Tutorials

How To Register

It’s easy to sign up for a Hello Pal account.

Step 1

First choose your current location in the registration page.

Depending on your location, a list of social media icons will appear below. If you have an account with any of the available social networks here, you can sign up by tapping on the icon.

Or you can simply enter your email to sign up.

Step 2

Now in the next screen, please fill in the necessary information (this will be useful when searching for people to chat with).

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Step 3

Next, pick your nationality and the country you are residing in.

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Step 4

We are almost there! Choose your native language and the language you want to learn.

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If you are bilingual, you can add more languages below by tapping “I know more languages” and add stars, indicating your fluency.

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Step 5

Finally, personalize your account by choosing your profile picture.

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Now tap on “Create Account”. Thanks for signing up!

Using Hello Pal – The Basics (VIDEO)

Watch on Youtube:


Watch on Youku:

Using Hello Pal – Text And Voice Messaging In A Foreign Language

Watch on Youtube:


Watch on Youku:

Using Hello Pal – Helping Your Pal When Receiving And Sending Messages

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Watch on Youku:

What is Hello Pal Mirror?

If you wish to practice chatting without disturbing anyone, the Hello Pal Mirror is the perfect chat mate; it will send everything you send it right back to you.

Hello Pal Mirror will simply repeat what you send him, which is a great way to familiarize yourself with all the Hello Pal features.

When you first sign in to your account, Hello Pal Mirror will automatically be added to your pal list.

Tap on Hello Pal Mirror and practice away!

Green Menu Bar (Chat)

When you enter a chat conversation with a pal, you’ll see a green menu bar below.

They consist of four buttons:

Text Mode (Keyboard Icon)

Text mode lets you send text messages and emoticons to your pals.

Voice Mode (Microphone Icon)

Voice mode lets you record and send audio messages to your pals.

Phrasebook Mode (Book Icon)

Phrasebook mode guides you to learn and speak a language through everyday words and phrases, especially if you’re not familiar with it.

Media Mode (Plus Icon)

Media mode lets you send or take pictures and send them to your pals.

How To Send A Text Message

To send a text message, open up a conversation with a pal and tap on the keyboard icon to go on “text” mode.

You will find a textbox below. Tap on it to begin typing your message.

When you’re satisfied with your message, tap on the “paper plane” icon on the right to send it.

To send emoticons, simply tap on the “smiley” icon, press on the emoticon you want. It will now be in your textbox.

If you’re done, press the “paper plane” icon to send it off.

How To Send Text Message In A Foreign Language

In Chat, make sure you’re in Text mode by selecting the keyboard icon.

Now type in some text into the textbox below, like “hello”.

You can send it as a regular text message as it is. To send this message in a foreign language, press on the Translate button.

You’ll now be in the translation panel. Tap on Translate to translate your text message.

At the top is what you wrote, and at the bottom is the translation, using the language that was last used, in this case, French.

To change languages, press on the language name and choose a different one, like Japanese.

After that, you can either press Replace to paste the translation into the textbox for further editing, or just press the “paper plane” icon to send the message immediately.

Your pal will get your message, with the translated Japanese text at the top, and the original English text at the bottom.

For some languages, there will be a green arrow button next to the original text.

Pressing the green arrow will show the Romanized version of the Japanese text.

How To Send A Voice Message

To send a voice message, start up a chat conversation with a pal then tap on the “audio” icon.

Press and hold on the button to start recording.

When you’re satisfied with your recording, tap on “thumbs up” to send it to your pal. If you want to record again, tap on “thumbs down” and repeat the process.

How To Send Voice Message In A Foreign Language

Make sure you are in “Voice” mode by selecting the audio icon inside a chat conversation.

You can record voice messages simply by holding down the RECORD button while speaking. But let’s suppose you want to say Hello in Japanese.

First tap on the Translate button on the right.

In the textbox, type out “Hello” then press the translate button again.

After that, you’ll see the translation panel.

