olla.talk Docs
User Guide
olla.talk is a messenger that translates every message automatically. You write in your language, and everyone in the room reads it in theirs. This guide covers the basics — and how to bring people into your conversations.
Quick start
- Create a free account with Google, Apple, Kakao, or your email address.
- Click New chat to create a chat room.
- Click Copy link and send the link to anyone. They can join without signing up.
Getting started
Create an account
- Open the sign-up page.
- Choose Google, Apple, or Kakao to sign up in one step — or sign up with your email address.
- With email, enter the 6-digit code we send you (valid for 30 minutes). Then set the name other people will see and a password of at least 8 characters.
Every new account receives 500,000 free credits for translation. See Credits & plans.
Your language setting decides which language you read messages in. You can change it anytime — see Language.
Log in & reset your password
Log in with the same method you used to sign up.
Forgot your password? Use the password reset option on the login page: enter your email, type the verification code we send, and choose a new password. For your security, resetting your password signs you out on your other devices.
Accounts created with Google, Apple, or Kakao don't have an olla.talk password. Just log in with the same button you used to sign up.
Chat rooms
Start a new chat
- Click New chat in the sidebar.
- A room is created right away and the invite panel opens, so you can invite people immediately. See Inviting people.
You become the host of every room you create. The room title is made from the participants' names, so you don't need to name it.
The host pays the translation credits for everyone in the room, including guests. See How credits work.
Chat with a contact
Open the Contacts tab in the sidebar, pick a person, and start a chat. If you already have a one-on-one chat with them, olla.talk opens that one instead of creating a new room.
Leave a chat
Open the room and choose Leave chat.
- Members and guests: you'll need the invite link to come back.
- Host: leaving closes the room for everyone, and nobody can continue the conversation. If you only want to step away, just close the room instead.
Inviting people
You can invite anyone — people who don't have an olla.talk account can join as guests without signing up. Choose the way that fits:
Share an invite link or QR code
- Open the room and click Invite at the top of the room.
- Click Copy link. The link looks like
https://olla.talk/i/a1b2c3. - Paste it into any messenger, text message, or email and send it.
- With someone in person? Click QR code instead and let them scan it with their phone camera.
When you create a new chat, this panel opens automatically.
Anyone who has the link can join the room. Invite links currently don't expire and can't be reset, so share them only with people you want in the conversation. When someone joins, everyone sees a notice like “Sam joined the chat.”
What the invited person sees
When someone opens your link, they see who invited them (“Invitation from Alex”). What happens next depends on who they are:
| Situation | What they see | Result |
|---|---|---|
| No account, not logged in | A Display name field, a language selector, and Join as guest | Joins instantly as a guest — no sign-up needed |
| Has an account, not logged in | A Sign in to join link | Logs in, comes back to the invite, and joins with their account |
| Already logged in | “Joining as their name” and a Join button | Joins as a member with their account |
| Already joined as a guest on this browser (within 24 hours) | “You're already joined as name” and Go to chat room | Goes straight back to the room |
If the link is mistyped or the room no longer accepts people, the page shows “Invite link not found” or an error instead. Ask the host for a new link from an active room.
Joining as a guest
Guests can chat right away without creating an account:
- Open the invite link.
- Enter the name other people will see (up to 100 characters).
- Choose your language — messages will be translated into it.
- Tap Join as guest.
Here's how guests compare with members who have an account:
| Guest | Member (account) | |
|---|---|---|
| Sign-up | Not needed | Free account |
| Rooms | Only the room they were invited to | All their rooms, with a room list |
| How long access lasts | 24 hours, then rejoin with the same link | Stays logged in |
| Create rooms | No | Yes |
| Contacts, settings, billing | Not available | Available |
| Change language | Yes | Yes |
| Translation cost | Paid by the room's host | Paid by the room's host |
A guest session lasts 24 hours and stays in the browser where the guest joined. To keep chatting across days and devices, create a free account and join with Sign in to join.
Invite people who already use olla.talk
If the person already has an account, you can send an invitation straight to their olla.talk inbox.
Sending an invitation (host)
- Open the room and click Invite.
- Under My contacts, click Invite next to each person you want to add. For someone who isn't in your contacts yet, type their full email address in the search box and click Invite.
- Click Send invitations. You can invite several people at once.
Receiving an invitation
- They see a notification such as “Alex invited you to room”, and a badge appears on the Invitations inbox.
- They open Invitations and choose Accept or Decline.
- After accepting, they join the room, and you're added to each other's contacts.
Email search needs the complete, exact address, and only finds people who already have an account. For everyone else, send the invite link. People who are already in the room show “Already a member”.
Opening an invite on Android
On Android phones, the invite page may first offer to open the invitation in the olla.talk app. Choose Open in olla.talk app if you have the app, or Continue in browser to join on the web. Either way, you end up in the same room.
