Silence, standby and auto-end in Subtitles
Live translation is metered by the minute of audio, per language. So when there is nothing to translate, RainbowSay stops sending audio — automatically, in three steps — and you never pay for silence or for a session you forgot about.
The three steps
| After | What happens | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| 10 seconds of silence | Streaming pauses. The last caption is completed so it doesn’t hang half-finished. | “Paused — waiting for audio” and a countdown |
| 5 minutes in standby | The connections are closed. Nothing is open, nothing is being used. | Languages show Paused |
| Your End after silence time (15 minutes by default) | The session ends by itself, exactly as if you had pressed Stop, and the caption windows close. | A note on the idle overlay: “Subtitles ended after 15 min of silence” |
A muted session counts as silent, so muting and walking away follows the same path.
Waking up
You don’t have to do anything. The first sound wakes the session from either paused state; a moment of audio from just before is included so the first words aren’t lost, and closed connections come back in a second or two.
Only audio that was actually sent is counted, so a long quiet stretch in the middle of a session adds nothing to your usage.
Keep waiting
From standby on, the overlay shows how long is left — for example “Paused — waiting for audio · ends in 9:41” — with a Keep waiting link next to it. Press it to restart the countdown, for instance during a long intermission or while a meeting is on a break. The caption window shows the same “Ends in…” countdown.
Change or turn off auto-end
Open Settings then Session then Subtitles then Silence then End after silence and choose 5, 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes — or Never.
With Never, the first two steps still apply, so a silent session costs nothing; it just stays ready until you stop it.
In your history, a session that ended this way carries an Ended after silence badge, so you can tell it apart from one you stopped yourself.