With the wake word switched on you can say "Alright Mucka" and it starts a voice chat — no tapping. It is for the times your hands are full: up a ladder, under a sink, arms in a boiler.
Is it recording me?
No. It is listening, not recording, and the difference is the whole point.
Nothing is sent anywhere and nothing is saved. Mucka keeps a couple of seconds of sound on your phone, checks whether it sounded like its name, and throws it away — over and over, thousands of times an hour. Only when it actually hears "Alright Mucka" does anything leave your device, and at that point it is doing exactly what pressing the microphone button does.
It also only listens while Mucka is open on your screen and you have a signal. Switch to another app, lock your phone, or lose service, and it stops.
Why your phone says the microphone is on
Because it is. Listening for a wake word means holding the microphone open, so your phone shows its usual indicator — the orange dot on an iPhone, a recording dot on the browser tab.
That is not a fault and Mucka does not hide it. While it is listening, the Ask Mucka box says "Listening for Alright Mucka", so the light on your phone always has something in the app explaining it. If the box does not say that, Mucka is not listening.
One side effect worth knowing: holding the microphone means other apps cannot use it. If you have the radio on in the van through your phone, Mucka may take the input.
Switching it on
Two switches, and both start off.
- Your account has to have it turned on. We are switching this on business by business rather than all at once, so if you cannot see the setting, that is why — ask and we will get it looked at.
- Each device is separate. Go to Settings → Mucka → Wake word and turn it on. Turning it on on your phone does nothing to the office computer, and vice versa. It saves the moment you tap it — there is no Save button on that one.
What happens when it hears you
The same thing that happens when you press the microphone button, deliberately:
- It rings, like a phone call, while it connects — usually a few seconds.
- Then Mucka says a short hello. You can interrupt it with your question.
- On a computer the Mucka panel opens. On a phone the bar at the bottom shows it, the same as if you had pressed the button yourself.
If it ever starts a chat you did not ask for, you will know immediately — that is why it makes the same noises. Tap Cancel during the ring. Once connected, say you are done or end it the way you would end any other voice chat.
If nothing happens when you say it
- Check the Ask Mucka box says "Listening for Alright Mucka". If it does not, it is not armed — check the switch in Settings → Mucka → Wake word.
- Give it a moment after switching it on. It needs about two seconds of sound before it can match anything, so saying it immediately will not work.
- Make sure Mucka is the app on screen. It stops the moment you switch away.
- Check you are online. It will not arm without a signal, because the voice chat it opens needs one.
- Say it as one phrase — "Alright Mucka", the way you would say it to a person, not spelled out word by word.