Contacts
Your contacts make it easy to invite the same people again.
- Added automatically — when you accept an invitation or chat with someone who has an account, you're added to each other's contacts. Guests aren't added.
- Add by email — in the Contacts tab, choose Add a contact, enter their email, and click Send request. They can accept or decline. If the email isn't registered yet, you can send them an invite email with Send invite email.
- Nicknames — use Edit nickname to save a name that only you see.
- Hide — use Hide to remove someone from your list.
Chatting & translation
Send messages and photos
- Type your message and press Enter to send. Press Shift + Enter for a new line. A message can be up to 4,000 characters.
- To send a photo, click the paperclip button or drag and drop an image into the chat. JPG, PNG, GIF, and WebP images up to 10 MB are supported.
- You can react with emoji and copy a message's original text, its translation, or both.
How translation works
- Each message is translated automatically into the language of every other person in the room.
- People who use the same language as you see your message exactly as you wrote it.
- Your own messages always appear as you wrote them.
- Photos, messages with only numbers or emoji, and room notices (such as “Sam joined the chat.”) aren't translated.
- If a translation fails for some reason, the message is still delivered.
Show original & display mode
- Click Show original under a message to see exactly what the sender wrote. Click Hide original to fold it again.
- To choose the default, go to Settings → Default display mode:
- Translation only (default) — shows only the translated message.
- Show with original — shows the original above the translation in smaller text.
- For a message that's tricky to understand, use Deep translate on that message. It uses a more capable AI model for a more careful translation, and uses more credits.
Settings
Language
- One setting controls both the language of the app's menus and the language you receive messages in.
- Change it with the language selector at the top of the app. Guests can change it too.
- The new language applies to new messages. Messages you already received keep their earlier translation.
Supported languages: Korean, English, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Spanish, Indonesian, Filipino (Tagalog), German, and French.
Notifications
- Click Turn on on the “Get notified about new messages” banner, or switch on Push notifications in Settings. When your browser asks for permission, choose Allow.
- iPhone and iPad: push notifications work only after you add olla.talk to your Home Screen. In Safari, tap the Share button, choose Add to Home Screen, then open olla.talk from your Home Screen and turn on notifications.
- Settings also lets you turn Notification sound and Desktop notifications on or off.
- You won't get a push notification for the room you're currently looking at.
Profile
Open the profile menu (your avatar) and go to Settings to change your display name and avatar. You can pick a character and colour, or upload a photo (JPG, PNG, or WebP up to 2 MB). Your email address can't be changed.
Credits & plans
How credits work
- Translation uses credits: 1 AI token = 1 credit. Longer messages, and rooms with more languages, use more credits because each message is translated into each language.
- Every new account starts with 500,000 credits.
- The host pays. All translation in a room — including messages from members and guests, and Deep translate — is charged to the host's credits. Joining someone else's room doesn't use your credits.
- Check your balance in the profile menu under Credits balance.
- If the host runs out of credits, new messages can't be sent in that host's rooms, and people see “The host has insufficient credits.” The balance never goes below zero.
Plans & payments
For current plans and prices, see Pricing on our homepage. Payment, cancellation, and refund rules are described in our Payment & refund policy. If you have questions about a payment, email support@olla.talk.
Frequently asked questions
General
Is olla.talk free to use?
Yes, you can start for free. Every new account receives 500,000 credits, which are used for translation. People you invite can join as guests at no cost to them — translation in your rooms is paid from your credits as the host.
For current plans, see Pricing.
Do I need to install an app?
No. olla.talk works in any up-to-date browser on computers and phones — Chrome, Safari, Edge, Samsung Internet, and others.
For an app-like experience, add olla.talk to your home screen. When the app offers Install, accept it; on iPhone, use Share → Add to Home Screen in Safari.
Which languages are supported?
11 languages: Korean, English, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Spanish, Indonesian, Filipino (Tagalog), German, and French.
Each person picks one language. Everyone in a room can use a different language — each person reads every message in their own.
Can I chat with a group, not just one person?
Yes. Invite as many people as you like to a room, and each of them reads the conversation in their own language. Keep in mind that a room with more languages uses more credits, because each message is translated into every language in the room.
Invitations & guests
Do the people I invite need an account?
No. When someone opens your invite link, they can enter a name, choose a language, and tap Join as guest. No sign-up, email, or app install is needed. See Joining as a guest.
Does an invite link expire? Can I reset it?
Invite links currently don't expire, and they can't be reset or turned off. Anyone who has the link can join the room, so share it only with people you want in the conversation.
If a link has spread further than you wanted, start a new chat and share the new room's link with the right people.
How do I know who has joined my room?
Every time someone joins or leaves, a notice appears in the conversation, such as “Sam joined the chat.” or “Sam left the chat.” Guests are labeled as guests.
How long can a guest stay in a room?
