Live Viewer Mode
Let people watch your transcript stream live as you speak.
Live Viewer Mode turns any shared session into a real-time broadcast. While you record, anyone with your share link watches the transcript, and any translation, appear word by word, with no account required and no software to install.
What live viewers see
When you record with sharing enabled, your audience opens the link and follows along instantly. The view stays read-only, so viewers can read and explore but never change your session. They see:
- Live transcript. Confirmed text and the in-progress sentence stream in as you speak.
- Live translation. If translation is on, viewers follow the translated text in real time too.
- Speaker names. When you rename a speaker, the new name updates live for everyone watching.
- AI chat and summary. Viewers can ask the AI questions about the transcript and see a read-only summary.
Viewers also see whether you are currently online, a live count of how many people are watching, and a notification when audio becomes available to play or when you share an AI summary. There is no cap on the number of simultaneous viewers, and public links open without anyone signing in.
How it works
Live Viewer Mode is built on top of session sharing. You enable sharing on a session, start recording, and send the link. Behind the scenes, Kalima continuously broadcasts the transcript state to everyone watching and streams the in-progress sentence even faster, so the text feels close to instant. Anyone who joins mid-session is synced to the current state automatically, so latecomers immediately see everything captured so far.
Set up sharing and access before you start speaking. New viewers are synced to the current state when they join, so it is fine if people arrive late, but the link needs to be live and shared so they can find their way in.
What viewers can and cannot do
Viewer mode is intentionally read-only. Your audience gets a focused window into the one session you shared, and nothing else.
| Viewers can | Viewers cannot |
|---|---|
| Watch the live transcript and translation | Record or start a session |
| See speaker names update in real time | Edit the transcript or settings |
| Play available audio once you publish it | Rename speakers or change languages |
| Ask the AI chat questions about the transcript | See your other sessions, projects, or workspaces |
| Read a shared AI summary (read-only) | Regenerate or dismiss the summary |
Each viewer's AI chat history is private to them, so two people watching the same session never see each other's questions, and their chats never touch your own conversation.
Use cases
- Conferences and talks. Project live captions so the room and remote attendees can follow every word.
- Meetings. Let remote stakeholders read along in real time without joining the call.
- Classrooms and lectures. Stream the transcript to students for note-taking and accessibility.
- Events. Share a keynote, training, or panel transcript live with attendees.
Because viewers can read along in their own language when translation is enabled, Live Viewer Mode is also a powerful accessibility tool for multilingual and hard-of-hearing audiences.
Controlling access
You stay in full control of who can watch and for how long. In the share dialog you can:
- Choose the access scope: anyone with the link, signed-in users, specific people by email, or an entire organization or team.
- Add an optional password that viewers must enter.
- Set an optional expiry date and time, after which the link stops working.
Only you, the session owner, can enable or disable sharing, set a password or expiry, or manage who has access. For sensitive recordings, combine a password with a short expiry. See Sharing a Session for the full set of access controls.
Disabling sharing during a live broadcast instantly disconnects everyone watching. They see a clear "link disabled" message. The link address is preserved, so if you re-enable sharing later, the same URL works again.
Best practices
For a clean live broadcast: enable sharing and confirm your access settings before you begin, then keep an eye on the live viewer count to know your audience has connected. Generate the AI summary at the end so viewers leave with structured notes, and disable sharing when the event is over if the recording is sensitive.
Limitations
- Viewer mode is strictly read-only, so viewers cannot record, edit, or change any settings.
- Viewers only see the session you shared, never your other content.
- The live transcript only flows while you are online and recording with sharing enabled.
- Disabling sharing mid-session immediately disconnects all current viewers.
FAQ
Not necessarily. If your link uses a public grant, anyone with the link can watch without signing in. If you limit it to signed-in users or to specific people, organizations, or teams, viewers must be signed in (and matched) to get in.
Unlimited. There is no cap on the number of simultaneous viewers per session.
New viewers are synced to the current transcript state the moment they join, so they immediately see everything captured so far and then continue to follow along live.
Yes. Viewers can use AI chat to ask questions about the transcript and see a read-only AI summary if you share one. They cannot regenerate or dismiss the summary, and each viewer's chat history is private to them.
Yes. When you rename a speaker, the updated name appears live for everyone watching, and it carries through to the finished transcript.
Confirm you are online and currently recording with sharing enabled. If you stopped recording, turned sharing off, or lost connection, the live stream pauses. Viewers can retry, and they re-sync to the current state once you are back online.
Live Viewer Mode is available on all plans, and viewers do not consume seats or quota. You are only billed for your own recording time as usual.