Flinch is a new app that allows the user to video chat with randomly assigned people around the world. The object of the game is to not smile while on camera with the other person, and the first person to smile loses. Players can do a number of things to distract and try to make the other person laugh in order to win.

This app was designed by ooVoo, and uses facial recognition technology to tell when one of the players smiles. It has found tremendous success, with 6 million games played daily and just under 100,000 new players each week.

Now Flinch has reached Williston’s campus, and after interviewing a few students, it is apparent that there are varying opinions about it.

One active Flinch user, Cree Daniels ’15, has a lot of fun with the app. “I like to sing with different accents on camera with the other people because that usually makes them laugh. Getting more people in the camera view to help making faces and such gets the opponent laughing.”

Charlie Fogg ’15, who just recently discovered the game, says that “It’s a great way to make new friends.”

Maddy Scott ’16, who also recently downloaded the app says that it is “fantastic and a fun way to see people from around the world, although I usually lose, because I have a hard time not smiling!”

Some students are not as fond  as Daniels, Scott, and Fogg of the game. Responses like that from Ryan Richmond ’15 say that, “it makes me uncomfortable,” are common, too.

Similarly, Mikey Lloyd and Noah Devos think the game is “super weird.”

Despite varying opinions on the game, there are risks with playing it. In willingly video chatting with random strangers, users are giving each other the power to show, say, and do whatever they please on camera.

When you connect with people on flinch they have the ability to track your phone via geo-location, and therefore get information about where you go to school, work, and live.

The game is always a potential space for cyber bullying, nudity, and criminal activity. Because users don’t know who they will get on camera, it is impossible to know what others will do.

Along with having the ability to video chat with random strangers, Flinch users can friend Facebook and phone contacts that play the game with. This allows for a more controlled option to this game and lets people to use the app without the risks.

A version of this article appears in print on May 1, 2015.