Someone is going to answer.
Since 2018 that has been the whole effect, and it has not changed. Everything around it has. Stranger X is The Stranger rebuilt from the ground up — the same call, with a workshop behind it.
Get Stranger X- iOS
- Free trial
- 46 call regions
- $99 to upgrade
There is no app
in the room.
They dial on the iOS keypad, because it is the iOS keypad. They watch the iOS call screen, because it is the iOS call screen. That is the whole trick of the interface: it refuses to be one.
No force is ever required. They name any card, or anything from a list you built yourself, and the voice on the line names it back. You never touch the deck.
The number they dial is never called — Stranger X re-routes to the person you chose in advance, from your own contacts, who has agreed to answer.
Video calls are not new — The Stranger had them. What is new is that they reach any user, on iPhone or on Android. The person answering no longer has to own the right phone, which means the list of people who can be your Stranger just got considerably longer.
And it does not have to be your phone at all. That is 02:20.
One screen,
then your hands are free.
Choose who answers. Set one or two convincers. Pick how the call is carried — cellular, FaceTime Audio, or VoIP to remove the iOS prompt. Set the reveal. Everything the performer touches lives on one screen, because mid-show there is no such thing as a second screen.
Auto Advance cycles your active Strangers if a call goes unanswered, then falls through to a recording held on your own device. The reveal is never someone else's responsibility.
You already know this feeling.
Filmed live. Unscripted. No second take. If you have performed The Stranger you have watched this happen in front of you — and it is exactly why the effect came through a ground-up rebuild untouched.
And then they said this.
Not spectators, who never know what happened. Magicians — on the original Stranger, in professional use since 2018.
Jonathan is an evil genius.Max Maven
A revolutionary magic utility for the modern world.Michael Carbonaro
This is a sea change.David Regal
It's the ultimate.Jim Steinmeyer
A perfect trick that I pull out when I want to send them over the edge.Paul Gertner
The Stranger is a true showstopper.Eric Jones
I use it in every one of my shows.Dan White
This defies explanation.Mike Caveney
Revolutionary.Shawn Farquhar
I love The Stranger.Joshua Jay
Ingenious.Kostya Kimlat
The ultimate in modern magic.Laura London
A roller coaster ride on my phone.Brett Barry
This is a real winner.Dan Harlan
You want The Stranger in your set.Jade
So clever.Danny Garcia
And on camera.
If you own The Stranger, none of that was news.
Good. The effect did not change, and it should not have. Stranger X is a ground-up rebuild that left the one thing alone that was already working.
Everything you use tonight is here and behaves the way you expect it to. Any card, freely named, no force, ever. The Reveal Message that arms your Stranger before you dial. The fake number with its city, so they can speak as someone who lives there. The confirm-receipt tap you feel in your hand. One or two convincers. The region-correct disconnect tone. Auto Advance down your list and through to your own recording. Cellular, FaceTime Audio or VoIP. A video call, a fake homescreen, ring counts you set yourself. Nexus and Nexus Now, still on the other end of it. Every one of those was rebuilt. Not one of them was changed.
That is the whole point of a ground-up rebuild. Every lesson since 2018 went back into this one — fewer taps to set a routine, a shorter path from opening the app to standing ready, screens that no longer ask you to remember where anything lives. Nothing behaves differently. All of it is faster to reach, and quicker to work.
And thirteen things are new. One of them changes where you can perform. The rest are about your material, your craft, and the people you work with.
The whole call happens on their phone.
Borrow a spectator's phone and run the whole routine on it — one or two convincers, then a Conversation Recording or a live Stranger with Auto Advance behind it. Not your phone, not your screen, not a device anyone in the room can suspect. Yours never comes out of your pocket, and theirs goes back working exactly as it did.
And it can be a video call. On their phone, to a Stranger on an iPhone or an Android — a face they have never seen, on a device they handed you themselves.
And getting there takes one tap. Hold their phone against an NFC tag and the dial screen opens.
No app to find, no install to explain, nothing downloading while a room waits. There is no full app on their phone — an App Clip opens the dial screen and then clears itself out of their App Library on its own. A custom homescreen keeps the phone looking like a phone the whole way through. Borrowed Phone unlocks with a one-time in-app purchase — no Nexus, no second app, nothing else to buy.
