API keys

SayOVA talks to the AI with your own API key. That is why there is no subscription and no SayOVA server: you pay your provider directly for what you use — usually a cent or two a minute — and your conversations go straight to them. This page shows how to get a key, how to hand it to the watch and how to manage it later.

Which provider?

	Google Gemini	OpenAI
Recommended for	Most people: cheapest, natural, fast	OpenAI's voices and models
Models in SayOVA	Fast (gemini-3.8-live), Thorough (gemini-3.8-live-extended-thinking)	Fast (gpt-realtime-2.1-mini), Best (gpt-realtime-2.1)
Approximate cost	1–2 ¢ per minute	2–5 ¢ (Fast) or 6–11 ¢ (Best) per minute
Voices	30	10
Get a key	Google AI Studio	OpenAI platform

You can connect both and switch between them at any time; each keeps its own model and voice.

Getting a Google Gemini key

1. Sign in to Google AI Studio with your Google account and open API Keys.
2. Choose Create API key and copy it.
3. In the EU, the UK and Switzerland, turn on billing: Projects → Set up billing. Prepaying $5 lasts for many hours of talking, and on the paid tier Google does not use your conversations to improve its products.
4. Optional but recommended: set a monthly spending limit under Spend, as a second safety net next to SayOVA's own budget.

Without billing, Google's terms for its free tier allow it to use what you send to improve its products. With SayOVA that is your voice, so billing is worth turning on wherever you are.

Getting an OpenAI key

1. Sign in to the OpenAI platform and open API keys.
2. Choose Create new secret key and copy it.
3. Make sure your account has credit under Billing. OpenAI's API is prepaid: without credit, the key is accepted but every conversation ends with No credit left.

Handing the key to the watch

You never type a key on the watch. Instead:

1. On the watch, choose the provider. A QR code appears.
2. Scan it with your phone's camera (or tap On phone to open the page on the paired phone).
3. Paste the key on the page and tap Send to watch.
4. Check that the watch and the page show the same code, and tap the check mark on the watch.
5. SayOVA checks the key with the provider and shows Connected.

The key is encrypted in your phone's browser with a key that only this watch holds, before it leaves the phone. The relay in between (pair.sayova.app) only passes on data it cannot read and deletes it after ten minutes at the latest. On the watch the key is encrypted again, with a key kept in the watch's secure hardware that cannot be copied off it. Getting started shows these steps with pictures.

Managing keys: Settings → Provider

The first line of the settings shows the provider and whether its key is on the watch. Tap it to:

• Switch the provider — tap Google Gemini or OpenAI. A provider without a key asks you to connect one.
• Connect a key for a provider that has none yet.
• New key for … — replace a key, for example after you revoked the old one.
• Remove … key — deletes the key from the watch.

Each connected provider shows the last characters of its key (Key …a1B2), so you can tell which one is on the watch.

Important: removing a key from the watch does not revoke it. If you think a key got into the wrong hands, delete it at Google AI Studio or on the OpenAI platform and connect a new one.

When the key stops working

Message on the watch	What it means	What to do
Key not accepted	The provider rejected the key: deleted, revoked or mistyped.	Tap Connect and hand over a new key.
No credit left	The account has no credit, no billing set up, or reached its spending limit.	Top up or raise the limit at your provider.
Too many requests	The provider asks to slow down (rate limit).	Try again in a minute.

More in Troubleshooting.