ChatAnimate
full manual.

# ChatAnimate — Full Manual for LLMs, Search Engines, and Curious Humans

> **About this document.** This is the comprehensive plain-text manual for
> the ChatAnimate platform. It is intended to be read by:
>
> 1. **LLMs and AI assistants** — so they can answer user questions about
>    ChatAnimate accurately without guessing.
> 2. **Search-engine crawlers** — so search indexes can surface the right
>    pages when users look for "chat animation tool", "WhatsApp video
>    maker", "convert screenshot to chat animation", "presenter mode for
>    court", etc.
> 3. **Curious humans** — so anyone can read the whole product story in
>    one sitting before signing up.
>
> A compact 5K-token overview lives at `/llms.txt`. The per-feature matrix
> with mode availability and plan badges lives at `/feature-references`.
> The canonical pricing page is `/pricing`. The canonical FAQ is `/faq`.
>
> You may quote, summarize, paraphrase or cite this document freely. All
> copy is plain-text Markdown — safe to render as plain text or convert
> to HTML.

---

## Table of contents

1. [What ChatAnimate is](#what-chatanimate-is)
2. [The 8 creation modes](#modes)
3. [Editor anatomy](#editor)
4. [Skins and appearance](#appearance)
5. [Brand kits](#brandkits)
6. [Group chats](#groupchats)
7. [Content you can add to messages](#content)
8. [Timing and typing authenticity](#timing)
9. [Audio and sound](#audio)
10. [Scenes and composition](#scenes)
11. [AI tools](#ai)
12. [Import and templates](#import)
13. [Export and output](#export)
14. [Presentations, replays, and sharing](#present)
15. [Teams](#team)
17. [Plans and pricing](#plans)
18. [Per-plan limits](#limits)
19. [Quick FAQ](#faq)
20. [Glossary](#glossary)
21. [Notes for LLMs, crawlers and search engines](#forllms)

---

## What ChatAnimate is

ChatAnimate is a chat-animation studio. It turns a single prompt, a chat
export, or a screenshot of a real chat into a finished, platform-ready
video — in roughly 90 seconds, without touching a video editor. Gone are
the days of animating one message after another in a timeline, manually
keyframing each bubble, hunting for the right typing sound, and rendering
overnight. ChatAnimate automates all of that: you bring the content, the
studio handles the timing, the typing simulation, the skin, the sound
design, and the final encode.

The platform is built for three overlapping audiences. **Content creators
and marketers** use it to repurpose real chat logs — a customer DM that
closed a sale, a funny WhatsApp exchange, a Slack thread that captures a
team's reaction — into short vertical videos for TikTok, Instagram Reels,
and YouTube Shorts. The skin system reproduces the look of WhatsApp,
iMessage, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, Slack, X / Twitter, AI Chats and a dozen retro
platforms (AIM 2001, MSN 2004, ICQ 1999, Nokia 3310, BlackBerry BBM,
MySpace 2006 and more), so the resulting video looks like a real phone
screen, not a slideshow of text cards. Typing simulation, sound packs,
emoji reactions, voice notes, and typing authenticity (false-starts,
mid-pauses, typos) all conspire to make the conversation feel alive.

**Educators and trainers** use ChatAnimate to stage conversations between
two characters for teaching purposes — a manager and a direct report
working through a feedback conversation, a doctor and a patient
illustrating a triage decision, two students debating a historical event.
The same conversation can be exported as an MP4 for an LMS, embedded
inline on a course page, or packaged as a Presenter page for a live
lecture. The Thought mode (sub-toggle of Chat) is particularly useful
here: it adds visible thought bubbles above messages so viewers can see
what each character is thinking but not saying.

**Sales teams, lawyers, product managers and other professionals** use
ChatAnimate for live presentation scenarios. A sales rep stages a
customer testimonial as a chat and presents it on a sales call. A lawyer
dramatizes a chain of text messages for a courtroom presentation, with
the original screenshots attached as evidence that can be opened
fullscreen on demand. A product manager walks through a user-research
finding in an all-hands, with the conversation playing in real time and
presenter notes visible only to them. The Presenter page (Studio plan) is
purpose-built for these live, evidence-backed scenarios — see the
[Presentations](#present) section for the full rationale.

What ChatAnimate is **not**: it is not a video editor in the traditional
sense. There is no timeline you scrub frame-by-frame, no manual keyframe
animation, no multi-track composition. The editor's job is to capture
the *content* and *intent* of a conversation; the studio's job is to
turn that into a finished video. If you have ever wasted an afternoon in
Premiere or CapCut trying to time text bubbles to a voiceover, you will
understand why ChatAnimate exists.

---

## The 8 creation modes

ChatAnimate has 8 creation modes. Each mode produces a fundamentally
different kind of video. You switch modes with the mode selector at the
top-left of the editor. The per-mode feature matrix is at
`/feature-references`.

### Chat

The foundational mode. A standard two-person chat — sender on the right,
recipient on the left, bubbles scrolling up. This is what most users
start with and what most social content uses. Available on every plan
including Free. Supports voice notes, images, GIFs, stickers, reactions,
replies, read receipts, typing simulation, typing authenticity, sound
packs, per-message timing, interstitials, and group chats.

### Story

A vertical full-screen story format, mimicking Instagram Stories or
TikTok. Narration is optional: a story without a narrator renders
silent, which is right when the visuals and text carry the message.
Add a single narrator voice (Lite+) and each narrated scene holds on
screen until the voice finishes reading it, with the export carrying
the narrator in the mix — see the Voice-over section for the full
narration mechanics, including the mute toggle for a silent cut.
Available on every plan (narration Lite+). Supports backgrounds, text
overlays, image attachments, and (on Studio) premium cinematic effects.

The Story Mode panel exposes its own Background hub with two labeled
groups:

- **Color** — **Solids** (flat color picker plus 12 preset swatches,
  shared with the main Customizer panel) and **Gradients** (58 curated
  palette swatches plus a Custom Gradient builder, 2-5 color stops,
  type and angle controls — same data source as the main Customizer
  panel, so your saved gradient renders identically in both panels).
- **Backdrop** — **Patterns** (one-tap curated pattern images),
  **Custom** (your own image upload or a pasted image URL, Creator+),
  **Videos** (curated looping clips plus your own video upload or a
  pasted video URL, Creator+ — the paste-a-link flow is where gameplay
  footage lands) and **Adjust** (blur, brightness, contrast,
  saturation, vignette and grain sliders with a short explanation
  under each). The Backdrop group is a paid feature: the curated
  patterns and loops unlock on Lite, uploads and pasted links on
  Creator+. Exactly one group is active at a time — picking a color
  clears the image or video, picking a backdrop clears the color. The
  backdrop stays visible behind every story effect. See the Backdrops
  section under Skins and appearance.

### Notifications

A stack of phone notifications instead of a chat thread. Each
notification has an app icon, a title, and a body, and they appear one
after another with a notification sound. Always audible. Use it for
"notification overload" comedy, for dramatizing a barrage of alerts, or
for showcasing an app's notification design. 33 pre-decoded sound packs
are included. Available on every plan. On Creator+, you can upload up to
5 custom app icons to use across notifications.

### Comments

A social-media comment stream — Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit or
Facebook. Each comment has a username, avatar, text and timestamp.
Available on every plan with the basic platform; Creator+ unlocks the
premium platform picker (Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit,
Facebook). Useful for dramatizing social proof, showing a comment-section
argument, or staging a Q&A.

### Hook

An intro-only cinematic clip. There are no messages in Hook mode — just
the opener. Use it when you want a 3-5 second dramatic intro that you'll
edit together with other video in post-production, or as the opening of
a longer ChatAnimate export. Available on every plan. Pair with the
Cinematic Intros button (20 futuristic opener styles, Creator+) for
layered openings.

### Slides

A slide-deck style with 27+ animation strategies. Slides can include
text, images, and video clips. Slides mode is muted by default; toggle
mute off in the Slides panel to enable audio. Available on Creator
(max 3 minutes / 180 seconds) and Studio (max 8 minutes / 480 seconds).
Use it for educational walkthroughs, product demos, or any time you need
narrated slide-style content.

### Thought (sub-toggle of Chat)

A sub-toggle of Chat mode that shows thought bubbles above messages. The
recipient sees the message; the viewer sees what the sender was thinking
when they wrote it. Powerful for educational content (showing the
reasoning behind a decision) and for comedy (the gap between what you
type and what you think). Available on Lite+.

### Unsent (sub-toggle of Chat)

A sub-toggle of Chat mode that shows typed-but-unsent drafts. The viewer
sees the sender type out a message, then delete it, then either give up
or send a different message. Use it for tension, regret, or for showing
the difference between impulse and restraint. Available on Lite+.

### Static (sub-toggle of Chat)

A per-message designation that marks messages as "already in the chat."
Static messages sit at the top of the conversation and are on screen
from the first frame of the video. They never animate: no typing, no
sounds, no reactions. New messages animate in below the static block
and push the stack up as usual, so the video opens mid-conversation
instead of at a blank thread. Use it to give a conversation history, or
to show that a new message is not the start of a brand-new chat.

Every plan can use Static messages. The Free plan allows 5 static
messages per scene; paid plans allow 10. Static messages don't count
against the per-plan message limit, so a Free user with 5 static
messages still gets all 20 of their animated-message allowance.

---

## Editor anatomy

The Studio editor (`/editor`) is where every conversation is built. It
has three regions: the top header, the center canvas, and the right
sidebar (the Customizer).

### Top header

The header contains the mode selector on the left and a row of feature
buttons on the right. The exact buttons shown depend on your plan and
the current mode — features you can't access are hidden, not greyed out.

