Houseparty is a video chatting app designed for spontaneous communication — less for setting up meetings than for those moments when you’re bored and you want to chat with a friend. That’s why it was initially favored by young people. But it’s shot up in popularity across all age groups as people stay home in order to practice social distancing.

Incidentally, the app is also known for its connection to gaming. It comes with built-in games, such as Heads Up, that you can play with friends. Last year, Houseparty was acquired by Fortnite creator Epic Games.

When you open Houseparty, you immediately see which of your friends is online and can talk to them with one tap. In fact, your friends get notifications whenever you go online (assuming you have Houseparty running), and you’ll get the same for them. They can also see what conversations you’re having with others and join, unless the room (aka the conversation) is locked. So while Houseparty encourages spontaneity, privacy can be an issue. (In fact, Houseparty, like Zoom, has had some blowback from possible security issues; there were reports of breaches, which were apparently never proven.) We’ll address how you can adjust these features to maximize security.

Houseparty is available for iOS, Android, and macOS; there’s also a Chrome extension that leads you to a browser version, which is still in beta. (You can access the browser version without the extension). However, the app is really designed for use on mobile, so the desktop and browser versions have limited functionality. For example, you can’t play games the way you can on the mobile version.

To use Houseparty, you’ll first need to set up an account. (Here’s how to do that.) During the setup process, Houseparty will give you the option to add friends. Once they’ve accepted your invitation, you can start chatting with them.

Start a call or message your friends on mobile:

• Click the smiley face in the top-left corner
• Tap “My Friends”
• Tap on your friend’s name
• Press the green “Call” button to call them, or press the “Say Hi” button to let them know you want to talk. You can also use the Facemail button to record a video message for them. On Android, if they’re not available, you’ll see a “Pass a Note” icon instead of the “Call” button.
• You can also send a message by typing in the bar at the bottom of the screen labeled “Pass a Note” on an iPhone. On Android, tap the “Pass a Note” icon to send a message.

You can quickly start a chat with your recent contacts:

• Open the app and swipe up
• If a friend you’ve conversed with recently is online, you can click “Join” next to their name to start chatting
• If they’re not online, you’ll see two buttons next to their name. Click the call button to call them or tap the button with a waving hand to send them a notification letting them know you’d like to talk.

Once you and a friend are on a call, you’re put in a “room.” If you don’t want others to be able to join the call automatically, you can lock your room by tapping the lock icon on the bottom of the screen. You can always invite people to the room even if it’s locked; in addition, friends can request to be added to a room. Here’s how:

• Click the + icon in the top-right corner (if you’ve locked the room, this button will look like a padlock with a + sign next to it)
• Tap the circle next to the names of the friends you’d like to add to the call
• Then tap “Invite to the Room.” Your friends will get a notification saying you’ve invited them to your room. They can tap “Join” to start talking.
• If you’re in a locked room and a friend wants to talk to you, they can wave at you, and you’ll get a notification asking if you want to add them to your current call. Tap “Invite Here” to add them.
• You can send text messages to individuals in your room, but not to more than one person or to the whole group, even if you’re all on the same call. To send a message during a group call, tap on your friend’s face, and you’ll be able to pass them a note.

To leave a call, press the X in the bottom right corner.

Keep your virtual distance

If you’re not ready to talk even though you’ve opened the app, you can mute yourself and turn off your video. Here’s how:

• Tap the camera icon to disable or enable the camera if you’re on Android. If you’re using an iPhone, tap the three dots in the bottom-left corner and then tap “Disable Camera.”
• Tap the microphone icon toward the bottom-right corner of the screen to mute your audio

You can also switch on private mode, which will automatically lock whatever room you’re in:

• Tap on the smiley face in the top-left corner
• Click on the cog icon
• Toggle on Private Mode

Whenever you open the Houseparty app, your friends will be automatically notified that you’re online. Don’t want that? To adjust your notifications preferences:

• Click on the smiley face in the top-left corner
• Tap “Manage Notifications”
• To prevent your friends from getting notifications, toggle off “Send Out My Notifications”
• To stop receiving notifications when your friends log on, toggle off “Get My Friends’ Notifications”
• Under the Friends subhead in Notifications, you can adjust the settings for each friend. Toggle on the switch under the ghost icon to stop sending notifications to that friend when you log on. Toggle off the switch under the house icon to stop receiving notifications when that friend logs on.
• On an iPhone, if you press and hold down on the Houseparty app icon, you’ll get an option to “Sneak into the House,” which means that you can go online without your friends being notified.

How to use Houseparty on your desktop or laptop

You can download the desktop Houseparty app if you’re on a Mac. For other operating systems, Houseparty also has an extension for Chrome that links to a browser version of the app. (The browser version works with some Chromium-based browsers, but not on other browsers. It did not work on Safari or Firefox.) The interfaces of the Mac app and the app in-browser are a little different, but the steps for making a call are similar. Keep in mind that you can only access Houseparty from one device at a time.

Note: the first time you use it, the extension will ask for three permissions: to read and change your data on the Houseparty app, to read your browsing history, and to communicate with “cooperating” websites.

Click on the extension or open the Mac app, and you’ll get a drop-down list of contacts, with your name at the top. By clicking the arrow next to the status above your name, you can choose to set yourself as “Online” (you have the app open and are in a room), “Around” (you have the app open so friends can contact you, but you’re not currently in a room) or “Offline” (you can’t be contacted). Houseparty will send notifications to your friends when you go online.

The Chrome extension gives you a fourth option, “Online (Sneak In),” which means that you’re online and available but your friends won’t be notified.

Click the “Go Online” button or change your status to “Online” to put yourself in a room. Now, your video and audio are enabled, and a friend (or friends) can join you in that room (unless you lock it).

In the browser version, you’ll see a column with your contacts on the left-hand side.

In the Mac app, the drop-down window with your contacts will remain open. In either version, next to each contact, you can click on the call button to contact a friend or click on the wave button to let a friend know you’d like to talk.

You’ll see some buttons at the bottom of the screen (or in the video window if you’re using the Mac app). Click on the camera icon to turn off your video, click on the padlock icon to lock the room, or click on the microphone button to mute yourself. There’s also a button with an arrow inside of a monitor icon. Click on that to share your screen.

The browser version of Houseparty is still in beta, so you can get rather weird effects, such as these narrow video windows.

If you’re using the Mac app, you’ll also see a button with two arrows that lets you change the shape of the video window from a bubble to a rectangle. Once you’ve switched to the rectangle window, you can click the green + in the top-left corner to enter full-screen.

Those are the basics for using Houseparty, which is just one of many free group video chatting apps. There are several alternatives, including FaceTime, WhatsApp, and Zoom. They offer different features and limitations (such as the amount of time you have for a call or the number of people who can participate), so you can pick the right one depending on your needs.

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