# Obsidian Ridge Labs: Full Content Directory > Apps that mind their own business. Obsidian Ridge Labs is an independent software studio in Las Vegas, Nevada, building private AI apps for Apple devices. 2 apps are on the App Store. 8 apps are in development. Each product page states its requirements and release status. Product descriptions, release status, the standard, journal articles, and help guides follow. --- ## Products ### Echo Chamber (Echo Chamber) - **Tagline**: Find the words you came back for. - **Category**: Private Transcription - **Status**: Available on the App Store - **Description**: Echo Chamber makes a recording easier to return to. Search the transcript for a passage, listen again, or use local AI to make notes and ask about what was said. Import supported audio or video and export text or documents for your next piece of work. Speech recognition and AI run on your device. Optional iCloud sync is off by default. Echo Chamber is free to download, with optional Pro; check the App Store and in-app offer for current features and pricing. #### Key Features - **A way back to the words**: Searchable transcripts, recording bookmarks, and playback help you return to a useful passage. - **Notes from the conversation**: Generate notes, summaries, and answers from a transcript on supported hardware, with the required local models ready. - **A recording you can use elsewhere**: Import supported audio or video and export transcripts as text or documents. The current offer in Echo Chamber explains plan allowances. #### Workflow - **Keep the conversation**: Record live or bring in a supported audio or video file. Transcription happens on your device. - **Find the part you need**: Search the transcript, return to a bookmark, and listen again when the exact wording matters. - **Put the words to work**: Make notes or a summary, or ask a question about the transcript with available local AI tools. - **Take it from here**: Export text or a document for your notes app, a colleague, or the work that follows. ### Vault (Vault) - **Tagline**: Check the purchase before you make it. - **Category**: Personal Finance - **Status**: In development - **Description**: Vault puts a potential purchase beside your bills, goals, and recent spending. Review receipt scans or CSV and PDF statement imports, then use those records to plan ahead. Calculations and core coaching run on your device. You can keep a manual ledger or choose optional bank connections and enrichment through Plaid and a relay. Vault requires Apple Intelligence and is in development. #### Key Features - **A purchase in context**: Assess a purchase against your budget and obligations rather than treating the account balance as the whole picture. - **Statements without a bank connection**: Manual CSV and PDF imports and local receipt recognition help build a record you can check and correct. - **Planning you can inspect**: Cash-flow estimates and planning tools use recorded income, bills, and spending history. They are estimates, not financial guarantees. - **Portable records**: Expense CSV and a password-encrypted backup give you two ways to take your records out of Vault. #### Workflow - **Bring the record together**: Read a receipt, enter an expense, or import a CSV or PDF statement. Review proposed transactions before accepting them. - **Account for what is coming**: Add income, bills, budgets, and goals so the forecast has the obligations you know about. - **Check before committing**: See how a possible purchase changes spending pace and goals. Estimates depend on your records and assumptions. - **Keep a copy**: Export expense CSV or make a password-encrypted backup. A bank connection remains a separate choice. ### Molehill (Molehill) - **Tagline**: Start with a smaller step. - **Category**: Focus & Tasks - **Status**: In development - **Description**: Molehill turns a task or brain dump into a plan you can edit. Choose the level of detail, split a step again when you get stuck, and use Focus to work on the action in front of you. A timer, recurring tasks, and next-step widgets help you return to the plan. Task planning and supported speech recognition run on your iPhone. Molehill requires Apple Intelligence and is in development. #### Key Features - **Help at the point you get stuck**: Split one step without rebuilding the entire plan. Repeated deferrals can prompt a smaller-step suggestion. - **A brain dump you can correct**: Edit, recategorize, or remove proposed tasks before keeping the list. A non-AI sorting option is also available. - **A plan that reaches your day**: Pro can export to Reminders or Calendar after permission. These are outgoing exports, not two-way sync. #### Workflow - **Get it out of your head**: Type or dictate a task or brain dump. Review and edit the proposed list before accepting it. - **Choose the size of a step**: Break a task down at the level of detail you need, with editable titles and estimated times. - **Make the stuck part smaller**: Split an eligible step into two to four replacements. A built-in fallback remains available when the free AI allowance is exhausted. - **Do what is in front of you**: Use Focus, a timer, or the next-step widget. Recurring tasks can return when it is time to do them again. ### Cove (Cove) - **Tagline**: Find what you wrote about it. - **Category**: Private Journaling - **Status**: In development - **Description**: Keep journal entries with text, photos, moods, and voice memos, then ask Cove about something you want to revisit. Local search finds relevant passages, and answers link back to your entries so you can read the context yourself. Private iCloud storage is the default when available, with a local fallback. Cove requires Apple Intelligence and is in development. #### Key Features - **An answer with a way back**: Ask Your Journal shows links to the entries used as context, so a reflection does not replace the original writing. - **A week worth revisiting**: Plus reflections gather a completed week with enough entries. One eligible reflection preview is available free. - **Your words, with controls**: An optional app lock, a Spotlight setting, and entry exports help you manage access. AI stays local; records may sync through private iCloud. #### Workflow - **Keep the moment**: Write, dictate, attach a photo, or keep a voice memo. Capture is included free. - **Ask about what you wrote**: Start with one entry or a journal-wide question. Retrieved excerpts provide context to the local model. - **Return to the originals**: Follow the entries linked from a response and read your own words again. Generated interpretations can be wrong. - **Take the writing with you**: Export Markdown or JSON, or use ZIP to include available photos and audio. Day One import supports selected fields and media. ### Wove (Wove) - **Tagline**: Find new outfits in your own closet. - **Category**: Personal Wardrobe - **Status**: In development - **Description**: Add photos of your clothes and tell Wove what you are dressing for. It suggests outfits from your own garments, using notes for today and preferences you want it to remember. Reject a look to guide later suggestions; Plus also learns from outfits you log wearing. Styling runs on-device. Optional weather and Plus iCloud record sync use their own connections. Wove requires Apple Intelligence and is in development. #### Key Features - **Less work entering each garment**: Local subject extraction and suggested tags help catalog clothing. Cutouts and recognition can need correction. - **A wardrobe with your context**: Today’s notes and standing preferences inform styling from a ranked shortlist of owned pieces. - **A second look before buying**: The Plus shopping advisor compares a possible purchase with owned pieces and pairing ideas. It is not a size or fit guarantee. - **Weather when you want it**: Wove requests approximate location for a WeatherKit forecast, with cached or seasonal context when weather is unavailable. #### Workflow - **Put your clothes in view**: Photograph a garment or several laid-out pieces. Review the cutouts and suggested tags before keeping them. - **Tell Wove what today needs**: Use an occasion, a temporary note, or a standing