Frequently asked questions

• Yes, the TalkTime app is free on the App Store and Play Store!
• Using TalkTime is also free, meaning it adds no surcharge to your operator’s charges for calls, SMS or WhatsApp use. BUT YOU NEED PHONE CREDIT TO MAKE CALLS.
• All the features offered are either directly free, or available through a Premium option that is not yet paid but is obtained through referrals (see below).
• There is no advertising!
• As a result, no Internet connection is required.

The TalkTime app will use a “FREEMIUM” model, meaning free for the basic plan, which lets you make calls for a chosen duration, but with some limits:

BASIC OPTION (FREE):

1. No automatic hang-up at the end of the chosen duration.
2. No choice of end-of-call music, which will always be random.
3. Restricted duration selection: from 30 seconds to a maximum of 10 minutes.
4. Choose main name days or none, based on the saints listed on nominis.cef.fr.
5. No choice of the randomness percentage in contacts selected by the AI in TalkTime.
6. Eventually, non-intrusive advertising that neither blocks nor gets in the way, replacing the banner “⌛️ TalkTime ⌛️ Share everywhere + on your home screen”.

The Premium option offers additional features for near-professional use: 

PREMIUM OPTION (around $0.99 per week):

1. Automatic hang-up at the end of the chosen duration (Android only).
2. Choose the music at the end of the call.
3. Choose the duration without restrictions.
4. Choose all name days based on the saints listed on nominis.cef.fr.
5. Choose the randomness percentage in contacts selected by the AI in TalkTime.

The TalkTime app lets you try Premium for free in four ways (the first two are for new users): 

1. When installing the app, get referred  by a user with a Premium referral code: enter this seven-digit code on the keypad in the app TalkTime then press and hold ‘call’: this activates one or more days of Premium trial for you! This also displays a code to give your referrer so they can receive their benefit (see point 3 below).
2. Tap the Premium free-trial activation banner on the ‘Other’ page.
3. Request a Premium code from customer support at TalkTime, via WhatsApp. Follow the same procedure as for the referrer’s seven-digit code.
4. Actively refer others yourself : first use TalkTime until you reach level 2, then tap the trophy icon 🏆 (to the left of the call button on the app’s keypad), and you will receive 9 codes for referrals for 9 invitees (see point 1 above). Each invitee will give you their three-digit Premium activation return code. Together, these codes let you earn several days of Premium, up to 9 days at once! You’re going to love TalkTime !

• At its core, TalkTime is an app that helps you control the length of your calls.
• This can help avoid endless calls that use up your credit!…
• This is even more effective if you enable automatic hang-up.
• This way, you will naturally save phone credit if your calls are shorter :)

• Yes, it can save time (or at least help you manage it), because, for example, talking for a minute is faster than exchanging several messages, isn’t it?
• It also helps you reach people who would otherwise be unreachable if they had not been told you would only “bother” them for ONE MINUTE! As in the expression “can I talk to you for just a minute?”, to which people almost always say yes!
• And also have fun, because it’s fun to hang up after a minute (or more) while listening to music! Even more fun if you play a game of “Neither yes nor no”, for example!
• Finally, make a positive gesture for the planet, because reducing phone time and social media time saves CO2 (see the CO2 calculation below). 

• First note : this is a regular phone call (GSM), so you can call any contact or even a number using the keypad! BUT YOU NEED PHONE CREDIT TO MAKE CALLS.
• Choose whether to end with gradually increasing music that continues indefinitely (called the “Talksin”), or to have it stop after 15 seconds. 
• Choose someone from your phone contacts.
• Tap the call button to call for the duration shown underneath, or choose a different duration by tapping the call button twice. The chosen duration will then be saved as the default for that contact.
• During the call, you earn one point per second of call time (note: you must return to TalkTime during the call so that the timer runs correctly without being interrupted by the system).
• Fifteen seconds before the chosen duration ends, a notification tells you there are 15 seconds left, and you will start losing one point per second beyond the chosen duration. 
• The music starts with the notification. Only you can hear it, as TalkTime plays the sound on your phone, to keep it discreet, particularly to avoid disturbing the person you called, who did not ask to hear music. But nothing stops you humming along :)
• As long as nobody hangs up, the music either loops or stops exactly at the end of the chosen duration — you decide!
• Hang up (using the direct hang-up button on Android), then view how many points you earned and the estimated time, money and CO2 savings. The calculation is explained below.

• Have you enabled end-of-call music on the “Other” screen?
• On Android, check the media volume.
• On both Android and iOS, follow the instructions in the pop-up when you place the call and in notifications such as “Tap here for better operation…”. This brings you back to TalkTime so it can take control again and prevent Android or iOS from suspending the timer.
• To hang up on Android, tap the large red button or the call button, which has become a red hang-up button.
• To hang up on iOS, use the appropriate gesture to return to the previous app, where you can access the phone’s hang-up button.

