There are plenty of options when it comes to meeting people online, but no app offers an experience that’s as immersive and complete as Tiya. This mobile app, which evolved from the Chinese podcasting platform Lizhi, bases its user experience on audio, both in real time and recorded; a voice- and speech-based dating app. But Tiya isn’t only about dating —it’s also about finding people to play Fortnite or Roblox with, or simply to have a nice chat with someone new.
What’s Tiya all about?
When you open Tiya for the first time you may feel a little overwhelmed. After all, aside from not resembling any other social network, there are tons of options to choose from and they’re all very different.
The first thing you have to do is create an account and a profile with your photo, interests and age (it’s not mandatory, but if you’re going to meet people it is recommended). The difference between Tiya and other social platforms is that this app offers you the possibility to record an audio message (in the app it’s called a Momento). The message has a maximum duration of one minute and, if you want, you can accompany it with a text. The interesting thing is that this audio will be anchored to your profile and any user who visits it will be able to listen to it.
Once your profile is all set up, you can start chatting with people. You have two options: join in on group chats or search for people individually.
Chat rooms and groups
If what you want is to find people to chat with in a group or play online and comment on games like you would with any other messaging app, then what you want to do is enter the “Groups” menu. In this section, you’ll see all the audio chat rooms you can join, both those that are broadcasting live and those that are trending. Plus, you’ll even find tools to modify your voice and make it sound different.
You can also use the search bar to find groups with specific interests (for example “pets” or “PUBG“) or simply let the app search for related groups for you and add you to them automatically.
Almost all the groups have some rules in their description, which we advise you to follow if you don’t want to get kicked out of them. And of course, just as you can join groups with already established audio chats, you can also create your own. Once you’ve created your group you can share the link with your friends so that they can join.
In addition to audio, Tiya also gives you the ability to share your screen in real-time to watch videos with other users (from YouTube or your local files), make gameplay videos or simply show what you have on your phone.
Match
Along with all of these group options, Tiya also helps you to meet people individually. To do so, you just have to go to the “Match” option and select “1v1 Make a friend”.
The app will search for people who are currently connected and have common interests with you and start an audio chat for you to start talking. Note that you can leave the conversation at any time and, if you wish, perform a new search.
You can also add friends the old-fashioned way by sending friend requests and chatting through a text chat which you can use to send files, emojis, GIFs and, of course, audio messages.