It is the strongest way to perform this, and now it is the easiest way too.
Now the material is yours.
On The Stranger, your act was the material that came in the box. In Stranger X you name a recording, choose playing cards, zodiac or a custom set, and record every line inside the app — in any order, saving a draft whenever you stop. Import from Files still works if you would rather.
Using an API key you supply and control, the app can also generate a transcript of a finished recording — and that transcript feeds straight into Rehearsal.
Rehearse it before you need it.
Rehearsal plays any recording with its script in sync, moving line to line as you go, with running timers so you learn where the pauses live. Reading a script aloud is not the same as knowing one, and this is the difference.
The whole instructional library sits in the app too — video and downloadable PDFs, sectioned from first call to settings. No separate site, no second login, and it is there when you are standing somewhere with a problem.
A library that grows while you sleep.
Members publish recordings and convincers for one another under their own names. Search by title, author, region or tag. Preview before you take anything. Publish your own when you are ready. Every performer who joins brings more material with them.
Or share a recording privately with one person and never publish it at all — some material is for a friend, not for a shelf. Every public listing carries a real member's name; nothing is anonymous, listings can be reported from inside the app, and anything breaching the guidelines is removed.
There is no call center. There are Strangers.
The person who answers can be anyone you have arranged it with — a friend, a partner, a fellow performer. But when you want someone your audience could not possibly know, the community is where you find them. That works because there is a real one underneath it — regional WhatsApp groups joinable from inside the app, a private Facebook group, and a membership built since 2018.
Groups run in eleven regions across four continents, and Stranger X is the first version you can join them from — the request to start one where none exists appears by itself. The app is localized for forty-six call regions.
Member areaEleven regions · Four continents · One call in progress
And it still works alongside Nexus.
Stranger X is complete on its own and needs nothing else. But performers who also run Nexus or Nexus Now can send more than a card down the line — a birthday, a duplicated drawing, their lotto numbers. That worked before the rebuild, and it works after it.
Nexus is a separate product. Nothing here depends on it.
Explore NexusThe complete system.
Twenty-one capabilities. The ones marked new did not exist in The Stranger.
Live Stranger calls
Someone you chose in advance answers — anyone in your contacts, or a fellow member from the community.
No force, ever
Any card they freely name, or anything from a list you built yourself. You never touch the deck.
Conversation Recordings
A full library covering every card, ready out of the box, working with no second person on the other end.
Video calls
Put a face on the call. Stranger X is the first version that does it with any user — iPhone or Android.
Borrowed phoneNew
The whole routine from a spectator's phone, opened with one tap on an NFC tag. Your own phone never appears. Available as a one-time in-app purchase.
Record in the appNew
Cards, zodiac or a custom set. Record in any order, save a draft, or import from Files.
AI transcriptsNew
Generate a script from your own recording using an API key you provide and control.
The MarketplaceNew
Publish and download recordings and convincers, with search, tags, regions and share codes.
Share privatelyNew
Send a recording to one person without publishing it.
RehearsalNew
Script and audio in sync, line by line, with running timers.
Tutorials, built inNew
Video and downloadable PDFs inside the app, sectioned from first call to settings.
Auto Advance and fallback
Cycles your active Strangers, then falls through to a recording. The reveal always happens.
It only wakes who it needsNew
The text and push reach the next Stranger the moment they become the one being called — not your whole list, and not in advance.
The handshake
Reveal Message, the fake number with its city, push delivery, and a confirm-receipt tap you feel before you dial.
Convincers
Voicemail and region-correct out-of-service tones before the reveal, with ring counts you set yourself.
Choose how you call
Cellular, FaceTime Audio or VoIP — VoIP removes the iOS prompt asking whether you meant to dial.
Your Strangers, managedNew
As many as you like, reordered, favorited, with the active one set where you want it.
Performance logNew
Every message sent and received, kept, so a bad night can be read rather than guessed at.
Region awareness
Country-correct ringback and disconnect audio across all forty-six call regions, with localized on-screen text.
