# Heartongue guide

Heartongue gives churches and small events live AI interpretation in the browser. The speaker is heard through a laptop at the sound desk; listeners scan a QR code and hear a translated voice and read captions on their own phones. Nobody installs an app.

- Website: https://heartongue.com
- App: https://app.heartongue.com
- Contact: team@heartongue.com

## What it does

- Listens to a speaker in **English** and interprets live into **Vietnamese, Korean, Spanish and Chinese** (Mandarin voice, simplified Chinese captions).
- Each listener chooses a language and gets a **synthesized voice** in their earphones and **captions** on screen. Either can be turned off.
- Typical delay between the speaker finishing a sentence and the listener hearing it is about 2 seconds.
- Works on any modern phone browser. On iPhone, audio keeps playing with the screen locked.

## Who it is for

Churches with immigrant or multilingual congregations, conferences, retreats, weddings, community meetings and small events where hiring human interpreters for every language is not practical. Heartongue is machine interpretation: it is not a certified interpreter and should not be used for legal, medical, emergency or other safety-critical communication.

Accounts are for people aged 18 or older who organize broadcasts. Listeners do not need an account.

## How it works

1. **Create your organization** at https://app.heartongue.com (email and password, or Google). Your church or event name is what listeners see.
2. **Create a room** for each service or event. Choose the languages to offer. Each room has a permanent QR code and link, so you can print it once.
3. **Go live** from the room's Broadcast page on a laptop at the sound desk. Pick the microphone or the mixer's output as the input.
4. **Listeners scan the QR code**, choose their language and tap Join. They hear the interpretation and see captions until the broadcast ends.

## Setting up a room

- **Languages:** pick any of Vietnamese, Korean, Spanish and Chinese. Listeners only see the languages you offer.
- **PIN (optional):** a 4–8 digit code for closed meetings. Listeners must enter it to join; repeated wrong guesses are blocked.
- **Glossary:** names and terms that must always be translated the same way (for example a pastor's name, a book of the Bible, a ministry name). Add the English term and the translation for each language.
- **Saved transcripts (Ministry plan):** keep the English text and every translated caption of each broadcast for 90 days, then they are deleted automatically.

## Broadcasting

- Use Chrome, Edge or Safari on a laptop. The page must be allowed to use the microphone.
- Feed the cleanest audio you have: a line from the mixer is better than a laptop microphone in the room.
- The Broadcast page shows what the speaker is saying, how many people are listening in each language, and your remaining hours.
- If the network drops, the page keeps up to 30 seconds of audio and reconnects automatically; listeners see "waiting" until it is back.
- Only one device can broadcast to a room at a time.

## Listening

- Scan the QR code or open the room link. Choose a language, keep "Read aloud" on for voice, and tap Join.
- Use earphones in a shared room.
- The app's own interface is available in English, Vietnamese, Korean, Spanish and Chinese, with light and dark themes.

## Team and roles

- **Owner and admins:** manage rooms, glossary, members and billing.
- **Members (operators):** start and stop broadcasts and view history; they cannot buy hours or change rooms.
- Invite people by email from the Members page. One person can belong to several organizations and switch between them.

## Pricing

Heartongue is priced in **language-hours**: one hour of broadcasting translated into one language that had at least one listener. A one-hour service interpreted into Vietnamese and Korean uses 2 language-hours. Languages nobody is listening to are not charged, and the English source is never charged.

| Plan          | Price (USD)          | Includes                                                         |
| ------------- | -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Free trial    | $0                   | 2 language-hours, no card, once per new organization             |
| Pay as you go | $4 per language-hour | Purchased hours never expire                                     |
| Chapel        | $49 per month        | 15 language-hours per month, 1 room                              |
| Church        | $99 per month        | 35 language-hours per month, 3 rooms                             |
| Ministry      | $249 per month       | 100 language-hours per month, unlimited rooms, saved transcripts |
- Usage is counted per minute, per language with listeners. A final partial minute under 30 seconds is not counted.
- Monthly plan hours renew each billing period and do not roll over. Purchased pay-as-you-go hours never expire. Plan hours are used first.
- **A live broadcast is never cut off for running out of hours.** The Broadcast page warns when about 10 minutes remain; the balance can go below zero and is settled by the next purchase or renewal.
- Upgrades take effect immediately. Downgrades take effect at the next renewal.
- The trial and pay-as-you-go are limited to 1 room.
- Payments are processed by Paddle, our merchant of record, which also handles invoices and sales tax/VAT. Prices may include tax depending on your country.
- Payments are final and non-refundable except where the law requires otherwise: see https://heartongue.com/terms#refunds.

## Privacy in short

- Audio is processed live and never stored.
- Listeners need no account and get no tracking cookies.
- Transcripts are saved only when an organization on the Ministry plan turns them on, and are deleted after 90 days.
- Neither we nor our AI providers use your content to train AI models.
- Full policy: https://heartongue.com/privacy

## Frequently asked questions

**Do listeners need to download an app?** No. They scan a QR code and use the phone's browser.

**Which languages can the speaker use?** English. More source languages may come later.

**How accurate is it?** Good enough to follow a sermon or talk in most cases, but it is machine interpretation and can make mistakes, especially with names, quotes and poor audio. Use the glossary for names and terms that matter.

**What happens if we run out of hours during a service?** Nothing visible to listeners. The broadcast continues and the balance goes negative.

**Can several rooms run at the same time?** Yes, up to your plan's room limit, each from its own laptop.

**Can we keep a record of what was said?** Yes, with saved transcripts on the Ministry plan, downloadable per language as text for 90 days.

**Is there a contract?** No. Monthly plans can be cancelled any time from the billing page and stay active until the end of the paid period.

## Getting help

Email team@heartongue.com. Terms: https://heartongue.com/terms. Privacy: https://heartongue.com/privacy. Refunds: https://heartongue.com/terms#refunds.