Study with me, live: one person on video, who can see you too

The same quiet, one difference: someone notices you're there.

• A video doesn't know you exist. You can pause it, skip ahead, leave it running in another tab. A person heard what you said you'd do at the start, and at the end you'll tell them how it went.
• A video starts whenever you press play. A live session starts at a time you booked. It's an appointment, and an appointment is harder to put off than a play button.
• The quiet is the same. After one sentence each, you work in silence. The microphone can stay muted from start to finish; the camera stays on, and you can point it at your desk instead of your face.
• The length is set. 25 or 50 minutes, the same length for both of you, starting every quarter hour, every day, at any hour.

Book a quarter hour, say one sentence, work.

You pick a time and a length. Whoever booked the same quarter hour and the same length is on the video call with you. Two minutes at the start to say what you'll do, then silence, two minutes at the end to say how it went. What to say in those first two minutes is on the page about the first two minutes with someone you don't know.

If nobody booked your time, the session starts anyway: for the first 5 minutes we look for someone while you work. If nobody arrives, you choose: carry on with a virtual companion, and if you stay until the end the session counts in full, look for a person in the next quarter hour, or leave.

If you're wondering whether it's safe to be on video with a stranger: the other person only sees the name you choose, never your email, and audio and video aren't recorded. There's a whole page on whether coworking with strangers is safe.

Some days a timer is enough.

If today you don't want anyone on the other side, the site has a free study timer that opens no video call. If you want to see what an online study room looks like with one person at a time, that's the next page to read.