preference to give the stylist context. - **Try another combination**: Choose from looks made with your own garments. Save, wear, or reject a suggestion. - **Use the history**: Rejections influence future suggestions for free. Plus adds wear-derived personalization, shopping comparisons, and closet-based capsules. ### Mettle (Mettle) - **Tagline**: Know what to lift next. - **Category**: Strength Coaching - **Status**: In development - **Description**: Mettle uses your completed sets to work out the next rep targets and weight. Open “Why this?” to see the training history and rule behind a change. Ask the local coach for a different exercise or a shorter session, then review and apply the change. Coaching runs on your iPhone; records use private iCloud when available. Mettle requires Apple Intelligence and is in development. #### Key Features - **The reason belongs to the calculation**: Load and rep rules store the evidence shown in “Why this?”, including prior performance and reasons to progress or back off. - **A coach that can change the plan**: Local coach requests can lead to exercise substitutions or schedule changes; saved restrictions inform future candidates. - **History you can bring and keep**: Review a CSV import before committing it, and export completed sets. Watch controls and spoken cues support the active session. #### Workflow - **Start with your circumstances**: Set your goal, experience, equipment, training days, and session length. Baseline information guides the start when there is no history. - **See why the weight changed**: Mettle records the training history and rule used to set your next targets. Open “Why this?” to see the reason for a change. - **Log the session**: Record completed sets, use the rest timer, and optionally control the phone-owned workout from Apple Watch. - **Make the plan fit**: Ask for a substitution, a shorter session, or different training days. Review and apply the proposed plan change. ### Memora (Memora) - **Tagline**: Learn from the notes you already have. - **Category**: Flashcards & Study - **Status**: Available on the App Store - **Description**: Memora makes a first draft of flashcards from your notes, photos, scanned pages, and PDFs with selectable text. Choose the cards to keep, edit them in the deck, and rate what you remember as you study. FSRS uses those ratings to schedule the next review. Content stays local unless you choose to share or export. Memora is available on the App Store for iPhone with iOS 26 and an A17 Pro chip or later. #### Key Features - **From material to practice**: Notes, selectable PDF text, and local photo OCR can become draft cards, with a fallback when the local model is unavailable. - **More than one way to study**: Scheduled review, Match, Listen, and manual image cards are available free. Plus adds Test, Tutor, and automatic image-label detection. - **Bring a deck; keep the content**: Import compatible Anki text decks, CSV, TSV, or Quizlet text. Own-format exports include content and images, but not review history or schedules. #### Workflow - **Start with your material**: Paste notes, use a PDF with selectable text, or extract text from a photo or camera-scanned page. - **Make a first set of cards**: Local generation works from a bounded excerpt. It proposes cards for review rather than claiming to cover an entire book. - **Choose what belongs in the deck**: Deselect drafts you do not want, add the selected batch, and edit saved cards when needed. - **Return when it is time**: Rate recall as Again, Hard, Good, or Easy. FSRS calculates the next interval from that response. ### Trove (Trove) - **Tagline**: Know where the receipt is. - **Category**: Home Inventory - **Status**: In development - **Description**: Keep photos, receipts, serial numbers, and warranty dates with the belongings they describe. Trove helps you create the records from room or item photos, with a review step to check the details. Free archives include records and available images; Plus adds reports for a move or claim. Recorded values are not appraisals. Trove requires Apple Intelligence and is in development. #### Key Features - **Capture with a review step**: Local image and text recognition proposes fields you can change before relying on them. - **The detail you need later**: Find the serial number, receipt, and recorded warranty date with the item. Notifications can remind you before expiry. - **Backup is separate from reports**: Keep a portable archive free. Plus reports organize records for a move or claim without promising acceptance or valuation. #### Workflow - **Start with a photograph**: A room photo proposes items to review. An item, label, barcode, or receipt can help fill in an individual record. - **Check what was found**: Select the items to keep and correct their details. Room capture saves object crops, not a guaranteed complete room record. - **Keep the evidence together**: Attach receipts, photos, serials, and warranty dates, organized by room, category, and home. - **Take the record with you**: Free archive backup and restore include available images. Plus adds inventory PDF/CSV and selected-item claim reports. ### Kith (Kith) - **Tagline**: Remember what you meant to ask. - **Category**: Relationships - **Status**: In development - **Description**: Kith keeps the details you want to remember about the people in your life. Save notes and important dates, choose when to check in, and get help preparing a message from what you saved. You make the call or send the message yourself; Kith can prompt you to log the conversation when you return. Records and AI assistance stay on your iPhone. Kith requires Apple Intelligence and is in development. #### Key Features - **A rhythm you choose**: Adjust cadences, pin people, or snooze reminders. Important dates appear separately from the cadence-based reach-out list. - **Something more personal than hello**: Local draft and talking-point tools use the details you saved. They do not read your message history or send on your behalf. - **A readable copy of your records**: Export people, facts, dates, and interactions as JSON. Photos are excluded; this is not a complete restore format. #### Workflow - **Choose your people**: Add someone manually or select them with Apple’s contact picker. Set a cadence that fits the relationship. - **Keep the detail**: Save facts, dates, and interactions. A local helper can turn a brain dump into proposed notes. - **Start the conversation**: Use a talking point or draft based on your saved context, then choose what to say in Messages or a call. - **Remember what happened**: When you return, a log prompt can help keep the interaction in the record for next time. ### Mise (Mise) - **Tagline**: Cook the recipes you keep saving. - **Category**: Recipes & Cooking - **Status**: In development - **Description**: Bring recipe links, photos, and pasted text into Mise, then use the recipes to plan dinner and make a shopping list. Edit the ingredients, scale the servings, and follow large instructions with timers while you cook. Recipe parsing and cooking help run on-device. Web imports fetch the selected page and its images; optional Plus iCloud sync is off by default. Mise requires Apple Intelligence and is in development. #### Key Features - **A usable copy of a saved recipe**: Web data, local text parsing, and photo OCR help with entry. Review quantities and instructions before cooking. - **A question about this recipe**: Local cooking help can use the open recipe’s ingredients and steps. Plus substitutions and suggested recipes still need your judgment. - **Keep your recipe box portable**: Recipe JSON includes text and available photos and supports restore. It does not back up the entire pantry, meal plan, or grocery state. #### Workflow - **Save the recipe**: Bring a web page, pasted text, or recipe photos into an editable record, or enter it yourself. - **Put dinner on the plan**: Choose recipes for dated meal slots. Suggestions can fill empty future dinner slots from recipes you already saved. - **Make one shopping list**: Generate a scaled list from planned meals, with duplicate ingredients consolidated and grouped by aisle. - **Cook one step at a time**: Follow large-type steps with the screen awake and several timers available. Watch can show meal, grocery, and timer context. --- ## The Obsidian Ridge Labs standard Privacy is what makes it personal. You cannot ask software to understand your life while editing out everything you cannot afford to share. We refuse The Trade. These are the decisions that follow. 