Tap on language name, for this example, tap on “French”, and change it to Japanese.

Notice that the translation of “Salut” is now in Japanese characters.

For some languages, the Romanized version will be shown below the translation. For example, you will see the Romanized version “ni hao” below the Chinese translation of “Hello”.

To hear how it’s pronounced, press the audio button on the left.

When you’re ready, hold down the record button, say the phrase, and let go when finished.

To review your recording, click on the preview icon. If you’re satisfied, press the thumbs up button or press thumbs down to repeat.

When your pal gets your message, they can tap on the play button to listen to what you said.

And if they’re not sure what you said, pressing the green arrow button will reveal more information, like the Japanese characters and the translation.

For some languages, pressing the green arrow button will show the Romanized version of the translated text. For example, you will see the Romanized version “ni hao” of the Chinese translation of “Hello” after you press the green arrow button.

How To Use The Phrasebook

Let’s say you want to talk to someone in Chinese but you don’t actually speak the language. This is where phrasebooks come in handy.

Our phrasebooks come in many different languages and categories. Each category contains a list of everyday phrases to help you communicate with people from all around the world.

To use a phrasebook, go to “Chat”. Now select a pal and in the chat screen, tap on “Phrasebook” at the bottom.

Select the language you want to learn by tapping on the flag. In this example, we’ll be choosing “Simplified Chinese”. Then select the category “Basics”.

A list of topics will appear. Select a topic to see the phrases. Let’s choose “Greetings”.

Now select “Hello”.

In the next screen, you will see how “Hello” is written and pronounced in Chinese.

Each phrase translation is divided into three parts.

  1. Romanization (Pink) – How the phrase or word is pronounced.
  2. Translation (Blue) – How the phrase or word is written.
  3. Comments (Block quote) – A comment or usually the literal translation of the phrase.

Now at the bottom, there are 3 buttons.

  1. Add To Favorites (Star) – Lets you save a phrase to your favorite list.
  2. Play (Triangle) – Plays the literal recording of the phrase.
  3. Slow Play (Two Triangles) – Plays a slower version of the phrase.

Once you are familiar with the phrase, you can send it as is by tapping on the “Send” button.

If you want, you can record the phrase by tapping & holding the “Record” button.

After recording, you can review the recording by tapping on Preview Button (speaker). Select “Thumbs Up” to send or “Thumbs Down” to cancel.

Good job! You have just said “Hello” in Chinese!

Receiving Phrasebook Messages

When you receive a phrasebook message, tap on the Play button (if available) to hear the recording.

Tap on the green arrow button to see the pronunciation, translation, written characters or comments (if any).

How To Use Vocab Lists

In “phrasebook” mode, some phrases will have highlighted words in red. This means it is a part of a vocab list.

What is a Vocab List?

A “vocab list” is a list of options which you can use to make the sentence apply to you.

Let’s take this phrase as an example:

I was born in China

By tapping on the vocab list item (in this case, “China“), a list of possible alternative words and phrases will be provided. Choose which one applies to you best. By doing this, you can change the phrase.

For example, let’s select “the United States”. Tap on the “+” sign beside it to display a translation on how “the United States” is said in the language you want to record. Tapping the play button will play the vocal guide audio.

  • Romanization (Pink)
    How the phrase or word is pronounced.
  • Translation (Blue)
    How the phrase or word is written.
  • Vocal Guide Audio (Play Button)
    Playback vocal guide audio of the word or phrase.

Tap on the checkmark to use it.

Great! Now you can record your new phrase.

How To Send Images

In a chat conversation, sending images is pretty easy. Tap on the “plus” icon to go into “media” mode.

Tap on “Gallery” to choose an image from your camera roll or tap on “Take Photo” to capture a new picture.

If you’re satisfied with your photo, send it off by clicking “OK”.

Your photo has now been sent to your pal!

How To Find Pals

To find someone to chat with, go to “Chat”.

Now press “Add Chat”, or the [+] icon on the top right.

