Questions and answers

A private place to practise your voice, built for gender-affirming voice practice. You record, see your pitch and resonance, and compare with where you started, in your own accent. It's a practice tool: it measures your voice against where you started and the target you choose, never against a gender.

No. Practising is free. VocaBoba is in beta and run by one person, so things may change, but the practice app, the library and shared voices are free. Coaching students in the app is a free trial for now; if that ever changes, it'll be announced well in advance.

Anyone exploring their voice: feminising, masculinising, androgynous, or just exploring. You need to be 13 or older. Under 18s can practise fully, but share by private link only, and joining a coach is for adults.

No password. Continue with Google, or create an account with a passkey (Face ID, your fingerprint or your device's PIN; no email needed). You can add a passkey to any account in Settings, and practise anonymously in the installed app. Email codes still work for accounts that already use them. You stay signed in for up to 30 days after you last used it, and you can sign out everywhere from Settings.

A phone or computer with a microphone and a modern browser. It works on iPhone, Android, Mac and Windows, and you can install it from the browser so it opens full screen with its own icon and notifications. A quiet room and the same microphone each time make comparisons fairer.

You agree to how recordings are kept, pick your age range and accent, and record a starting snapshot: a few held vowels, a gentle glide and a short passage, about two minutes. After that you can design a target voice if you'd like (optional), then practise whenever you want.

English, in eight accents: American, Australian, British, General, Indian, Malaysian, Philippine and Singapore English. You read texts written for your accent, and nothing tries to change it. Other languages aren't available yet.

Pitch (in Hz, notes or semitones), resonance on held vowels and across speech, vocal weight, intonation and speech patterns like pauses, plus a spectrogram of each recording. Pitch is the most reliable. Resonance and weight are marked experimental: they're useful hints, not exact numbers.

No, never. There's no gender score and no pass rating. Everything is compared only with your own voice: where you started, what you've practised since, and the target voice you design, if you design one.

Voices vary naturally, and so do microphones, rooms and how close you are. Small changes are normal, which is why the app calls small differences “about the same”, and compares like with like: the same text, the same vowel. Trends over weeks mean more than any single day.

Whatever you choose. Pick a focus (pitch, resonance, intonation, vocal weight or speech patterns), or follow the suggestions: after each session the app suggests up to two exercises from your own recordings and ratings, and says why. The 5-minute daily routine is hands-free, and everyday-speech scenes help carry it into conversation.

No. There are no streaks. Practise as often or as little as you like; a day off is part of practice. You can turn on gentle reminders and a weekly summary if they help.

Your recording is kept on your device until the server confirms it, then uploaded when you're back online, so a flaky connection or a closed tab doesn't lose it.

You say a short phrase (or pick one of your recordings) and move three sliders: pitch, resonance (darker to brighter) and weight (fuller to lighter). You hear your own voice changed a moment later. Save it, and the app shows where you started, where you are now and your target, and aims its suggestions at the biggest gap. You can hear any recording at your target (“Hear it at my target”), and your best clips so far are in Progress. It's optional, and yours to change any time.

With a target voice, each session gets a score out of 100: how close it came to your own target (pitch, resonance and weight, compared like with like), combined with how easy it felt from your ratings. Strain always brings it down, because ease comes first. It's about your target, never a gender, and without a target there's no score. Each part also shows how it compares with your recent sessions (small changes count as steady, and a lower one comes with something to try); you can turn that off in Settings.

No. It's only held in the server's memory while you design, up to 30 minutes, and never saved. You choose whether to keep the designed clip or just the numbers, and you can remove either later.

You'll see one gentle note suggesting you go gradually, and that a coach can help. It never stops you or changes your target.

Longer texts, medium or long, added by our moderators for practice. Read one any time, as an exercise in the library, or as an optional extra at the end of a snapshot. Each reading is compared with your earlier readings of the same text, so you can see change clearly.

Only you. Recordings are private unless you choose to share one, or you join a coach and share with them. Moderators can't browse your practice.

They're encrypted with a key that belongs to your account alone, on a self-hosted server, and each account can only see its own private data. Deleting your account deletes that key. Backups are encrypted too.

Your starting snapshot is kept until you delete your account, so you can always compare with where you began. Practice audio is kept for the time you choose in Settings (from 30 days to until you delete it), then deleted; the measurements stay. Up to 20 favourites, your target voice clip and your best clips (up to three recordings closest to your target) are kept until you remove them or a better one comes along.

Yes, 2 GB of audio per person, which is a lot of practice. Settings shows how much you're using, and you're told before you get close.

Yes, any time, from Settings: a spreadsheet of your recordings, your audio, or everything. You can delete any session or post, or your whole account, which removes everything. Deleted data leaves our backups within 8 weeks.

No. There are no ads and no tracking cookies. The only cookie keeps you signed in.

Yes, with anonymous mode: no name, email or Google, in the installed app. Your progress is kept; your recordings stay only on your device. A passkey or recovery code is optional, so you can get back in on a new device. Sharing, the community and coaches aren't part of it.

Yes, to be analysed, then it's deleted straight away. Only the numbers (like pitch and resonance) are kept on the server, and the recordings stay on your device. Recordings being analysed are never in our backups.

With a passkey or recovery code, you can get back in on a new device and your progress comes back, but not the recordings that were on the old phone. Without either, nobody, us included, can get you back in. Download a backup of your recordings now and then.

