Communication Coach in development

For help with Communication Coach, contact:

Melanie Cadet
Email: Melanie_cadet@outlook.com
Subject: Communication Coach Support

When reporting a problem, please include:

• Your device model and iOS or iPadOS version
• Your Communication Coach version, shown in Settings
• Whether you were using one device or two
• The screen, steps, and any error message involved
• What you expected and whether the problem happens repeatedly

Use invented examples when possible. Do not send private conversation text, recordings, invite codes, passwords, or identifying screenshots. Support cannot access or recover conversations stored on your device.

Start a conversation

Open How to use this app on Home for previews and examples. Both people must be together in person and able to hear each other. Choose one device or two, enter a shared goal, and complete the required consents. Names, a title, and a topic are optional. Blank names become A and B; a blank title uses the date.

Connect two nearby devices

One person completes setup and shows the invite code. The other chooses Enter Invite Code on Home, reviews the shared goal, and gives their own consent. Keep both apps open nearby. Enable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and allow Local Network access in the device's Settings. No app account or Game Center sign-in is needed. This is not remote calling or internet messaging.

Use live text and optional recordings

Transcription is required for the conversation flow. Tap the microphone to begin a spoken turn and tap again to stop. Submitted turns show the speaker and text; on two devices, the connected participant sees the submitted turn too. Speech recognition can make mistakes: state a correction as a new turn rather than editing existing transcript text.

Temporary voice recordings are optional and require both people's consent. When enabled, a submitted turn can include a replay control for its audio, shared with the connected device. You can turn recording off and continue using speech-to-text. The app then asks whether to delete existing clips from that conversation only; you can also delete them later. The app does not record phone or FaceTime calls or automatically analyze tone.

Finish with reviewed summaries

Choose Finish Talking & Summarize. Each person writes a summary, reviews the other's, and agrees or offers clarification. Each person must agree to the other's latest summary to conclude the conversation. Revising a summary requires agreement again. Summaries are written by users, not AI.

Tools, parked topics, and themes

Tools contains communication guidance and examples added by the licensed counseling psychologist who created Communication Coach. Parked Topics holds separate issues to return to later. Settings > Appearance changes the theme; the selected appearance does not follow the device's light/dark mode.

Unfinished conversations

An unfinished conversation retains submitted transcript text, summaries, clarifications, and consented voice clips until its local expiration deadline. An interrupted, unsubmitted turn may be lost. Existing transcript text cannot be edited, including after resuming. Speak corrections as new turns; summaries can be revised.

Renew for another day or agree on a date

A renewal reminder is scheduled after 24 hours, followed by a two-hour renewal window. Choose Save Another Day before the displayed expiration time. You can instead agree on a date; on two devices, both people approve the date proposal. A reminder is scheduled two hours before that date.

Enable reminders in Save and return later. Notifications are optional, and iOS may delay or hide them. The two-hour window starts at the scheduled reminder time, not when you read a notification. Always check the displayed deadline. Expired local copies are removed when the app next runs; exact-time background file removal cannot be guaranteed.

Reconnect after an interruption

While both copies are still available, open the same conversation from History on both nearby devices and choose Reconnect before expiration. Each person is responsible for renewing their own local copy.

If one copy expires or is deleted, the person with a remaining copy can choose Invite the Other Person Again and share the new code. The returning person enters it and consents again. If the only copy was on one device and is lost, expired, or deleted, the app cannot recover it.

Completed conversations

Completing the conversation removes the retained transcript and voice clips. History keeps reviewed summaries, review clarifications, setup details, and audit markers. Parked topics are separate. Each device keeps its own independent history; completed records do not synchronize through CloudKit or a developer server.

Edit a saved summary

Open a completed record in History and choose Edit Local Copy. Save with the checkmark. The app marks the change as local and dated, keeps the original saved version and its agreement, and shows before-and-after text in Local Edit History. An edit does not change the other person's copy, notify them, or imply renewed agreement.

Delete local data

Use Delete Local Copy in a record or the clear-all action under Settings > Local Data. Read the confirmation before proceeding. Deletion does not remove the other person's copy or material outside the app, including device backups, screenshots, or photographs. The developer cannot recover deleted conversations.

The other device cannot connect

Stay nearby, keep both apps open, and check Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Local Network permission. Confirm the invite code with the other person. For an existing, unexpired conversation, use Reconnect. If one local copy is gone, use a fresh invitation from the remaining copy rather than the old code.

Microphone or speech-to-text is unavailable

Check Microphone and Speech Recognition permissions for Communication Coach in the device's Settings. Your device and current language must support on-device recognition. The app does not send speech to a transcription server as a fallback. Allowing microphone access does not replace both participants' consent to temporary voice recordings.

A recording will not play

Check that both people allowed audio recording when the turn was submitted and that device volume is audible. Speech-to-text-only turns have no clip to replay. Clips that were deleted, expired, or removed at completion cannot be restored by support.

Renewal reminders are missing

Check that reminders are enabled in the conversation, then check notification permission, Focus, and notification-summary settings on your device. Delivery can be delayed or suppressed. The displayed expiration time still applies even if a notification does not appear.

The app stops responding or shows a storage error

If possible, stop the current turn before reopening the app. Submitted material is retained for unfinished conversations until its deadline; an unsubmitted turn may be lost. Use Retry when a loading error offers it, and check available device storage. Do not uninstall the app or clear its data to troubleshoot a loading problem: that can lose local history. Contact support with the error and steps involved.

An information popup is open

Use the X at the top of Topic help or Goal examples to return to setup. Closing the information does not clear the details you entered.

The app asks for an update

Update through the App Store without uninstalling. When an App Store build confirms a newer compatible version, it can require that update before starting another conversation; an active conversation can finish first. Offline or failed checks do not create a new update requirement. If the offered update is not yet available in your store, check again later.

Open Settings > About > Privacy Details for the app's explanation of local storage, permissions, and nearby sharing. Nearby conversation content is shared with the participant you connect to. There are no app accounts, ads, in-app purchases, AI summaries, automatic tone analysis, or cloud history sync in this version.

The app covers conversation content while inactive and during detected screen recording. It cannot guarantee that screenshots are blocked, blank, or black. Photographs, copied material, device access, notification previews, and backups remain outside the app's control. Removing your local copy does not remotely delete someone else's.

Communication Coach offers conversation structure. It is not therapy, mediation, an emergency service, or a judgment of either person. Using it does not create a professional relationship with its creator. Participation should be voluntary; either person can stop. Do not rely on the app to assess safety or resolve an unsafe situation. In immediate danger, contact local emergency services.

Melanie Cadet
Melanie_cadet@outlook.com

For technical questions, use the subject Communication Coach Support. For privacy questions, use Communication Coach Privacy Request. Please keep private conversation content out of your message.

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