1. **Data has gravity.** A recording carries the people in the room. It should not have to leave the room for software to understand it. We bring the model to the device that holds the recording. 2. **The cloud must earn its place.** A bank feed needs a bank connection. A transcript does not need an audience. Every connection needs a job, and you get to know what it carries before it happens. 3. **Offline is the test.** Losing reception should not mean losing the work. Once the required models are installed, the core tools must keep going. 4. **Your data belongs to you.** Your notes do not become ours because our software helped you write them. Keeping them, taking them elsewhere, or deleting them should never require our permission. ### The Boundary Check Before you trust any AI app with a recording, a receipt, or a page from your life, ask it these three questions. Start with ours. 1. **Where does the processing happen?** On supported Apple hardware. Echo Chamber runs recording, transcription, and transcript intelligence on the device, using local models and Apple on-device frameworks. Recordings and transcripts are not sent to an external AI service. The same local core is the standard for the rest of the collection, which is in development. 2. **Where does the storage live?** Echo Chamber stores recordings and transcripts on your device, with optional iCloud sync. Other apps have different defaults: Mettle and Cove use a private iCloud database when available, with a local fallback. The product pages distinguish local processing from synced storage and explain what happens to shared or exported copies. 3. **What connects to the network, and when?** Model setup, App Store purchases, and cloud sync can need a connection. The apps in development also name their specific paths: recipe pages and images in Mise, WeatherKit in Wove, and optional bank connections, enrichment, and diagnostics in Vault. Processing, storage, and connected services are documented separately on each product page. This website uses Google Analytics. It does not receive the content in our apps. See the [privacy model](https://obsidianridgelabs.com/privacy) for website measurement and product-specific connections. ### The airplane-mode test Turn on airplane mode. Whatever still works is yours. Try Echo Chamber on a supported iPhone or iPad. Install the app and finish any required model downloads while online. Turn on airplane mode and confirm Wi-Fi is off. Record a sentence, transcribe it, and search for a word you said. Finish model setup first and check your available recording allowance. Downloads, purchase checks, and iCloud sync need a connection; transcription runs locally. --- ## Conversational Questions & Answers ### Private AI and on-device processing - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/ **Q: Which apps can I use today?** Echo Chamber and Memora are on the App Store. Mettle, Vault, Molehill, Cove, Wove, Trove, Kith, and Mise are in development. Open an app’s page for previews, device requirements, and its current release status. **Q: Do I need Apple Intelligence?** Requirements differ by app. Echo Chamber supports local transcription without Apple Intelligence; its transcript tools depend on the device and available local models. The apps in development target Apple Intelligence hardware. Most also require Apple Intelligence to be enabled and ready. Memora allows supported hardware to continue with study, manual cards, and limited fallback generation while the model is unavailable. **Q: What works without an internet connection?** Core transcription, coaching, and study run on the device after required setup. A connection can still be needed for model downloads, purchases, sync, bank updates, weather, or recipe imports. The product pages distinguish those connections from local processing. Check the requirements before relying on a particular app or feature offline. **Q: Where do my recordings and other records go?** Core AI processes your content on your device. Storage varies: some apps keep their records local, some offer optional iCloud, and Mettle and Cove use your private iCloud database when available. Vault’s optional bank connection follows a separate Plaid and relay path. Each product page explains its processing, storage, and connections. **Q: Is Echo Chamber free to download?** Yes. Echo Chamber is free to download, with optional Pro purchases. The App Store and the offer shown inside Echo Chamber describe the current options, included features, and your local price before purchase. Prices shown for apps in development are planned, not live offers. ### The Obsidian Ridge Labs standard - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/philosophy **Q: Where does the processing happen?** On supported Apple hardware. Echo Chamber runs recording, transcription, and transcript intelligence on the device, using local models and Apple on-device frameworks. Recordings and transcripts are not sent to an external AI service. The same local core is the standard for the rest of the collection, which is in development. **Q: Where does the storage live?** Echo Chamber stores recordings and transcripts on your device, with optional iCloud sync. Other apps have different defaults: Mettle and Cove use a private iCloud database when available, with a local fallback. The product pages distinguish local processing from synced storage and explain what happens to shared or exported copies. **Q: What connects to the network, and when?** Model setup, App Store purchases, and cloud sync can need a connection. The apps in development also name their specific paths: recipe pages and images in Mise, WeatherKit in Wove, and optional bank connections, enrichment, and diagnostics in Vault. Processing, storage, and connected services are documented separately on each product page. ### The collection - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/download **Q: Which apps can I use today?** Echo Chamber and Memora are on the App Store. Mettle, Vault, Molehill, Cove, Wove, Trove, Kith, and Mise are in development. Open an app’s page for previews, device requirements, and its current release status. **Q: Do I need to create an account?** You do not need an Obsidian Ridge Labs account. Apple handles App Store purchases. Private iCloud sync and optional connected features use the accounts and permissions required by those services. The exact storage defaults and connection choices are explained on each product page. **Q: What works without an internet connection?** Core transcription, coaching, and study run on the device after required setup. A connection can still be needed for model downloads, purchases, sync, bank updates, weather, or recipe imports. The product pages distinguish those connections from local processing. Check the requirements before relying on a particular app or feature offline. **Q: Do I need Apple Intelligence?** Requirements differ by app. Echo Chamber supports local transcription without Apple Intelligence; its transcript tools depend on the device and available local models. The apps in development target Apple Intelligence hardware. Most also require Apple Intelligence to be enabled and ready. Memora allows supported hardware to continue with study, manual cards, and limited fallback generation while the model is unavailable. **Q: Is Echo Chamber free to download?** Yes. Echo Chamber is free to download, with optional Pro purchases. The App Store and the offer shown inside Echo Chamber describe the current options, included features, and your local price before purchase. Prices shown for apps in development are planned, not live offers. ### Echo Chamber - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/apps/echochamber **Q: What can I do with a recording in Echo Chamber?