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The Best Time to Video Chat With People in Other Time Zones

Updated · 6 min read

The best time to video chat with people in other time zones is when your free hours overlap their evening or weekend. Work out the time difference, then aim for the window where it's after work for them and a reasonable hour for you. For far-apart places, that usually means your morning, your late evening, or the weekend.

Below you'll find evening hours across the world side by side, overlap windows for common pairs, and how to use Omlet's country filter at the right hour. One honest caveat: when people are online varies by day and season, so treat these windows as good bets, not promises.

The simple rule: their evening, your free time

Most people are free to chat after work, roughly 6 to 11 pm their time, and for longer stretches on weekends. So the real question isn't when you're free, but when your free time lands in their evening.

  1. Look up the difference. Your phone's clock app has a world clock: on iPhone, Clock → World Clock; on Android, the Clock app's clock tab has a button to add a city.
  2. Add the hours to your time, or subtract them if the other place is behind you.
  3. Check the day as well. With a big gap, it's often already tomorrow there.
  4. Skip their small hours. Between midnight and 7 am, few people are awake, and those who are may be heading to bed.

Watch the minutes too: a few places use half-hour or quarter-hour offsets. India is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of UTC, and Nepal is 5 hours 45 minutes ahead.

Evening hours across regions, side by side

Each column is one moment in time. Read down a column to see the local time in each city, and the heading tells you whose evening it is. Times are for January; columns cross midnight, so from London eastward it's already the next day in the first column.

CityAmericas eveningEast Asia eveningSouth Asia and Gulf eveningEurope and Africa evening
Los Angeles5 pm3 am7 am11 am
New York8 pm6 am10 am2 pm
São Paulo10 pm8 amnoon4 pm
London1 am11 am3 pm7 pm
Lagos2 amnoon4 pm8 pm
Berlin2 amnoon4 pm8 pm
Nairobi4 am2 pm6 pm10 pm
Dubai5 am3 pm7 pm11 pm
New Delhi6:30 am4:30 pm8:30 pm12:30 am
Jakarta8 am6 pm10 pm2 am
Tokyo10 am8 pmmidnight4 am
Sydneynoon10 pm2 am6 am

Daylight saving time shifts some rows by an hour. From March to early November in the US, and from late March to late October in Europe, clocks there read an hour later than shown, so London's 7 pm becomes 8 pm. Sydney reads an hour earlier in those months, because Australia's daylight saving falls in the other half of the year. São Paulo, Lagos, Nairobi, Dubai, New Delhi, Jakarta and Tokyo don't change their clocks.

Time zone overlap chat windows for common pairs

If you're inTry at your timeTheir time in JanuaryTheir time in July
New York, meeting London1–4 pm6–9 pm6–9 pm
New York, meeting Lagos1–4 pm7–10 pm6–9 pm
New York, meeting São Paulo7–10 pm9 pm–midnight8–11 pm
New York, meeting New Delhi8–10 am6:30–8:30 pm5:30–7:30 pm
Los Angeles, meeting TokyoFri or Sat, 5–8 pmSat or Sun, 10 am–1 pmSat or Sun, 9 am–noon
Los Angeles, meeting SydneyFri or Sat, 7 pmSat or Sun, 2 pmSat or Sun, noon
London, meeting New Delhi2–5 pm7:30–10:30 pm6:30–9:30 pm
London, meeting Manila1 pm9 pm8 pm
Berlin, meeting Tokyo11 am–2 pm7–10 pm6–9 pm
London, meeting Sydney8–11 am7–10 pm5–8 pm

Neighboring regions are easy. Europe, Africa and the Middle East sit within a few hours of each other, as do East Asia and Australia, so evenings overlap on their own. The hard pairs are the far ones, like the US West Coast and Asia, where weekends do most of the work.

Around the clock changes in March, April, October and November, the US, Europe and Australia switch on different dates, so gaps can be an hour off for a week or two. A world clock app always has the current answer.

Weekends: where big gaps get easier

Weekends widen every window, because people are free for hours instead of a single evening. They also soften the toughest gaps:

  • The date line helps the Americas. Friday and Saturday evenings in North and South America fall on Saturday and Sunday daytime in East Asia and Australia.
  • Europe meets Asia on weekend mornings. A late Saturday morning in Berlin or Paris is Saturday evening in Tokyo and late afternoon in Jakarta.
  • Not every weekend is Saturday and Sunday. In several Middle Eastern countries the weekend falls on Friday and Saturday, so a Thursday evening there feels like a Friday night.
  • Holidays change everything. Big local holidays can mean lots of free time or none at all, depending on whether people are at home or with family.

Ask early in the chat: "What time is it for you?" It's an easy opener, and it tells you whether they have an hour to talk or are about to go to sleep.

Using the country filter at the right hour

Omlet matches you worldwide by default, so at any hour you meet whoever happens to be awake. If you'd like to meet someone from a particular place, the country filter lets you choose one country. Your first day is free, then it's $3 one time for that device and browser, not a subscription. The free day starts with a card, and the $3 is charged once when it ends unless you cancel in Settings.

Timing matters most with the filter on. It works both ways and can make matching slower when fewer people from that country are online, so filtering for a country where it's 4 am is likely to mean a long wait.

  1. Check the country's local time first. Country pages such as video chat with people from Japan and video chat with people from Australia show local time and greetings.
  2. Pick a slot from the tables above that falls in their evening or weekend.
  3. Choose the country, press Start, and give it a little time. If matches are slow, come back an hour later or switch back to Worldwide.
  4. Notice what works. If evenings in one country keep paying off, that's your slot.

For the full details of the filter, see video chat by country. Happy to meet anyone, anywhere? International video chat explains the worldwide default.

Making a cross-time-zone chat go well

  • Acknowledge the hour. "It's late for you, thanks for chatting" goes a long way.
  • Match their energy. Your morning coffee may meet their end-of-day tiredness, so keep it light and don't push for a long call.
  • Expect interruptions in their evening: dinner, family, a roommate walking past the camera.
  • If you don't share a language, keep a translator app open on your phone; see how to talk with someone who doesn't speak your language.
  • Names from far away may be new to you. Ask how to say theirs early on, as in how to ask someone to pronounce their name.

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Frequently asked questions

What's the easiest way to work out someone's local time?

Add their city to your phone's world clock, or simply ask them. On a computer, searching for "time in" plus the city name shows it instantly. Check the day as well as the hour, since big gaps often mean it's already tomorrow for them.

When do Europe and the US West Coast overlap?

The window is narrow. Late afternoon to early evening in Europe, about 5 to 8 pm in London, is 9 am to noon in Los Angeles for most of the year. On weekends, a Saturday morning in California meets Saturday evening in Europe, which is usually the easiest slot.

Does daylight saving time change the best hours?

By an hour, for part of the year. The US, Canada, most of Europe and parts of Australia change their clocks, on different dates, while most of Asia and Africa don't. Check a world clock around March, April, October and November, when gaps shift.

Is it rude to keep chatting when it's late for the other person?

Not if they're online and choosing to chat. Be considerate: mention the hour, don't press them to stay when they say they need to go, and keep the mood relaxed. Ending with a quick thanks and a goodbye is always fine.