Support

Getting started

The first time you open Lysten, a short welcome guide walks you through five steps:

• Welcome to Lysten: what it does and how it keeps everything on your Mac.
• Your languages: the spoken language (Automatic or a fixed language) and the language to translate into.
• What should Lysten listen to?: System Audio or Microphone, and which permission macOS will ask for.
• Translation languages: the languages you need, with their downloads.
• You're all set: where to find Lysten in the menu bar and how to resize the prompter from its bottom edge.

You can open the guide again any time from Settings › General › Show Welcome Guide…

Permissions

• System audio: macOS asks the first time you press Start Listening. Lysten appears in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording.
• Microphone: asked only when the microphone is the audio source. Find it in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Microphone.
• Notifications: asked the first time you hide the prompter while Lysten is still listening, so it can remind you. Find it in System Settings › Notifications › Lysten.

If system audio access is off, macOS sends silence instead of an error. After five seconds of silence the prompter says “No sound is coming through.” and points you to the setting. If microphone access is off, it says “Microphone access is off.” After turning a permission on, stop and start listening again.

No sound or no captions

• Check the source: use the source menu in the prompter's top bar to pick System Audio, Microphone or an app. With Pro, make sure the selected app is the one actually playing sound.
• Web apps installed from a browser: apps installed from Chrome, Edge or Brave play through the browser, so they appear dimmed with “Plays through Google Chrome”. Choose the browser itself or All System Audio.
• Level bars move but no text appears: if you picked a fixed spoken language, check that it matches. In Automatic mode, the language is detected from the first few seconds of speech.
• Text appears but no translation: the spoken language may be the same as your translation language, in which case Lysten shows a transcript only. Otherwise the translation model may not be downloaded yet; press Download in the prompter.
• Listening stopped: on the free plan, listening stops after 10 minutes of heard speech per day. Silence doesn't count. Lysten Pro removes the limit.

Language downloads

Manage languages in Settings › General › Languages you listen to. Each language shows Ready, Download, Downloading… or Not supported. Use Add a Language… to add more, and Manage Downloaded Languages… to open System Settings › General › Language & Region › Translation Languages, where downloaded languages can be removed. The speech recognition model downloads automatically on first use, with progress shown in the prompter.

Translation downloads use a macOS window with a separate download button for each missing language. If a download seems stuck:

• Check your internet connection.
• Look for the macOS download window; it may be behind other windows.
• Press Download again in the language list.
• Check the language's status in Language & Region › Translation Languages.
• Quit and reopen Lysten.

Subscription and purchases

• Upgrade: choose Upgrade to Lysten Pro… from the Lysten menu in the menu bar.
• Restore purchases: use Restore Subscription on the Pro screen, or Restore Purchases in Settings › Subscription. Both restore Lysten Pro Lifetime too.
• Lifetime purchase: Lysten Pro Lifetime is a one-time purchase and doesn't renew. Buying it doesn't cancel an active subscription, so cancel that in your App Store account settings. Settings › Subscription then shows Lysten Pro (Lifetime).
• Manage or cancel: Settings › Subscription › Manage Subscription opens your App Store subscriptions. Subscriptions are billed and managed by Apple, and you can cancel any time.