# What you will hear

> Every sentence EchoGuide says when something goes wrong, what it means, and what to do about it.

EchoGuide always tells you what is happening. If it goes quiet, something is wrong — silence is
never a normal answer.

This page lists what you will hear when a command does not go to plan. The wording below is the
English version.

## When it could not understand you

| You hear | What happened | What to do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| "I think you said … — is that right?" | It was not sure what you said | Say yes, or say it again |
| "Could you say that again?" | The audio was garbled | Repeat it, a little more slowly |
| Nothing at all | It heard a sound, but not speech | Say the wake word and try again |

After asking **twice**, it stops asking and offers another way to enter the command on screen.
You will never be stuck in a loop of "say that again".

## When something is slow or offline

| You hear | What happened | What to do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| "I can't reach the network right now" | EchoGuide's speech service is down, or your phone is offline | Check your connection, then try again later |
| "That took too long. Try again" | Understanding your words took more than 8 seconds | Try again |
| "Still working", then a failure | Working out the actions took more than 6 seconds | Try again, perhaps in shorter steps |

**"I can't reach the network right now" works even with no internet.** It is stored on your
phone so you always hear why nothing is happening.

## When the voice sounds different

If Amharic replies suddenly sound more robotic, EchoGuide could not reach its Amharic voice and
used your phone's built-in voice instead. Your command still ran. The normal voice comes back
by itself.

## When it asks before acting

Some actions are hard to undo — sending money, deleting something, messaging someone new,
changing a phone setting. For these, EchoGuide says what it is about to do and **waits for your
yes**.

Saying no cancels everything. Nothing is done.

## When it refuses

If EchoGuide says it cannot do something, the plan it came up with was not one it is allowed to
perform. Nothing happened on your phone. Try asking in a different way, or in smaller steps.

## When nothing happens on screen

If EchoGuide answers you but does not touch anything, the accessibility permission is off.
Turn it on in **Settings → Accessibility → EchoGuide**. See
[Using EchoGuide](/guides/using-echoguide/#turn-on-the-permission-first).

## Report it if it goes silent

Every state is supposed to be spoken. If EchoGuide goes quiet in the middle of a command, that
is a bug and worth reporting.