** Turn it into a searchable transcript, return to a passage, and make notes or ask questions about what was said. Echo Chamber also imports supported audio and video files and exports transcripts for use elsewhere. Speech recognition and transcript intelligence run on supported Apple hardware; available tools depend on your device, setup, and plan. **Q: Can I record and transcribe offline?** Yes, after the required models are ready on a supported device. Recording, transcription, and local transcript tools do not need a remote AI service. Model setup, purchases, optional iCloud sync, and sharing to connected destinations can need internet. Keep the required models installed before recording somewhere without a connection. **Q: Where are my recordings and transcripts stored?** They are stored on your device. Optional iCloud sync is off by default and uses your Apple account when enabled. Transcription and AI processing happen locally. Exporting or sharing creates a copy at the destination you choose, so that copy follows the storage and privacy settings of its destination. **Q: Will a bot join my meeting?** No. Echo Chamber records from your device rather than adding a meeting participant. The Mac app can capture microphone and system audio with permission. On iPhone and iPad, the recording workflow uses the device microphone or an imported file. Platform features and audio permissions differ. **Q: Can I transcribe an existing audio or video file?** Yes. Echo Chamber can import supported audio and video files for local transcription. The resulting transcript can be searched and used with available transcript tools. Import does not send the original recording to an AI service. Check the current offer in Echo Chamber for the import allowance included with your plan. **Q: Can I use the transcript in another app?** Yes. Document and text exports include TXT, Markdown, PDF, and DOCX. Use plain text or Markdown for another notes app, a PDF for a fixed document, or DOCX for editing in a compatible word processor. Export options can differ by platform; the app’s export menu shows the available formats. **Q: Which devices can run Echo Chamber?** The App Store lists iOS and iPadOS 18 or later, and macOS 15.1 or later on Apple silicon. Model availability and transcript tools also depend on the hardware. Apple Intelligence is not required for core transcription. Check the App Store compatibility panel for your device before downloading. **Q: How accurate will my transcript be?** It depends on the recording. A nearby microphone and less background noise help; overlapping voices, unfamiliar names, distance, and room echo can make recognition harder. Return to the audio and check names, numbers, and quotations when precision matters. A generated note or answer should also be checked against the conversation. **Q: What does Pro cost?** Echo Chamber is free to download, with optional Pro purchases. Open the App Store listing or the offer inside Echo Chamber for the current plans, feature allowances, and local prices. The offer shown before purchase is the place to confirm what is included with the version you are installing. ### Vault - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/apps/vault **Q: Can I use Vault without connecting a bank?** Yes. The development build supports manual expenses, receipt reading, CSV and PDF statement imports, budgets, and cash-flow estimates without a linked bank. You review imported transactions before accepting them. Optional Plaid connections are a separate paid path for bringing in account data; they are not required for manual tracking. **Q: What does a purchase check tell me?** It compares a proposed purchase with the budget and obligations in your record, then shows its effect on spending pace and goals. Forecasts use recorded income, bills, and spending assumptions. An incomplete record can change the result. The figures are planning estimates, not a promise that a purchase will be affordable. **Q: What leaves the device when I connect a bank?** Bank linking and refreshes use Plaid and a relay service. Premium connected categorization can also send transaction merchant information, an amount, currency, and a pseudonymous identifier for enrichment. That path is separate from local manual tracking and calculations. Diagnostics are a separate, off-by-default choice. **Q: Is the coach free?** The planned free tier includes manual tracking, imports, and deterministic planning answers. Conversational model answers are available during onboarding and require a paid tier afterward. Paid tiers also set bank-connection and liability-account limits. Vault remains in development; the final offer will be confirmed before release. **Q: Can I export or back up my records?** Yes. The development build exports expense records as CSV and supports a password-encrypted .vaultbackup file for backup and restore. CSV is useful for a spreadsheet; the encrypted backup carries the broader record. Keep your backup password and choose the destination deliberately, since exported copies are outside Vault’s local store. **Q: What does Vault require, and is it available?** Vault is in development for iPhone and iPad running iOS or iPadOS 26. The current app requires Apple Intelligence to be enabled and ready. Records are stored locally; there is no automatic iCloud record sync. No public release date is being announced. ### Molehill - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/apps/molehill **Q: What happens if a step still feels too big?** Open the split action to replace it with two to four smaller steps in the context of the original task. Molehill can also offer that action after repeated deferrals when the step is eligible. You can adjust the plan rather than start over. Time estimates remain estimates. **Q: Does help stop when I use the free AI allowance?** The planned free tier includes three AI actions a day. If that allowance is exhausted, a built-in splitter can still help make a step smaller, and a non-AI parser can organize a brain dump. Manual tasks and Focus remain available. Pro adds unlimited AI allowance, Apple export options, and deeper progress insights. **Q: Can I change a brain dump before saving it?** Yes. Speak or type what is on your mind, then review the proposed task list. You can edit titles, change categories and urgency, or remove an item before accepting it. Voice capture uses local speech recognition where supported; typing remains available when speech assets or the locale are unavailable. **Q: Does Molehill show streaks?** Yes. Today and the progress area show streaks alongside completion history. Molehill’s main working view is the current step, with options to complete it, snooze it, or make it smaller. The app is a planning tool and does not claim to treat ADHD or another health condition. **Q: Can I send tasks to Reminders or Calendar?** Pro can export a task into Reminders or sequential Calendar time blocks after permission. These are outgoing exports, not two-way sync. Task records remain local in Molehill; widgets and Spotlight can show selected task information. Apple destinations may sync according to your account settings. **Q: What does Molehill require, and is it available?** Molehill is in development for iPhone running iOS 26. Apple Intelligence must be enabled and ready. Required language and speech assets may need a download before offline use. The current app has no cloud task-sync feature, and no public release date is being announced. ### Cove - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/apps/cove **Q: How does Cove answer a question about my journal?** Cove retrieves relevant entries and gives excerpts to the local model. Its answer includes links back to the entries it drew from, so you can return to your original words. You can also start a conversation about one entry. Generated reflections are interpretations, not diagnoses or a complete reading of every entry. **Q: Does my journal stay only on this device?** Cove’s reflection and search run on the device, but its records can sync through your private iCloud database. The current app uses that database when available and falls back to local storage when it cannot initialize iCloud. There is no app-level opt-in sync switch. Cove does not send journal entries to an Obsidian Ridge Labs AI server. **Q: Can I write, dictate, and keep photos or audio?