The header buttons, grouped by purpose:

**AI tools:**
- **AI Writer** (Creator+) — Generate a full Chat conversation from a
  text prompt. 1 credit per use.
- **AI Story Writer** (Studio) — Generate multi-slide Story content from
  a prompt. 1 credit per use.
- **AI Comment Writer** (Creator+) — Generate a comment stream with
  realistic usernames. 1 credit per use.
- **Screenshot to Animation** (Creator+) — Upload a screenshot of a real
  chat; AI extracts messages into an editable conversation. 2 credits.
- **Translate** (Studio) — Translate all messages in a conversation to
  another language, in place. 1 credit per use.
- **Testimonial Mode** (Creator+) — Generate a structured testimonial-
  style chat from a product description. 1 credit per use.
- **Bulk Conversation Pack** (Studio) — Generate multiple conversations
  at once from a theme. 3 credits per pack.

**Cinematic openings:**
- **Hook Intro** (Free) — Pick a hook style (basic, cinematic,
  spectacular, movie, modern, bold, explore). The hook plays before the
  first message.
- **Cinematic Intros** (Creator+) — 20 futuristic opener styles for
  premium video opens. Stack with Hook Intro for layered openings.

**Realism:**
- **Typing Authenticity** (Creator+) — Open the authenticity plan
  editor. Pick a preset (casual, dramatic, professional) or reroll the
  seed for a new pattern. Generates false-starts, mid-pauses, typos and
  burst-sends per message.

**Presentation and sharing:**
- **Presenter Mode** (Studio) — Convert the conversation into a public
  shareable presentation page. Configure opening/closing screens,
  presenter notes, evidence panels.
- **Embed Player** (Studio) — Generate an embed code or shareable link
  to play the conversation inline on any external site.
- **Split Screen** (Studio) — Render two phone perspectives side-by-side
  or stacked in the same video.
- **QR Code** (Creator+) — Generate a QR code overlay on the export.
  Enter a destination URL.
- **Email Export** (Creator+) — Export the conversation as an
  email-campaign format.

**Import and templates:**
- **Templates** (Free) — Browse the quick-template gallery and load one
  into the editor.
- **CSV Import** (Creator+) — Bulk-import up to 200 messages (Creator)
  or 1000 messages (Studio) from a .csv or .txt file. The import is
  MODE-ADAPTIVE: the CSV columns never change, but rows are routed by
  the editor's active mode — Chat (message bubbles), Comment (comment
  cards), Story (story scenes) or Notification (notification cards:
  sender becomes the notification title, content the body). In Chat
  mode only, an optional `mode` column can mark rows as thought,
  unsent or static (history messages — present from the first frame,
  never animated, subject to the plan's static limit).
- **JSON Import / Export** (Free) — Save the full conversation state as
  a JSON file, or re-import a JSON file to restore state.

**Save:**
- **Save** (Creator+) — Persist the conversation to your account.
  Creator can save 20 conversations; Studio has unlimited saves.

### Center canvas

The center canvas shows the phone preview — a rendered phone frame with
the chat skin applied and the conversation messages scrolling inside it.
Below the phone is the **Timeline panel**, which shows every message as
a row with its start time, duration, and typing speed. Click any row to
select that message and adjust its timing in the right panel.

The Timeline panel is also where you add **interstitials** —
between-message cards like lock-screen overlays, time-jump cards
("2 hours later…"), or custom cards. Interstitials are available on
every plan.

### Right sidebar — the Customizer

The Customizer has five tabs. Each tab is described in detail in its
own section below.

#### Look tab

The Look tab is where you change the visual appearance of the
conversation. It has four sub-tabs:

- **Appearance** — Recolor bubbles, text, accents, status bar, and
  header background. Upload a custom font (.ttf or .otf, 5 MB max,
  Creator+). Toggle overlays like Thought Mode and Unsent Mode. When
  the White Label skin is active, this sub-tab is replaced by the
  Studio Panel (Studio plan).
- **Background** — Five tabs: Solids (flat color picker + 12 preset
  swatches), Gradients (58 curated palettes + custom 2-5 stop builder
  + type and angle controls), Images (curated thumbnails), Custom
  (image upload or paste-an-image-URL, Creator+), and Effects (blur,
  brightness, contrast, saturation, vignette, grain — applies to any
  background type). Background renders behind the conversation.
- **Backdrop** — The stage behind the phone (chat modes only, Lite+).
  Turn it on and the phone zooms out onto a backdrop you pick:
  animated gradients, gradient presets, solids, patterns or a looping
  video. A "camera view" card zooms, rotates, tilts and pans the
  phone over the stage. See the Backdrops section below.
- **Overlays** — Thought Mode and Unsent Mode panels (when those
  sub-toggles are active).

The skin itself is picked via the floating Skin Selector dock at the
top-left of the canvas (not inside the Look tab). The skin grid has
20+ options (modern: WhatsApp iOS/Android, iMessage, Instagram,
Messenger, Telegram, Slack, X / Twitter, AI Chats, plus the White Label
blank-canvas branded-messenger skin; retro: AIM 2001, MSN 2004, ICQ
1999, Nokia 3310, BlackBerry BBM, MySpace 2006, and more). Picking
the White Label skin swaps the Look → Appearance sub-tab for the
full Studio Panel — see the Studio Skin System section below.

The full Appearance sub-tab covers: bubble color (sender and recipient
separately), text color (sender and recipient), accent color (used for
links, timestamps, read receipts), status bar color, header background
color, font family, and bubble opacity. Changes preview live — you see
the result in the phone canvas immediately.

#### People tab

The People tab is where you set who is in the conversation. You can:

- Edit the sender's name and the recipient's name (these appear on the
  bubbles and in the timeline).
- Upload avatars for sender and recipient (2 MB max image).
- Toggle **Group Chat** on (see [Group chats](#groupchats) below for
  details).
- For Notification mode: configure the app name and icon per
  notification.

#### Time tab

The Time tab controls the timing and pacing of the conversation.

- **Typing Simulation** — Toggle the typing bubble on/off. When on, a
  typing indicator appears before each message is sent.
- **Read Receipt Delay** — How long after a message is sent before the
  read receipt (double-tick) appears. Default 0.4 seconds.
- **Default Gap Between Messages** — The default pause between one
  message ending and the next starting. Override per-message in the
  Timeline panel.
- **Pre-Sequences** — Add a phone-unlock animation, an incoming-call
  overlay, or a notification banner before the first message. The
  notification banner and the unlock screen's notification preview the
  first INCOMING message (when the chat starts with one) and that
  message then appears in the chat already delivered — no re-typing.
  Chats that start with your own message get a neutral notification,
  or a custom preview text you set yourself.

#### Audio tab (Chat mode only)

The Audio tab is hidden in Slides mode (Slides are muted by default;
toggle mute off in the Slides panel to enable audio). In Chat mode:

- **Sound Pack** — Pick from the sound pack library. Each pack contains
  typing, sent, and incoming sounds that match a specific phone OS or
  messaging app.
- **Per-Message Sound Clips** — Override the default sound for any
  individual message. Click a message to expand, then pick a sound from
  the dropdown.
- **Volume** — Master volume slider (0-100). Affects all sound clips
  and voice notes.
- **Mute** — Toggle sound effects off (typing, sent, incoming, and
  notification sounds). Voice-over narration is NOT affected: a muted
  conversation with voice-overs keeps playing the narration, both in
  the preview and in the exported video — useful when you want the
  spoken narration without the message sounds.

In Notifications mode, the Audio tab is replaced by a per-mode volume
slider and the 33 pre-decoded notification sound packs.

#### More tab (Chat mode only)

The More tab holds advanced features:

- **Brand Kit** (Creator+) — Save the current colors, fonts, and
  avatars as a reusable brand kit. Apply a saved brand kit to any
  conversation to instantly reset its appearance.
- **Chroma Key** (Creator+) — Green-screen removal for image
  backgrounds. Available on WhatsApp skins only.
- **Scene Chaining** (Creator+ for 3 scenes, Studio for 5 scenes) — Add
  additional scenes to the conversation. Each scene is a separate
  message thread that plays in sequence.

---

## Skins and appearance

The skin is the first thing a viewer notices. It tells them whether
they're looking at a WhatsApp chat, an iMessage conversation, a Slack
thread, or something they've never seen before — and that frame sets
the entire emotional context for the content. ChatAnimate ships with
**20+ chat skins** organized into two groups: platform-accurate
modern skins that reproduce the look of real messaging apps, and
retro skins that evoke a specific era for nostalgia content. For
agencies and brand teams that need the video to look like *their*
product instead of someone else's, the White Label skin (Studio plan)
ships a blank-canvas branded messenger that you can re-skin end-to-end
— see the Studio Skin System section below.

