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Automatic Top-Up
Automatic top-up buys a pack of extra minutes when your balance runs low, so a service or event isn’t cut short. This guide explains how to set it up.
What is Automatic Top-Up
Automatic top-up buys a pack of extra translation minutes for you when your balance falls below a level you choose, so a service or event isn’t cut short because nobody was watching the balance. The card on file is charged, and the minutes are added to your balance.
It only ever buys one of your plan’s own packs, so those minutes carry over like any pack you buy yourself. The level is checked against your whole balance, included and extra minutes added together, so on a monthly plan nothing is bought until your included minutes are nearly used up.
Learn more about included and extra minutes
It is off until you turn it on. You can see whether it is on under "Billing", in the "Translation minutes" section, where it shows "Automatic top-up is on" or "Automatic top-up is off".
Turning It On
Click "Billing" in the app’s menu. In the "Translation minutes" section, find "Automatic top-up is off" and click "Set up".
Choose the "Pack to buy", the level to "Top up when the balance falls below", and the "Most that may be spent automatically" in a month. Then turn on "Buy more translation minutes automatically" and click "Done".
The switch stays greyed out until you have chosen a pack and set a spending limit, because an automatic purchase has to know what to buy and how much may be spent. If your billing details aren’t saved yet you will be asked for them first.
You need the "manage billing" permission to do this. Anyone else in your organisation can see the setting but not change it.
The Spending Limit
The "Most that may be spent automatically" is the most that can be spent on automatic top-ups in any one month. It doesn’t reset on a fixed date. Instead, each top-up stops counting towards the limit once it is a month old.
Once the limit is reached, nothing more is bought automatically until an earlier top-up drops out of the month, so you can still run out. You can always buy a pack yourself under "Billing".
During a Broadcast
A top-up can happen while you are live. The minutes are added once the payment goes through, and nothing is bought if the payment fails or the spending limit has been reached.
While automatic top-up is able to buy more minutes, you get fewer low balance warnings during a broadcast.
Changing or Turning It Off
When automatic top-up is on, the "Translation minutes" section shows "Automatic top-up is on" with a "Change" button. Click it to choose a different pack, level or spending limit, or turn off "Buy more translation minutes automatically" to stop it.
To remove the pack or the spending limit, turn automatic top-up off first.
Changing plan doesn’t change the pack automatic top-up buys. If your new plan doesn’t sell the pack you chose, nothing is bought until you choose one of its packs. "Billing" tells you when this happens, and asks you to choose one of the new plan’s packs or turn automatic top-up off.