Supported browsers, network and headphones

Use a current Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox with a microphone and 3D graphics, on a network that allows audio streaming, and wear headphones if you can.

Evolve Sim runs in the browser. Nothing is installed.

Browsers

Use a current version of Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox on a laptop or desktop. Chrome on a desktop with a working microphone is the setup we test first and the one to use for an important run. Phones and tablets work too, but the microphone and 3D graphics are the parts most likely to be limited there.

Three browser features need to be available.

• Microphone access, so you can speak. If it is blocked you can still type. See Microphone setup.
• Audio playback, so you can hear the character. On iPhone and iPad, audio is switched on when you tap Start simulation, so the first tap matters.
• WebGL, so the 3D character can be drawn. If it is unavailable the sim falls back to a 2D stage. See Avatar not loading.

Keep the sim tab in the foreground. Switching away mid-conversation can pause the microphone on some phones.

Network

A sim streams your speech to a recognition service and streams the character's voice back, so it needs a steady connection rather than a fast one. A home or office connection is fine. Mobile data works but can drop turns in a lift or on a train.

If you are on a corporate network with a firewall or proxy, ask IT to allow secure WebSocket connections to the Microsoft speech services (speech.microsoft.com) and to supabase.co, and ordinary HTTPS to evolve-sim.com and api.elevenlabs.io. A proxy that inspects or buffers streaming connections will make the character slow to answer or silent.

Headphones

Wear headphones if you can, especially on a phone. When the character's voice plays through a speaker it can feed back into your open microphone. Evolve Sim guards against this, so a few words from the speaker will not be taken as your answer, but headphones remove the problem and make a noisy office easier.

A headset with its own microphone is best. If you use one, pick it in the Input device list on the Before we begin screen rather than leaving the laptop's built-in microphone selected.

Embedded sims

When a sim is embedded in another website, that site decides whether the microphone is available inside the frame. If it does not work there, the embed has not been given microphone permission by the host site. You can still type.

If a run keeps failing on one computer, try the same sim in Chrome on another machine before contacting support. That tells you whether the problem is the device or the account.