Great but needs a few extras
This is a great service and hats off to the operators. IMO it needs a built in spellcheck/autocorrect function and better multitasking support to include the ability to paste pre written text during a call. Personally I find it hard to type information in a structured manner under pressure making it hard for me to correctly provide details for the operator to express what I’m on about correctly to the caller which extends an already long call with awkward silences whilst I slowly type one fingered then read what I’m sending in case of typos.
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Response from developer
Thanks for your comments. You can enable 'Auto-typing' under your Relay preferences in Settings and this might help you. You can also save anything you might want to type and send regularly, under 'Favourites'. Please take a look at our Help videos on the website - www.relayuk.bt.com/help/how-to-videos.html - or contact the Helpdesk for more information - relay.uk.helpdesk@bt.com
Addressing barriers
I have just started using the app as someone with tinnitus and autism, who finds telephone calls really difficult (I don’t make them unless it’s an absolute crisis). This app is enabling me to make timely calls eg to get my vehicle fixed so I can leave the house again, to call NHS when a phone appointment didn’t happen etc. I am now making my way through a list of calls I’ve needed to make for so long and getting the healthcare etc I need at the re than just not having it and making the important calls, that for many others are just a part of daily life.
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Response from developer
We're delighted that Relay UK is helping you. Thanks for your comments.
Absolutely Life-Changing – A Must-Have App!
Relay UK has completely transformed the way I communicate. As someone with hearing difficulties, I used to feel very isolated when it came to making phone calls – but this app has opened up a whole new world for me. It’s simple to use, reliable, and incredibly empowering.
The interface is clean and intuitive, and the connection to the relay assistant is always fast and professional. The text comes through clearly, and I love that I can type my responses directly in the app. It works seamlessly whether I’m calling my GP, booking appointments, or just chatting with friends and family.
I’m especially impressed with how well it integrates with my regular mobile number – I don’t have to use a separate device or explain anything to the person I’m calling. The experience is smooth, discreet, and dignified.
I also really appreciate that it works for emergency services too – knowing I can call 999 via Relay UK gives me so much peace of mind.
The interface is clean and intuitive, and the connection to the relay assistant is always fast and professional. The text comes through clearly, and I love that I can type my responses directly in the app. It works seamlessly whether I’m calling my GP, booking appointments, or just chatting with friends and family.
I’m especially impressed with how well it integrates with my regular mobile number – I don’t have to use a separate device or explain anything to the person I’m calling. The experience is smooth, discreet, and dignified.
I also really appreciate that it works for emergency services too – knowing I can call 999 via Relay UK gives me so much peace of mind.
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Response from developer
Many thanks for your detailed review. We're delighted that Relay UK is working for you exactly in the way it's intended to!
It’s good but…
I really don’t want to sound rude, the app is awesome and does help, but a lot of the time I get put through with an agent with a really strong accent and when it comes to things like the DWP virtual assistant or anything virtual the bot has a really hard time understanding and it’s a constant back and forth, and then i’m put through to an agent for something that could’ve easily been updated through the virtual agent. I’ve also noticed that when I get put through to speak to an actual person, it seems like the relay people just hang up the call??? As if they don’t want to be stuck on the waiting line?? Obviously that’s not very helpful.
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Response from developer
Thanks for your feedback. The Relay Assistant won't disconnect a call until you're ready to end the conversation, but sometimes the person you're calling can hang up or get disconnected. If you have any specific examples where you don't think this is the case, please let the Helpdesk know and they will investigate - relay.uk.helpdesk@bt.com
Absolutely amazing.
I am not fully deaf, but I have hearing loss and tinnitus. Phone calls can be extremely difficult for me, and on a bad day, can actually be painful. I downloaded the Relay App about a year ago but was too worried about using it. I wasn't sure how it would work, and I was really nervous. I finally plucked up the courage to give it a go. I've chosen to type my side of the conversation and have the other persons side typed too. This means that for me, any call I make is just like using a live chat facility and it has been a life changer for me. I've always had to have someone else with me when I was dealing with a company who only let you call them, and had no email/chat facility, but being able to make calls to anyone by myself has been such a massive help to me.
I feel less of a burden to my friends and family, and have regained a little bit of my independence.
Whoever came up with this idea deserves every single medal and accolade, and the agents who deal with these calls are godsends.
Thank you to all involved in this incredible service.
I feel less of a burden to my friends and family, and have regained a little bit of my independence.
Whoever came up with this idea deserves every single medal and accolade, and the agents who deal with these calls are godsends.
Thank you to all involved in this incredible service.
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Response from developer
Many thanks for your review. We're delighted Relay UK is giving you more independence and allowing you to make the phone calls you want to.
Invaluable!