On the next screen, you can filter your search by gender, spoken language, learning language and so on.

When you’re ready, select “OK”. To go back and make new changes again, tap on the “Search” icon on the top right.

In the search list, select a pal to chat with by tapping on the “chat” button.

To see a pal’s profile, tap on their profile picture. In their profile page, you can start a chat by tapping on the green “chat” button as well.

Helping Your Pal Learn 1 – Receiving Messages (Giving Feedback)

You can be helpful to the pal you are chatting with by leaving them some feedback. You can be helpful in two situations. First, when receiving messages from your pal, and second, when sending messages.

For now, let’s talk about adding feedback to received messages.

Emoticon Feedback

If you tap next to the chat bubble, you’ll notice these two icons. These let you leave feedback directly on the message.

Pressing directly on the smiley icon let’s you choose from one of these emoticon feedbacks.

For this example, let’s choose a simple “Smile” emoticon.

On your pal’s device, it’ll look something like this.

Great! You have just left your pal an emoticon feedback!

Comment Feedback

This time, let’s tap on the comment icon.

A panel will appear giving you two options: Text or Voice comment.

Text comment

To leave your pal a text comment, tap on the “Keyboard” icon and type in your comment inside the textbox provided.

If you’re happy with your text, click on the “Send” icon located on the right.

Your comment can now be viewed by your pal by tapping on the preview icon (speech bubble with three dots) next to the chat bubble.

Voice Comment

For voice comments, press the “Audio” icon and hold the record button to record and let go when you’re done.

To check your recording, click on the preview button (speech bubble with audio). If you’re satisfied with your audio comment, press the thumbs up button to send. To record again, press thumbs down and repeat the process.

Your audio feedback is now available to your pal. On your pal’s device, to listen to the recording, they should tap on the comment icon.

Then press “Play” to listen.

Helping Your Pal Learn 2 – Sending Voice Messages (Adding Notes)

You can help your pal practice a language by exchanging voice messages.

For this example, your Chinese friend wants to practice English. You can help your pal by speaking to them in English.

To help them understand what you’re saying, you can add notes to your voice messages.

First, record your voice message by holding on the record button.

Preview your recording by tapping on the “Preview” icon. You can send your message as it is by pressing “thumbs up” or you can add a note to help your pal even further.

Tap on “Add Note” and type in what you just said.

You can send it off now but you could be more helpful by adding a translation.

You could even type in more detail about your recording. When you’re satisfied, send your audio message by pressing “thumbs up”.

On your pal’s device, they will be able to listen to your message by pressing the play button.

Tapping on the green arrow will reveal the notes.

You have successfully sent your pal a helpful voice message with notes!

How To Download Phrasebook Audio Packs

Phrasebook audio packs contain all the audio files used inside each language phrasebook. Downloading this locally to your mobile device will give you instant playback while reducing data bandwidth required on your mobile network.

To download a phrasebook audio pack, tap on Discover in the main menu.

Then tap on Phrasebook Audio.

You will now see a list of available audio packs available. Select the language you want then tap on the green button to download the audio pack.

WARNING: This is best done over a Wi-Fi network! Also make sure you have enough space on your mobile device to accommodate the download!

How To Report User

To report a user of inappropriate behavior, there are two ways: a chat conversation or from the user’s profile page.

How to report a user from a chat conversation

a.) In a chat conversation, tap on the “three dot” icon at the top right.

b.) Now tap on Report User.

c.) You’ll be given several options.

Tap on one of the reasons to report the user.

If you tap on Other, please write an explanation so that we may investigate even further. When done, press OK to send.

To dismiss, tap on Cancel..


How to report a user from their profile page

a.) In their profile page, tap on the “three dot” icon on the top right.

b.) Now tap on Report User.

c.) You’ll be given several options.

Tap on one of the reasons to report the user.

If you tap on Other, please write an explanation so that we may investigate even further. When done, press OK to send.

To dismiss, tap on Cancel.

Playing With Pals (Game Function)

Go to Chat > Game.

