US Chat Rooms: Say Hey, Then Settle In for a Natter
Join freeYes, Americans chat on Natter. Drop into a moderated live room, take a good conversation private, and look for people close to home or several time zones away.
Natter? Here's what the name means
Natter is British slang for a long, wandering chat, the kind that starts with how your day went and ends up somewhere around favourite sandwiches. Its cousin is "chinwag".
If you've ever lost an hour on the phone with a friend without noticing, you've had a natter, and that's the whole point of the site. Natter is one community rather than a string of national editions, so there's no separate American version. Members join from the States, Britain, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and beyond, and they all share the same rooms.
American chat rooms on Natter aren't a fenced-off corner, then. They're the same live rooms everyone uses, with Americans in the mix. You'll notice British spelling on these pages (colour, favourite, the odd extra u). That's a clue to where the name came from, not a sign you've wandered into the wrong place.
Natter is for adults only (18+), and it puts good company first, with romance if it turns up. Our guide to the chat rooms explains how the rooms themselves work, and singles chat covers chatting with a date in mind.
Close to home, in a country of six time zones
- Eastern
- Central
- Mountain
- Pacific
- Alaska
- Hawaii
When a country stretches across this many time zones, "near you" can mean the next town or the next state. Natter keeps distance in the picture in three ways.
Daily match suggestions weigh how far apart you are, as well as recent activity, shared interests, the ages you're open to and what someone's hoping to find. Search helps you hunt for the sort of person you'd like to meet: it's limited on Free, while VIP and VIP+ get advanced search and unlimited results. And profiles only show the nearest town or city a member chose, so you can tell roughly how far away someone is without anybody giving away a street.
That's also why "what time is it there?" makes such a handy opener in American chat. The answer tells you where someone is, what their evening looks like, and if you've caught them before dinner or long after it.
Who's awake when you are, beyond the States
Across the Atlantic
The UK and Ireland are about five hours ahead of the east coast and eight ahead of the west, and South Africa is six or seven hours ahead of the east coast. A mid-afternoon log-on in the east lands in a British or Irish evening, once the working day is done over there. For the British side of things, see chat rooms UK.
Across the Pacific
Australia and New Zealand are most of a day ahead. A US evening lines up with late morning to late afternoon of their next day, which makes for good-natured arguments about whose Tuesday is going better. Our page on Australian chat rooms has the view from the other side.
How Americans say hello in a chat room
American chat tends to be warm and direct, which suits a chat room nicely. "Hey", "How's it going?" and "What's up?" all do the job, and a "y'all" or a "you guys" tells someone a little about you before you've said much at all.
British and Irish members may come back with "hiya", "cheers" or "not bad", and that last one usually means things are going well. Here's the kind of exchange you might have, as an example only:
- Hey, how's your evening going? East coast or west?
- West. Just got home, dinner's in the oven. You?
- Central time, so I'm stuck in the middle as usual.
- Ha, somebody has to hold the country together.
- Fair. What's one thing people always get wrong about your state?
A question about where someone lives, asked with real curiosity, usually gets a story back. Our how to chat guides have plenty more to try.
Meeting up when home is a big country
Distance changes the maths of a first meeting. Someone who feels close in a chat might be a long drive or a flight away, so it pays to take things slowly and plan them yourself.
- Keep talking on Natter until you know someone a little. If they're in a hurry to shift things onto another messaging app, Natter flags it with a warning, and the hurry itself is worth noticing.
- Never send cash, gift cards or bank details, and be wary of anyone who wants help paying for travel to see you.
- Arrange your own route both ways, and choose a busy public spot near where you're staying.
- Tell a friend who you're meeting, where and when.
- If anything feels wrong, leave. A block is instant, and you can file a report without leaving Natter.
Our chat safety page goes further.
What VIP and VIP+ add to US chat
Read receipts
Know a message has been read, handy when the reply is coming from three time zones away and you're wondering whether they're asleep.
More rooms
VIP and VIP+ open additional chat rooms, including the VIP and Verified rooms, on top of the limited set on Free.
Group chats
Start a private group of as many as 50 people, from a handful of new friends to a crowd who met in the same room.
Advanced search
Unlimited results, so you can search close to home or right across the country.
Free covers the basics: a limited set of rooms, limited messages and search, Promote Me intros and the Activity Feed. VIP+ adds priority placement and an enhanced profile on top of everything VIP brings. Costs for each plan are on the pricing page.
American chat rooms: your questions
Is Natter an American site?
Natter is a global .com with a British name, open to adults in the United States and elsewhere. There's one community and one set of rooms, so Americans chat alongside members from the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Can I chat with people in my own state?
Don't expect a room for each state, but you can still look for people near you. Daily match suggestions weigh distance, search lets you look for people (VIP and VIP+ get the advanced version), and profiles list the closest town or city each member picked.
Why does Natter use British spelling?
The name is British slang for a good long chat, and the site is written in British English. In the rooms, people write however they like, so nobody will mark you down for skipping a u.
Does Natter work on my phone?
Yes. Open it in the browser on your phone, tablet or laptop and you're in. You can also add Natter to your home screen as a web app and open it like any other icon.
What if someone wants to move the chat elsewhere?
Natter shows a warning if a member tries to carry the conversation off to another messaging app. It's wise to stay on Natter until you know a person, because moderation, blocking and reporting all work there.
Say hey and settle in
Pick a username, make a profile in a few minutes, and say hello to someone new, whatever your time zone.
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