Using Tobava AI well

Last updated: 16 October 2026

Tobava AI answers questions, explains ideas, helps you write and plan, and looks things up on the web when a question needs current information. This guide covers how to get consistently useful answers and how each chat feature works.

Writing prompts that work

The AI only knows what is in the conversation. The more specific you are about the goal, the audience and the format, the less guessing it has to do.

1. State the task and the goal

Instead of: “Email to landlord.”

Try: “Write a polite email to my landlord asking for the broken heater to be fixed. It has been two weeks since I first reported it. Keep it under 150 words.”

2. Give the context that matters

Mention your level of knowledge, your location, or constraints such as budget or time. “Explain how vaccines work to a 10-year-old” and “Explain how mRNA vaccines work for a biology undergraduate” produce very different, and more useful, answers than “Explain vaccines”.

3. Ask for a format

Tobava AI can answer with lists, tables and code blocks. Ask for what you will actually use:

“Compare the three cheapest ways to get from Sydney Airport to the CBD as a table with cost, time and luggage friendliness.”

“Turn these notes into a 5-slide outline with a title and three bullet points per slide.”

4. Paste the material you want worked on

To summarise, proofread or rewrite something, paste the text into the message. A single message can hold up to about 4,000 characters (roughly 600–700 words); anything longer is cut off. For a longer piece, send it in parts, or attach the document on a paid plan.

5. Use the shortcuts

The home page shortcuts Research with sources, Write an article and Plan a presentation start a request for you. Add your topic and send.

Follow-up questions

Tobava AI remembers the conversation, so you can refine an answer instead of starting again: “Make it shorter”, “Now in a more formal tone”, “What about for a family of four?”. Under the latest answer you will usually see three suggested follow-ups; tap one to send it.

Two things to know about long conversations:

Only the most recent messages (about the last eight) are sent with each new question. In a long chat, early details can drop out, so restate anything important.
When you change topic, start a New chat. Old context can confuse a fresh question.

Web search in chat

When a question is about recent events, specific people, companies, products or prices, Tobava AI searches the web before answering. You will see numbered markers such as [1] in the answer and a list of sources underneath. Open them to check the details. Weather questions are answered from a live forecast for the place you name.

There is a daily allowance of full web searches, where the AI reads web pages to answer: 1 a day without an account, 3 a day on a free account. On AI Light and AI Plus, the paid models (GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and Tobava Auto) search the live web whenever a question needs it, within your plan's usage allowance. When it is used up, Tobava AI still looks things up, but with results from Tobava Search instead, and a note under the chat box tells you this. To ask for a search directly, just say so: “Search the web for…” or “Look up…”.

Voice

Microphone button: speak your message instead of typing it.
Voice chat (the sound-wave button, or Voice chat in the menu): a full-screen spoken conversation. Tobava listens, answers aloud in a few short sentences, then listens again. Tap the circle to interrupt or to speak now, and use Mute or End when you need to.
Listen: the button under any answer reads it aloud.

Under Settings → Voice you can turn Natural voice off to use your device's built-in voice, which starts sooner, and choose whether answers are read aloud automatically after you ask with the microphone. Spoken answers have a daily allowance, which is larger for signed-in and paid accounts. Your recordings are sent to an AI provider to be transcribed.

Attaching images and documents

Attachments are part of the paid plans (AI Light and AI Plus). On the free plan you can type or speak your questions, and the attach button explains the paid option. On a paid plan, use the paperclip to add an image, a PDF, a Word document (.docx), or a text file such as .txt, .md, .csv or .json.

Each message works with one attachment. If you send several over a conversation, the most recent one is used.
For images, ask a specific question: “What does the warning light on this dashboard mean?” Tobava AI is told to describe only what is actually visible and to say when something is unclear.
For documents, ask about the content: “List every deadline in this contract.” It is told to point to the section or page it used and to say plainly when the document does not contain the answer.
Attached files are not saved with your chat. Only the file name is kept.

Temporary chats

Choose Temporary chat in the menu for anything you do not want kept in your account. A temporary chat is not saved to your chat history and never shows sponsored cards. Your messages are still sent to the AI provider that answers them, so the usual care about personal details applies.

Saved chats

When you are signed in, each conversation is saved to your account as text and listed under Recents in the menu, so you can reopen it on any device. You can pin chats to keep them at the top, and delete any chat from the list. To delete everything, use Settings → Data → Delete all. Free accounts keep the 30 most recent chats; paid plans keep every chat.

Make answers fit you

Under Settings → Personalisation, tell Tobava AI how to answer you in up to 600 characters, for example “I'm a nurse, so medical terms are fine”. These instructions are kept in your browser and sent with each message. Under Settings → General, choose the answer language.

Checking answers and knowing the limits

AI models generate text that sounds confident whether or not it is correct. Tobava AI is instructed not to invent facts about specific people, companies or recent events, and to say when it cannot verify something, but it can still be wrong, incomplete or out of date. Good habits:

Open the sources for anything you will act on, and check the claim is really on the page.
Watch for name mix-ups. Searches can return different people or businesses with the same name.
Check numbers, dates and quotes against the original.
Ask it to show its working for maths and reasoning: “Explain step by step.”
Treat opinions as opinions. When you ask for a judgement or prediction, it is asked to label it as a judgement, not a fact.
Get professional advice for medical, legal, financial or other important decisions. Tobava's Terms say not to rely on Tobava AI for these.

Still stuck? Email [email protected] and tell us what you were trying to do. For a bug, include the page address and the browser you use.