Billing

What am I billed for?

You're billed for how long the avatar speaks — the duration of the audio it generates — not for how long the session stays open. An idle open session doesn't accrue speaking usage (though it still counts against your concurrency limit).

What if the user interrupts the avatar?

Audio the avatar has already generated still counts, even if the user interrupts before it finishes playing. Metering is based on generated speech, so the portion already produced is billed regardless of the interruption.

Where do I see my usage?

On your Profile page → Usage tab.

How do I avoid surprise bills?

Avoid loops that make the avatar speak repeatedly, and don't retry reconnects in a tight loop. End sessions you don't need to free up concurrency. See Limits & Quotas.

Latency

Why is there a pause before the avatar responds?

Establishing the stream is a one-time cost per session: ~5–7s on the first connect (the Rive avatar downloads and initializes) and ~2–3s afterward from cache. Once connected, in call mode the avatar starts responding ~700–900ms after the user stops speaking. See Production & Voice UX to budget each stage.

How do I make it feel faster?

Reflect isListening / isSpeaking state immediately, show a connecting affordance during setup, and render transcripts progressively. Perceived latency is what users judge.

Browser & platform

The avatar works in Chrome but not Safari / iOS. Why?

Safari and iOS require audio playback to be unlocked by a user gesture. Start the session from a real click or tap — not automatically on page load — or the browser blocks the audio and the avatar appears mute.

Do I need a backend?

For production, yes — you mint session tokens on your server so your secret key never reaches the browser. For a zero-backend start, the quickstart uses the public "default" avatar. See Authentication.

Which package do I install?

@avatarfactory/react for web, @avatarfactory/react-native for Expo mobile apps. Both share the same components, hooks, and config.

Plans & access

Can I try it without signing up?

Yes. The Quickstart runs against the public "default" avatar with no signup. Publish your own avatar in the Platform when you're ready.

What are the plan limits?

All plans currently allow 5 concurrent sessions. See Limits & Quotas for the full list of per-session limits.