• TalkTime version: displays the current app version, for example v1.9.0.
• Credit expiry reminder: enter how long your credit remains valid (e.g. 24 hours if you have just topped up for 24 hours). TalkTime will notify you 1 hour, then 30, 15, 10 and 5 minutes before expiry so you can use your phone credit before it expires.
• Default call duration: enter the default duration for all contacts. You can then change and save the duration for an individual contact. Premium allows you to choose any duration.
• Continuous music: choose continuous (endless) music or intermittent music, which stops after 15 seconds and resumes after the same chosen call duration, to extend the conversation a little. The music changes randomly each time.
• Choose a track from the random selection so that the same track always plays. Premium option.
• Name days: choose none, main name days or all name days (according to: nominis.cef.fr).
• Randomness % in AI-selected contacts: choose how much randomness you want in contact recommendations; the algorithm remains active.
• Automatic hang-up: a Premium option that lets TalkTime end the call exactly at the chosen duration.
• ChatGPT on WhatsApp (future option): a link to chatGod’s WhatsApp number (see https://chatgod.ai/).
• TalkTime information on WhatsApp: a link to TalkTime’s WhatsApp Business contact number (the same one shown on this website).

• These are actually two separate lists displayed one after the other.
• The favourites list uses your actions on each contact, the number and duration of calls, messages, points, etc. to determine your favourites in real time.
• You can “like” a contact by double-tapping their profile.
• You can “hide” a contact by pressing and holding their profile.
• The recents list takes calls, messages and other actions such as hiding or unhiding a contact into account.

• First, ChatGPT’s explanation of this feature is available here. 
• As its name suggests, this is a list of contacts suggested by a small built-in artificial intelligence system! In other words, a dedicated algorithm determines the order by continuously learning from actions on each contact and extrapolating from them. 
• The list encourages you to call forgotten numbers in your address book, potentially leading to pleasant surprises (or not, haha)!
• The randomness level, which can make the results even more surprising, can be set from 0 to 99% in the “Other” menu.
• Contacts are shown one by one as you scroll, so you don’t miss anyone :)
• Contacts whose name day it is (main or secondary; source: nominis.cef.fr) appear near the top, depending on the option selected in the “Other” menu.
• For a contact whose name day it is, press and hold the message button to write “Happy name day xxx” automatically.
• For a contact whose name day it is not, pressing and holding the message button writes preset message No. 2 instead (see below). 
• The first 100 contacts on the list earn you bonuses when you call them or send them an SMS or WhatsApp message!
• Don’t worry, the bonuses are refreshed frequently!

First of all, remember this is optional :)

Answer from ChatGPT-4 :

"It is natural for people you have not contacted in years to wonder why you are getting back in touch, especially for a secondary name day. Here are some reasons you could give to explain your approach:

1. Make new friendships : You could explain that you would like to expand your circle of friends and reconnect with people you met in the past. Reconnecting with people you already know can be an opportunity to rediscover shared interests and share experiences.
2. Catch up on lost time : You could mention that you are curious about what has happened in their lives since you last met. It can be interesting to catch up and share experiences, successes and challenges each of you has faced over the years.
3. Recall good memories : Reconnecting with people you met a long time ago can bring back good memories and offer a chance to talk about shared moments, even if they were brief or limited to online exchanges.
4. Support and networking : Sometimes reconnecting with old acquaintances can create opportunities for mutual support and networking, personally or professionally. You may share interests or skills that could benefit one or both of you.

When explaining your reasons, be honest and transparent. People generally appreciate authenticity and sincerity, which can make reconnecting and building relationships easier."

• We can add that wishing someone a happy name day is, by its very meaning, a positive and festive gesture, even for those who do not share the religious aspect. It is up to you to follow up warmly!

ChatGPT’s view of TalkTime’s contact suggestions:

Yes, you can describe your contact recommendation algorithm, which learns and adapts to user behaviour, as a basic form of artificial intelligence (AI). What you describe is close to what is known as **machine learning**, a subset of AI, even if the algorithm you use may be relatively simple.

### Key points that qualify your AI system:

1. **Learning from data**: Your algorithm changes the “*****” based on the user’s interactions with their contacts. This is an example of supervised or unsupervised learning, depending on how you have structured feedback in your system.

2. **Adaptation and continuous improvement**: The algorithm adapts to user actions, theoretically improving over time to make more accurate recommendations.

3. **Automated decision-making**: The AI automatically suggests contacts based on the behavioural profile calculated by the *******, which involves automated decision-making based on data analysis.

### How to improve and demonstrate the value of your AI:

- **Complexity and modelling**: To improve your AI’s capabilities, you could consider integrating more complex models such as neural networks, if necessary given the complexity and variability of user behaviour.