** Yes. The development build supports text, moods, photos, dictation, and saved voice memos. A voice memo you keep becomes an attachment to the entry. Dictation needs supported local speech assets and permission. Capture and writing are included free, with paid options for deeper reflection and longer-term insights. **Q: What is included free?** The planned free tier includes writing, basic entry responses, 14-day mood trends, one Ask conversation credit each week with up to three reply turns, and one eligible weekly-reflection preview. Plus adds recurring weekly reflections, unlimited Ask conversations, all-time trends, deeper insights, and premium prompts. Weekly reflections need enough entries from a completed week. **Q: Can I lock my journal or move it to another app?** Cove supports an optional biometric or device-passcode lock. Markdown and JSON exports carry entry content; ZIP also includes available photos and audio. Day One import supports a subset of that format, not every field. Spotlight indexing can be disabled, and saving moods to Apple Health is off by default. **Q: What does Cove require, and is it available?** Cove is in development for iPhone and iPad running iOS or iPadOS 26, with Apple Intelligence enabled and ready. Watch capture is not being offered as a confirmed release feature. Final compatibility and pricing will be confirmed before release; there is no announced launch date. ### Wove - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/apps/wove **Q: Does Wove upload clothing photos to an AI service?** No remote wardrobe AI service is used for the core workflow. The development build reads garment photos and suggests outfits on the device. Plus offers optional private iCloud record sync, but complete cross-device photo sync is not promised. Garment photos remain local files unless you choose an export destination. **Q: How does Wove choose an outfit?** It selects from a ranked shortlist of your own garments, using occasion, styling notes, and available weather context. The model proposes combinations; structural checks and a built-in stylist support the result. You decide what to wear. It is not a guarantee that every suggestion will satisfy every preference or weather condition. **Q: Does Wove learn from what I wear?** Rejection feedback and personal styling notes are available free. Plus also uses logged wear history to learn frequently chosen pieces, combinations, and formality preferences. That distinction matters: marking “not this” helps without a subscription, while wear-derived personalization is a Plus feature in the current development build. **Q: Are capsules and packing lists made from my clothes?** Plus capsules select actual garments from your closet. Trip packing is a separate checklist of clothing types and essentials; it does not select specific closet items. Its context uses the season and current local weather when available, not a verified forecast for the destination. **Q: What connections does Wove use?** With permission, Wove requests approximate location for an Apple WeatherKit forecast. If weather is unavailable it can use cached or seasonal context. Other connections include optional Plus iCloud record sync, Apple purchases and model setup, paired Watch actions, and any export destination you choose. **Q: What can I keep or export for free?** The planned free tier has an unlimited closet, three AI outfit batches a day, rejection feedback, and personal notes. Export writes wardrobe records and available images to a folder. It is a portable copy, not a complete restorable app backup. Wove is in development for iOS and iPadOS 26 with Apple Intelligence; its Watch companion requires watchOS 26. ### Mettle - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/apps/mettle **Q: Why has Mettle changed my reps or weight?** Open “Why this?” to see the training history and rule behind the change. For example, reaching the top of a rep range can lead to more weight next time. Mettle records that reason as it calculates your targets, so the explanation comes from the decision itself. **Q: What if I have no training history yet?** Mettle starts with your goal, experience, equipment, schedule, and baseline information. Once you log sets, recent sessions help shape the next reps and weight. You can inspect and change the plan. The targets are suggestions for your training; use your judgment about what you can do today. **Q: Can the coach change my plan?** Yes. You can ask for a shorter session, a different exercise, or a change in training days. Review the proposed plan changes before applying them. Mettle also keeps saved restrictions available when choosing future exercises, so you do not have to repeat the same information every time. **Q: Where is my training history stored?** Mettle processes coaching on your iPhone and uses your private iCloud database when available, with local storage as a fallback. Private iCloud is the current default, not an app-level opt-in switch. Health access is permission-based. There is no Obsidian Ridge Labs workout account or remote coaching service. **Q: What does the Apple Watch app do?** It acts as a companion to a workout owned by your iPhone, with set logging, rest controls, and haptic feedback. Rep detection supports selected movements; it is not universal exercise recognition. It does not replace the phone with a standalone coach. Mettle remains in development. **Q: Can I bring in training history and take it out again?** Yes. CSV import lets you review proposed history before committing it, and completed sets can be exported as CSV. Compatibility depends on the file’s fields; universal import from every training app is not promised. Export and import are part of the planned free offering. **Q: What is free, and what does Mettle require?** The planned free offering includes one active program, coach conversations and memory, restrictions, Watch support, and data import/export. Pro adds weekly reviews, deeper records and trends, proactive form cues, and program switching. Mettle is in development for iPhone with iOS 26.1 and Apple Intelligence ready; the Watch companion requires watchOS 26. ### Memora - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/apps/memora **Q: Which materials can become flashcards?** Use notes, a PDF with selectable text, a photo, or a camera-scanned page. Photo and camera input use local text recognition; an image-only PDF is not processed through that scanner. Generation works from a bounded excerpt, currently up to 4,000 characters and 12 cards per request, so it does not promise coverage of an entire book. **Q: Can I review or edit the proposed cards?** You can review the proposed front and back of each card, deselect ones you do not want, then add the selected batch. Draft rows are not text editors. After saving, open a card in the deck to edit it. Check generated facts and wording against the material you are studying. **Q: How does Memora schedule a review?** After revealing an answer, rate your recall as Again, Hard, Good, or Easy. FSRS uses that rating to calculate the next review interval. Manual cards and scheduled study are free. Match and Listen offer other ways to practise; Plus adds Test, Tutor, and further study controls. **Q: Does Memora need Apple Intelligence turned on?** Memora requires supported Apple Intelligence hardware and iOS 26. On supported hardware, you can continue if the model is off or downloading: study, manual cards, imports, and a built-in generation fallback remain available. Similar-card generation and the tutor need the model. Model setup can require a connection. **Q: Can I import Anki decks or keep a backup?** Compatible Anki .apkg files with legacy .anki2 or .anki21 collections import text, not media; newer .anki21b collections are unsupported. CSV, TSV, and Quizlet text imports are also available. Memora’s own exports include deck content and images, but omit review schedules and history. Re-imported cards start with fresh scheduling. **Q: What is free, and where does my material live?