not a breach either, but it must not replace the conversation and clauses 8.9 and 8.10 still apply.

8.8 If you rely on assistive speech technology because of a disability, please contact us at the address in section 15. We will consider how this section applies to you.

Intellectual property in what is played into Calls

8.9 Music, films, television, audiobooks, podcasts and broadcasts belong to the people who made them. Playing them into a Call can infringe their rights, as well as breaching clause 8.6, and is not allowed.

8.10 Singing or humming a few lines yourself, quoting a line from a film, or talking about a song or a book is ordinary conversation and is not a breach. Broadcasting someone else's work to the people you are matched with is.

8.11 A rights holder who believes Talkoa is being used to infringe their rights may write to us at the address in section 15. Calls are live and not stored, so there is normally nothing for us to remove, but we can act on the Accounts involved.

Impersonation and false information

8.12 Pretending to be someone else, or to be staff of Talkoa, is not allowed. That includes claiming to be a particular real person, a public figure, a police officer or an official in order to deceive, and claiming to act for Talkoa.

8.13 Anyone in a Call who claims to work for Talkoa and asks for a password, a code, a payment or personal details is not acting for us, and should be reported.

8.14 The answer you give the App about being a woman must be true, as section 3.3 of the Terms requires, and so must your date of birth. A false answer given to be matched through the gender filters that Plus offers is a breach.

8.15 Playing a character for a moment, in a way the other person plainly understands as a joke, is not impersonation. Keeping up a false identity to deceive someone is.

Encouraging harm to self or others

8.16 Encouraging anyone to harm themselves or others is not allowed. That includes urging or daring someone to self-harm, to attempt suicide or to stop eating; giving instructions or methods; mocking someone who says they are struggling; and urging anyone to hurt another person.

8.17 Talking about your own difficulties, your mental health or your recovery is allowed, and supporting someone who is struggling is welcome. If someone tells you they are at risk, section 13 explains what you can do.

Violent extremism

8.18 Praising, supporting, promoting or recruiting for a terrorist or violent extremist organisation, or the people behind a violent attack, is not allowed. Nor is celebrating an attack, sharing propaganda, or threatening or planning violence for a political, religious or ideological cause.

8.19 Discussing extremism, the news, history or conflict, including to condemn or understand it, is not a breach. The question is whether you are explaining or endorsing.

Doxxing and the privacy of others

8.20 Revealing, or threatening to reveal, someone's personal information without their permission is not allowed. That includes their real name, address, phone number, workplace, school, social media accounts or photographs, and information about where they are.

8.21 To connect a Call directly, each phone needs the other's IP address, as our Privacy policy explains. Using technical means to capture another user's IP address, or using one to find out where someone is, is not allowed. Nor is collecting information about other users in any other way.

8.22 Talking in general terms about people who aren't in the Call is ordinary conversation. Sharing private information about them, or about someone you met on Talkoa, is not.

Spam and manipulation

8.23 Spam is not allowed. That includes delivering the same pitch or message in Call after Call, sending friend requests indiscriminately or again after they have been declined, and using Talkoa for any purpose other than conversation.

8.24 Making false reports, reporting someone in retaliation, or arranging for several people to report the same person in order to trigger the automatic pause described in section 10, is a serious breach. So is answering the question after a Call falsely in concert with others.

8.25 Ending a Call early because it isn't working is not spam, and you may do it as often as you need to. If Calls keep ending before the ad between them can show, the App pauses new random Calls for a couple of minutes, as section 9.2 of the Terms explains. That pause is how the ad rules work, not a penalty under these Guidelines.

Illegal acts

8.26 Anything illegal where you or the other person are is not allowed. That includes buying, selling or arranging illegal drugs, weapons or other prohibited goods; fraud; threats; hate propaganda where it is a crime; and arranging or encouraging any other offence.

8.27 Discussing the law, the news or a crime that has been reported is not a breach. Where something is legal in one person's country and illegal in the other's, it is not allowed in a Call between them.

Evading limits, ads, blocks or suspensions

8.28 Using modified apps, scripts or new accounts to get round limits, ads, blocks or a suspension is not allowed. That includes Call length limits, daily language limits and Friend limits; contacting someone again through a new Account after they blocked you; and returning to Talkoa through a new Account while you are paused or suspended.

8.29 One person may have one Account, as section 5.3 of the Terms provides.

9. Reporting and blocking

9.1 During a Call, or for 30 minutes after it, tap Report or Block. Both are free for everyone, with or without Plus, and they work in Calls with Friends as well as random Calls.

9.2 Reporting also blocks them and ends the Call. When you report, you choose the reason that fits best: Sexual talk, Harassment or bullying, Hate speech, They seem under 18, Scam or spam, or Something else.

9.3 Blocked people are never matched with you, and nobody is told who reported or blocked them.

9.4 A report made in the App is linked to the Call it is about, which is the most reliable way for us to act. If more than 30 minutes have passed, or the matter is not about a single Call, email us at the address in section 15 with your Talkoa ID, when it happened and what happened. We will do what we can, but we may not be able to identify the other Account.