- **Validation and adjustment**: Regularly validate the algorithm’s effectiveness and adjust parameters based on user feedback to avoid bias or inappropriate recommendations.

- **Privacy protection**: As your algorithm processes sensitive personal data (users’ communication behaviour), ensuring compliance with data protection regulations, such as the GDPR in Europe, is crucial.

- **Explanation and transparency**: Clearly explaining how users’ data is used and how recommendations are generated can help build trust and improve acceptance of the system.

In summary, what you have developed can certainly be considered a form of artificial intelligence, particularly in the context of personalised recommendations based on learning user behaviour. It could be an excellent starting point for exploring more complex AI applications in the future.

• They are already a way to have fun comparing your score with others!
• You can increase call duration based on the score shown at the top right, by adding “points + grams of CO2” (for example, at 1,000 points you can already add one extra minute!).
• Eventually, in a future version, points may unlock options such as increasing the default call duration further or choosing the end-of-call music :)
• Contests are also often organised to reward the top users (for example, since July 2023, TalkTime has offered 100 minutes of calls to the first 10 users to reach 100,000 points 🏆).

• Start by messaging the person you want to challenge to let them know.
• Then tap the challenge icon and choose a challenge (e.g. “Neither yes nor no”).
• This calls the contact, and you have one minute to complete the challenge.
• When the minute is over (signalled by the music), or if you complete the challenge earlier (but after at least 30 seconds), hang up and TalkTime asks whether you completed the challenge. 
• If you answer yes, you receive the corresponding points. Don’t cheat!

• First note : you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. TalkTime recognises that its development and marketing require energy and therefore generate CO2 emissions; however, large-scale use should quickly offset this…
• Second note : encouraging ONE-MINUTE calls to reconnect or have fun helps build a habit of short calls. Ultimately, TalkTime expects this to reduce overall call duration, and therefore also save money…
• We start from an estimated call cost of $0.10 per minute, roughly the price in the DRC at the time.
• For each minute of calling with TalkTime®, an estimate from the survey below suggests it replaces an average of 1 minute 30 seconds of a regular call, resulting in 30 seconds less call time, equivalent to $0.05 and 28.5 g of CO2 saved!
• And overall, each minute spent using TalkTime®, an offline app, replaces one minute of social media use, saving 3 g of CO2 . This gives an easy-to-remember total: 
• Over a year, saving 2 minutes a day means more than 12 hours saved, or $73 and 46 kg of CO2 saved per year!!
• The calculation sources are on the page TalkTime, a green app ; and on the page “Let’s discover TalkTime® together!” survey. Please direct any questions challenging the figures to the cited source rather than here.

• Yes, the licences are granted to Cabriio, the company that owns TalkTime, and are shown below:

• Feeling V1 - Nascaa

From: Clément Q.
Subject: Re: TalkTime(R) needs your music
To: Seb Grem <seb.grem@cabriio.com>

...

https://soundcloud.com/nazcaa/nascaa-feeling-v1-1?si=096da571e42e4670bf001e4240b30f66&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
...

Absolutely,
All this music is royalty-free, except for one track: NAZCAA & THE PINKMAN - DOWN (feat TheNamless)is managed by a label. But I only need to call the label to avoid any distribution issues.
P.S. I am available by phone if needed

Musically yours
Q. Clément`

• On Safari - Nuclearmetal

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• Time To Travel - France Media1

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• All I Want - Vintetro Music

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• The Talksin is the surprise end-of-call music, signalling that it is time to hang up and audible only to the caller.
• The talkers are your phone contacts, shown in the alphabetical and random lists, as well as in favourites and recents.
• The talkens are the points you earn by calling or challenging a talker. In addition to earning (lots of!) points by calling, you can earn one for each SMS or WhatsApp message. And that’s before the bonuses in the random list below!

PRODUCTIVITY AND IMPACT

• CALLS WITH A CHOSEN MAXIMUM DURATION (ending with music) ⏳
• REDUCED CARBON FOOTPRINT (1 g/s of call time) 🌳
• PREMIUM AUTOMATIC HANG-UP OPTION (free trial)
• Direct SMS + WHATSAPP, PRESET MESSAGES 📝
• CONTACT SUGGESTIONS powered by SELF-LEARNING AI

⏳

USE CASES

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“I can finally reach my busy loved ones, because they answer if it’s JUST FOR ONE MINUTE! ☺️”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“With TalkTime, I manage my phone allowance without thinking about it, because I automatically know when the call will end! 📝”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“It reminded me to reconnect with old friends I had almost forgotten! 🙏”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“TalkTime suggested calling an ex-girlfriend, and we hit it off again! ❤️”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“My son finally calls me! Even three minutes is great! Thank you TalkTime! 😘”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Very useful for tidying up my phone contacts in a fun way!”

⏳

This FAQ covers versions from 1.28.0 onwards.

Write to contact@TalkTime-app.com if your question is not listed here.