Now tap on the “Plus” or the green “Add Game” button to invite a pal.

In the popup screen, you can filter out pals by nationality, location, age, learning or spoken languages. Tap “OK” when done.

In the next screen, select a pal by tapping on the “puzzle” button.

In the game screen, select your game language by tapping on the “flag” icon below.

Now select a level. For this example, we’ll select level “1”.

A preview of phrases will now be shown. These phrases will be used throughout the game.

Tap on “Start” to proceed.

In the next screen, choose the number of questions and difficulty of the game. When you’re ready, tap on “Start”.

An invite will now be sent to your pal. When he/she accepts the invite, you can finally play!

How does multiplayer games work?

For each round, you’ll both be given a question.

Your answer should match the meaning of the phrase.

For this example, we chose Japanese as our game language. The question is “How are you?”. So the equivalent in Japanese should be “お元気ですか? (Ogenki desuka?)”.

Tap on your answer to proceed.

In the next screen, you’ll have the option to listen to the phrase. To submit your answer, tap on “Send as text” or “Press and hold to record”.

As you answer, more questions will appear.

To finish the game, you must answer all the questions. To end the game prematurely, tap on the “3 dot icon” on the top right then press “End Game”.

At the end of the game, you will both see your final scores.

Solo Game (Playing with Game Bot)

To play or practice by yourself, you can tap on “Game Bot” in the “Play” screen. Solo games work similarly to multiplayer games.

Great! You now know how to play Games! Good luck!

About Verification and the Trust Score

Why verify your account?

Verify your account to use more app features, and to have more friends find you and chat with you.

This is especially important for our Travel Pal app, for the safety of all travelers and hosts.


LOW

Upload only 1 avatar
Start only up to 5 new chats
Cannot send pictures
Cannot post Moments
Audio and Video Calls disabled
Cannot use Hello Pal Wallet, Transfer and Red Packet functions
Not eligible for Hello Pal Rewards
Will not appear in Find a Pal searches
Invisible Mode disabled

GOOD

Upload 5 avatars
Start multiple chats
Can send pictures
Can post Moments
Audio and Video Calls (5-min calls)
Can use Hello Pal Wallet, Transfer and Red Packet functions
Eligible for Hello Pal Rewards
Appear in Find a Pal searches
Invisible Mode disabled

PERFECT

Upload 5 avatars
Start multiple chats
Can send pictures
Can post Moments
Audio and Video Calls (10-min calls)
Can use Hello Pal Wallet, Transfer and Red Packet functions
Eligible for Hello Pal Rewards
Appear on top of Find a Pal searches
Invisible Mode setting is accessible (coming soon in an app update!)

Go to Settings > Account Management > Trust & Verification

ID

  • Upload a photo of your ID
  • Upload a photo of you with your ID

EMAIL

  • Press the Verify Email button
  • Click on a link sent to your email

MOBILE

  • Make sure you have added your mobile number
  • Enter the SMS verification code in the app

Please refer to the table below to learn how to achieve a higher trust score.


Verified Items Per Trust Level

Low

None
0

Good

0  +  0
0
0
0  +  0

Perfect

0  +  0
0  +  0  +  0

NOTE: Doing all three verification steps is optional. The ID, email and/or mobile number that you provide for verification will be kept confidential and will never be displayed in your profile. Only your Trust Score will appear in your profile, displayed as a color-coded shield icon.

How to Delete Your Account

When you delete your account, your profile, photos, chat history and pal list will be permanently removed.

If you’d just like to take a break, you can temporarily delete the app from your mobile instead.

After you delete your account, you can sign up again with the same username and email (unless you are banned for violating our Community Rules), but we can’t reactivate the account and restore your chat history for you.

To permanently delete your account:

1. Open the Hello Pal app, you’ll be asked to log in first. Go to “Me.”

2. Go to “Account Management.”

3. Press “Delete Account.”

Follow the prompts to permanently delete your account.