9.5 Block whenever you want to, for any reason, and you don't have to explain. Report when someone has broken these Guidelines. Reports must be made in good faith, as clause 8.24 explains.

10. How we enforce these Guidelines

Automatic pause

10.1 When several different people report an account within a day, it pauses automatically until our team reviews it. The App then shows a paused screen, which offers Appeal and a link to these Guidelines.

10.2 An automatic pause is a safety measure, not a finding that a rule was broken. The review decides that.

Review by a person

10.3 A person on our team reviews every paused Account. Because we don't record Calls, the review considers the reports and their reasons, how many different people made them and when, any earlier reports and decisions about the Account, information sent to us by email, and anything the Account holder tells us in an appeal.

10.4 We can also suspend an account ourselves, with or without a warning, depending on how serious it was, when we find or reasonably suspect a breach of the Agreement or a risk to anyone.

How seriousness is assessed

10.5 This section describes how we generally approach different kinds of breach. It is guidance on how we use our discretion, not a promise of any particular outcome. We may act more or less strictly where the circumstances justify it, and every case turns on its own facts.

10.6 The most serious breaches will ordinarily lead to suspension on the first occasion, and may be reported to the authorities where the law requires it or someone's safety is at risk. They include:

• any sexual exploitation or attempted exploitation of a child, and any conduct described in clause 5.2 directed at someone who seemed to be under 18;
• credible threats of violence, and conduct described in clause 8.18;
• threatening to share intimate images, or blackmail of any kind; and
• serious fraud, and doxxing that puts someone at risk.

10.7 Serious breaches will ordinarily lead to suspension, particularly where they are repeated, aimed at a particular person or reported by several people. They include hate, sexual talk, harassment, recording or streaming without permission, encouraging self-harm, impersonating Talkoa staff, asking for money or personal details, and evading a block or suspension.

10.8 Other breaches, such as rudeness short of harassment, advertising, spam, playing music or recordings, or not speaking the chosen language, may lead to a warning or suspension, and repeated breaches will be treated more seriously.

10.9 In every case we take account of how serious the conduct was, whether it seemed deliberate, whether it was aimed at someone, the harm caused or risked, how many people reported it, the Account's history, and whether the other person seemed to be under 18.

Suspensions stay with the phone

10.10 A suspension stays with the phone, so a new account or a reinstall doesn't lift it. We do this with a scrambled form of the phone's Android ID, as our Privacy policy explains. Records of a suspension, and the scrambled identifier it applies to, are kept as the Privacy policy and our deletion page describe.

Plus and enforcement

10.11 Having Plus doesn't change how these Guidelines apply. If an Account is suspended for breaking them, no refund is due for the current period, but if a suspension is lifted on review because it was a mistake, we refund the time lost, as our Refund policy explains. A suspension doesn't cancel Plus in Google Play, so cancel it there if you don't want it to renew.

Disclosure to authorities

10.12 We disclose information when the law requires it, or when someone's safety is at risk, as our Privacy policy describes. Reports of child sexual exploitation go to NCMEC and Cybertip.ca.

11. Appeals

11.1 If you think we got it wrong, tap Appeal on the paused screen, which opens an email to us, or write to [email protected] with your Talkoa ID, shown in the App under Settings, then Account.

11.2 A person reviews every appeal. Tell us what you think happened and why you think the decision was wrong. We don't need you to have a recording, and you shouldn't make one.

11.3 We reply by email with the outcome. If the decision was wrong, we lift the pause or suspension.

11.4 If you reported someone and are concerned about what happened next, you may also write to us. We won't tell you what action was taken against another Account, but we will review the matter.

12. Review of automatic decisions

12.1 Some decisions are made by the App without a person deciding each time, including an automatic pause and the taking back of a language after several people said it wasn't spoken. You can ask for any of them to be reviewed by a person, and tell us why you think it's wrong, by writing to the address in section 15.

13. If someone is in danger

13.1 Talkoa can't send help. We don't know where anyone is beyond their country, and we can't trace a Call. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services, for example 911 in Canada and the United States.

13.2 In Canada and the United States you can call or text 988 for suicide and crisis support, at any time. Elsewhere, contact your local emergency services, or a crisis line in the country where you are.

13.3 If someone in a Call tells you they are thinking of harming themselves, you don't have to handle it alone. Listen if you can, encourage them to contact 988 or local emergency services, and end the Call if it becomes too much. Don't share your own personal details to help.

13.4 If someone in a Call threatens to harm another person and you believe the threat is real, contact the police where you are, then report the Call. If a child is in immediate danger, contact your local police first.

14. Other documents, and changes

14.1 These Guidelines are part of our Terms. Our Child safety standards, Privacy policy and Refund policy also apply. If these Guidelines and the Terms conflict, the Terms prevail.

14.2 We may change these Guidelines. The version in force is the one on this page, with its effective date at the top. If a change matters, we will show a notice in the App before it takes effect, as section 16 of the Terms provides.

15. Who we are and how to reach us

15.1 Talkoa is provided by Inayah Tech Solutions Inc., a corporation incorporated under the laws of Ontario, Canada.

15.2 Reports, appeals and questions about these Guidelines: [email protected]. We correspond by email only.