Community, built inNew
Join your regional WhatsApp group from inside the app, or ask to start one where none exists.
Works with Nexus
Birthdays, duplicated drawings, lotto numbers and more, carried by the same call.
Light or dark
Whichever disappears better in the room you are working.
Before you download.
I already own The Stranger. Why upgrade?
Because all of it got better, not only the new parts. Every lesson since 2018 went back into this build — fewer taps to set a routine, a shorter path from opening the app to standing ready, screens that no longer ask you to remember where anything lives. You will feel that on the first night, and every night after.
Nothing you rely on behaves differently. Any card freely named with no force, the Reveal Message, the fake number with its city, confirm receipt, convincers, Auto Advance, ring counts, the fake homescreen, video calls, Nexus and Nexus Now. Every one of them was rebuilt to be faster to reach. Not one of them was changed.
And thirteen things are new. The whole call can run on a phone you borrow from someone in the room. You record your own conversations inside the app, generate a script from them and rehearse against it, take other performers' material from the Marketplace and share your own. Video calls now reach Android. The community is joinable from inside the app. The material stops being finite.
Stranger X is a separate App Store listing, so there is no automatic upgrade — but if you own The Stranger it is $99 rather than $299. Write to support@jonathanlevitpresents.com from the address on your original purchase.
Does my existing routine still work?
Yes, and that was the point. Any card freely named with no force, the Reveal Message, the fake number, confirm receipt, convincers, Auto Advance, the region-correct disconnect tone, video calls, the fake homescreen, ring counts — all present, all behaving the way you already expect. Nothing you rely on tonight was rebuilt.
How does the borrowed phone work?
You borrow a spectator's phone and perform the whole routine on it — convincers, then a Conversation Recording or a live Stranger with Auto Advance behind it. Hold the phone against an NFC tag and the dial screen opens; there is no full app to install and nothing to download — the App Clip that opens it clears itself out of their App Library on its own. A custom homescreen keeps it looking like an ordinary phone throughout. Borrowed Phone is a one-time in-app purchase and needs no other app.
Who actually answers the call?
Someone the performer chose in advance. That can be anyone in their contacts — a friend, a partner, a fellow performer — or another Stranger X member found through the community. Either way it is a person who agreed to take the call beforehand. The app never calls anyone outside that chosen list, and never calls the number the spectator dialled.
Does the app call the number that was dialled?
No. The dialled number is not contacted. The call is re-routed to the Stranger the performer selected. If none is available, it falls through to a recording stored on the performer's own device.
Does it require an account?
Yes. An account identifies you to the members who agree to answer your calls, carries your Marketplace listings, and syncs your data. Registration is free, and you can use Conversation Recordings without ever calling a live Stranger.
Does it need an internet connection?
Yes. Stranger X validates your account and does work behind the scenes, so it needs a connection even when you are performing a Conversation Recording rather than calling a live Stranger. There is no offline mode. Plan on Wi-Fi or signal wherever you are working.
What is the Marketplace, and who can publish?
Registered members publish recordings and convincers under their own name for other members to preview and download. Listings can be reported from within the app, are reviewed, and are removed if they breach the guidelines.
What happens with the AI transcription?
Transcription is optional and uses an API key that you obtain and enter yourself. You control that key, and the app is fully usable without ever providing one.
Does it work in my country and language?
Stranger X carries country-correct ringback and disconnect audio for forty-six call regions, with localized on-screen text so the phone looks right in the spectator's hands.
What does it cost?
Stranger X is a one-time purchase of $299, with a free trial so you can perform with it before deciding. If you already own The Stranger it is $99. Additional capabilities, including Borrowed Phone, are available as in-app purchases.
Who do I contact for help?
Jonathan Levit, who built the app and performs with it professionally, answers support himself at support@jonathanlevitpresents.com. Typical response is hours, not days.
+44 7700 900318
Call duration 05:20 · They still do not know
$299
One-time purchase
$99
If you already own The Stranger
Free to download, with a trial so you can take it on stage before you decide. If you already own The Stranger, the call you know is waiting exactly where you left it — and everything you have wanted to do with it since is finally in the same app, for a third of the price.
Download on the App Store