Troubleshooting

When something misbehaves, start here. Find your symptom, try the steps, and if you are still stuck, the last section tells you exactly what to send us.

You can’t hear your partner through the phone

Nothing is broken. TalkStik never plays your partner’s voice through your phone. You sit in the same room and hear each other in person. The app records the person holding the stick and stays quiet otherwise.

You can’t join a session

The join screen tells you what went wrong:

• “Session not found. Check the code and try again.” This is usually a typo. The code is not case sensitive, so ask your partner to read it out again.
• “Session already has two participants.” Sessions are for exactly two people, and two are already in. If one of them should be you, ask your partner to start a new session.
• “Failed to join session.” This is usually a connection hiccup. Check your internet and try again.

The all-purpose fix: have your partner start a fresh session and share the new code. The guides for starting and joining a session show each side of the flow.

TalkStik can’t use your microphone

The first time you tap Begin before a turn, TalkStik asks for microphone permission. Recording cannot work without it. If you declined, you stay on the breath screen and can try again.

If you said no in the past and want to turn it on now:

• iPhone: Settings → TalkStik → Microphone
• Android: Settings → Apps → TalkStik → Permissions → Microphone

Then return to the app and tap Begin again.

The session dropped

• A phone call came in. Recording and the timer pause. You will see “Recording paused — you’re on a call.” Everything resumes when the call ends, and nothing is lost.
• The connection hiccuped. Check your internet and return to the app. Each turn is saved right after it ends, so the turns you have already finished are safe.
• It won’t recover. Either of you can tap End session. A report is still written from the turns recorded so far. If ending isn’t possible either, start a fresh session. Finished turns from a session that ended properly are never wasted.

Your report is stuck on processing

A report takes a few minutes to write, and extended conversations take longer. That is normal. The screen shows the three steps as they happen: transcribing, reading, writing.

If something goes wrong, you will see “Something went wrong” and a Try again button. Tap it. Your conversation is already safe on the server at that point, so retrying loses nothing. More detail: Preparing your report.

If it has been sitting far longer than a few minutes with no error and no button, write to us and include the session date.

The app says “Update required”

Your version of TalkStik is too old to talk to our servers safely, so the app waits until it is updated. Open the App Store or Google Play, update TalkStik, and reopen it. Your account, sessions, and reports are untouched. Full details: Update required.

Your verification email won’t work

Verification links are single-use and they expire. Tap Resend verification email and use the newest email in your inbox. Resending is limited to a few per hour, so if you see a “too many requests” message, wait a bit. The Verify your email guide covers the details. If you signed up with Apple or Google, verification never applies to you.

Still stuck?

Write to [email protected] and include:

1. What you were trying to do.
2. The exact message on the screen, if there is one.
3. Your phone model, and whether it is iPhone or Android.

A human reads it.