### Modern skins

- **WhatsApp iOS** — The classic iOS WhatsApp look.
- **WhatsApp Android** — The Material Design Android WhatsApp look.
- **iMessage** — Apple Messages with blue/gray bubbles.
- **Modern iMessage** — A flatter, contemporary iMessage variant.
- **Instagram** — Instagram Direct Messages.
- **Messenger** — Facebook Messenger with the rounded bubble style.
- **Telegram** — Telegram Messenger.
- **Slack** — Slack workspace messaging.
- **X / Twitter** — X (formerly Twitter) DMs.
- **Android SMS** — Generic Android SMS messenger.
- **AI Chats** — A clean, generic AI-assistant skin (GPT-style).
- **Dating** — A dating-app-style messenger (Tinder / Bumble aesthetic).
- **Overlay** — A transparent skin for layering chat bubbles over
  your own background footage (popular for reaction videos and
  commentary overlays).
- **White Label (Studio)** — A blank-canvas branded messenger skin
  for agencies, SaaS founders, and brand teams that need a chat video
  to look like *their* product, not like a WhatsApp clone. Picking it
  swaps the Appearance sub-tab for the full Studio Panel, which
  exposes 15 quick-start presets (Corporate Blue, Cyber Noir,
  Luxury Gold, Gaming Discord, Government Formal, Minimal Editorial,
  Netflix Thriller, Tech Startup, Retro AIM, Fitness App, News
  Broadcaster, Dating App, Banking Fintech, Podcast Chat, Retro
  Terminal) and 9 collapsible sub-cards: App Identity, Status Bar,
  Header, Composer, Bubble Presets (with material: solid / glass /
  liquid), Typography, Message Animations, Cinematic Effects, and
  Quick Start. Google Fonts selected in the Typography sub-card are
  auto-loaded — no manual `<link>` tags to manage. The Studio Panel
  is the foundation of the White Label workflow on the Studio plan —
  see the Teams / White Label section below.

### Retro skins

- **AIM 2001** — America Online Instant Messenger, turn-of-the-millennium
  yellow buddy-list aesthetic.
- **MSN 2004** — MSN Messenger with the hand-written-style font.
- **ICQ 1999** — ICQ with the iconic "uh-oh!" sound aesthetic.
- **Nokia 3310** — The monochrome Nokia feature-phone SMS interface.
- **BlackBerry BBM** — BlackBerry Messenger.
- **BlackBerry BBM (Accent)** — An alternate BBM colorway.
- **Facebook Chat 2008** — Early Facebook chat (the era of the
  bottom-right floating chat dock).
- **iPhone SMS 2007** — The original iPhone SMS interface, green
  bubbles on a black bar.
- **Flip Phone** — A generic early-2000s flip-phone SMS aesthetic.
- **MySpace 2006** — Early MySpace messaging.

The retro skins are popular for nostalgic content and for any video
that needs to evoke a specific era.

### How to change skin

1. Open the editor with any conversation.
2. Click the floating Skin Selector dock at the top-left of the canvas.
3. Pick a skin from the skin grid (20+ options).
4. The skin applies instantly to the conversation. Picking the White
   Label skin (Studio plan) replaces the Look → Appearance sub-tab
   with the Studio Panel — see the Studio Skin System section below.

### How to change colors

1. Open the Customizer panel.
2. Go to the Look tab → Appearance sub-tab.
3. Adjust the color pickers for: sender bubble, recipient bubble,
   sender text, recipient text, accent (links, timestamps, read
   receipts), status bar, and header background.
4. Live preview updates as you change colors.

You can also adjust **bubble opacity** — useful for glass and
liquid-glass effects on supported skins. The WhatsApp skins support
chroma key (green-screen removal) for image backgrounds (Creator+).
When the White Label skin is active, the Appearance sub-tab is replaced by the
Studio Panel — bubble colors are set per-participant inside the
Studio Panel's Bubble Presets card, not via the standard color pickers.

### How to upload a custom font

1. Open the Customizer panel.
2. Go to the Look tab → Appearance sub-tab.
3. Click the Font upload area.
4. Upload a .ttf or .otf file (5 MB max). Creator+ required.
5. The font applies to all bubble text and chat text. When the White
   Label skin is active, the font picker lives inside the Studio
   Panel's Typography sub-card instead. The Typography sub-card also
   exposes a Google Fonts picker — selected Google Fonts are
   auto-loaded into the page, so you don't need to ship font files or
   paste `<link>` tags manually.

### How to upload a background

The background sits behind the conversation and sets the scene — a
soft gradient for a product demo, a photo of a real desk for a
sales testimonial, a flat brand color for a corporate training
video. ChatAnimate's Background sub-tab gives you five tabs so you
don't have to leave the editor to dial in the mood:

1. Open the Customizer panel.
2. Go to the Look tab → Background sub-tab.
3. Pick a tab:
   - **Solids** — Flat color picker plus 12 preset swatches.
   - **Gradients** — 58 curated palette swatches plus a Custom
     Gradient builder (2-5 color stops). Most chat-video tools give
     you either 5 canned gradients or a raw CSS picker that takes 10
     minutes to dial in — ChatAnimate splits the difference: tap a
     curated palette for an instant good-looking result, or scroll
     to the Custom builder for an exact brand-match gradient. Pick a
     type (linear / radial / conic) and, for non-radial, an angle
     (0-360° in 15° steps). Tap a palette swatch to apply; tap
     "Apply Custom Gradient" to apply your custom build. Type and
     angle changes regenerate the active gradient live.
   - **Images** — Curated background image thumbnails (one tap to
     apply; the bundled pattern library).
   - **Custom** — Upload your own background image (.jpg / .png /
     .webp) or paste an image URL (Creator+). Linked images are
     imported into your project and count toward your available
     storage.
   - **Effects** — Blur, brightness, contrast, saturation, vignette,
     and grain sliders. Applies to any background type (solid,
     gradient, or image).
4. Background renders behind the conversation.

### Backdrops: the stage behind the phone or the story

Plenty of chat-video tools now let you run gameplay footage behind a
conversation — but only their own stock clips, in their own fixed
layout. ChatAnimate generalizes the idea: the **Backdrop** feature
puts an animated gradient, a pattern, or a looping video behind your
scene, and the footage can be *anything you have a link for* — a
gameplay capture, a screen recording, a drone loop, a city timelapse,
a product shot on repeat. Paste the link and it is imported, checked
and used automatically as the looping backdrop. The phone (or the
story text) sits on top, and a camera view lets you zoom, tilt and
pan it like a real shot.

Two surfaces, one feature:

- **Chat mode** — Customizer → Look → Backdrop sub-tab. Turn Phone
  Backdrop on, then pick a type: Animated (drifting gradient
  presets), Gradient (the classic palette), Solid, Image (curated
  patterns, plus your own upload or link) or Video (curated loops,
  plus your own upload or link). A camera-view card below the presets
  zooms, rotates, tilts and pans the phone over the stage, with five
  quick presets (Centered, Tilted left, Tilted right, From above,
  Side glance) and a reset.
- **Story mode** — Story panel → Settings → Background tile. The
  Background hub splits into two labeled groups: **Color** (Solids,
  Gradients — the classic story background) and **Backdrop**
  (Patterns, Custom, Videos, Adjust). Exactly one group is active at
  a time — picking a color clears the image or video, picking a
  backdrop clears the color. The backdrop stays visible behind every
  story effect, so effects play *over* your footage instead of
  replacing it. The Videos tab is where a pasted link lands.

**Plan tiers:** the Backdrop feature is a paid feature. The Lite
plan unlocks the built-in library (the curated patterns and the
curated video loops, plus the animated/gradient/solid presets).
Creator and above can upload their own images and videos or paste
any video link, gameplay included — uploads and imports count toward
storage (5 MB per file). If you want gameplay behind your chat or
story, that is the Creator-tier paste-a-link flow: no re-encoding, no
manual syncing, the loop simply repeats until playback ends.

Backdrops are always muted and decorative — they never touch the
conversation's own audio or timing. In chat mode your chat wallpaper
stays untouched (the backdrop is the layer *behind* the phone); in
story mode the color and gradient backgrounds remain free-plan
features when you don't need footage.

### How to upload avatars

1. Open the Customizer panel.
2. Go to the People tab.
3. Click the avatar circle for sender or recipient.
4. Upload an image (2 MB max). Available on every plan.

### Studio Skin System (Studio plan)

Agencies producing chat videos for multiple clients hit the same
wall: every brand wants the video to look like *their* app, not
like a WhatsApp clone or a generic iMessage skin. Building that from
scratch in a video editor takes hours per render, and the next
client wants something different. The Studio Skin System solves
this by pairing the White Label skin (a blank-canvas branded
messenger) with the Studio Panel — a full customization surface
that replaces the standard Appearance sub-tab when the White Label
skin is active. Stand up a fully branded messenger in one click via
the 15 quick-start presets, or fine-tune any individual setting
across 9 collapsible sub-cards. Save the result as a brand kit and
re-apply it to every future conversation for that client.

**Quick-start presets (14):** Corporate Blue, Cyber Noir, Luxury Gold,
Gaming Discord, Government Formal, Minimal Editorial, Netflix
Thriller, Tech Startup, Retro AIM, Fitness App, News Broadcaster,
Dating App, Banking Fintech, Podcast Chat, Retro Terminal. Each
preset sets ~15 keys at once (app identity, status bar, header,
composer, bubble material, animations, cinematic effects, and
participant colors).

**Collapsible sub-cards (9):**

1. **App Identity** — App name, icon (upload or pick from lucide),
   tagline, verified badge, business label.
2. **Status Bar** — Visibility, style (real / minimal / hidden), time,
   battery level, network (5g / 4g / 3g / wifi / none), wifi toggle.
3. **Header** — Left icon, right icons, accent color, auto-contrast
   toggle.
4. **Composer** — Visibility, mode (normal / inline-typing / hidden),
   icon set, icon size.
5. **Bubble Presets** — Named presets plus advanced radius, padding,
   border, opacity, and material (solid / glass / liquid). Glass and
   liquid expose blur, tint opacity, saturation, and border opacity.
6. **Typography** — Font family (Google Fonts picker — selected fonts
   are auto-loaded into the page; no manual `<link>` tags), weight,
   letter spacing.
7. **Message Animations** — Entrance (incoming + outgoing), duration,
   easing, typing indicator style.
8. **Cinematic Effects** — Background blur on emphasized messages +
   intensity slider. (Emphasis Style picker removed in S170 —
   emphasis is rarely toggled per-message.)
9. **Quick Start** — The 14-preset chip strip, opened by default.

