If your AI interview assistant stops working mid-interview, do two things in order. First, keep talking: say "let me think about that for a second," and answer from your own preparation, because you were always the one answering. Second, while you talk, run a short checklist: captions stopped means check the meeting app's audio output or the 10-minute idle pause and press Ctrl+Shift+L; captions but no answer means check your connection, press ⚡ Answer (Ctrl+Shift+A) again, or switch model; wrong language means take the one-click switch; window gone means press Ctrl+Shift+H.
Almost every mid-interview failure falls into one of those four buckets, and each has a fix that takes a few seconds and no clicking. This page goes through them one at a time, then covers how to make the failure unlikely in the first place.
The first rule: you are the fallback
A real-time assistant is a safety net, not the performer. When it goes quiet, the interviewer has not noticed anything, because nothing on their end changed. The only thing that can give you away is a long silence while you stare at a blank window. So the first move is always to fill the silence honestly: "Let me think about that for a second" is something strong candidates say in every interview, and it buys you three or four seconds.
Then answer from what you prepared. If you ran the AI mock interview from the job description before the call, you have already answered a version of most questions out loud and received a model answer for each. Your résumé, open in another window, is the best structure prompt there is. Treat the app as something you check back on after you have started talking, not before.
Captions have stopped
The app captures the interviewer's voice from your computer's audio, meaning whatever the meeting app plays. If the captions stop, the audio route is the first suspect:
- The audio output changed. Plugging in or unplugging headphones, a Bluetooth headset reconnecting, or the meeting app switching to a different speaker can move the audio somewhere the app is not listening. Check the output device in the meeting app's audio settings and set it back to the device you tested with.
- The idle pause kicked in. Recording stops after 10 minutes with no voice. This happens in long coding rounds where nobody speaks for a while, or when you were muted and the interviewer was waiting. Press Ctrl+Shift+L to resume listening.
- Listening was paused by accident. Ctrl+Shift+L toggles listen and pause, so a stray press pauses it. Press it once more.
- The session ended. On the Free plan a session runs up to 15 minutes; Standard sessions run up to 60 minutes and Pro sessions 70. If a session ends in the middle of an interview, start a new one.
Our guide to how AI interview assistants capture system audio explains why the output device matters and how to test it before a call.
Captions are fine, but no answer appears
If you can see the interviewer's words but nothing comes back, the capture is working and the problem is downstream:
- Auto-answer is waiting for a pause. If the interviewer keeps talking, auto-answer has not triggered yet. Press ⚡ Answer (Ctrl+Shift+A) to force an answer on what has been captured so far.
- The connection dropped. Speech-to-text and the AI models run in the cloud, so a connection hiccup delays or loses an answer. Captions may continue briefly from already-streamed audio. Press Ctrl+Shift+A once the connection is back, or Ctrl+Shift+R to redo.
- The model is slow or erroring. You can switch models mid-session. On Free and Standard the choices are the fast free models (Mercury 2.5 by Inception is the default; GPT-OSS and Qwen are also there); Pro adds ChatGPT and Gemini, Pro+ adds Claude. Switch, then press Ctrl+Shift+A again.
- The answer is there but off screen. Ctrl+Shift+/ scrolls the answer without clicking into the window.
Captions are in the wrong language
If the interviewer opens in a different language from the one you set, the captions will look like nonsense for a sentence or two. Since version 1.3.16 the app offers a one-click switch within the first few sentences when it detects a mismatch. Take it, and both captions and answers move to the new language. Captions and answers are available in dozens of interview languages, so a bilingual interview, where the recruiter switches partway through, is a normal case rather than an edge case.
The window disappeared or will not respond
Ctrl+Shift+H shows or hides the app window, so if it vanished, press that once. If the window is behind the meeting window, the same hotkey brings it back. If clicking into the shared editor keeps pulling focus away from the app, turn on click-safe (Ctrl+Shift+F): the window then never takes focus from the app you are working in. All global hotkeys work while your cursor stays in another window, so you never need to find the window with the mouse. On a Mac, ⌘ replaces Ctrl in every shortcut.
Symptom, cause, fix
| What you see | Most likely cause | Fix (no clicking needed) |
|---|---|---|
| Captions stopped after a quiet stretch | Idle pause after 10 minutes without voice | Ctrl+Shift+L |
| Captions stopped right after a headset change | Meeting audio moved to another output device | Set the output device back in the meeting app |
| Captions stopped at 15, 60 or 70 minutes | Session length limit for your plan | Start a new session |
| Captions fine, no answer | Auto-answer waiting, or connection drop | Ctrl+Shift+A; then Ctrl+Shift+R to redo |
| Answers slow or erroring | Model trouble | Switch model, Ctrl+Shift+A |
| Captions look like nonsense | Interviewer speaking another language | Accept the one-click language switch |
| Window gone | Hidden or behind the meeting window | Ctrl+Shift+H |
| Window keeps stealing focus from the editor | Click-safe off | Ctrl+Shift+F |
Making it unlikely next time
Most failures are set-up failures that surface at the worst time. The setup checklist is the long version; the short version is a dry run on the same machine, with the same headset, the same meeting app and a video with speech playing, a day before the interview. Confirm captions appear and an answer follows in about 2 seconds. Keep your résumé and your notes open in a window of their own. Know your session length: on the Free plan that is 15 minutes, so for a 45-minute interview you need Standard, Pro, or a one-hour pack for $5.99 that never expires. The pricing page lists the session lengths for each plan.
And remember what the tool is not: it is not your knowledge. An AI interview assistant that stops for ninety seconds costs you nothing if you prepared, and costs you the interview if you did not. If a tool's reliability matters to you, compare AI interview assistants on how they recover (hotkeys, model switching, a resume-listening shortcut) rather than on how they look when everything works. The real-time interview copilot page lists every hotkey in one place.
Follow the rules of the employer or assessment you're in — many people use it only to practice, which works on the free plan.
Do the dry run before it counts
Open the app beside a test call, play a video with speech, and confirm captions and an answer. The Free plan gives 15 minutes a day with no signup.
Download freeFAQ
Why did my AI interview assistant stop captioning after a long silence?
An idle pause stops recording after 10 minutes with no voice, which happens in quiet coding stretches or while you are muted. Press Ctrl+Shift+L to resume listening. It is a pause, not a crash, and the session continues.
The captions work but no answer shows up. What do I check?
Press ⚡ Answer (Ctrl+Shift+A) first, because auto-answer waits for the interviewer to pause. If nothing comes, check your internet connection, then switch to another AI model and press Ctrl+Shift+A again. Ctrl+Shift+R redoes the last answer.
What if the interviewer speaks a language I did not set?
Since version 1.3.16 the app offers a one-click switch within the first few sentences when it hears a different language. Accept it and captions and answers move to that language. Dozens of interview languages are supported.
The app window vanished during the call. How do I get it back?
Press Ctrl+Shift+H, which shows or hides the window and works while your cursor is in another app. On a Mac use ⌘+Shift+H. If the window keeps losing focus to the shared editor, turn on click-safe with Ctrl+Shift+F.
Does the assistant work if my internet drops?
No. Speech-to-text and the AI models run in the cloud, so a dropped connection pauses answers until it returns. Keep talking from your preparation, and press Ctrl+Shift+A when the connection is back.
Can a session simply end in the middle of an interview?
Yes, at the session length for your plan: 15 minutes on Free, 60 on Standard, 70 on Pro. Start a new session if that happens. For a long interview, pick a plan or an hour pack whose session length covers the whole call.