This app has been an absolute boon! I wish I had found out about it sooner and I tell everyone about it now, in the hope of helping someone else & earlier in their journey. It’s only my own internet connection that lets me down a bit because I sometimes get disconnected. I’m not sure about if you need to come out of the app to look up something eg on email app and then come back to the Relay app screen - I haven’t gotten the hang of not losing connection that way yet but, again, that is my fault. This is such a great app - possibly the most useful one I have!
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Response from developer
Thank you for your review and comments, it's great to know Relay UK is helping you.
I’m so confused
I can’t tell if it’s a robot typing the information from the call or a person, there was nothing to indicate which one but the conversation was incredibly hard to understand as it was just typo after typo and didn’t make sense.
I understand the messages send as the person types but even at that, it’s a communication service so I wish they were more careful to type correctly. The odd typo is fine but this was far too difficult to follow. I gave up quite quickly because it made my anxiety so bad as it could not keep up with the voice on the phone at all and then fully just stopped transcribing as the call continued in the background. I was so excited to use this too.
I understand the messages send as the person types but even at that, it’s a communication service so I wish they were more careful to type correctly. The odd typo is fine but this was far too difficult to follow. I gave up quite quickly because it made my anxiety so bad as it could not keep up with the voice on the phone at all and then fully just stopped transcribing as the call continued in the background. I was so excited to use this too.
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Response from developer
Sorry you've had this experience. All calls are transcribed by Advisors (not robots), so if you do ever have a bad experience, please let us know - you can send us Feedback by filling a few details into the form within the app - found under 'Settings'. Thank you.
A Lifesaver
I rarely review apps but this has genuinely changed my life. I’m hearing-impaired and struggle with selective mutism; I’ve been using Relay for maybe half a year now, and once I figured it out an entire world opened up to me. So many things were uphill battles before because so many places had no way to contact them without phoning, or needed me to phone to do a security check, and I couldn’t, and no one seemed to understand that. There are some issues innate to certain features (e.g. the sending one word at a time thing means it is constantly sending my typos and mistakes before I can correct them) but the good it does blows any small problem out of the water. Every assistant I’ve had has been friendly, patient, and helpful, even putting up with calls where I had to remain on hold for ages or where they had to type out a long terms of service speech to me. I hope it’s not overstepping or misusing the resource, but I’ve also recommended Relay to some friends with severe anxiety disorders who can’t make calls, as well as some with semi-verbal autism. I think this could genuinely change lives for many kinds of disorders outside of deafness and speech impairment.
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Response from developer
Many thanks for taking the time to write this review. Your detailed feedback is very helpful and we're really pleased that Relay UK is helping you make the calls you want and need to.
Alex Samuel
Without the brilliant service making and receiving calls, I would be completely unable to do my job and hold my HGV licence. As I am unable to understand speech over the phone. The operators who man this service should all be receiving appropriate recognition and medals etc As they are very much a requirement of service where deafness is a problem.
In recent times it would make a tremendous difference if it was possible when a call comes in to be able to show on the mobile screen that that call is coming in via RELAY UK. This would show exactly where the call is coming from
In recent times it would make a tremendous difference if it was possible when a call comes in to be able to show on the mobile screen that that call is coming in via RELAY UK. This would show exactly where the call is coming from
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Response from developer
We're delighted Relay UK is helping you communicate over the phone and love sharing comments like yours with the Team that supports the service, thank you! We'd love to identify Relay UK calls on your mobile, but at the moment we're a bit restricted in what is allowed in terms of integration with voice calls. We hope this will change in the future and we can make Relay UK even easier to use!
Fantastic Service!
There are so many places/authorities/companies which just don’t offer email or you think you can email or use live chat or whatever but then it turns out it’s the wrong email address or no one replies in time etc. and so for people who can’t or have extreme difficulties using the telephone, it’s just a nightmare to sort anything out!
I have gone without medication, not seen doctors, not got good customer service, been unable to return faulty products, suffered financial emotional or physical hardship due to not being able to use the telephone properly, so when I found this and got used to the technology and service, I was so happy!
I don’t have a hearing impediment. I sometimes have a speech impediment. I have autism and part of that is auditory processing disorder and some issues with social anxiety and communication problems. Relay U.K. are there for anyone who has some form of disability who needs to use the service. They will type out everything that is said at the other end end if you need that and read everything you write if you need that too or just one or the other: it’s tailored to what you need!
It is very easy to use this app. The people are very helpful and it’s all confidential so it’s quite safe to use for talking to a doctor or a lawyer or ringing about debts or whatever you need to. I couldn’t recommend it more highly if I were being paid to which I’m not of course. Enjoy the app
I have gone without medication, not seen doctors, not got good customer service, been unable to return faulty products, suffered financial emotional or physical hardship due to not being able to use the telephone properly, so when I found this and got used to the technology and service, I was so happy!
