Question 1

Can other people on the call see the overlay?

Accepted Answer

No. The overlay is excluded from screen capture at the operating-system level, so when you share your screen — Zoom, Meet, Teams, or a recording tool — those pixels are never sent. What they see is your screen without it. To be straightforward about the limits: this protects against screen sharing and screen recording. It does not make the overlay invisible to a camera pointed at your monitor, to someone sitting next to you, or to proctoring software that inspects your machine rather than the video stream.

Question 2

Is using this cheating?

Accepted Answer

It depends on the conversation, and we would rather say that than pretend otherwise. For your own meetings, client calls, negotiations and sales conversations, this is reference material — the same as having notes open, and nobody thinks twice about it. For job interviews the rules vary: some employers explicitly permit notes and reference material, and some prohibit any assistance. Check what you agreed to. HandshakeBuddy is built to make you better at conversations you are allowed to prepare for, not to help you misrepresent what you know.

Question 3

Do you record or store my calls?

Accepted Answer

Speech-to-text runs locally on your own machine, so your call audio never leaves your computer. The transcribed question text is sent to our API to generate an answer, and your session history is stored locally in the app rather than on our servers. Full detail is on the security page.

Question 4

How fast is it?

Accepted Answer

Answers start streaming a couple of seconds after the question is asked. They are also deliberately capped in length — you get something you can say out loud, not three paragraphs you have to summarise while someone waits for you to speak.

Question 5

Will it sound like me?

Accepted Answer

It is written to sound like a calm professional rather than a chatbot — no "absolutely", no "I would be delighted to", no invented experience. Freelance Buddy specifically will not claim you have built something you have not, or commit to a timeline you never agreed to.

Question 6

What if it does not work for me?

Accepted Answer

Seven days, full refund, no questions asked. Or start on the free plan and try it before paying anything at all.

Question 7

Does it work on my computer?

Accepted Answer

macOS 12 or later and Windows 10/11, 64-bit. On macOS, capturing the other side of a call needs a system-audio permission grant the first time you run it — the app walks you through it in about a minute. You also need an internet connection for the AI, and either a microphone or system audio for live calls.

Question 8

Which plan should I get?

Accepted Answer

If you have one interview coming up, the $9.99 day pass is the right answer — 72 hours of unlimited use and nothing to cancel. If you take calls most weeks, Pro at $29/month. If you are a freelancer or consultant who lives on client calls, the annual plan works out to $12.42/month and one won contract covers it for years.

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