Questions and answers

If you have a question that is not here, write to ivan@ims-productions.com.

What is relayMe?

relayMe is a community built around audio. You can record posts, reply with audio or text, send private messages, join groups and talk in live rooms.

How do I create an account?

You can register with an email address, username and password. Account creation also asks you to choose topics and accept the Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and Community Guidelines. Check your email to verify the account.

Sign in with Apple is also available. It creates a relayMe account linked to your Apple identity.

How are posts and replies organized?

A post contains an audio recording and can have a title. People can reply with audio or text, and replies can continue the conversation.

Can I reply using text?

Yes. Posts, direct messages and group messages can use text as well as audio. Text is useful when recording is not practical or when writing is the better choice.

How do private messages and groups work?

Direct messages are one-to-one conversations. They can contain audio and text, and they are not transcribed.

Public groups appear in group discovery and can be joined by anyone. Private groups do not appear in discovery and use invitations. Group admins can manage members and remove messages in the groups they manage.

What are live rooms?

Live rooms are conversations happening now. A host starts the room, and hosts and moderators manage who can speak. Listeners can request to speak. Rooms can also play an audio stream.

Recorded posts remain in the feed for people to listen to and reply to later. A live room is not a recorded post and does not ordinarily remain as a recording after it ends.

Are live rooms recorded?

No. relayMe does not ordinarily record or retain live-room conversations. Hosts can enable clips, which temporarily keep recent room audio so a participant can create a clip. The clip and its temporary audio are deleted when the room ends.

What are room activities?

Activities run inside a live room alongside the conversation. People can play, vote or spectate without leaving the room.

Which games are available?

The current games are Uno, Ninety-Nine, 1000 Miles and Unfiltered. Creating a live-room activity requires relayMe Plus; joining or spectating one does not.

How do polls work?

Polls can be attached to posts or run as live-room activities. They support one choice or several, anonymous voting and a closing time if the creator sets one.

The creator can show results immediately, after someone votes or after the poll closes.

Creating a poll requires relayMe Plus. Voting in one does not.

Can I schedule a room?

Plus members can schedule rooms, send reminders, collect RSVPs and create recurring schedules. A scheduled room does not start by itself. Its host still needs to start it.

Is relayMe free?

relayMe itself is free to use. Posting, replying, messaging, joining groups, joining live rooms and voting in polls do not require a paid subscription.

Why do you charge for relayMe?

Operating relayMe costs money. Audio has to be stored and delivered, live rooms require server infrastructure, development and updates take time, and services such as on-demand transcription have direct usage costs.

relayMe Plus is optional. Charging for its additional features and higher limits helps cover those expenses and lets us maintain a reliable service with high-quality audio.

Why do we charge during the beta?

We could have put up a crowdfunding page and asked you to pay for a promise. We would rather work the other way round. Build it, show you what it does, and let you decide whether it is worth carrying on.

Nearly all of relayMe is our own work. The audio engine behind every recording and every live room is ours, and so is the voice chat that carries them. None of it came out of a box.

relayMe Plus is how you back that work. Taking part never costs anything: listening, posting, replying, joining rooms, voting and playing are all free, and a free account is not a trial.

What is included with relayMe Plus?

Plus provides higher recording and transcription limits, longer room clips, room scheduling, and the ability to create polls and live-room activities.

The current price and limits are shown before you subscribe. They can be changed while the service is in beta.

Is there a free trial?

Yes. If you have never had relayMe Plus, your first 7 days are free. You choose a plan and enter card details, nothing is charged until the trial ends, and you can cancel before then from Manage Subscription in the app.

The trial includes everything in Plus except the higher daily transcription allowance, which stays at the free amount until the subscription starts. Transcription costs us money for every request, so it is part of the paid plan rather than the trial.

One trial per account.

How long can recordings be?

Free accounts can record posts for up to 20 minutes and audio replies for up to 5 minutes. Plus accounts can record posts for up to 40 minutes and audio replies for up to 10 minutes.

Are transcripts automatic?

No. Transcripts are requested on demand for supported posts, replies and group messages. Direct messages are not currently transcribed.

Free accounts can request 3 transcripts per day, and Plus accounts can request 50.

Which devices and operating systems are supported?

The current public beta supports iPhone and iPad running iOS 17 or later. relayMe is distributed through TestFlight.

Is Android or a desktop version planned?

A desktop client is being built. Android is not available yet. There is no release date for either platform.

Is relayMe still in beta?

Yes. The current release is a public TestFlight beta. Builds may contain bugs and features may change while the app is being developed.

How do notifications work?

relayMe can send iOS push notifications for messages, group activity, follows, comments, live rooms and scheduled rooms. You must allow notifications for relayMe in iOS settings.

Account settings let you control notifications for new followers, comments on your posts and activity on posts you follow.

How does relayMe handle privacy?

Public posts may be available to any relayMe user. Direct and group messages are available to the people who have access to those conversations.

relayMe does not use activity for advertising and does not sell personal information. The privacy policy explains storage, deletion and service providers in more detail.

Can I block someone?

Yes. Blocking is available from the app and is intended to stop another user from contacting or following you through relayMe. Deliberately evading a block is against the Community Guidelines.

How are reports and moderation handled?

You can report posts, comments, messages, group messages, rooms and accounts. Choose a reason and add any useful details. Reports are reviewed under the Community Guidelines.

Hosts and group admins can manage their own spaces. Their decision to remove someone from a room or group is separate from a service-wide moderation decision.

What happens when I delete my account?

You can delete your account from the app or the account portal. relayMe deletes your profile, posts, replies, direct messages, group messages, memberships, follows, blocks, device tokens, associated audio and transcripts. Active relayMe Plus subscriptions are canceled.

Reports, moderation and diagnostic records may remain without the deleted account identity attached. Deleted information may also remain temporarily in backups.

What is the minimum age?

relayMe is for people who are 18 or older.

How do I report a bug or contact support?

Email ivan@ims-productions.com. Include your device, what you were trying to do and what happened. That gives us enough information to investigate it.

Where can I get the app?

See Get relayMe for the TestFlight invitation and installation instructions.