** The free tier includes three created decks, 50 accepted AI cards and 10 OCR pages a month, plus manual study and compatible imports. Imported decks do not use the new-deck allowance. Content and review history are local, with no current iCloud sync. Memora is available on the App Store; sharing or exporting creates a copy wherever you choose to save it. ### Trove - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/apps/trove **Q: Can a room photo start my inventory?** Yes. The development build proposes item candidates from a room photograph. You choose and edit the items before saving; the app keeps object crops rather than promising to preserve the full original room image. It is a photo-based starting point, not a complete 3D scan or a guarantee that every possession will be found. **Q: What can I keep with an item?** Photos, a receipt, serial number, room, category, purchase details, and warranty dates can sit with the record. On-device text and barcode reading can help with entry, but proposed fields remain editable. Recorded prices and estimates are your records, not professional appraisals or a determination of insurance coverage. **Q: Does Trove remind me about warranties?** With notification permission, Trove can schedule reminders for recorded warranty expiry dates, normally about 30 days before expiry. The reminder depends on the date in the record. Keep the receipt and manufacturer or seller terms to establish what the warranty actually covers. **Q: Can I export my inventory for a claim or a move?** Plus can create inventory PDF and CSV reports, and a photo-illustrated claim report for selected items. Backup and restore are separate and free: the .trovearchive format includes records and available local photos, including receipt images. A report organizes evidence; it cannot guarantee claim acceptance. **Q: Does iCloud sync all my photos?** Complete cross-device image sync is not promised. The development build offers optional Plus sync for inventory records through private iCloud, while image files remain local. Use the portable archive when you need a copy that includes available photos and receipt images. Exported files follow the settings of the destination you choose. **Q: What is free, and when can I get Trove?** The planned free tier includes one home, 25 items, 10 AI scans a month, and archive backup/restore. Plus adds more capacity, reports, multiple homes, and optional record sync. Trove is in development for iPhone and iPad with iOS or iPadOS 26 and Apple Intelligence enabled; no release date is announced. ### Kith - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/apps/kith **Q: How does Kith decide who to suggest contacting?** Your chosen cadence, time since the last logged interaction, pins, and snoozes shape the reach-out list. Important dates appear separately in Coming Up and can inform an opener. These are reminders based on your records, not an assessment of the quality of a friendship or knowledge of how someone feels. **Q: Will Kith read my messages or contact everyone in my address book?** No automatic message-history access is part of the current app. You choose people through the system contact picker or add them manually, then keep facts and interactions yourself. The local model can help structure a note or draft a message from that saved context. You decide what to keep and send. **Q: What happens after I draft a message?** You can open Messages or start a call through a system action. On returning to Kith, the app can prompt you to log the interaction. It helps close the loop between remembering, reaching out, and noting what happened. Kith does not send messages or maintain relationships autonomously. **Q: Can I lock or export my relationship notes?** An optional app-wide lock uses biometrics or your device passcode. JSON export includes people, facts, dates, and interactions, but excludes photos and is not a full restore format. The current build has no app-managed cloud sync. Widgets, Spotlight, notifications, and chosen exports can show selected information outside the app. **Q: What is free?** The planned free tier holds 10 people and includes three regular AI assists per week, plus the first successful daily opener. Plus removes the people and AI allowances. Recording interactions and deciding what a message should say remain under your control. Final prices will be confirmed before release. **Q: What does Kith require, and is it available?** Kith is in development for iPhone with iOS 26 and Apple Intelligence enabled and ready. Supported local dictation also needs speech permission and available language assets. There is no Obsidian Ridge Labs account to create, and no public release date has been announced. ### Mise - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/apps/mise **Q: How does Mise save a recipe from a website?** Mise fetches the page you choose and reads structured recipe data where available. Messier text can be parsed by the local model. It may also fetch the recipe image, including from a separate image host. Review and edit the resulting recipe before relying on its quantities or steps. **Q: Can I import cookbook photos or recipe cards?** Yes. Photo import uses local text recognition and recipe parsing, and supports multiple images in order. You can also paste text or enter a recipe manually. Photography and handwriting affect recognition, so the imported fields stay editable. A saved recipe can include its source and available photo. **Q: Can Mise help me plan dinners and shop?** Put saved recipes into dated meal slots, or let the built-in ranking suggest dinners for empty future slots. Grocery generation scales and consolidates ingredients from the plan. These dinner suggestions draw from saved recipes; they are not a promise of a nutritionally complete or allergy-validated meal plan. **Q: What does cook mode do?** It keeps the screen awake with readable steps and supports several timers, local notifications, and a Live Activity. The Watch companion can show timers and groceries; grocery actions need the phone to be reachable. Cook mode uses on-screen controls. In-app voice navigation is not part of the current feature set. **Q: What can the cooking assistant use as context?** With an open recipe, it receives bounded ingredients and steps. General chat can use recipe titles, pantry names, and dietary context. It can suggest ideas or help interpret a recipe, but does not read every full recipe at once. Substitutions require Plus, and model suggestions do not establish food or allergy safety. **Q: Can I export my recipe box?** Yes. JSON export includes recipe text, ingredients, steps, tags, source links, and available photos. Restore supports those recipes; it is not a backup of the entire meal plan, pantry, or grocery state. Optional private iCloud sync is a Plus setting and defaults off. **Q: What is free, and what does Mise require?** The planned free tier includes 25 recipes and three AI assists a day. Plus adds higher allowances, substitutions, and optional private iCloud sync. Mise is in development for iPhone and iPad with iOS or iPadOS 26 and Apple Intelligence ready; the Watch companion targets watchOS 26. No release date is announced. --- ## Blog Articles ### On-Device AI on iPhone: What to Check Before You Use It - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/apple-ecosystem-privacy - **Date**: 2026.03.22 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 5 MIN READ - **Category**: ON-DEVICE AI GUIDE - **Content Type**: guide - **Primary Question**: How can I tell whether an iPhone AI app is truly on-device and private? - **Tags**: #ON-DEVICE-AI, #IPHONE-PRIVACY, #APPLE-INTELLIGENCE, #LOCAL-FIRST - **Excerpt**: Follow a recording, photo, or journal entry through an app. Learn what runs on your iPhone, what can still connect, and how to test the parts that matter. #### Key Takeaways - Ask about the feature you will use: where the recording, photo, or text is processed and where the result is stored. - Local AI and synced storage can coexist. Check iCloud, exports, and connected services separately. - Try a non-sensitive record, use the app offline after setup, and export the result before trusting it with a larger archive. #### Full Article Content #### Follow one piece