For security reasons, we CANNOT delete an account for you. You’ll need to be able to log into your account to delete it.

How do I like or comment on a post

In the Moments screen, you can like or comment on other user’s posts.

To like a post

Tap the “Like” button and select your expression about the post.

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To comment on a post

1. Tap the comment button within the post which you want to comment on.

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2. Type in your text message in the text box. You can also add an audio message or emoticons to your comment.

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  1. To add an emoticon to your comment, simply tap the “Smiley” button, then tap the emoticon you want to add to your post.

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  2. To add an audio message to your comment, tap the “Record” button, then press and hold on the button to start recording.

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    When you’re satisfied with your recording, tap the “Thumbs Up” button to add it to your post. If you want to record again, tap the “Thumbs Down” button and repeat the process.

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3. After you are done, tap the “Send” button to post your comment.

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How to filter posts on Moments

To filter posts on Moments, tap the “Filter” button at the top-right corner of the Moments screen.

In the Filter screen, you will see the following options:

Language

Posts which meet the language requirements selected by you will be shown on Moments.

Location

Posts which meet the location requirements selected by you will be shown on Moments.

Categories

Posts which meet the category requirements selected by you will be shown on Moments.

Reset

To reset your filter, tap Reset to undo all changes to the filter.

After you’re done, tap Confirmed at the top-right corner of the Filter screen to apply the changes to the filter. Now, only posts which meet your requirements will be shown on your Moments screen.

How to view posts on Moments

To view posts made by other users, tap Moments at the bottom-left corner of the screen.

In the Moments screen, you will see posts made by other users.

You can also view which posts are most popular. To do this, tap Popular and you will see the most popular posts made by other users.

If you’ve chosen to follow other users, you can view their posts by tapping Followed and you will see the posts made by them.

How to make a post on Moments

Got something to share with your friends on Hello Pal? You can do it by making a post on Moments!

1. Tap Moments at the bottom-left corner of the screen.

2. Tap the “+” button.

3. You can add the following contents to your post in the New Post screen.


Text

Type in your text message which you want to share with others in the text box.

Emoji

To add an emoticon to your post, simply tap the “Smiley” button at the bottom of the screen, then tap the emoticon you want to add to your post.

Audio Messages

Tap the “Record” button at the bottom of the screen, then press and hold on the button to start recording.

When you’re satisfied with your recording, tap the “Thumbs Up” button to add it to your post. If you want to record again, tap the “Thumbs Down” button and repeat the process.

Pictures

Tap the “Camera” button at the bottom of screen, then select Gallery to choose an image from your camera roll or tap Camera to capture a new picture.

Translation

You can also send your text message in a foreign language. First, type in your text message in the text box.

Then, tap the “Translate” button.

You’ll now be in the translation panel. Tap Translate to translate your text message.

At the top is what you wrote, and at the bottom is the translation, using the language that was last used, in this case, French.

To change the language, tap the language name and choose a different one, like Japanese.

After that, you can either tap Replace to replace the original text with the translation, or tap Insert to add the translation after the original text in the text box.

Location

When you make a post on Moments, you can tap the Location button to show your current location to others.

Tag

To tag your post, select one or more tags from tag suggestions.

After you are done, tap the “Send” button to share your post with others.

How to follow people on Moments

When you want to follow a user, simply tap the “Follow” button at the top-right corner of the post made by that user.

How to view comments made on a post

To view comments about a specific post, tap the post which you want to view its comments from the Moments screen.

Notifications on Moments

To view notifications about you on Moments, tap the Notifications button at the top-left corner of the Moments screen.

In the Notice screen, you will see the following tabs:

Comments

This tab shows comments made by other users about your posts.

Likes

This tab shows Likes made by others users about your posts.

Follows

This tab shows users who’ve chosen to follow you on Moments.

How to delete a post on Moments

Step 1

Tap the “More Options” button within the post which you want to delete from your Moments screen.

Step 2

Tap Delete to remove the post from Moments, so you won’t see it again.