Getting started
Getting started
There is no setup to do beyond creating an account: no install, no extension and no configuration. The app runs in a browser tab, and the only hardware it needs is the microphone you already have. This guide covers the first ten minutes.
Create your account
Sign up with an email address or with Google, answer nine short questions, then start your 24-hour free trial of Max (fair use limits apply). Card required; $29.99/month after unless you cancel. Cancel any time from Settings → Billing in one tap; no reminder is sent before the charge.
Land on the Dashboard
The Dashboard is the home screen. Its one big button starts a session with Johnny, or resumes the one you left open, and under it sits what to do next: overdue work, what is due today, and today's agenda. Everything else is reachable from the sidebar on the left.
Learn the sidebar sections
The sidebar is five short groups, and each heading folds away if you never use it. At the top sit Dashboard and Calendar. Study holds Sessions, Chat, Math, Classwork and Review. Courses holds My Courses, New Course and Exam Study. Games is one row that opens to the arcade and GradeRace. Progress holds Progress, Grades and AI Grader. Your account lives in the footer: the gear beside your name opens Settings & account, which is where Credits, Billing, Integrations, Security and Help & Guides are.
Use the search box when the list is slower than typing
Under the Start a Session button there is a box reading Search or get help. It searches every page in the app, every guide, and your own history (chats, quizzes, sessions and assignments) at once, including pages the sidebar has no room for, such as your saved decks or the grade calculator, so you can jump straight there or find the answer to a question without searching the menus. Ctrl+K opens it from anywhere (Cmd+K on a Mac), and pressing Escape closes it again.
Start a session
Press Start a Session in the sidebar, or the session button on the Dashboard. Both open the same live room with Johnny. Your browser will ask for microphone permission the first time. Allow it, or Johnny cannot hear you.
Say what you're stuck on
Talk normally. You do not need to phrase it as a prompt. "I've got a chemistry test Friday and I don't get limiting reactants" is a perfectly good opening, and it is better than a keyword.
You do not have to start with a session
If you would rather not talk out loud, Practice Quizzes, Flashcards, the AI Grader and the Visual Explainer all work on their own without ever opening the tutoring room.
Check Credits early
The Credits count sits in the sidebar footer, next to your name, and opens the page that answers how much you have left. It is worth looking at once at the start so the number is not a surprise mid-assignment.
Common questions
Do I need to install anything?
No. It runs in a browser tab. There is nothing to download and no extension to add, on either a laptop or a phone.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. The layout adapts to a small screen and the sidebar collapses behind a menu button. Screen sharing is the one thing that needs a computer; on a phone, hold the page up to the camera or attach a photo instead.
What if the microphone doesn't work?
It is almost always a browser permission rather than the app. Check the padlock icon in the address bar and confirm the microphone is allowed for this site, then reload the page. If another app is holding the microphone, such as a call or a recording tool, close it first.
Still stuck?
The support page goes to a real mailbox, and a reply comes back from a person.