Support
Questions, problems or ideas? Email us at contact@talkawa.com and include your Support code (see below), so that we can find your tokens.
Frequently asked questions
What are tokens?
Tokens measure what the AI services behind the app cost us. With your iPhone’s own voice, a sentence uses about 20 tokens; read aloud with the natural voice, about 80. Live translation adds about 30 a sentence (a preview is 15). Cloud transcription uses 7 per second of speech, and the natural voice about 1.5 per character it reads aloud (about 3 per Chinese, Japanese or Korean character). Your iPhone’s own voice and speech recognition cost no tokens.
How many sentences do I get?
The numbers are rounded down, as in the app.
- Each iPhone gets 5,000 welcome tokens once: about 100 sentences with live translation on, or 250 with it off. They also pay for live translation.
- Every day, 600 free tokens: about 30 sentences. They refill at 00:00 UTC (8 am in Hong Kong and Taiwan, 9 am in Japan); Settings shows the time where you are. Live translation does not use them: once the welcome tokens are gone, it needs Plus.
- The natural voice trial: 4,500 tokens once, about 75 sentences read aloud.
- Plus: 150,000 tokens a month. With live translation on (the default), about 3,000 sentences, or 1,300 with the natural voice; with it off, about 7,500, or 1,800 with the natural voice. Plus tokens refill every month on the day of the month you first subscribed; unused ones do not carry over.
- A pack of 25,000 tokens: about 1,200 sentences, or 310 with the natural voice; with Plus and live translation on, about 500, or 220.
- A pack of 75,000 tokens: about 3,700 sentences, or 930 with the natural voice; with Plus and live translation on, about 1,500, or 680.
- A pack of 250,000 tokens: about 12,000 sentences, or 3,100 with the natural voice; with Plus and live translation on, about 5,000, or 2,200.
- Bought tokens never expire, and are used only after your free and Plus tokens.
How do I restore my purchases?
Open Settings (the gear) and tap Restore purchases, on an iPhone signed in to the Apple Account you bought with. Plus and your bought tokens come back. Bought tokens can be used on up to 5 iPhones.
How do I cancel Plus?
In the app: Settings → Manage subscription. Or on your iPhone: Settings → your name → Subscriptions. Cancel at least 24 hours before the current period ends; Plus stays active until then.
How do I get a refund?
Purchases are made through Apple, so Apple handles refunds: go to reportaproblem.apple.com, sign in and choose the purchase. If a refund is approved, the tokens that purchase added are taken off your balance.
What are the natural voice and cloud transcription?
Both are off until you switch them on in Settings. The natural voice reads translations aloud with a lifelike voice from Microsoft Azure instead of your iPhone’s voice; after the free trial it needs Plus or bought tokens. Cloud transcription sends the recording of each turn to Microsoft Azure for more accurate text, and uses 7 tokens per second of speech. The Privacy policy explains what is sent where.
My free tokens are gone after reinstalling the app
That is by design: each iPhone gets the welcome tokens and the natural voice trial once, and reinstalling the app does not renew them. The 600 free tokens a day keep coming, and anything you bought comes back through Restore purchases.
Where do I find my Support code?
Settings → About → Support code. Tap Copy and paste it into your email. It is a short code worked out from the random ID the app created for your iPhone: we can find your records by it, but nobody can use it to spend your tokens. It is not your name or your Apple Account.