# Questions

Short answers to what people ask first.

**How is my translation time counted?**

From when you start translation until you stop it. Quiet moments count too, and speaking a lot does not cost more. Listen Translation adds no time, and previews count the same way. Your plan’s minutes refresh monthly and do not roll over.

**Do I have to install a virtual microphone?**

It comes with KONWA; there is nothing to download elsewhere. On macOS, KONWA adds KONWA Microphone when you authorize it with your Mac’s password. On Windows, KONWA’s installer adds VB-CABLE, VB-Audio’s donationware, once you allow Windows’ permission prompt; KONWA asks for a restart only if one is needed. Without it you can still translate and hear the result yourself, but other apps cannot hear the translation.

**Does KONWA translate the other person?**

Yes, as captions, on macOS 14.2 or later and on Windows 10 version 2004 or later, including Windows 11. Under Listen on the home screen, choose the app they speak in, such as your call app or browser; while you translate, what they say appears translated beside your own lines. Nothing is spoken for them. On a Mac, the first time, macOS asks whether KONWA may record system audio: allow it. Windows asks for no permission.

**How do I use my own voice?**

In your account on konwa.live, open My voices and upload a 10–60 second recording of yourself. The cloned voice appears in the app’s voice library. Plus and Pro include voice cloning at no extra charge; Lite does not.

**Can I control how a name or a term is translated?**

Yes. In Settings → Glossaries, create a glossary, add each term and its translation, and choose it before you start translating. You can also copy the Gaming, Office or Live commerce preset and edit it.

**Is my speech recorded?**

No. Audio is processed to produce the translation and is not stored, and neither is the sound of the app you listen to. We keep the number of minutes you translated, not what you said. Captions stay on your computer for 30 days.

**Why are headphones required?**

On speakers the microphone picks up what they play, including the translated voice and the other person, and KONWA translates it as if you had said it. Headphones remove that loop.

**How much delay is there?**

Usually under a second from the end of a sentence to the start of its translation. Suited to talking and coordinating, not to situations decided by instant reaction.

**Does the virtual microphone affect normal playback?**

No. On macOS, KONWA Microphone is only a microphone: it never appears as a speaker and never becomes your default. On Windows, VB-CABLE adds CABLE Input and CABLE Output to the device list. If Windows or you set your speakers to CABLE Input, you hear nothing; KONWA switches them back to a real speaker the first time it starts and whenever a translation starts.

**Do call apps work normally when KONWA is not running?**

The call app still points at the virtual microphone, and nothing is speaking into it, so no one hears you. Set the microphone back to your physical microphone when you are not translating.