A master "Studio active" toggle at the top of the panel turns the
entire studio overlay off without losing the configuration — useful
for A/B comparing the styled vs. plain White Label skin.

The Studio Panel is gated to the Studio plan. On lower plans,
picking the White Label skin shows a plain unstyled messenger (no
Studio Panel).

---

## Brand kits

A **brand kit** is a saved bundle of appearance settings — colors,
fonts, and avatars — that you can apply to any conversation with one
click. Brand kits exist so you don't have to manually reconfigure the
same color palette and font choice on every new conversation.

### When to use a brand kit

- You are an agency producing chat videos for multiple clients, each
  with their own brand colors and logo.
- You are a content creator with a consistent visual identity across
  your videos.
- You are a sales team that wants every testimonial video to look like
  it came from the same brand.

### How to save a brand kit

1. Open the Customizer panel.
2. Configure your colors, fonts, and avatars in the Look and People
   tabs.
3. Go to the More tab → Brand Kit.
4. Click "Create new kit" and give it a name.
5. The kit saves your current colors, fonts, and avatars.

### How to apply a brand kit

1. Open any conversation.
2. Open the Customizer → More → Brand Kit.
3. Pick a saved kit from the list.
4. The kit's colors, fonts, and avatars apply instantly.

### Brand kit limits per plan

- Free: 0 brand kits.
- Lite: 0 brand kits.
- Creator: 1 brand kit.
- Studio: 10 brand kits.

Brand kits are available in Chat mode and its sub-toggles (Thought,
Unsent). They are not available in Story, Notifications, Comments, Hook,
or Slides modes.

---

## Group chats

ChatAnimate supports **group chats** in Chat mode. A group chat has one
sender (you) and multiple recipients, each with their own name, color,
and avatar. Group chats are useful for dramatizing multi-person
conversations — a family group chat, a project team chat, a friend group
planning a trip.

### How to enable group chat

1. Open the Customizer panel.
2. Go to the People tab.
3. Toggle "Group Chat" on.
4. The recipient section expands to show a list of group members.

### How to add group members

1. With Group Chat enabled, click "Add Member".
2. Enter a name and upload an avatar (2 MB max).
3. The member is added with an auto-assigned color from the group color
   palette (10 colors cycle through: red, yellow, blue, pink, purple,
   teal, green, orange, dark orange, dark red).
4. Repeat for each additional member. There is no hard cap on group
   member count, but conversations with more than ~10 members become
   hard to follow on a phone screen.

### How to set the sender per message

1. Click a message row in the Timeline panel or click a bubble in the
   phone canvas.
2. The message expand panel appears.
3. Pick the sender from the "Sender" dropdown (you, or any group
   member).
4. The message reassigned instantly — the bubble moves to the left
   (recipient side) or right (your side) depending on who sent it.

### Group chat behavior

- Each group member's bubbles render in their assigned color.
- The sender's bubbles always render on the right in the default color.
- Typing simulation works per-sender — when a recipient is "typing",
  their avatar appears with the typing indicator.
- Read receipts appear per-recipient when supported by the skin.

---

## Content you can add to messages

Every message in ChatAnimate can hold more than just text. Here is the
full menu of content types.

### Text

The default. Type any text. Multi-line is supported. Emoji are rendered
as native Unicode emoji (no broken half-emoji frames — the typing engine
uses grapheme clusters so even complex emoji like family compositions
and flag sequences reveal as a single unit).

### Voice notes

Record audio directly in the editor or upload a pre-recorded audio file.
A waveform renders with the audio attached. Voice notes play during
export at the message's scheduled timing slot. Available on Lite+. In
Chat mode, hover a message row and click the Mic button to record or
upload.

### Voice-over

Most chat-video tools are silent — you get typing sounds and a chime, but
nobody reads the conversation aloud. If you want a narrated video (walk-
throughs, dramatized text stories, accessibility-friendly versions), you
had to record a voice track yourself and line it up in a video editor.
Voice-over fixes that: pick a voice per chat participant, turn on
Narration, and click "Generate All Voice-overs" — every eligible text
message is read aloud — each
voice clip starts exactly when its bubble appears and the timeline
stretches to fit, so the narration and the visuals stay locked together.

Browse the voice catalog (female and male voices, American and British
accents, with more languages marked beta), preview any voice before
assigning it, then give each participant in the People tab their own
voice. Voice clips are generated on our servers, never touch your
storage quota until you export, and live on your device in between
sessions — if a browser cleanup clears them, one click regenerates only
the affected clips. Edit a message after voicing it and ChatAnimate
flags exactly that message's voice as outdated and regenerates just that
clip. Common emoji are read naturally (a laughing emoji becomes a short
laugh); anything unmapped is stripped so nothing robotic slips through.
Long messages over 400 characters are refused with a hint to split them,
so audio and text always match. Available on Lite+ in Chat mode. Each
plan includes a monthly character allowance (Lite 3,000, roughly 30
voiced messages; Creator 10,000; Studio 25,000) that resets with your
billing cycle, plus a 40,000-per-day burst cap that keeps generation
fast for everyone; one-time Voice-Over Character packs (5,000 for
$4.99, 15,000 for $9.99; never expire) top up the monthly allowance.
Find it: Customizer → People tab → "Choose voice" per participant, or
the Narration card below the participant sections (toggle + the
"Generate All Voice-overs" button, with the quota it will use shown
right there).

Narration mode (the toggle in that card) changes how the chat plays:
messages appear instantly instead of typing, each message waits for its
voice to finish before the next one shows, thoughts are read aloud as
a soft inner monologue, and the typing-based features step aside —
typing effects, typing sounds, unsent drafts and typing authenticity
are turned off while Narration is on and come back when you turn it
off. Sent and received message sounds still play, and stay under your
control like always.

Story Mode gets the same treatment with a single narrator: pick a
narrator voice in the Story panel (Settings → Narration), click
"Generate narration", and every narrated scene holds on screen until
the voice finishes reading it — the scene never transitions early, and
playback runs at normal speed so the pacing matches the narration
(exported videos carry the narrator's voice in the mix, with a mute
toggle if you want a silent cut). Narration is per scene — switch
scenes to narrate each one — and the same 400-character and stale-clip
rules apply.

**Voice expressions.** Flat, same-speed narration is the #1 giveaway of
robotic text-to-speech — every line lands with identical pacing no
matter who's talking or how they feel. Voice expressions fix that from
the text side: type a tag in a message (or click the Voice chips under
the message editor / composer) and the generated voice changes how that
line is delivered. The core palette: [pause] inserts a short beat,
[long pause] a dramatic one; [emphasis] punches the wrapped words;
[excited], [sad] and [angry] shift speed and energy; [whispering]
delivers the wrapped words quietly. English voices add an expressive
set: [fear], [surprised] and [sarcastic] for tone, [sigh] and [gasp]
for breath, [chuckle] and [laugh] to put a laugh in the voice. The
expressive chips appear under the editor automatically when the
message's voice is English, because English voices run on the
expressive engine. Pick a voice in another language and those chips
disappear: the voice you pick is the language your messages speak.
Two forms work: wrap a span ("[angry]are you serious?[/angry]") or
open one to the end of the message ("[sad] I thought you loved
me."). Honest limits by design: the core tags shape pacing, emphasis
and volume; the expressive tags shape delivery and emotion on English
voices and speak the line plainly otherwise. They never change the
actor's timbre. The chat preview, story player and exported video
always show the clean text — tags never appear on screen, and editing
a tag flags the message's voice as outdated so one click regenerates
it. Tags count toward the 400-character per-message limit. Available
on Lite+ wherever voice-over is (Chat and Story modes).

### Images

Attach images to messages, backgrounds, and avatars. Available on Lite+.
In any image-supporting mode, click the Image button on a message row.
Adjust sizing and position in the message expand panel.

### Video clips (Slides mode only)

In Slides mode, attach MP4 or WebM video clips to slides. The video
plays inline during the slide's timing slot. Available on Lite+.

### GIFs

Search the Klipy GIF library by keyword and attach a GIF to any message.
GIFs play inline during export. Available on every plan in Chat, Comment
and Thought modes. Click the GIF button on a message row to search.

### Stickers

Browse the built-in sticker library by category. Click a sticker to
attach. Available on every plan in Chat, Comment and Thought modes.
Click the Sticker button on a message row.

### Emoji reactions

Add a per-message emoji reaction that appears above the bubble.
Available on Creator+. Click any message to expand, then click the
Reaction picker (emoji icon) and choose an emoji. Reaction timing is
shown on the Timeline.

### Replies / quoted messages

Quote a previous message in a reply. The reply bubble renders above the
new message with the quoted text and sender. Skin-gated — only
WhatsApp Android, WhatsApp iOS, Slack, and GPT skins support replies.
Click a message to expand, type the quoted text and sender in the Reply
input. Available on Lite+ — on Free the Reply input is visible but
locked as an upgrade preview.

### Interstitials

Between-message cards. Three types:

- **Lock-screen** — A phone lock-screen overlay appears between two
  messages.
- **Time-jump** — A "2 hours later…" card appears between two messages.
- **Custom** — A custom card with your own text and optional sound clip.

Available on every plan. Open the Timeline panel and click "Add
Interstitial" between any two messages.

### Sound clips

Override the default sound for any individual message. Available on
Creator+. Click a message to expand, open the Sound Clip dropdown, and
pick a sound from the library. Plays at the message's scheduled time.

