Support

Getting started

1. Tap +, then New talk, and paste your draft. Or pick a sample: there is a short classic in each language.
2. Tap Propose talking points from draft, then edit the points until they match how you think about the talk.
3. Put in one earbud, tap Rehearse, then Start, and speak.

No full draft? Set Speak from to Cue cards and speak from a few words for each part of the talk. See Cue cards below.

EarHint needs an iPhone with iOS 17 or later. Wear one earbud so you can still hear the room.

Cues

I paused and no cue came

Open the talk, tap Cue settings and look at When to cue. With When I ask, a pause alone does not cue you: make one of your sounds, say one of your phrases, or tap Cue. Choose When I pause if you want a cue every time you stop for a few seconds. Also check that cues are not muted and that the cue volume, set during rehearsal, is high enough.

Cues come too early or too often

With When I pause, a thinking pause can set off a cue. Raise Pause before a cue, or switch to When I ask.

How do I ask for a cue?

Open Settings, then How I ask for a cue. What you set there works in every talk. The surest are tapping Cue on the screen and pressing your earbud.

To ask without looking, with the phone locked in your pocket, set the Action Button or Back Tap to EarHint’s Cue me. First, in the Shortcuts app, tap +, add EarHint’s Cue me action and save the shortcut. Then, in the Settings app, choose it under Action Button, then Shortcut; or under Accessibility, then Touch, then Back Tap, then Double Tap. Hold the Action Button down for a moment to ask. The Action Button is on iPhone 15 Pro and later. See the setup step by step.

There are also three ways to ask by voice, and you can use any of them together:

• A sound you make twice, such as two quick coughs or “mm-mm”. You can record up to three. It is made twice because one cough happens by accident and two in a row do not. The recording screen listens as soon as it opens, with no button to press: make the double sound, stay quiet for a second, then make it once more the same way.
• A phrase you say, such as “let me think” or “我想想”. You say it once to set it and once more to check that it is recognized. Choose three or more words that are not in your talk, and avoid everyday ones such as “so on” or “you know”: you would be cued every time you said them. A phrase works in talks of its own language.
• Repeating your last words. Say your last three or more words again, then stop, and you hear what comes next. If you say them again and carry on, nothing happens. This one is new, so try it in rehearsal before you rely on it.

If you make your sound and are not cued, the review after the session may ask Was this your signal? Answer It was me and EarHint learns how you make the sound, so it hears you next time. If a sound is still missed, or goes off by accident, record it again in a place as quiet or as noisy as where you will speak. You can always tap Cue on the screen or your earbud as well.

The cue plays from the phone speaker

No earbuds are connected. Connect them before you tap Start. This happens only in a rehearsal.

Go live will not start, or the cues stopped

A live talk plays cues only through earbuds, so nobody else hears them. Start stays off until earbuds are connected. If they disconnect during the talk, EarHint keeps following you and holds its cues until they reconnect.

EarHint lost my place

It follows best when the talking points match what you really say. Edit the points after a rehearsal, and check that the talk's language is set to the one you speak.

How do time reminders work?

Open the talk and set Length at the top to how long you plan to speak. Then tap Cue settings, look at Time reminders, and turn on At halfway, choose a time under Before the end, or both. You hear a soft tone and the minutes left at your next pause, so a reminder never cuts into a sentence. When time is up plays once your planned length has passed.

How do I set how long my talk is?

Open the talk and choose Length at the top, under the title and language. You can change it at any time. The length is shared among your talking points in proportion to their time budgets. If you leave it on From points, EarHint adds up the budgets of your points, which it estimates from your draft.

Will EarHint tell me if I skip a point?

Yes, while Name skipped points is on. Once you have been speaking on the next point for a few seconds, you hear “Skipped:” and the missing point's keywords at your next pause, so you can work it in nearby. Each point is named once, and the review after the talk lists any you missed. A point with Must say words, such as names, is not covered until you say them. A point or card marked Cut if short on time is never named.

Cue cards

What are cue cards?

A second way to give a talk, for when you do not want to follow a written draft. Each card is one part of the talk: a name, one to three short hints, and, if you like, one line to say exactly, such as your opening line, a punchline or the toast. You speak in your own words, and EarHint follows you by your hints.

In the app, set a talk's Speak from to Cue cards and tap How cue cards work for the same steps on one screen. You can also start a card talk from +, then New talk from cue cards.

How do I make cue cards?

1. Open a talk and set Speak from to Cue cards.
2. In a talk with no cards yet, tap Start from sample cards to see a short wedding toast in the talk's language, made as cards. Or, if you have a draft, tap Turn draft into cards. Or tap Add card and write your own.
3. Tap a card to edit it. Give it a name of two to four words, and write its hints one per line, in note form, such as “tent in the rain”. Put a line you want word for word under Say exactly and choose whether it comes before or after the hints.
4. Rehearse, and change the cards until they match what you really say.

Use words you will actually say in your hints: EarHint follows you by them. A card with no hints is marked in the list, because EarHint has little to follow you by there. Keep hints short. A hint over twelve words is cut to its first few words when it is spoken, but a line to say exactly is always spoken whole.

What do I hear when I ask for a cue?

