The keyboard itself

This is where you actually use Vavus. Once Vavus Keyboard is enabled in your phone's settings, it appears whenever you tap into a text field in any app — Messages, Mail, WhatsApp, Notes, Safari, anywhere. The top strip is the Vavus toolbar; the rest is a standard keyboard you can type on like any other.

The toolbar swaps between five different states depending on what's happening (idle, recording, translating, showing a result, or showing a status message). Each state is described below.

Idle state — the everyday toolbar

This is what you see most of the time, sitting above the letters.

1. 1
   Language chip (e.g. US EN -> ES v)

   Shows the language pair you're currently translating between — source flag, source code, an arrow, and the target code. Tap to cycle through configured pairs (when more than one is set up in the host app).

2. 2
   Globe

   Standard iOS / Android switch-keyboard key. Tap to switch to your previous keyboard, long-press to open the keyboard picker. iOS only shows this when the system needs it.

3. 3
   Clipboard (paper icon)

   Translates whatever text is currently on your clipboard. Disabled and dimmed when the clipboard is empty.

4. 4
   Reverse-translate selection (cursor icon)

   Translates the text you've currently selected in the text field, going from the target language back to the source. Dimmed when nothing is available to act on. Android-specific behavior will be documented when the Android listing is public.

5. 5
   Dictate (mic)

   Hold-to-speak voice-to-text. Press and hold the microphone, speak, and release — Vavus transcribes what you said and inserts it into the text field. No translation, just speech-to-text.

6. 6
   Voice translate (speech bubble)

   Hold to speak in your source language; on release Vavus transcribes AND translates and inserts the translation. The keyboard version of "say something, get the foreign-language version."

7. 7
   Translate (keyboard icon)

   Translates the full contents of the current text field. Useful for translating something you just typed before sending it.

8. 8
   Offline indicator (cloud-slash, top-right)

   Shows up only when your device has no network. Lets you know Vavus is running in offline mode — translation and dictation will use the on-device models you've downloaded.

Recording state — you're holding the mic

When you press and hold the microphone or the voice-translate bubble, the toolbar collapses into a recording pill.

1. 9
   Red dot + 'Dictating…' / 'Listening…'

   Confirms Vavus is actively capturing your voice. Green border for dictation, orange for voice-translate. Release the button you're holding to stop recording and start processing.

Processing state — Vavus is thinking

After you release the mic, or when you tap one of the translate buttons, Vavus spends a moment transcribing or translating.

1. 10
   Spinner + 'Transcribing…' / 'Translating…'

   Vavus is sending your audio or text to the translation engine and waiting for the result. This is usually under a second on Wi-Fi.

Result state — review before inserting

When the translation comes back, the toolbar shows the original next to the translation so you can sanity-check before committing.

1. 11
   Original preview (small grey)

   The first ~22 characters of what you said or what was on the clipboard. Just so you know which input the result corresponds to.

2. 12
   Translated preview (bold)

   The first ~28 characters of the translated text. Tap "Insert" or "Replace" to commit the full text into the field.

3. 13
   Copy

   Copies the full translated text to your clipboard without inserting it. Handy when you want to paste it somewhere else, or just keep it.

4. 14
   Insert / Replace

   Inserts the translated text into the text field. The label says "Insert" when nothing was selected, and "Replace" when you had text selected or were translating the field's current contents.

5. 15
   × (dismiss)

   Closes the result and returns the toolbar to its idle state. Nothing is inserted.

Message state — status banners

The toolbar uses this state to tell you something needs attention. The message is the only thing on the bar; the action pills disappear until the situation is resolved.

Common messages and what they mean:

1. 16
   "Enable Full Access in Settings"

   Vavus needs Allow Full Access on iOS to reach the translation servers. Open the Vavus Keyboard app to follow the setup guide, or go to iOS Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Vavus Keyboard → Allow Full Access.

2. 17
   "Sign in to Vavus to use voice"

   You're not signed in (or your session expired). Open the Vavus Keyboard app and sign in.

3. 18
   "Activate Vavus Keyboard in the app"

   The keyboard isn't fully activated yet. Open the Vavus Keyboard app — Home will walk you through the remaining setup.

4. 19
   "Open app to allow AI services"

   Cloud AI consent hasn't been granted yet. Open the Vavus Keyboard app and accept the cloud-AI prompt on Home.

5. 20
   "Subscribe to translate"

   Your trial has ended and you don't have an active Keyboard subscription. Open the Vavus Keyboard app → Billing to start one.

6. 21
   "Connect once to download pack"

   You picked offline translation, but the on-device pack for this language pair isn't installed yet. Connect to the internet once so Vavus can download the ~30 MB pack; after that it works offline forever for that pair.

7. 22
   "Translation failed" / "Session expired — please sign in again" / etc.

   Standard error states. Most resolve by checking your connection, opening the app, or signing in again.

The letters / numbers / symbols area

Below the toolbar is a regular keyboard. Tap a letter to type it; long-press most letters to get accented variants (é, ñ, ü, etc.). The bottom row has the four standard system keys:

1. 23
   Shift (arrow up)

   Tap once for one capital letter, tap twice (quickly) for Caps Lock.

2. 24
   123 (numbers and symbols)

   Switches between the letter, number, and symbol pages. Tap again to come back.

3. 25
   Space bar

   Inserts a space. Shows the active language on it (e.g. "English").

4. 26
   Return / Send / Search

   Submits, depending on the context — Return in Notes, Send in Messages, Search in Safari, etc.

5. 27
   Delete (backspace)

   Deletes one character. Hold to delete continuously.