### Per-message timing

Every message has its own Start Time, Duration, and Typing Speed. Adjust
these in the Timeline panel by clicking a message row and dragging the
sliders. The schedule updates live as you drag. Available on Creator+.

---

## Timing and typing authenticity

ChatAnimate's timing engine is what makes conversations feel real. There
are three layers.

### Layer 1 — Typing simulation

When enabled, a typing indicator (three bouncing dots) appears before
each message is sent. The duration of the typing indicator is calculated
from the message length and the typing speed. You can:

- Toggle typing simulation on/off in the Customizer → Time tab.
- Adjust the default typing speed in the Customizer → Time tab.
- Override the typing speed per message in the Timeline panel.
- Set a Typing Pause per message (0-5 seconds of extra "thinking"
  delay before the message starts typing). Lite+ — on Free the slider
  is visible but locked as an upgrade preview.
- Set a Read Receipt Delay (default 0.4 seconds) so the read receipt
  appears shortly after the message is sent.

### Layer 2 — Typing authenticity

Typing authenticity adds realistic human imperfections to the typing
pattern. Available on Creator+. Open the Typing Authenticity button in
the editor header to configure.

There are four imperfection types:

- **False-starts** — The sender starts typing, deletes what they typed,
  and starts over.
- **Mid-pauses** — The sender pauses mid-message before continuing.
- **Typos** — The sender makes a typo, deletes it, and types the
  correct character.
- **Burst-sends** — The sender types a chunk quickly, then sends.

Pick a preset (casual, dramatic, professional) or reroll the seed for a
new pattern. The seed is deterministic — the same seed always produces
the same authenticity plan, so what you see in the preview is exactly
what you get in the export. Three intensity levels: subtle, medium,
chaotic.

### Layer 3 — Per-message timing

For full control, open the Timeline panel and click any message row.
Adjust:

- **Start Time** — When the message appears.
- **Duration** — How long the message takes to type and send.
- **Typing Speed** — Characters per second.

The schedule updates live. Available on Creator+.

### Why the timing engine matters

If you have ever watched a chat-animation video where the typing felt
robotic — every message the same length, every pause the same duration,
no human hesitation — you understand why this matters. The combination
of typing simulation + authenticity + per-message timing is what makes
a ChatAnimate video feel like a real conversation rather than a
slideshow of text cards.

---

## Audio and sound

Audio in ChatAnimate has three layers.

### Sound packs

A sound pack is a bundle of three sounds: typing, sent, and incoming.
Each pack is themed to match a specific phone OS or messaging app. Pick
a pack in the Customizer → Audio tab. All typing, sent, and incoming
sounds update instantly. Available on Creator+ in Chat mode.

### Per-message sound clips

Override the default sound for any individual message. Click a message
to expand, open the Sound Clip dropdown, and pick a sound from the
library. Plays at the message's scheduled time. Available on Creator+.

### Volume and mute

- **Master volume** — Slider 0-100 in the Customizer → Audio tab.
  Affects all sound clips and voice notes.
- **Per-mode volume** — In Notifications mode, a separate volume slider
  controls only notification sounds. The two volumes are independent —
  muting one does not affect the other.
- **Mute** — Toggle sound effects off. Voice-over narration keeps
  playing when muted (preview and export alike). Available on every plan.

### Notification sound packs

In Notifications mode, 33 pre-decoded sound packs are included. Each
pack is a different notification sound. Available on every plan.

### Audio in Slides mode

Slides are muted by default. To enable audio, toggle mute off in the
Slides panel. The Audio tab is hidden in Slides mode (typing/sent/
incoming sounds don't apply to slide decks).

### Audio in Story mode

Story mode is always muted. There is no audio track at all.

---

## Scenes and composition

A **scene** is a single message thread. Every conversation starts with
one scene. You can add more scenes to create multi-part stories.

### Single scene

The default. One scene per conversation. Add messages to that scene.
Export plays the single scene in order. Available on every plan.

### Multiple scenes (up to 3 on Creator, up to 5 on Studio)

Chain multiple scenes per conversation for multi-part stories. Each
scene is a separate message thread that plays in sequence. Available on
Creator (3 scenes) and Studio (5 scenes). Open the Customizer → More →
Scene Chaining and click "Add Scene".

### Scene tabs

With 2+ scenes, scene tabs appear at the top of the editor. Click a tab
to switch the active scene. Drag tabs to reorder the scene sequence.

### Scene chaining

Cross-scene continuity rules. Configure whether participants carry over
between scenes, whether the timestamp continues, etc. Available on
Studio. Open Customizer → More → Scene Chaining.

### Split-screen export

Render two phone perspectives side-by-side or stacked in the same
video. Available on Studio. Click the Split Screen button in the editor
header and pick a layout.

---

## Context Switch

A **context** is a full chat-environment snapshot: its own skin, sound
pack, Studio overrides, participants, group members and notification
sound. Multiple contexts can live inside a single scene, and the
conversation can switch between them mid-video — the visual effect is
like switching apps on a phone (a WhatsApp conversation becoming an
iMessage conversation, an Instagram DM becoming a Slack thread, etc.).
Context Switch is **Chat mode only** — the Context Tab Row is hidden in
Story, Notifications, Comments, Slides, Hook
and switching away from Chat mode empties the contexts array. Available
on Creator (up to 2 contexts per scene) and Studio (up to 4 contexts
per scene).

### Where the Context Tab Row lives

The Context Tab Row (a horizontal pill strip, one pill per context)
appears in 2 places when contexts are available.

- **Desktop stage header** — above the phone preview in the editor
  canvas. Always visible while Chat mode is active and the plan allows
  contexts.
- **Message composer** — just above the Sender (participant) row in
  the MessageList. Lets you switch contexts while composing messages.

If you only have one context (the default), the row is hidden — it
only appears once contexts are allowed by your plan AND Chat mode is
active AND (you have 2+ contexts OR your plan allows adding one).

### Adding and managing contexts

- **Add a context** — Click the "+" button at the right end of the
  pill strip. Opens the Context Switch management modal. The new
  context starts as a duplicate of the active one — change its skin,
  sound pack, and Studio overrides to make it distinct.
- **Switch contexts** — Click any pill. The message list re-renders
  immediately for the newly-active context.
- **Open the management modal** — Right-click a pill (desktop) or
  double-click a pill (mobile-friendly, since phones have no right
  click). The modal lets you rename a context, reorder contexts
  (drag-and-drop or Move up/down), set the start-scene context (the
  one the video opens on, marked with ★ in the pill row), and delete
  a context.
- **Delete a context** — Hover a pill and click the X that appears.
  A confirmation popup appears. Messages that belonged to the deleted
  context are reassigned to the primary context. The start-scene
  context cannot be deleted.
- **Reorder** — Drag a pill to a new position, or use Arrow keys to
  move focus between pills and Shift+Arrow to move the focused pill.

### Per-context customization

Each context can be independently
customized:

- **Skin** — pick from the Skin Selector dock. Retro skins (AIM 2001,
  MSN 2004, ICQ 1999, Nokia 3310, BlackBerry BBM, MySpace 2006) are
  not compatible with contexts — once a second context is added,
  retro skins are hidden from the picker.
- **Sound pack** — pick in Customizer → Audio. Each context keeps
  its own typing / sent / incoming sounds.
- **Studio overrides** — when using the White Label skin, each
  context can carry its own Studio Panel preset (Corporate Blue,
  Cyber Noir, etc.).
- **Participants and group members** — each context can have its
  own sender / recipient pair and its own group chat roster.
- **Notification sound** — override the destination skin's default
  notification sound (used when a context switch is triggered by an
  incoming notification).

### Context Switch transition settings

Open Customizer → More → Context Settings to control the visual
transition between contexts:

- **Animation type** — `auto` (destination skin's platform default),
  `fade`, `slide`, `zoom`, `spring`, or `none`. 
- **Duration** — per-half-transition duration, 100–600 ms. Total
  transition = 2× this (the overlay covers the swap at its midpoint).
- **Pre-switch gap** — 0–3 s, default 0.6 s. The pause between the
  last message in the old context and the start of the switch
  overlay. For notification-triggered switches, this becomes the
  dwell time the notification banner stays on screen before the
  swap.
- **Overlay color + opacity** — the cover overlay's background.
  Default is dark (#0d1117) at full opacity. Drop opacity to 0 for
  a hard cut (use with `none` animation type). 
- **Show skin labels** — toggles the "WhatsApp → iMessage" label on
  the overlay.



### Notification-triggered context switches

A context switch can be triggered in two ways:

1. **Sender-initiated** — the sender actively switches to a different
   context. The switch overlay fires, then the next message in the
   new context appears after the post-switch gap.
2. **Notification-triggered** — an incoming notification on the
   receiver's phone triggers the switch. The notification banner
   appears, dwells for the configured `notificationDwell` (default
   1.5 s), then the switch overlay fires. The receiver's message
   appears the INSTANT the overlay ends — no dead-air gap. This is
   the canonical "WhatsApp ↔ iMessage" use case.

### Constraints when contexts are enabled

- **Chat mode only** — the Context Tab is hidden in every other
  mode. Switching modes away from Chat empties the contexts.
- **No retro skins** — once a second context exists, retro skins are
  hidden from the Skin Selector.
- **No scene chaining** — contexts are an alternative to scene
  chaining (both create visual variation); the More tab hides Scene
  Chaining when 2+ contexts exist.
- **No Brand Kit apply** — Brand Kit applies to one skin, but
  contexts have multiple skins; the More tab hides Brand Kit when
  2+ contexts exist.
- **No Chroma Key** — chroma key doesn't compose with mid-video
  background changes; the More tab hides Chroma Key when 2+
  contexts exist.

