# Getting started



Prior to integrating Sinch Chat into your website or mobile app, you must have a Sinch customer account and a project set up.

## 1. Sign up

If you already have an account and project, proceed to the next step. If you don't, sign up for a free account.. Upon creating an account, a default project will also be generated. However, if you wish to create an additional project for a specific use case, please refer to  this guide for step-by-step instructions.

Need help?
Click [here](https://community.sinch.com/t5/Account-Management/How-to-create-your-free-Sinch-account/ta-p/8058) to learn how to sign up.

## 2. Create a Sinch Chat Client

After setting up your Sinch account, you can move forward to create a Sinch Chat client. The client is a Sinch Chat instance provisioned with a Conversation API app. Later, you’ll provide the corresponding Sinch Chat client ID along with the project ID to the Sinch Chat SDK for initialization. In order to create a client, visit the Sinch Build Dashboard.

Note:
Sinch Chat uses Conversation API to send and receive messages, so you'll also need a Conversation API app. Visit this page to learn more.

## Next steps

Now you're ready to add Sinch Chat to your application. These guides will walk you through integrating our SDK into your applications in the following platforms:

Android
iOS
Android