I don’t have a hearing impediment. I sometimes have a speech impediment. I have autism and part of that is auditory processing disorder and some issues with social anxiety and communication problems. Relay U.K. are there for anyone who has some form of disability who needs to use the service. They will type out everything that is said at the other end end if you need that and read everything you write if you need that too or just one or the other: it’s tailored to what you need!
It is very easy to use this app. The people are very helpful and it’s all confidential so it’s quite safe to use for talking to a doctor or a lawyer or ringing about debts or whatever you need to. I couldn’t recommend it more highly if I were being paid to which I’m not of course. Enjoy the app
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Response from developer
Many thanks for your review. We're delighted that Relay UK is helping you to make the phone calls you want and need to make!
Relay UK
I give it 5 stars because it is a useful tool that help Deaf people be more independent in our lives. It allows us communicate with important individuals such as GPs or school staff for urgent calls. Relay makes it possible and easy for us, and I’m immensely grateful for it as it has evolved from typetalk to smartphones. The people in the middle who relay for us are fast at typing, transparent and friendly. I use it almost everyday and will continue to do so. Thank you!
Little faulty is the typing repeating itself, for example, if I type ‘thank you so much,’ it automatically repeats as ‘thank you so much much muc muc muc much’ that’s all apart it little faulty that service is fantastic thank you
Little faulty is the typing repeating itself, for example, if I type ‘thank you so much,’ it automatically repeats as ‘thank you so much much muc muc muc much’ that’s all apart it little faulty that service is fantastic thank you
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Response from developer
Thank you for your review Jemma. Sorry you've experienced some of your words being repeated. We're aware this can happen on certain phones on occasions and will fix it as soon as we can.
Download regionally restricted to UK
I'm writing this review on my iPhone SE V2 UK region. I don't like using smart phones because the screen and keyboard are too small for my clumsy fingers even on the largest mobs. I prefer to use my iPad. I can't use my iPad currently because the Relay UK/BT development team has decided to restrict download of the iPad Relay UK app only to UK region devices. My iPad is set up for Australia region. I need to leave it set up for Australia so all my Australian banking apps will continue to download and update properly. If Relay UK user security and Relay UK server security are the issues underlying regional restriction, then please at least add in further BT download regions for Relay UK app: Ireland; Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Gibraltar, all other EU, and all Five Eye countries: UK; US; Canada; Oz; NZ. Given my unpleasant and extensive experience in 2020 of a Portsmouth-based Romanian Organised Crime gang, who, according to the NCA, control credit card fraud in the UK, then maybe some EU polities are still not safe enough for BT to permit download secure apps such as Relay UK.
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Brilliant assistants
I have enormous problems hearing on the phone, especially when calling e.g. government services. This app is an absolute boon. The assistants are fantastic and so patient. The most recent call had me on hold for over an hour, and the assistant was very reassuring that it wasn’t a problem. When we finally got through, the actual call only took two minutes.
Others have said it’s annoying that your words get displayed in the body of the message every time you tap the space bar. It’s certainly not what people are used to when using something like WhatsApp, but here, the person you are typing to is talking to someone else on your behalf and typing *their* response, which takes time. When they finish typing what the person had said, they always end with “GA” (does that mean “go ahead”?). Wait for that and it doesn’t matter if your words appear one by one.
Also, if calling a number where you know there will be a series of automated options, I always type a summary of what my call is about using a Notes app, then copy and paste it into the Relay app as soon as I’m connected so the assistant doesn’t have to type out all the options. Brilliant app - hugely appreciated
Others have said it’s annoying that your words get displayed in the body of the message every time you tap the space bar. It’s certainly not what people are used to when using something like WhatsApp, but here, the person you are typing to is talking to someone else on your behalf and typing *their* response, which takes time. When they finish typing what the person had said, they always end with “GA” (does that mean “go ahead”?). Wait for that and it doesn’t matter if your words appear one by one.
Also, if calling a number where you know there will be a series of automated options, I always type a summary of what my call is about using a Notes app, then copy and paste it into the Relay app as soon as I’m connected so the assistant doesn’t have to type out all the options. Brilliant app - hugely appreciated
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Response from developer
Many thanks for your review and detailed feedback, much appreciated!
5stars for the humans delivering the service live
It is difficult to do a review for the app only, since the core of RelayUK is the advisors, the humans that actually relay each call ... they are true lifeline for those of us with communication impairments. The app itself is much improved, and still room for improvement. The humans who work at RelayUK are very responsive to feedback and issues, and the only thing missing is that too many people and organisations don't seem to be aware of RelayUK ... even my local Disability Action charity, and my local council ... nine out of ten outbound calls involve providing background and educating folks and what the service is, how it works, and who is works for.