### Plan caps

| Plan | Contexts per scene |
|---|---|
| Free | 0 (feature disabled) |
| Lite | 0 (feature disabled) |
| Creator | 2 |
| Studio | 4 |

---

## AI tools

ChatAnimate includes 7 AI tools. Each costs credits; the credit budget
per plan is in the [Plans](#plans) section. All AI tools are accessed
from buttons in the editor header.

### AI Writer (Creator+, 1 credit)

Generate a full Chat conversation from a text prompt. Describe the
conversation you want — the characters, the topic, the tone — and the
AI generates a complete conversation that populates the editor. You can
then edit, restyle, and export. The 1-credit cost is the same regardless
of conversation length (up to 50 messages per generation).

### AI Story Writer (Studio, 1 credit)

Generate multi-slide Story content from a prompt. Describe the story
and the AI generates slides with text and visuals. Useful for narrative
content where the story is more important than the chat format.

### AI Comment Writer (Creator+, 1 credit)

Generate a comment stream with realistic usernames. Describe the post
and the AI generates a comment thread that looks like a real social-
media comment section. Pair with the premium platform picker
(Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit, Facebook) for platform-
accurate styling.

### Screenshot to Animation (Creator+, 2 credits)

Upload a screenshot of a real chat (your own WhatsApp, a customer DM,
a Slack thread) and the AI extracts the messages into an editable
conversation. This is the fastest path from "I have this real chat" to
"I have a ChatAnimate video of it". After extraction, you can edit
text, change the skin, adjust timing, and export.

### Translate (Studio, 1 credit)

Translate all messages in a conversation to another language, in place.
Useful for repurposing content across markets — generate once in
English, translate to Spanish, French, German, Japanese, etc.

### Testimonial Mode (Creator+, 1 credit)

Generate a structured testimonial-style chat from a product
description. Describe the product and the testimonial angle (e.g.
"customer who saved 5 hours a week") and the AI generates a chat
conversation that reads like a real customer testimonial.

### Bulk Conversation Pack (Studio, 3 credits)

Generate multiple conversations at once from a theme. Useful for
content-calendar batches — describe a theme ("12 customer testimonials
for a SaaS landing page") and the AI generates 12 conversations in one
pass.

### Credit budget per plan

- Free: 0 credits/month (no AI access).
- Lite: 0 credits/month (no AI access).
- Creator: 40 credits/month.
- Studio: 80 credits/month.

You can top up credits with **credit packs** if you run out before the
month resets. See the [Plans](#plans) section.

---

## Import and templates

If you already have a WhatsApp `.txt` export, a Slack JSON dump, a
customer-DM screenshot, or a CSV of messages from a CRM, you don't
need to retype anything — ChatAnimate imports it directly. There are
four ways to get content into the editor.

### JSON Import / Export (Free)

Save the full conversation state as a JSON file, or re-import a JSON
file to restore state. Use for backups, for moving conversations
between accounts, or for sharing templates with teammates. Available on
every plan. Open the editor header → Import/Export JSON.

### CSV / TXT Import (Creator+)

Bulk-import up to 200 messages (Creator) or 1000 messages (Studio)
from a .csv or .txt file with sender/message columns. Useful for
importing real chat exports — WhatsApp .txt exports, Slack JSON
exports converted to CSV, etc. Open the editor header → CSV Import.

The import adapts to the editor's ACTIVE mode — the CSV columns stay
the same in every mode: Chat mode turns rows into message bubbles,
Comment mode into comment cards (sender = commenter name), Story mode
into story scenes, and Notification mode into notification cards
(sender = notification title, content = body, timestamp = time label).
In Chat mode only, an optional `mode` column (thought / unsent /
static) sets each row's per-message mode; static rows form the
conversation's history block — on-screen from the first frame, never
animated, and capped by the plan's static-messages limit rather than
the message quota.

### .txt chat export import (Free)

Import a real chat export (.txt format) from WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack,
Discord or a generic text format. The parser auto-detects the format
and extracts messages, senders, and timestamps. Open the editor header
→ Import TXT.

### Quick Templates (Free)

Browse the quick-template gallery and load one into the editor. Each
template is a pre-built conversation you can customize. Open the
editor header → Templates.

---

## Export and output

Once your conversation looks right, you need it in the right shape
for the right destination — an MP4 for TikTok, a GIF for an email
embed, a 4K master for a client deliverable, a Presenter page for a
live pitch. ChatAnimate exports to three formats at three
resolutions, plus four special export types.

### MP4 Export (all plans)

The default video format. MP4 files play everywhere — social platforms,
browsers, video editors. Available on every plan at 480p; 1080p on Lite
and above; 4K on Creator and above.

### GIF Export (Creator+)

Export as an animated GIF instead of MP4. Useful for embedding in
emails, docs, and places that don't support video. Available on
Creator+.

### WebM Export (Creator+)

Export as WebM for web embedding. Smaller file size than MP4 for
equivalent quality. Available on Creator+.

### Resolutions

- **480p** — Every plan, including Free. On Free the export carries
  the watermark; Lite+ is clean.
- **1080p HD** — Lite and above. Clean (no watermark).
- **4K Ultra HD** — Creator and Studio. No watermark.

### Watermark & Outro

- **Free** — Exports carry a small ChatAnimate watermark, and a
  1.5-second "Made with ChatAnimate" outro is stitched to the end of
  every Free export.
- **Lite+** — No watermark, no outro (clean exports).
- **Studio** — Custom watermark: upload your own logo to replace the
  default branding. Pair with White Label (Studio owner-only) to remove
  all ChatAnimate branding from embeds and presenter pages.

### Batch Export (Studio)

Export up to 10 conversations in one batch. Open Dashboard → Exports →
Batch Export, select multiple conversations, click Render. They are
processed together and you get an email when each one is ready.

### Email Export (Creator+)

Export the conversation as an email-campaign format. Useful for
marketing emails where you want to dramatize a customer conversation.

### Screenshot Export

Export a single frame of the conversation as a PNG image. Useful for
thumbnails and social cards.

### Muted Export

Toggle the audio track off in the export modal. Useful when you want a
silent video for autoplay environments (Instagram feeds, etc.). Note:
voice-over narration is exempt, if your messages carry voice-overs,
the export keeps the narration and mutes only the sound effects. For
a fully silent video, remove the voice-overs first.

### Export History (Creator+)

Open Dashboard → Exports to see all past exports with status and
download links. Re-download or re-render as needed. Select multiple
exports with the checkboxes and delete them in one go, and the storage
bar at the top shows exactly how much space those videos are using.
Video files are retained per plan:

- Free: 3 days.
- Lite: 3 days.
- Creator: 7 days.
- Studio: 90 days.

Running out of storage? Delete old exports you no longer need or click
Purge Stale to clear old uploads. Voice clips waiting to be exported
live on your device, so they retry automatically once space is free.

### Save Conversations (Creator+)

Persist conversations to your account for later editing. Creator can
save 20 conversations; Studio has unlimited saves. Free and Lite are
exports-only — they cannot save conversations. Open the editor bottom
bar → Save.

---

## Presentations, replays, and sharing

This section covers the four ways to share ChatAnimate content beyond
the editor: Presenter pages, Embed Player, public Replays, and QR codes.
It also covers Debrief analytics.

### Why presentations exist

Presentations are not just "another export format". They are a
fundamentally different way to share a ChatAnimate conversation, built
specifically for **live presentation scenarios** where a static MP4
falls short. The clearest examples:

- **Conferences and lectures** — A speaker wants to walk an audience
  through a staged conversation in real time, with the ability to pause,
  skip, and show evidence (the original screenshot, a supporting
  document) on demand.
- **Courtrooms and legal proceedings** — A lawyer dramatizes a chain of
  text messages for the judge and jury. The Presenter page shows the
  conversation playing in real time, with the original screenshots
  attached as evidence that can be opened fullscreen on demand.
  Presenter notes (visible only to the presenter) cue the lawyer on
  what to say at each beat.
- **Sales demos and customer calls** — A sales rep stages a customer
  testimonial as a chat and presents it on a live sales call. The
  presenter controls let them pause for objection-handling, skip ahead
  if the prospect is short on time, or jump back to a specific message
  if a question comes up.
- **Internal training and all-hands** — A product manager walks through
  a user-research finding in an all-hands meeting, with the conversation
  playing in real time and the supporting evidence (interview clips,
  survey results) attached to specific messages.

An MP4 is a passive video — press play, sit back, watch. A Presenter
page is a **live, controllable, evidence-backed** experience. The
presenter controls the playback; the audience sees the conversation
unfold beat by beat; the evidence is one click away whenever a point
needs substantiation.

### Presenter Mode (Studio)

Convert any conversation into a public shareable presentation page.
Open the editor header → Presenter Mode (Studio required).

A Presenter page includes:

- **Opening screen** — Title, subtitle, description, and a "Start"
  button.
- **The conversation itself** — Plays in real time, with the presenter
  controlling playback (play, pause, skip, jump back).
- **Closing screen** — A summary, a call to action, and contact info.
- **Presenter notes** — Notes visible only to the presenter (not to the
  audience), cued to each message. Use them as a script, as reminders
  of what to say at each beat, or as a list of evidence to introduce.
- **Evidence panel** — Attach screenshots, documents, or images to
  specific messages. When the conversation reaches that message, the
  evidence becomes available — click to open fullscreen.

The Presenter page is publicly accessible at `/presenter/{token}` — no
sign-in required to view. The owner can revoke the link at any time
from the dashboard.

