From sign-up to your first reply, in plain words.

1. Create your accountGo to hicyrano.com/join. Choose your email and a password, then add a code from an authenticator app and keep your recovery codes. This keeps your account yours. If every place is taken, join the waitlist and we'll email you.
2. Read the note about WhatsAppBefore you link, Cyrano tells you plainly what WhatsApp's rules say and how to lower the risk. You tick a box to say you've read it.
3. Link WhatsAppType the code Cyrano shows into WhatsApp on your phone (Linked devices, Link a device, then Link with phone number instead), or scan the QR code it shows. Cyrano becomes a linked device, like WhatsApp Web.
4. Pick a chatChoose a one-to-one chat you'd like help with. Nothing else is touched.
5. Let it learn your voiceCyrano reads that conversation, both sides, to learn how you write to that person. Nothing is sent while it learns. It shows you a voice match score when it's done.
6. Try it, then choose a modePractise with it first if you like: you play the other person and nothing is sent. Then pick Live (it replies on its own) or Ask me first (it shows you every reply).
7. Get on with your dayCyrano replies after a natural pause, asks you when only you know, and gives you a catch-up of what happened.

What happens when a message arrives

When someone writes in a chat Cyrano covers, it reads the new message alongside what it knows about that person and how you write to them. Then one of three things happens:

• It replies, in your voice. In Live chats, the reply waits a natural moment and then goes out. In Ask me first chats, it waits for your yes.
• It asks you. If the answer depends on something only you know (your plans, a decision, a fact it hasn't been told), it holds the reply and asks you with ready-made answers.
• It stays quiet. If a message doesn't need a reply, it doesn't invent one.

How it learns your voice

People don't write the same way to everyone, so Cyrano doesn't learn one voice for you. It learns one per person: the words you use with them, how long your messages are, your jokes, your punctuation, whether you send one message or several in a row, and how quickly you tend to reply. It gets better as you use it: when you change one of its replies, skip one, or correct it in practice, it keeps the lesson, and you can see and remove every lesson.

How you stay in control

• Pause everything with one tap. Every chat goes quiet.
• Take over any chat, and hand it back later. When you type in a chat yourself, Cyrano steps back.
• Quiet hours: nothing is sent between the times you set.
• Off: switch a chat off and nothing is read or sent for it.

Where Cyrano runs

Cyrano runs online, so it keeps working while your phone is in your pocket. You use it in the browser on any phone or computer, or add it to your Home Screen so it opens like an app with notifications. Apps for iPhone, Android, Mac and Windows are Coming soon.

Using Cyrano with WhatsApp: what to know