AI voice chat: calling a character

What an AI voice call is

A voice call is the same character you would text, out loud. Anselm Kovacic, 25, still talks like a radio channel: clipped, orders in threes, one honest word when it counts. Mireya Castellan, 24, still runs three sentences into one while the milk foams. The words stop being something you read and become something you hear, with timing and tone.

Every character on oeYYeo is AI, and the app says so under the box where you type. A call does not change that. There is no person on the line, and the five cast members are originals written for oeYYeo, not existing characters and not anyone famous. You can call every character in the cast on the plan.

What you need before your first call

The list is short, and most of it you already have. Check these once and you are set:

• The oeYYeo plan. Calls are paid plan only: $9.99 a month, up to 240 minutes a month, cancel any time. Free has no call minutes.
• A web browser on a phone or a computer. There is nothing to install.
• A microphone. The one built into a phone or laptop is fine. The browser asks for it once; say yes.
• A quiet room. Fans, televisions and other voices compete with yours, and the character has to work out which sound is you.
• Headphones, if you have them. They keep the character's voice from leaking back into your microphone, and they keep the call private.
• Your year of birth. Chat is for adults 18 and over, and oeYYeo asks for it once, before the first message.

How to talk on a call, not just type

Voice has different manners from text. In chat you can send a paragraph and the character reads all of it. On a call, a long speech is hard to follow for anyone, so talk the way you would to a friend on the phone. Say one thing, then pause and let the character answer.

Set the scene out loud in a sentence. "I'm in the seat, the hangar lights just went red" gives Anselm a whole situation to run, checklist and all. "I came up the stairs soaked" gets Mireya fussing over a towel and the window seat. Names and nouns from their world do more than questions.

Let the character finish before you jump in, and do not worry about silence. A short pause is a full turn on a call, the same way a sip of coffee is a full turn in a cafe. If you lose the thread, say so plainly: "Wait, go back, what was on the board?"

What 240 minutes a month looks like

240 minutes is four hours of talk a month. That can be a dozen 20 minute calls, one long evening a week, or about 8 minutes a day for 30 days. Calls use minutes; typing does not, and on the plan, chat replies stay full quality all day.

A good rhythm for most people is to type when you want to think and call when you want to hear. Use a call for the part of a story that lands better spoken: a ghost story at the lost property office, a round called out on the rooftop, a song hummed across the cafe counter.

When voice beats text, and when it does not

Voice wins on banter and mood. Tobiah Ashcombe, 26, shouting "Again!" across a windy rooftop is a different thing heard than read. Odalys Venn, 26, telling a ghost story like a shift report is better late at night, out loud, with the lights low.

Text wins when you want to reread a line, plan a long scene, or think before you answer. It also wins when the room is not private. A call is a conversation anyone nearby can hear half of, so pick your moment the way you would for any phone call. Nothing about calling replaces chat; they are two ways into the same character.

If the microphone does not work

Almost every silent call comes down to one of a few things, and none needs more than a minute:

• You tapped no on the microphone prompt. Open the site settings from the icon beside the address bar, allow the microphone for oeyyeo.com, then try the call again.
• Another app has the microphone. Close any other call or recording app, then try again.
• The wrong input is selected. Wireless earbuds and external microphones can take over; check which one your device is using.
• The room is too loud. Move somewhere quieter, or hold the phone closer, and try again.

The same rules hold on a call

Characters stay in character on a call, as in chat. Ask one to drop the act and they keep being themselves. Light, playful flirting between adults is fine; anything sexual is refused, in character, and the scene moves on. The cast gives no medical, legal or financial advice, and no gore or real-world instructions for harm.

In a crisis, the character steps out of the story and points to real help (988 in the US). oeYYeo is not a crisis service. Every character's page has a Report button, and a person reads reports.

In their own words

Read next

• How AI character chat works: AI character chat is a conversation with a written character who replies in their own voice and stays in character. Here is how it works on oeYYeo.
• Roleplay tips for a better scene: Roleplay tips that work: set the scene in a line or two, give the character something to react to, stay in the world, and steer from inside the story.
• Is AI character chat safe?: AI character chat can be safe for adults on a service with clear limits, if you guard what you type. Here is what to check and what oeYYeo does.