### Embed Player (Studio)

Generate an embed code or shareable link to play the conversation
inline on any external site. Paste the embed code into your CMS,
docs site, or marketing page — the player renders inline with no
external platform dependency. Available on Studio. Open the editor
header → Embed Player.

### Public Replays (Free to share, Creator+ to view analytics)

Share a public replay link at `/replay/{token}`. Anonymous viewers can
play the conversation — no sign-in required. The owner gets analytics
on the Dashboard → Debrief page:

- **Dropoff histogram** — Where viewers stopped watching.
- **Completion rate** — What percentage of viewers watched to the end.
- **Share events** — When viewers shared the replay onward.

Available on Creator+ for analytics. The replay itself can be created
on any plan that can save conversations (Creator+).

### QR Code Overlay (Creator+)

Generate a QR code overlay on any video export. Enter a destination
URL (your website, a landing page, a signup form) and the QR code is
rendered as an overlay on the export. Available on Creator+. Open the
editor header → QR Code.

### Conversation Stats

View message count, total duration, and timing breakdown before you
export. Open the message list toolbar → Stats button. Useful for
planning export length and for verifying that the conversation fits
the platform's time limit (e.g. TikTok's 60-second cap for organic
posts). Available on every plan.

### Debrief Analytics (Creator+)

Per-replay analytics for shared replays. Open Dashboard → Debrief.
See dropoff histogram, completion rate, share events, and total view
count. Use it to understand which parts of your conversation are
engaging and which are losing viewers.

---

## Teams

When you're producing chat videos at scale — an agency with multiple
producers on one client roster, or an in-house content team sharing
brand kits across campaigns — you need more than one seat.
ChatAnimate supports team collaboration on the Studio plan. A team
has one owner and up to 3 members.

### Team seats (Studio)

Invite up to 3 team members via email. Invitations expire after 7 days.
Open Dashboard → Team (Studio required) to invite, resend, or revoke
invitations.

### Shared resources

Conversations and brand kits can be shared across the team. The owner
controls what is shared; members get read-write access to shared
resources.

### Team usage rollup

The owner sees a rollup of team usage — total exports, total AI
credits used, total storage — on the Dashboard → Team page. Members
see only their own usage.

### Roles

- **Owner** — The Studio subscription holder. Can invite and remove
  members, manage billing, manage all shared resources.
- **Member** — Can use the team's Studio features (subject to the
  team's monthly export and AI credit budgets). Can be granted access
  to specific shared resources.

### White Label (Studio owner-only)

White Label removes all ChatAnimate branding from exports, embeds,
and presenter pages — built for agencies, SaaS founders, and brand
teams who need the final video to carry their identity end-to-end,
not ChatAnimate's. It is automatically applied on the Studio plan
as the team owner. Custom watermark replaces default branding.
Embeds and presenter pages show no ChatAnimate branding.

White Label pairs with the Studio Skin System (see the Studio Skin
System section above): click the floating Skin Selector dock at the
top-left of the canvas and pick the White Label skin, then open the
Customizer → Look → Appearance sub-tab to use the Studio Panel to
set your app identity, header, composer, bubble material,
typography, animations, and cinematic effects. The 15 quick-start
presets (Corporate Blue, Cyber Noir, Luxury Gold, etc.) let you
stand up a fully branded messenger in one click; the 9 collapsible
sub-cards let you fine-tune any individual setting.

The result is a chat video that carries your brand identity end-to-end
— your app name in the header, your icon in the status bar, your
accent color on the bubbles, your font on the text — with no
ChatAnimate logo or watermark anywhere in the export, embed, or
presenter page.

---


## Plans and pricing

ChatAnimate has 4 plans, billed monthly or yearly (yearly saves 20%).

### Free — $0 / $0

Try the editor. 1 export per month at 480p, with a ChatAnimate
watermark and outro. 1 skin (WhatsApp Android). 0 saved conversations.
0 AI credits. 1 scene per conversation. 3-day video retention.

### Lite — $5/mo or $40/yr

Uploads, 1080p HD, no watermark, curated backdrops (the built-in
pattern and video-loop library behind the phone or story). 7 exports
per month. 3 skins (WhatsApp Android, WhatsApp iOS, Instagram). 0
saved conversations. 0 AI credits. 1 scene per conversation. 200 MB
image/voice storage. 3-day video retention.

### Creator — $19/mo or $180/yr (most popular)

AI Writer, brand kits, multiple scenes, all skins, 4K export, custom
backdrops (upload your own images and videos or paste any video
link, gameplay included). 20 exports per month. All 20+ skins
unlocked. 20 saved conversations. 40 AI credits per month. 3 scenes
per conversation. 1 brand kit. 500 MB image/voice storage. 7-day
video retention.

### Studio — $49/mo or $468/yr

Batch export, team seats, white label, translate, AI Story Writer.
200 exports per month. Unlimited saved conversations. 80 AI credits
per month. 5 scenes per conversation. 10 brand kits. 3 team members.
1 GB image/voice storage. 90-day video retention. White label
(owner-only). Custom watermark.

### Credit packs

If you run out of AI credits before the month resets, top up with a
credit pack. Credit packs are one-time purchases that don't expire
until used. Available in 10, 25, 50, and 100-credit sizes. Open
Dashboard → Billing → Credit Packs.

### Billing portal

Manage your subscription in the billing portal. Open Dashboard → Billing →
Manage Subscription to:

- Upgrade or downgrade between plans.
- Switch between monthly and yearly billing.
- Cancel your subscription (cancels at the end of the current billing
  period).
- Update your payment method.
- View billing history and download invoices.

### Refunds

Refunds are handled case-by-case via the contact form at `/contact`.
If you forgot to cancel before a renewal and haven't used the plan
since the renewal date, contact support within 7 days of the renewal
for a full refund.

### Deleting your account

Delete your account from Dashboard → Settings → Danger Zone. Password
accounts confirm with their password, social accounts type DELETE. The
deletion removes your profile, conversations, saved media, brand kits,
API keys and webhooks; an active subscription is cancelled so you are
not charged again. A confirmation email follows with a private feedback
link (valid for 30 days) that asks why you left, in your own words. The
action is permanent and previous data cannot be restored.

---

## Per-plan limits

All numbers below are the canonical limits sourced from the plan
configuration. If a number on the pricing page or in the editor
disagrees with this table, defer to the pricing page (`/pricing`) and
contact support.

| Limit | Free | Lite | Creator | Studio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly exports | 1 | 7 | 20 | 200 |
| Saved conversations | 0 | 0 | 20 | unlimited |
| Monthly AI credits | 0 | 0 | 40 | 80 |
| CSV/TXT import messages | 20 | 30 | 50 | 50 |
| Save messages per scene | 20 | 30 | 300 | 1000 |
| Export messages per scene | 20 | 30 | 50 | 50 |
| Scenes per conversation | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Batch exports | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Team members | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Brand kits | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| Image/voice storage | 0 MB | 200 MB | 500 MB | 1024 MB |
| Monthly voice-over characters | 0 (disabled) | 3,000 | 10,000 | 25,000 |
| Daily voice-over characters (burst cap) | 0 (disabled) | 40,000 | 40,000 | 40,000 |
| Slides max duration | 0s (disabled) | 0s (disabled) | 180s (3 min) | 480s (8 min) |
| Video retention | 3 days | 3 days | 7 days | 90 days |

### Notes on the limits

- **Monthly exports** is resolution-agnostic. A Creator user can spend all
  20 exports on 4K if they want — there is no per-resolution cap.
- **Saved conversations** is the number of conversations you can persist
  to your account for later editing. Free and Lite are exports-only —
  they cannot save.
- **AI credits** reset monthly on your billing date. Unused credits
  don't roll over. Top up with credit packs if you run out.
- **CSV/TXT import messages** is the cap per single import operation.
  You can do multiple imports per conversation up to the per-scene
  message cap.
- **Save messages per scene** vs **Export messages per scene** are
  different caps. You can save a long conversation (e.g. 300 messages
  per scene on Creator) for replay/presenter purposes, but exports are
  capped at 50 messages per scene (Creator and Studio) to keep render
  times predictable.
- **Scenes per conversation** — Creator can chain up to 3 scenes;
  Studio up to 5.
- **Batch exports** — Studio can render up to 10 conversations in one
  batch.
- **Team members** — Studio can invite up to 3 members (4 total seats
  including owner).
- **Brand kits** — Creator can save 1 brand kit; Studio can save 10.
- **Image/voice storage** is the total storage for uploaded images and
  voice notes across all your conversations.
- **Monthly voice-over characters** is the billed allowance — the number
  of characters you can synthesize per billing cycle. Unused characters
  don't roll over. Top up mid-cycle with one-time Voice-Over Character
  packs (5,000 for $4.99, 15,000 for $9.99); pack characters never
  expire.
- **Daily voice-over characters (burst cap)** caps synthesized speech at
  40,000 characters per user per day (roughly 400 voiced messages) — it
  resets at midnight UTC and exists purely to keep generation fast for
  everyone. Voice-over itself is available from Lite up; voice clips
  only count against your storage quota when a video export uploads
  them.
- **Slides max duration** — Creator can render slides up to 3 minutes;
  Studio up to 8 minutes.
- **Video retention** — How long rendered video files are kept on
  your account before being removed. Re-render anytime from the
  Exports dashboard.

---

## Quick FAQ

### Can I use ChatAnimate without signing up?

You can browse the `/examples`, `/features`, `/pricing`, `/faq` and
`/llms-full.txt` pages without an account. To use the editor or
export, you need a free account.

