Run Your Business by Voice With an AI Assistant

You can run your business by voice: talk live to Maya, Entagl's AI business manager, in the web app or the iPhone and Android app, and she looks things up or prepares changes that, by default, still arrive as cards you approve. Talking is faster than thumbs: in a 2016 Stanford study, speech input on a phone was 3.0 times faster than typing for English, and the error rate was 20.4% lower. You can cut in while she's speaking. Sessions last up to 10 minutes, end after 30 seconds of silence, and are charged per minute in credits, with the rate shown before you start.

You probably talk to your phone for work already. Meta said in 2022 that 7 billion voice messages are sent on WhatsApp every day. Live voice is the same habit, with someone answering. This guide is part of the series behind Maya's live voice section.

How do you start a voice session?

On the web, open Maya and click the microphone. On your phone, open the AI tab in the Entagl app and do the same. Before anything starts, a card titled Start voice session? shows you:

the rate, in credits per minute
your balance and roughly how many minutes it covers
that sessions end on their own at 10 minutes
that 30 seconds of silence ends the session

Tap Start session and talk the way you'd call a manager. On the standard voice engine she starts in your language and follows you if you switch.

To finish, tap End Session, or just say "hang up," "that's all for now," or "bye." Afterwards you see how long you talked and the credits used, and the conversation stays in your chat history as text.

What can you ask Maya out loud?

Pretty much what you'd type. On the standard voice engine, voice runs the same tools and the same approval rules as typed chat.

Say something like	What Maya does	Does it wait for you?
"How did last week go?"	Reads your bookings, chats and orders and answers out loud. Long answers also go into the chat	No, it only reads
"Why did the AI quote the old price to Ahmed?"	Finds the conversation and explains what happened	No, it only reads
"Move Sara's appointment to Thursday at 3."	Prepares the change to the booking	Yes, a card on screen
"Add a FAQ: do you take walk-ins? Yes, before 2 pm."	Prepares the new FAQ	Yes, a card on screen
"Remember: send me reports as a short list."	Saves it to her memory	No, saved directly
"Check my unanswered chats every morning this week."	Schedules a daily check	No, scheduled directly

The questions work like asking your business in plain words, and the booking changes follow book, move and cancel appointments by asking. On the standard voice engine, what she remembers carries over between typing and talking; an AI assistant that remembers how you work explains what she keeps.

What happens when you cut in?

She stops talking and listens. You don't wait for her to finish a sentence.

One detail matters here. Stopping her voice doesn't cancel work she already started. Ask for last week's bookings, interrupt with a second question, and the first lookup still finishes. Changing your mind ("actually, make it 4 pm") doesn't cancel a request she's already working on either. The new request runs right after the first one finishes.

Being able to interrupt a voice AI mid-sentence is fairly new. Our post on full-duplex voice models covers the models that made it possible.

Can you approve changes out loud?

No, and that's deliberate. You ask out loud, Maya prepares the change, and the same approval card you'd see in typed chat appears on screen with Approve and Reject. She'll tell you it's there. You tap.

You: Raise the consultation to 80 dollars.

Maya: I've set that up. Tap Approve on the card when you're ready.

On screen: Consultation price $60 → $80, with Approve and Reject.

(An example. Prices and wording are illustrative.)

A tap is harder to mishear than a spoken "yes." Nobody in the room says "yeah, sure" and changes your price list by accident.

Your approval setting still applies. On the standard voice engine, in Show me the plan mode (Plan in the app), you approve the plan on screen and she works through it. In Just do it mode (Bypass in the app), most changes apply after Maya checks them. Offers that touch your services or products, a rule rewrite that settles a clash, any change that fails its test, and every change after she has read the web still wait for your tap. So do WhatsApp campaigns, message templates, reminder messages and call lists, by voice or not.

What does a minute of voice cost?

Voice is charged per minute from your plan's credits, and the card shows the exact rate every time. As of November 2026:

Voice minutes: charged per minute in credits for the voice itself. Each request you make during the call is billed on top, like a typed message to Maya. The card before the session shows the rate.
Fallback engine (healthcare workspaces with HIPAA on, and some EU workspaces): its own per-minute rate, shown on the same card.
A session won't start with less than one minute of credits left, unless extra usage is switched on.
No runaway bills: the 10-minute limit and the 30-second silence rule end a forgotten session.
Setting up your business by voice: the setup itself stays free. Only the voice minutes use credits.

What can't voice do yet?

Calls to Maya's WhatsApp number. They don't work yet. Voice notes do: send one on WhatsApp and she transcribes it, then replies in text. More in manage your business from WhatsApp.
Everything, on the fallback engine. Healthcare (HIPAA) and some EU workspaces get a voice with fewer abilities: no channels, team, billing, campaigns, ad management, memory or web research, and only basic reporting.
Sessions longer than 10 minutes. Start a new one to keep going.
Approvals or logins without a screen. You tap the cards, and channel connections still need you to sign in on the channel's own page.
Calls with your customers. Maya talks to you. Calls with customers are the job of Coordinator, Entagl's voice agent; see AI voice for customer service and sales.

Prefer to start with a voice note? Text Maya on WhatsApp. She transcribes your voice notes there, and live voice is waiting in the app.

FAQ

Is talking to Maya more expensive than typing?

Usually, yes, because you pay for the minutes as well as the requests. The voice is charged per minute, and each request is billed like a typed message on top. The card before each session shows the current rate and how many minutes your balance covers.

Can I choose Maya's voice?

Yes. In Maya's voice settings you pick a voice and a style: Conversational (warm and friendly) or Professional (short and to the point). The change applies from your next session.

Is my voice session saved?

The conversation is saved as text in your chat history with Maya, so you can scroll back to what was said and what she prepared.

Can Maya make phone calls for me?

No. Maya only talks with you and your team. Phone and WhatsApp calls with customers are handled by Coordinator, and calling Maya's WhatsApp number isn't available yet.

What happens if my credits run out mid-session?

The session ends when your credits run out, unless extra usage is switched on, in which case it keeps going and the extra minutes are billed as overage.

More Maya guides

Sources: Ruan et al., "Speech Is 3x Faster than Typing for English and Mandarin Text Entry on Mobile Devices" (Stanford, Baidu and University of Washington, 2016) and the Stanford Report summary; Meta Newsroom, "New Voice Message Features on WhatsApp" (March 2022). Product details and voice rates checked November 2026.