Understanding the Difference: Elvin vs. Life Ring Button & Copilot
Elvin Copilot is the successor to the Life Ring Button (LRB) and the Legacy Copilot. For new clients, Elvin fully replaces both products and is the only available option. If you are an existing client, you don’t need to worry: you can continue using the LRB and Legacy Copilot indefinitely, or you can switch to Elvin at any time without any change in pricing.
Product Definitions
The Legacy Copilot was introduced as part of the Life Ring Button, under the “Chat” tab. It provided conversational assistance alongside other features such as Newsfeed and Feedback.
The Elvin Copilot is a combined, modernized experience. It delivers almost complete feature parity with the LRB + Copilot setup but unifies everything into a single widget. Elvin also introduces new capabilities that were not available in the older products.
Availability and Support
For existing clients, both approaches are supported. You may continue using the Life Ring Button and Legacy Copilot indefinitely, or switch over to Elvin at your own pace. There is no price increase when transitioning.
For new clients, only Elvin Copilot is available. The Life Ring Button and Legacy Copilot are no longer exposed in new environments.
Feature Comparison
Elvin and Legacy Copilot share many of the same foundations. Both rely on the same content sources, so there is no need to re-upload or re-create your knowledge base when transitioning. They also both support user segmentation, human handover to support channels, and widget placement as a floating element over the client’s application.
Where Elvin improves on the older products is in its design and extended integrations. Elvin offers a more modern interface, supports a configurable home page similar to LRB, and hosts Newsfeed and Feedback. It also introduces Actions, which allow admins to connect API calls and integrations directly into the copilot experience. Finally, Elvin includes a native HubSpot connector to retrieve CRM data for personalization.
What’s New vs. Legacy
| Capability | Legacy Copilot (with LRB) | Elvin Copilot | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Content sources | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | Same data model |
| Segmentation | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | User- and component-level |
| Human handover | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | External app or email |
| Newsfeed + Feedback | ✅ In LRB | ✅ In Elvin | Elvin replaces LRB |
| Admin home tab/page | ✅ In LRB | ✅ In Elvin | Full parity |
| HubSpot integration | ❌ Not available | ✅ Supported | Read-only connector |
| Actions (API functions) | ❌ Not available | ✅ Supported | REST, JS, HubSpot |
| UI/UX | Basic (LRB style) | Modern | Unified design |
| Widget placement | ✅ Floating | ✅ Floating | Same behavior |
Actions in Elvin
A key difference is that only Elvin supports Actions. Actions allow administrators to define external or internal functions that the copilot can call when it detects a matching user intent. Supported types include REST API calls, JavaScript functions, and HubSpot CRM integrations.
This capability enables direct system integrations that were not possible with the Legacy Copilot.
Running Elvin and Legacy Together
Elvin and Legacy Copilot can technically run in parallel, but they cannot be shown on the same page for the same user. Both products render a floating widget, so enabling them side by side leads to overlap.
Rule:
Never configure Elvin and Legacy Copilot to appear simultaneously for the same user on the same page.
The recommended approach is to use segmentation or page-level rules. For example, you might configure one user group to see the Life Ring Button with Legacy Copilot, while another group sees Elvin. Or you might assign Elvin to only a subset of application pages while keeping LRB active elsewhere. This approach allows you to test Elvin without disrupting current users.
Once Elvin is validated, the older widget can be safely disabled.
Discontinuation
There is no set date for discontinuing the Life Ring Button or Legacy Copilot. Clients on Starter, Pro, or Enterprise plans can continue using them indefinitely. At the same time, Elvin Copilot is available for migration whenever you are ready, with no additional cost.
Migrating from Legacy
Migrating from the Legacy Life Ring Button is straightforward. Navigate to Help → Life Ring Button → Configuration, and in the upper-right corner, click the “Migrate from Legacy” button. This process transfers the content from your current Home tab items, the Draggable setting, and any URL filtering rules to the new version. Be aware that this action will overwrite all items in the new button, so make sure any new configurations are saved elsewhere if needed.
Since Legacy Copilot and Elvin Copilot share the same content sources, you do not need to re-upload your knowledge base or sources when migrating to Elvin. All your existing data will continue to be available in the new copilot.