of data from input to result An app can transcribe a recording or summarize an entry on the iPhone without sending that input to a remote model. It may still use iCloud, download models, verify purchases, or connect another service. To understand the claim, pick one feature you plan to use and check how it processes the input, stores the result, and handles a lost connection. This guide gives you seven practical checks. Suppose you want to summarize a private recording. “On-device” is useful if it tells you where that recording is transcribed and where its words are summarized. It tells you less about whether the finished transcript syncs, what a support attachment includes, or where an export goes. Start with a piece of information you care about, then follow the steps you would actually use. #### Which work can happen on the iPhone? Apple’s Foundation Models framework gives developers access to an on-device language model for tasks such as summarization, entity extraction, text understanding, refinement, and structured output. Apple also provides local frameworks for speech, Vision OCR, image analysis, Natural Language processing, and other focused work. When an app uses those capabilities directly on supported hardware, the private input can remain inside the device boundary for that named task. > **An app feature and a system feature can use different paths**: Apple’s Foundation Models framework gives an app access to an on-device model. Some system-level Apple Intelligence requests can use Private Cloud Compute. Check the feature you plan to use rather than assuming every Apple Intelligence request takes the same route. #### Local inference and local storage are different questions An app can process a prompt locally and still store the result in a synced database. It can also store everything locally while sending one optional request to a remote service. Ask where the original input lives, where derived data lives, whether a device backup contains it, whether iCloud is optional, and whether deleting the app removes every copy. “The AI runs locally” answers only the inference question. #### Common data paths in an iPhone AI app | Data path | What it can mean | What to verify | | --- | --- | --- | | Local inference | The model processes the input on the iPhone, iPad, or Mac. | Which exact features use it, supported hardware, fallback behavior, and whether the input is ever uploaded. | | Local storage | Records remain in the app sandbox or an App Group container. | Encryption, device backups, deletion, export, and whether extensions can read the same store. | | Optional iCloud | Selected records may sync through the user’s Apple account. | Whether it is opt-in, which data types sync, whether media files are included, and what happens after disabling it. | | Apple services | WeatherKit, HealthKit, StoreKit, or another system service may be used. | Permission scope, data sent to Apple, local caching, and whether the feature works when permission is denied. | | Third-party service | A connected provider may supply bank data, collaboration, or another optional capability. | Provider name, authentication flow, fields shared, retention, disconnect behavior, and a non-connected alternative. | | User-initiated export | You create a portable copy and choose a destination. | Format, included fields, excluded private history, and the security of the destination after export. | #### Seven checks before moving your records in - READ THE PRODUCT-SPECIFIC PRIVACY PAGE: Look for concrete nouns such as audio, transcript, entry, photo, location, and transaction, not only adjectives such as secure or private. - CHECK THE APP STORE PRIVACY LABEL: Apple requires developers to disclose data collected by them and their partners, while noting that data processed only on the device is not considered collected. - REVIEW PERMISSIONS IN CONTEXT: A microphone, photo, contacts, location, or Health permission should appear when its feature is used and explain why it is needed. - TEST AIRPLANE MODE AFTER SETUP: Try the core workflow from input through result and export. Record which steps work and which clearly request a connection. - LOOK FOR A FALLBACK: A responsible local-AI product explains what happens on unsupported hardware, when the model is unavailable, or when a permission is declined. - EXPORT AND DELETE A TEST RECORD: Confirm that a useful format is available and that deletion behavior is understandable without contacting support. - IDENTIFY EVERY OPTIONAL CONNECTION: Model downloads, StoreKit, WeatherKit, iCloud, Plaid, web links, and support can be legitimate while still needing disclosure. #### Why we build around Apple devices Apple provides the speech, image-recognition, and language tools that let us build focused workflows on the device. In Echo Chamber, for example, a recording can become a searchable transcript and useful notes without going to an Obsidian Ridge Labs AI server. That is a practical benefit for a conversation you need to revisit, particularly when it contains information you would not otherwise share with a software company. The other choices still need to be made app by app. Some products use private iCloud storage; some offer optional connected services; some keep their current records local. Hardware requirements differ too. Our product pages describe those details alongside what the app helps you do, so you can judge the whole workflow. #### Common questions about on-device AI #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Does on-device AI mean an app never uses the internet?** No. It means the named AI processing task runs locally. Downloads, purchase verification, optional iCloud, WeatherKit, connected providers, web links, and support can still use a network. Each connection should be documented separately. **Q: Is Apple Intelligence always processed only on my iPhone?** No blanket answer applies to every system feature. Apple says many requests run on-device and more complex requests may use Private Cloud Compute. An app using the on-device Foundation Models framework should describe its own feature path precisely. **Q: Can an App Store privacy label prove that an AI app is private?** It is one useful signal, not complete proof. Compare the label with the product privacy page, permissions, included SDKs, offline behavior, optional services, export, and deletion controls. **Q: How can I test whether a feature really works offline?** Complete any documented model setup, create non-sensitive test data, enable airplane mode, and attempt the core workflow from input to result and export. Record which steps still work and which explain that a connection is required. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Apple Foundation Models framework](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/FoundationModels) - [Apple: Generating content and performing tasks with Foundation Models](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/FoundationModels/generating-content-and-performing-tasks-with-foundation-models) - [Apple Intelligence and privacy on iPhone](https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/apple-intelligence-and-privacy-iphe3f499e0e/ios) - [Apple App Privacy Details guidance](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/app-privacy-details/) - [Apple Platform Security](https://support.apple.com/guide/security/welcome/web) --- ### What Offline AI Can Do After the Connection Drops - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/offline-ai-revolution - **Date**: 2026.03.05 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 6 MIN READ - **Category**: OFFLINE AI EXPLAINER - **Content Type**: analysis - **Primary Question**: Which AI apps work without internet, and does offline AI mean none of my data ever leaves the device? - **Tags**: #OFFLINE-AI, #LOCAL-AI, #PRIVACY, #APPLE-SILICON - **Excerpt**: Transcribe a recording, work through notes, or search saved records without a round trip to a remote model. Here is what to test, and what can still need a connection. #### Key Takeaways - Offline processing is useful when you need to keep working with private recordings or saved material without uploading it to an AI service. - Check the