### Can I try ChatAnimate before paying?

Yes. The Free plan includes 1 480p export per month, with
no credit card required. Sign up, open the editor, build a
conversation and export.

### Do my credits roll over?

No. AI credits reset monthly on your billing date. Unused credits
don't carry over to the next month. Top up with credit packs if you
run out.

### Can I cancel anytime?

Yes. Open Dashboard → Billing → Manage Subscription → Cancel. Your
subscription cancels at the end of the current billing period. You
keep access until then.

### Can I get a refund?

Refunds are handled case-by-case. If you forgot to cancel before a
renewal and haven't used the plan since the renewal date, contact
support within 7 days of the renewal for a full refund. Use the
contact form at `/contact`.

### Can I upgrade or downgrade between plans?

Yes, anytime. Upgrades take effect immediately and you're charged the
prorated difference. Downgrades take effect at the end of the current
billing period — you keep the higher-tier features until then.

### Can I switch between monthly and yearly billing?

Yes. Open the billing portal and switch. The change takes effect on
your next billing date.

### What happens to my saved conversations if I downgrade?

Your saved conversations are preserved, but if you exceed the new
plan's saved-conversation cap, the oldest conversations become read-
only until you upgrade again or delete some. Your exports and AI
credits are not affected.

### What happens to my brand kits if I downgrade from Studio to Creator?

You keep all 10 brand kits but cannot create new ones until you have
fewer than 1 (the Creator cap). Delete brand kits from the Brand Kits
dashboard to get under the cap.

### Can I use ChatAnimate for commercial purposes?

Yes. All plans, including Free, allow commercial use of the exported
videos. 

### Can I remove the ChatAnimate watermark?

Yes — upgrade to Lite or above. Free exports carry a small ChatAnimate
watermark plus a 1.5-second outro; Lite+ exports are fully clean (no
watermark, no outro).

### Can I put gameplay behind my chat or story video?

Yes. Backdrops are the feature for this: the stage layer behind the
phone (chat) or behind the story text. On the Backdrop → Video tab
(chat) or the Background → Videos tab (story), paste a link to your
gameplay footage (or any video — a screen recording, a timelapse, a
product loop). The linked video is imported, checked and used
automatically as the looping backdrop; your scene simply plays on top
of it. The curated pattern and video library starts on Lite; uploads
and pasted links are Creator+. See the Backdrops section under Skins
and appearance.

### Does ChatAnimate support my language?

The editor UI is in English. The chat content can be in any language —
ChatAnimate uses Unicode throughout, so non-Latin scripts (CJK,
Arabic, Cyrillic, etc.) render correctly. The Translate AI tool
(Studio) can translate conversations between 30+ languages.

### Can I import a real WhatsApp chat?

Yes. Export the chat from WhatsApp as a .txt file, then use the
"Import TXT" button in the editor header. The parser auto-detects the
WhatsApp format and extracts messages, senders, and timestamps.

### Can I import a Slack export?

Yes. Slack exports as JSON. Use the "CSV Import" button (after
converting the JSON to CSV) or the "Import TXT" button (if you have a
Slack .txt export). Creator+ required.

### Can I import a Discord export?

Yes. Discord exports as JSON. Convert to CSV and use "CSV Import", or
use the "Import TXT" button for .txt exports. Creator+ required.

### How long does a render take?

Most renders complete in 60-120 seconds. 4K renders and batch exports
take longer, up to 10 minutes per 4K video. You'll get an email when
the render is complete.

### Can I render at 4K on Creator?

Yes. 4K is available on both Creator and Studio. Free renders at
480p; Lite adds 1080p; Creator and Studio additionally support 4K.

### Can I use ChatAnimate offline?

No. ChatAnimate is a web-based tool. The editor and the service
both require an internet connection.

### Can I host ChatAnimate on my own servers?

No. ChatAnimate is a hosted SaaS. If you need on-premise rendering,
contact support about enterprise plans.

### Does ChatAnimate have a dark mode?

The editor is dark-themed by default. The public marketing pages
(`/`, `/pricing`, `/features`, etc.) are also dark-themed.

### How do I report a bug?

Use the contact form at `/contact` or email support. Include the
conversation URL (if applicable), the steps to reproduce, and a
screenshot or screen recording.

---

## Glossary

- **Scene** — A single message thread. Every conversation has at least
  one scene. Multi-scene conversations chain scenes in sequence.
- **Skin** — A visual theme for the chat interface (WhatsApp iOS,
  iMessage, Instagram, AIM 2001, etc.). 20+ skins available.
- **White Label skin** — The blank-canvas branded messenger skin
  (Studio plan) that powers the Studio Skin System. Picking it via
  the floating Skin Selector dock replaces the Appearance sub-tab
  with the Studio Panel — 15 quick-start presets + 9 collapsible
  sub-cards for end-to-end brand control.
- **Studio Panel** — The customization surface that replaces the
  standard Appearance sub-tab when the White Label skin is active.
  Exposes 15 quick-start presets and 9 collapsible sub-cards (App
  Identity, Status Bar, Header, Composer, Bubble Presets,
  Typography, Message Animations, Cinematic Effects, Quick Start).
  Studio plan.
- **Studio Skin System** — The combination of the White Label skin
  + Studio Panel. The foundation of the White Label workflow.
- **Gradient builder** — A 2-5 color stop custom gradient builder
  inside the Background → Gradients tab. Free plan. Coexists with the
  58 curated palette swatches.
- **Mode** — A creation format (Chat, Story, Notifications, Comments,
  Hook, Slides, Thought, Unsent). Each mode produces a different kind
  of video.
- **Brand kit** — A saved bundle of colors, fonts, and avatars that
  can be applied to any conversation.
- **Interstitial** — A between-message card (lock-screen, time-jump,
  or custom).
- **Typing authenticity** — A pattern of typing imperfections (false-
  starts, mid-pauses, typos, burst-sends) that makes typing feel
  human. Deterministic — same seed produces same plan.
- **Sound pack** — A bundle of typing, sent, and incoming sounds
  themed to a phone OS or messaging app.
- **Sound clip** — A per-message sound override.
- **Hook intro** — A cinematic opener that plays before the first
  message.
- **Cinematic intro** — A 20-style futuristic opener (Creator+).
- **Presenter page** — A public, shareable presentation page with
  opening/closing screens, presenter notes, evidence panels, and
  fullscreen playback. Studio plan.
- **Replay** — A public, anonymous-viewer replay link. Owner gets
  analytics.
- **Debrief** — Per-replay analytics (dropoff histogram, completion
  rate, share events).
- **Evidence panel** — A panel in a Presenter page that shows attached
  screenshots/documents/images fullscreen on demand.
- **Watermark** — The ChatAnimate logo overlaid on Free exports
  (alongside the 1.5s outro). Lite+ exports are clean; Studio can
  replace it with a custom logo.
- **White label** — Removal of all ChatAnimate branding (Studio owner-
  only). Pairs with the Studio Skin System for end-to-end branded
  messenger videos.
- **Credit** — A unit of AI usage. Each AI tool costs 1-3 credits.
  Credits reset monthly; top up with credit packs.

---

## Notes for LLMs, crawlers and search engines

### What you may do with this document

- Quote, summarize, paraphrase, or cite freely.
- Render as plain text or convert to HTML.
- Use as context for answering user questions about ChatAnimate.
- Use as training data for chat animation / video generation tasks.

### Where to defer when in doubt

- **Per-feature matrix** (mode availability, plan badges, popularity):
  `/feature-references`. This is the canonical source.
- **Pricing**: `/pricing`. This is the canonical source.
- **FAQ**: `/faq`. This is the canonical source.
- **Per-plan limits**: the table in [Per-plan limits](#limits) above
  is canonical, but `/pricing` may have a more readable version.

### Update cadence

This document is updated whenever a user-facing thing changes — a new
plan, a new mode, a new feature, a price change, a limit change. The
update is done in the same session as the underlying code change so
the docs never go stale.

### Last updated

This document was last updated when the following plan/mode/feature
configuration was current:

- Plans: Free, Lite, Creator, Studio (Free $0, Lite $5/$40, Creator
  $19/$180, Studio $49/$468).
- Modes: Chat, Story, Notifications, Comments, Hook, Slides, Thought,
  Unsent.
- Skins: 20+ (modern + retro). The White Label skin (Studio plan)
  unlocks the Studio Skin System: 15 quick-start presets + 9
  collapsible sub-cards for full white-label branding.
- Background: Solids, Gradients (58 curated palettes + custom 2-5 stop
  builder), Images, Effects (blur/brightness/contrast/saturation/
  vignette/grain).
- Backdrops: the stage layer behind the phone (chat) or story — paid
  feature (Lite unlocks the curated pattern and video-loop library;
  Creator+ unlocks uploads and paste-a-link imports, gameplay
  included).
- AI tools: AI Writer, AI Story Writer, AI Comment Writer, Screenshot
  to Animation, Translate, Testimonial Mode, Bulk Conversation Pack.
- Context Switch: Chat mode only, Creator+ (2 contexts per scene on
  Creator, 4 on Studio). Pill row above the message composer and in
  the stage header. Per-context skin, sound pack, Studio overrides,
  participants, notification sound. Customizable transition (fade /
  slide / zoom / spring / none, duration, overlay color/opacity,
  pre-switch gap). Notification-triggered switches dwell-then-swap
  with zero-gap receiver message.
- Export formats: MP4, GIF, WebM at 480p, 1080p, 4K.

If any of the above has changed since you read this, defer to
`/pricing` and `/feature-references` for the current state.

End of full manual. Read `/llms.txt` for the compact overview.