At the start of a card, the card's name, or what you put under First cue. Ask again and you hear the card's next hint that you have not said yet, then the one after, then its line to say exactly. If you stop partway through a card, the first cue is the next hint, not the name. Once you have said what is on a card, the next cue is the name of the next card, and asking on goes down that card's hints.

A hint you ask past without saying it is not cued again, but it is not ticked off either, so you can see on screen what you left out.

How does EarHint know which hints I have said?

A hint counts as said once about half of its words have been heard, in any order and in your own sentences. Hints you have said are ticked off on screen and are not cued again.

Can I see my cards during the talk?

Yes. While the card is shown, the card you are on fills the screen, with the hints you have said ticked off and the next card's name below. Swipe, or tap the arrows, to move to another card, and cues then come from that card. Tap Hide card at the top to put it away.

Can I switch a talk between a draft and cue cards?

Yes, at any time, with Speak from. Your points are kept as they are. To rebuild the cards from the draft, tap Turn draft into cards, which replaces the cards you have.

What does “Say where I was” do?

It helps you find your place after a break. Open the talk, tap Cue settings, and under After a break turn on Say where I was and set how long a break is. After you pause the session for that long, or stop that long for applause, laughter or a question, the first cue you get after it tells you where you are. A cue that came during the silence, such as one when you first went quiet, does not use it up: “Back to: the camping trip” if you were partway through it, or “Done: the camping trip. Next: the toast.” Ask again for the next words. It works in draft talks too.

What does “Cut if short on time” do?

It marks a card, or a talking point, that you could leave out. It is never named as skipped. If the talk has a Length and you are running behind, a cue that would start it moves you on instead: “Skip to:” and the next card you need. With time to spare, it is cued like any other.

If you start a card marked this way and then wrap up instead, the talk still counts as finished, and the card is not counted as missed. The session ends about ten seconds after you last speak about it.

Phone and video calls

Can I use EarHint during a phone or video call?

Not when the call is on the same iPhone. During a call, iOS gives the microphone to the call, so EarHint cannot hear you or play a cue. This applies to phone calls and to apps such as FaceTime, Zoom, Teams and WeChat.

It works with two devices:

1. Take the call on a computer, a tablet or another phone.
2. Run EarHint on your iPhone, placed near you, with one earbud connected to the iPhone for cues.
3. Listen to the call through a headphone in your other ear, not a loudspeaker, so EarHint hears only your voice.

If a call comes in on your iPhone while a session is running, the session is interrupted. Turn on a Focus such as Do Not Disturb before an important talk.

Speech recognition

It says “Downloading the speech model”

On iOS 26 and later, the first time you use a language, your iPhone downloads Apple's speech model. This needs an internet connection once. After that EarHint works offline. On iOS 17 and 18, the speech model comes with the app and works offline from the start.

Which languages are supported?

English, Chinese, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian and Indonesian. Set the language for each talk at the top of the talk screen. A new talk starts in your iPhone's language when it is one of these, and there is a sample talk and a set of sample cue cards in each.

The cue voice has the wrong accent

Cues use an iPhone system voice for the talk's language. Where a language has several regions, such as Spanish for Spain and for Mexico, EarHint uses the region your iPhone is set to. If you have downloaded a higher-quality voice for that language in the iPhone's Accessibility settings, EarHint uses it.

It does not follow me in my language

Check that the talk's language is the one you are speaking: a talk is followed in one language only. A phrase you say to ask for a cue also belongs to one language, so add it again for each language you give talks in.

Can I swap one sample talk for another?

Yes. A sample is a talk like any other, so it counts towards the talks the free app keeps. To try a sample in another language when you are at the limit, delete a talk first: swipe it in the list of talks, or open its menu. Then tap + and choose the sample you want. Sample cue cards fill a card talk you already have, so they do not add a talk.

Free and EarHint Pro

EarHint Pro is a one-time purchase, with no subscription. It unlocks Pro in the app as it is today. We cannot promise how long the app will stay available or be updated.

My rehearsal stopped by itself

Free rehearsals stop after 3 minutes. The part you rehearsed is saved and you can review it.

I bought Pro but the app still shows the limits

Tap Pro on the Talks screen, then Restore purchase. Make sure the iPhone is signed in to the Apple Account you bought it with.

Do I pay again on a new iPhone?

No. The purchase belongs to your Apple Account. Use Restore purchase if it does not appear by itself.

Can I get a refund?

Apple handles all refunds. Ask at reportaproblem.apple.com. We cannot issue refunds ourselves.

Recordings and your data

Where are my talks and recordings kept?

Only on your iPhone. There is no account and nothing is uploaded. See the privacy policy.

An older rehearsal has no audio

To save space, EarHint keeps audio for your last 3 rehearsals of each talk and for the one you mark as best. Recordings of live talks are kept until you delete them.

How do I move my talks to a new iPhone?

Your talks and recordings are part of your iPhone backup. Restore the new iPhone from an iCloud or computer backup, or use Quick Start to transfer directly.

How do I delete my data?

Swipe a talk or a history entry to delete it. Deleting the app removes everything. Deleted talks cannot be recovered, except by restoring an iPhone backup.

Contact

Email [email protected]. It helps to include your iPhone model, iOS version, the language of your talk and what you expected to happen.