Yes, in Settings in the installed app. You'll see exactly what happens first. Your recordings move to your device (keep the app open; it carries on if it's interrupted), then they're deleted from our server. Your name, photo, Google and email sign-in, posts and public profile are removed, and you leave any coach. Your progress, badges and target voice stay. Moderators, coaches and content creators can't switch.

Yes. In Settings → Anonymous mode, use your passkey or add your Google account, confirm, and the recordings on your device upload again. It's no longer anonymous, and sharing, the community and coaches come back.

Yes. Switch to a regular account in Settings → Anonymous mode using your passkey (Google isn't needed): your recordings upload again, and sharing, the community and coaches open up for adults. It's no longer anonymous, but there's still no email or Google behind it.

We receive your Google account ID, name and email address, and nothing else. We don't use your Google profile picture, and you can change your name in the app.

JoaTyy, an individual in Singapore, in line with Singapore's Personal Data Protection Act. It runs on its own server, not a big cloud service. See the privacy policy for everything.

Practice transcripts and AI session notes are off by default; you choose whether to turn them on. Without them you still get notes written by the app from your measurements. Help chat is separate: VocaBoba AI answers first, even if practice AI is off. You can choose Talk to a person at any time. Our automatic safety checks of shared content also run separately from your practice AI settings.

Practice transcripts, AI practice notes and our automatic text checks run on our own computers through our own encrypted gateway. Your practice recordings are not sent to an outside AI company. Help chat uses our separate service, Fyra: its own models answer first, with Google Cloud as a possible fallback for replies, safety processing and private summaries for moderators. Fyra receives your help-chat name and AI-part messages, plus a safe page pattern and name only if you share your page. VT does not supply your email, account ID, practice recordings, voice notes or the part with a moderator to Fyra. Anything you type may still contain personal information. See the privacy policy for details and retention.

No, never.

Yes. Practice AI uses your measurements and checked facts, but can still make mistakes; you can correct or delete transcripts and rate the notes. VocaBoba AI in help chat answers questions about the app and can also be wrong. Choose Talk to a person if you need a moderator. It is not medical advice or an emergency service.

No. It's a practice tool, and the exercises haven't been reviewed by a clinician. If your voice hurts or stays hoarse, please see a qualified voice professional.

Stop. Rate how each recording felt; if something feels strained or uncomfortable, the app suggests resting for the rest of the day, and it can remind you to take breaks during longer sessions.

Yes. There's a help chat with real people (our moderators) in the app, on every page. For anything complex, use the contact form.

No. Everything is private unless you choose to share it. You can practise for years without sharing a thing.

Short clips, then-and-now comparisons, progress charts and badges: publicly, anonymously, or by private link. Hearts and comments are only seen by you, the person who shared.

You can block people and report posts, profiles or messages. What you send to other people (posts, comments, messages and shared recordings) is also checked automatically on our own server, and anything flagged goes to a moderator. Your private practice is never checked.

Yes. The streaming overlay puts your live pitch (and a resonance dot, if you like) on stream, through a private link you add to OBS. Only the numbers leave your browser, and nothing is recorded.

With a code, link or QR code from them, in the Coach tab. Before you join you'll see exactly what they can see, and you agree to it. Joining is for adults (18+).

Your practice overview (not your recordings), anything you choose to share with them, your task results in full, and your target voice if you have one (you can hide it, and choose whether they can hear the clip). Nothing else. They see your own data, live, and never get a copy.

Yes, any time. Your coach loses access to everything straight away, and you both keep a read-only copy of your chat.

Few coaches and creators have joined yet, so the VocaBoba team adds some creators' public YouTube videos itself, on a profile for that creator, so they're easier to find. Those creators aren't part of VocaBoba: they didn't publish the videos here, haven't reviewed how they're described, and may not know about it, so nothing there is their own words or actions. If you're the creator, use "This is my content" on the profile or a video, or the help chat or contact form: we'll check it's you, then hand the whole collection to your own creator or coach account (unpublished, so you choose what goes live) or remove it.

Coaches are independent people approved by our moderators, and their content is checked when they start. VocaBoba doesn't employ or endorse them, and doesn't check their services or any business you do with them.

Apply in the coach portal with a short profile and a sample YouTube video of your teaching. You need to be 18 or over. A moderator reviews it, and the answer arrives in your inbox. See For coaches.

Videos, exercises (with your own recorded samples, your own texts to read, and our reading passages) and programmes. The app suggests each one to the people whose practice shows they need it, with your name and links. A moderator checks your first three items before they go live.

No. You see how your items are doing as rounded totals only (to the nearest 5, and small groups hidden), so no one can be picked out. You only see a person's practice if they join you as your student.

Invite students with codes, links or QR codes. You then see each student's overview and what they share, give tasks (including our exercises and reading passages) with feedback in text or your voice, and chat with them. It's a free trial for now.

Share only your own content, keep it safe and kind, make no medical claims or promises of results, always say when to stop, and use what students share only to coach them. Don't contact people who aren't your students. The terms have the details.

Content creators share their YouTube videos. Coaches can also write exercises and programmes and coach their own students. You can start as a content creator and apply to coach later; your videos and profile carry over.

You tag what each video teaches (the skill, which part of it, the direction and the level), with timestamps for longer videos. The app suggests it to people working on exactly that, right when they need it, with your name, picture and links.

They watch in YouTube's privacy-enhanced player, which only loads when someone presses play, with your channel and links right there. Videos are free for everyone to watch in the app.

How often each was suggested, how many people pressed play, what they thought, and how their practice went in the 30 days afterwards. All as rounded counts, never who. See For content creators.