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Response from developer
Thank you for your review and very detailed feedback, this is always really helpful as we look at priorities for further development. We are progressing well with a Mac desktop version of the app and plan to release an initial trial version fairly soon.
Phenomenal service
I only recently discovered this app and service and I have to say that I am so very grateful that it exists!
I’m an autistic woman and I struggle with mutism, processing verbal information, and the sensory aspect of being in a phone queue (the holding music and repetitive messages lead to sensory overload).
All of this makes phone calls difficult at best and impossible at worst, so to have someone write down what is being said and being able to write back to them is an absolute godsend.
I’m an autistic woman and I struggle with mutism, processing verbal information, and the sensory aspect of being in a phone queue (the holding music and repetitive messages lead to sensory overload).
All of this makes phone calls difficult at best and impossible at worst, so to have someone write down what is being said and being able to write back to them is an absolute godsend.
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Response from developer
We're delighted that Relay UK is helping you make calls - thank you for your feedback!
Amazing
This app has changed my life as somebody with Auditory Processing Disorder, and being Autistic with mutism, phone calls were impossible and I was feeling like such a burden constantly asking for calls to be made on my behalf by family and friends, but this app changes all of that. The RelayUK assistants are friendly, and they advocate for their callers too. Often you might find that the person you’re calling won’t address you if you’re speech impaired but can hear them, however RelayUK consistently emphazises that the person on the other end of the call should be addressing the caller. The assistants do an amazing job, thanks so much for being there for deaf, speech impaired and other people who can’t use the phone in conventional ways.
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Response from developer
Many thanks for your review and so delighted Relay UK is helping you!
Ease of use
This app is excellent take your mobile phone anywhere there is internet or get it on your SIM card package and receive and make calls through the BT relay system. You can make calls privately as other hearing people do without people hearing your conversation on your landline phone. Plus you can save your conversation and go back to them, you can take email address and no longer run out of space on your screen. It’s great for the deaf and hearing impaired.
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Response from developer
Great to hear Relay UK is helping you, thank you for your feedback.
Cursor speed abysmal
I’m not sure what has changed but this app cannot seem to cope with my typing speed, so I’m forced to type slow and I end up having other caller interrupting me cos my responses are so slow due to being forced to type slower. I notice when I type fast the cursor struggle to keep up and end up placing letters in wrong order like when I want to type ‘keep’ it ends up coming out as ‘eepk’, so you can imagine how frustrating it is when I’m making vital phone calls, trying to put my message across as urgent. It’s starting to put me off using this app and rely on others to make phone calls, which defeats the purpose of this app if it cannot keep up with my typing speed. Even typing this review is not causing problems at all with the cursor keeping up with my typing just fine. So I think this app is the culprit, please can this be sorted asap, thank you.
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Response from developer
Thanks for your feedback Steph. We've recently released version 3.5 which addresses some stability issues on certain devices, so hopefully you'll have seen performance improve since then. If you're still having any issues, please do let us know through the Feedback option in the app (under Settings), or by emailing the Helpdesk - relay.uk.helpdesk@bt.com
Space bar and text box
Useful app but disappointingly not user friendly. In spite of the fact that many users have pointed this out over many years, these issues have not been fixed:
1) Space bar problem - every time the space bar is pressed the text is sent. This is absolutely frustrating. You keep saying that it is useful, but you can be sure that it is not.
2) The more serious problem is that the keyboard covers the text box, so I can't see what I am typing. What is that? I would have thought that you would have fixed it immediately, but you have not. I am sorry it is strange to say the least that you think that it helps deaf people.
1) Space bar problem - every time the space bar is pressed the text is sent. This is absolutely frustrating. You keep saying that it is useful, but you can be sure that it is not.
2) The more serious problem is that the keyboard covers the text box, so I can't see what I am typing. What is that? I would have thought that you would have fixed it immediately, but you have not. I am sorry it is strange to say the least that you think that it helps deaf people.
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Response from developer
Thanks for your feedback. We're releasing the next version of the app very soon and that will give you an alternative option to sending each word as soon as you press the space bar (point 1). For point 2, please can you give us some more details of what phone / device you're using, along with details of when this has happened so we can investigate further ? (relay.uk.helpdesk@bt.com)
Seems improved
I’m not sure if this service has been updated recently but it seems much improved. I’d given up using it but recently I had no choice because it’s not reasonable to keep asking relatives to make calls. The last 3 times I’ve used it over the last 2 weeks it’s been very successful. On a long call (on hold to the tax office) I had 3 different operators but this didn’t present a problem. Personally, I only feel it’s appropriate except for business calls but in most cases personal calls can be conducted via instant messaging or text.
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Response from developer
We've made a lot of changes to the app in the last few months, so thanks for letting us know that Relay UK is now working well for you.