Question 1

What is Gaavala and how does it work?

Accepted Answer

Gaavala is a Chrome extension that adds real-time live captions, instant translation and AI voice translation (Speak Mode) to any browser-based meeting. When you join Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet or Webex, you open the Gaavala side panel, share the meeting tab's audio, and pick your source and target languages. Gaavala streams the audio directly from your browser to the Soniox speech-to-text engine and shows live translated captions in the side panel and a floating overlay. Setup takes under 30 seconds from Chrome Web Store install to first caption.

Question 2

Is my meeting audio sent to Gaavala's servers?

Accepted Answer

No. Gaavala is architected so meeting audio flows directly from your browser to Soniox's speech-to-text servers over an encrypted WebSocket (TLS 1.2+). Our backend is never in the audio path — we do not see, store or log meeting audio. The only data our servers handle is authentication, your subscription status and optional AI summaries you explicitly trigger.

Question 3

Which meeting platforms does Gaavala support?

Accepted Answer

Gaavala officially supports Microsoft Teams, Zoom web client, Google Meet and Cisco Webex with the full feature set including the floating caption panel and Speak Mode voice injection. Live captions also work in most other browser-based meeting tools like Whereby, Jitsi Meet, GoTo Meeting, BlueJeans, RingCentral Video, Slack Huddles and many webinar platforms.

Question 4

What is Speak Mode and do I need it?

Accepted Answer

Speak Mode is Gaavala's AI voice translation feature, available on Pro. You talk in your native language, Gaavala transcribes and translates you in real time, and then synthesizes your translated voice directly into the meeting so other participants hear you in their language. Two modes are included: Push-to-Talk (hold a hotkey while speaking) and Timed Speak (hands-free). Speak Mode ships with two TTS engines: Kokoro-82M free on-device synthesis, and ElevenLabs cloud TTS with voice cloning (bring your own key).

Question 5

How much does Gaavala cost?

Accepted Answer

Gaavala has a one-time free trial of 5 minutes of transcription, with no credit card required. Those 5 minutes are a lifetime allowance — once you use them, the free tier is exhausted and does not reset. The free trial covers all 69 languages and is intended to let you try Gaavala against a real meeting segment and decide if it fits your workflow. Pro is $24.99 per month, billed through Lemon Squeezy, and includes unlimited transcription, Speak Mode (Push-to-Talk and Timed Speak), Kokoro on-device TTS, ElevenLabs cloud TTS with voice cloning, unlimited AI summaries and priority support. Cancel anytime.

Question 6

Does Gaavala work on Safari, Firefox or mobile?

Accepted Answer

Gaavala is a Chrome extension built on Manifest V3, so it runs on any Chromium-based desktop browser: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Arc, Opera and Vivaldi (Chromium 114 or newer). Safari and Firefox are not supported because they do not share Chrome's extension API surface. Gaavala does not support mobile browsers — we recommend using it on a desktop Chromium browser.

Question 7

Does my IT administrator need to approve anything?

Accepted Answer

No tenant-level approval is required. Gaavala is a Chrome extension that runs locally, authenticates with your personal Gaavala account, and communicates directly with Soniox and ElevenLabs endpoints — it never touches your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace tenant. Your IT team's role, if any, is whether your organization allows Chrome extensions at all — typically governed by browser policy.

Question 8

How accurate is Speak Mode with my accent and technical vocabulary?

Accepted Answer

Speak Mode transcribes your voice through Soniox (the same speech engine used for live captions), so accent coverage and domain-vocabulary handling match Soniox's documented performance across 60 languages. On Pro, ElevenLabs with your own API key lets you use voice cloning for closer-to-native delivery. The 5-minute free trial is intentionally long enough to test Speak Mode against your own voice before you commit.

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