A guest session lasts 24 hours. After that, the guest sees a message that the session has expired and can join again by opening the same invite link.
Guest access is tied to the browser where they joined, and only to that one room. To keep conversations across days and devices, guests can create a free account.
Can a guest switch to a regular account?
Yes. The guest creates a free account (or logs in), then opens the same invite link and chooses Join. They'll be in the room with their account from then on. Messages they sent as a guest stay in the conversation under their guest name.
Who pays for translating guests' messages?
The host of the room. All translation in a room is charged to the host's credits, whether the message comes from the host, a member, or a guest. Guests never pay anything.
I sent an in-app invitation, but the other person didn't get it.
Check the following:
- They need an olla.talk account with the exact email address you searched for.
- Ask them to open the Invitations inbox in the app — the invitation waits there even if they missed the notification.
- If they're already in the room, they show as “Already a member” and can't be invited again.
If it still doesn't work, simply send them the invite link.
Can I remove someone from a room, or make someone else the host?
Not at the moment — removing members and handing over the host role aren't available yet. If you need a different group, start a new chat and invite only the people you want.
I left a room by mistake. Can I get back in?
If you were a member or guest, open the room's invite link again, or ask someone in the room to send it to you.
If you were the host, leaving closed the room for everyone, and it can't be reopened. Start a new chat and invite everyone again.
Translation
How accurate are the translations?
olla.talk uses AI translation that takes the flow of the conversation into account, so everyday conversation usually reads naturally. Like any translation, it can occasionally miss slang, names, jokes, or subtle nuance.
If something seems off, click Show original to check what was written, or use Deep translate on that message for a more careful translation. For important details — addresses, times, amounts — it's a good idea to confirm with the other person.
Why do I see my own messages in my language?
You always see your messages exactly as you wrote them. The other people in the room see them translated into their own languages.
What if someone in the room speaks the same language as me?
Messages between people who use the same language aren't translated — you see each other's original text. Translation happens only for people who use a different language.
I changed my language, but older messages are still in the previous one.
That's expected. A new language applies to messages you receive from then on. Earlier messages keep the translation they were delivered with. You can still check any message's original text with Show original.
Are photos translated?
No. Photos are shared as they are, and text inside an image isn't translated. Any text you send along with a photo is translated as usual.
What happens if a translation fails?
The message is still delivered even if translation into some language fails, so the conversation isn't interrupted. If this keeps happening, please let us know at support@olla.talk.
Credits & payments
How many credits does a message use?
It depends on two things: how long the message is, and how many different languages are in the room. One AI token equals one credit, and each message is translated once for every language other than the sender's. Deep translate uses a more capable model and therefore more credits.
Do I use my credits when I join someone else's room?
No. In any room, the host pays for all translation. You only use your own credits in rooms you host.
What happens when credits run out?
When a host's balance reaches zero, new messages can't be sent in that host's rooms, and people see “The host has insufficient credits.” Your conversation history stays as it is. See Pricing for plans, or contact support@olla.talk.
Where can I check my credit balance?
Open the profile menu (your avatar) — your balance is shown under Credits balance.
How do refunds work?
Refunds follow our Payment & refund policy. To request one, email support@olla.talk with your account email, the payment date, and the amount.
Notifications & devices
I'm not getting notifications.
Go through this checklist:
- In Settings, make sure Push notifications is on.
- Check that your browser allows notifications for olla.talk (usually the lock icon next to the address bar → site settings).
- On iPhone or iPad, add olla.talk to your Home Screen and open it from there — Safari only delivers push notifications to Home Screen apps (iOS 16.4 or later).
- Check that your device isn't in Do Not Disturb or Focus mode.
- You won't get a push for the room you're currently viewing — that's intentional.
Can I use olla.talk on more than one device?
Yes. Log in with the same account on your computer and phone, and your rooms and messages stay in sync in real time. Guest access, however, stays in the browser where the guest joined.
Can I use olla.talk on my phone?
Yes. olla.talk is designed to work in your phone's browser. Add it to your home screen to open it like an app and to receive notifications.
Account & privacy
Can I change my email address?
No, the email address of an account can't be changed. You can change your display name and avatar anytime in Settings.
I signed up with Google, Apple, or Kakao. How do I set a password?
Accounts created with Google, Apple, or Kakao don't use an olla.talk password, so there's nothing to reset. Always log in with the same button you used to sign up.
How do I delete my account?
Email support@olla.talk from the email address of your account and ask for your account to be deleted.
Who can see my messages?
Your messages are shared with the people in the room. To translate them, the message text is processed by our AI translation provider. Please don't share passwords, card numbers, or other sensitive information in chats.
For details, see our Privacy Policy.
Still need help?
Email us at support@olla.talk. To help us answer quickly, include your account email and, if it's about a specific problem, the room and roughly when it happened.