How can we help?

Speak Tongues listens as people talk, turns each sentence into text, translates it and reads it to whoever needs it. One-on-one, you read and hear the other person in your language and they hear you in theirs. In a group, everyone speaks their own language and hears everyone else in theirs. More about how it works.

No. Guests join a group conversation from your link or QR code in their phone's browser, with no app and no account. In a one-on-one conversation only you need a phone; the other person hears you on its speaker.

Start a group in the app and show your QR code, or send the link. Guests scan it with their camera or open the link, type their first name, choose their language and tap Join. They can also go to speaktongues.com/join and type the 8-letter code from your screen.

Yes. When they join, they tick “I'm joining from somewhere else”. They then hear every line, even the ones said in their own language, since they weren't in the room to hear them.

Speak Tongues never skips a line: it's better to hear it a little later than not at all. When people talk fast, lines wait their turn and play in order, and you can see how many are waiting. Tap Skip to the newest line if you'd rather catch up.

On the web page, keep the page open with the screen on. If your phone locks and the sound stops, you'll hear everything you missed when you come back.

Yes. Each conversation and sign is in your history for 30 days, in the app and on your account page, where you can also download its transcript. Guests can download their copy for 30 minutes after a group conversation ends.

They're the best way to listen. Each person hears the translations meant for them privately, and the microphone doesn't pick up translations as if they were you. Without earbuds you can still read every line, and in one-on-one play your phrases out loud on the speaker.

Any: Bluetooth or wired, earbuds or headphones. Connect them to your phone the usual way before you start.

So it doesn't hear the translation and translate it back. If you start talking over a translation, it stops, listens to you, and plays again from the start when you're done. In a loud room, turn on Push to talk and hold the button while you speak.

Phones only play sound after a tap. Tap Tap to start or Tap to resume on the page, check that your earbuds are connected and the volume is up, and make sure Hear translations is on.

You pay only for what you use: about $0.90 an hour for a one-on-one conversation, more for a group with several languages, and about 5 to 10 cents for a sign. There's no subscription. See pricing.

It's what you've used and not paid for yet. You can keep going while it's under $1.00. When it reaches $1.00, the app asks you to pay before your next conversation, with one tap through Apple or Google.

Apple and Google sell only set amounts, so the payment rounds up to the nearest one. The difference, $0.95 here, stays on your account as credit and is used first next time. You never pay for what you didn't use.

No. The person who starts a conversation pays for everyone in it.

No. Each conversation has its own spending limit, $10 unless you change it, and pauses when it gets there.

Not yet. The tab is paid in the app, through Apple or Google. You can use your account on the website to translate signs and see your tab.

Payments go through Apple or Google, so refunds do too. On iPhone, go to reportaproblem.apple.com. On Android, see Google Play's refund help. When a payment is refunded, its credit is removed from your account.

Tell us with the form below or at support@speaktongues.com, with roughly when it happened. We'll look into it.

With your email address. We email you a 6-digit code; type it in and you're signed in. There's no password. Codes expire after 10 minutes. If one doesn't arrive, check your spam folder and ask for a new one.

In the app, or on your account page.

In the app, open Account and tap Delete my account; or sign in on your account page and use Delete my account at the bottom; or email us. What gets deleted and what's kept.

The audio is never stored. The text of what was said is kept in your history for 30 days so you can read it again, then deleted automatically. You can delete it sooner.

Only you, signed in to your account. In a group conversation, everyone in it sees what's said while it runs.

No. The AI work is done by OpenAI, which doesn't train its models on data sent through its API. It may keep it for up to 30 days to watch for abuse, then deletes it.

Yes, please. In many places, including California, recording a conversation needs everyone's consent, and Speak Tongues keeps a transcript. Guests in a group see a notice before they join; in one-on-one, tell the other person. See our terms.