# Live

Talk to a bot out loud in a real-time voice call, and watch it work on its own computer. What Live is, what you need, and where to start.

Canonical page: https://themachine.myapps.ai/docs/desktop/live

**Live** is two things that make a bot feel like a colleague sitting next to
you:

- **Live calls.** Talk to a bot out loud, the way you'd phone a person. It
  answers in its own voice, straight away, and can make pictures and look
  things up while you talk. When you hang up, the whole call lands in the
  thread as a transcript, and the bot gets on with whatever you asked for.
- **The Live view.** A window onto the bot's computer that looks like a
  desktop. You see the files it opens, the code it writes, the websites it
  runs, and its mascot running between windows as it works.

![A Live call with Writer: the mascot talks, a poster it just made, and the caption of what it's saying](/images/docs/desktop/live-call.webp)

## Live calls at a glance

| | |
|---|---|
| **Where** | Any one-to-one thread, on Machine Desktop and the phone apps. Group chats don't have Live calls. |
| **Version** | Machine Desktop **0.1.46 or later** on Windows (**0.1.45 or later** on Mac), and Machine Mobile **0.1.45 or later**. Windows 0.1.44 can make calls, but has no call card, no tool results on the call screen and no tap to interrupt. See [Updates](/docs/desktop/get-started/updates). |
| **Powered by** | [Glyph](https://glyph.myapps.ai), a voice service. You connect your own Glyph account once per bot. |
| **Cost** | The call itself runs on your Glyph plan. What the bot does afterwards in the thread uses your Machine credits, like any message. |
| **What you get afterwards** | A call card in the thread with every line said, and any images made during the call. The bot replies to it and does what you asked. |

Live calls are different from [voice messages and dictation](/docs/desktop/chat/voice):

| | **Live call** | **Voice message** | **Dictation** |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Feels like** | A phone call | A voice note | Typing with your voice |
| **The bot answers** | Out loud, in real time | In writing, after you send | In writing, after you send |
| **Back-and-forth** | Yes, as much as you like | One message at a time | One message at a time |
| **Needs** | A Glyph account | Nothing extra | Nothing extra |

## The Live view at a glance

| | |
|---|---|
| **Where** | Machine Desktop and iPad, in the bot's computer panel. Not on phones. |
| **Needs** | Nothing to set up. It works for every bot. |
| **Shows** | What the bot did in its latest turn: files, code, terminal, browser, apps, and on [This PC](/docs/desktop/this-pc/overview), your own screen. |

![The Live view: the bot's website running in a Browser window, with Dev's mascot reporting back](/images/docs/desktop/live-view.webp)

## Start here

- [1. Set up Glyph](/docs/desktop/live/set-up-glyph): Connect your Glyph key to a bot. Takes two minutes, once per bot.
- [2. Make your first call](/docs/desktop/live/make-a-call): Start a call from any thread, on desktop or phone.
- [3. During a call](/docs/desktop/live/during-a-call): Mute, interrupt, hold to talk, and watch what the bot makes.
- [4. After the call](/docs/desktop/live/after-the-call): Where the transcript goes, and how the bot follows up.
- [Live settings](/docs/desktop/live/live-settings): Voice, language, hands-free or hold to talk, and noisy rooms.
- [The Live view](/docs/desktop/live/live-view): Watch the bot's computer as a desktop, replay its steps, and message it.

## Good things to do on a call

- **Think out loud.** "I need a poster for Saturday's opening. Something warm.
  What would you put on it?" Talk it through, then hang up and let the bot
  write it all up.
- **Brief a bot while you walk.** Call from your phone, explain the job, and
  hang up. The bot starts as soon as the call ends.
- **Ask quick questions.** "What's on my plate today?" "What did you find on
  the standing desks?" The bot knows the thread you called from.
- **Make pictures together.** Ask for an image and it appears on the call
  screen while you keep talking.

> **A call belongs to one thread**
> You start a call from a thread, and the transcript goes back to that same
> thread. To talk about something new, start a [new thread](/docs/desktop/chat/sending-messages)
> first, then call.