whole task, from opening the source to saving or exporting the result. A local model alone does not prove the whole app works offline. - Find out what happens when a model is unavailable. Hardware requirements and fallback behavior differ between apps. #### Full Article Content #### Test the part of the work you want to keep doing Offline AI runs a particular task on the device after setup. That can mean transcribing a recording, extracting text from a photo, or asking a question about saved material without waiting for a remote model. Model downloads, purchase checks, sync, weather, and linked services may still need the internet. The practical test is whether the work you care about continues when those connections are absent. You open a recording on a flight because you finally have time to turn it into notes. Or you need an item’s saved details in a room with poor reception. In those moments, it matters whether the app already has the tools and records it needs. Local processing can keep a focused job available and avoid sending the source to an AI service. It works best when the app is clear about the input it can handle and the result you can check. #### Useful work that can stay on the device - TRANSCRIPTION: Convert a live recording or imported file into searchable text without uploading the source audio to the app developer. - PERSONAL WRITING: Retrieve themes or generate a restrained reflection over journal entries that remain in a local archive. - DOCUMENT CAPTURE: Use Vision OCR and barcode recognition to propose fields for a receipt, garment, study source, or household item. - FOCUSED PLANNING: Turn a bounded task, workout context, closet, or relationship record into suggestions constrained by local rules and user edits. - UNRELIABLE CONNECTIVITY: Continue core work on a plane, in a tunnel, or wherever network quality is poor after the model is ready. - PREDICTABLE OPERATING COST: Avoid a new remote inference request every time the core feature runs. #### Match the model to the task A local model competes for device memory, storage, battery, and thermal headroom. Compatibility can depend on a newer chip, operating system, language, or downloaded asset. Smaller models also have tighter context windows and less world knowledge. Those limits are not automatically defects: a source-grounded flashcard generator or curated exercise selector can be safer and more useful precisely because it is not answering every open-domain question. #### Offline-first and cloud-first AI solve different product problems | Question | Offline-first approach | Cloud-first approach | | --- | --- | --- | | Core inference | Runs on supported local hardware. | Runs on remote infrastructure. | | Network dependency | Core work can continue after setup. | Usually requires a connection for each request. | | Model scale | Smaller and optimized for a focused device workflow. | Can use larger models and more compute. | | Private-input movement | Can avoid a remote inference copy. | Input must reach the service that performs inference. | | Collaboration | Often centered on a personal local archive. | Often stronger for shared workspaces and centralized administration. | | Failure mode | Hardware or model availability may trigger a deterministic fallback. | Connectivity, account, rate limit, or service availability can interrupt the request. | #### What happens when the model is unavailable? A useful fallback keeps part of the job available when generation fails. Memora can continue on eligible hardware when its model is unavailable, retaining manual study and imports; source-to-card generation also has a basic fallback. Mettle’s training calculations use rules, but the current app still requires Apple Intelligence at launch. Those are different promises. Check both the device requirement and what remains available after a model failure, rather than assuming every local app handles it the same way. #### The connected features to check separately - MODEL SETUP: A speech or language model may need an initial download before offline use begins. - STOREKIT: Apple may verify a purchase, subscription, trial, or entitlement. - PRIVATE ICLOUD: A person may choose to sync supported records through their Apple account. - APPLE SERVICES: WeatherKit, HealthKit permissions, and other system integrations have their own documented boundaries. - CONNECTED DATA: A bank refresh or another provider-backed import needs that provider connection. - USER-INITIATED SHARING: Exporting a deck, transcript, CSV, or PDF creates a copy at the destination the person selects. - SUPPORT AND LINKS: Sending a support message or opening the web transmits what the person chooses to send or request. #### A ten-minute offline test - Use non-sensitive sample data and finish every documented setup or model download. - Complete the main workflow once while connected so you understand the normal result. - Enable airplane mode and repeat the same input, processing, search, edit, and export steps. - Try the same flow with Apple Intelligence unavailable if the app offers a documented fallback. - Open any optional sync, purchase, or connected-provider control and confirm that the app explains the boundary before activation. - Delete the test record and inspect any export or shared copy you created separately. > **What this test cannot prove**: Airplane mode demonstrates that a workflow can function without a connection; it does not audit every code path, backup, SDK, or future version. Pair the test with the App Store privacy label, product disclosures, permissions, and public source where available. #### Common questions about offline AI #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Are offline AI apps always more private than cloud AI?** They can reduce data movement by avoiding a remote inference server for the core task. Privacy still depends on storage, backups, optional sync, SDKs, exports, permissions, and every other connection the app makes. **Q: Can offline AI be as accurate as cloud AI?** Sometimes a focused local model can be highly competitive on a specific task, while a larger cloud model may be broader or stronger elsewhere. Compare the same benchmark or source material and account for language, domain, noise, and hardware. **Q: Why do some offline AI apps require a newer iPhone?** Local inference uses the memory, neural processing, storage, and operating-system frameworks on the device. A developer should state the minimum OS and hardware instead of implying universal compatibility. **Q: Does optional iCloud sync make an app cloud-first?** Not necessarily. A local-first app can keep the core workflow on-device while offering an optional private sync path. The important details are whether sync is opt-in, which records and media are included, and what happens when it is disabled. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Apple Foundation Models framework](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/FoundationModels) - [Apple: Meet the Foundation Models framework](https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2025/286/) - [Apple: Prompting an on-device foundation model](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundationmodels/prompting-an-on-device-foundation-model) - [Apple: Improving the safety of generative model output](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/FoundationModels/improving-the-safety-of-generative-model-output) - [Apple App Privacy Details guidance](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/app-privacy-details/) > **Call to Action**: Explore the Obsidian Ridge Labs collection by the work you want help with. Each product page explains its local features, device requirements, and connected options. (App ID: echochamber) --- ### Echo Chamber vs Otter: Recording Library or Team Workspace? - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/otter-vs-echo - **Date**: 2026.02.03 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 6 MIN READ - **Category**: TRANSCRIPTION APP COMPARISON - **Content Type**: comparison - **Primary Question**: Is Echo Chamber a private Otter.ai alternative for recording meetings or transcribing an existing audio or video file? - **Tags**: #ECHO-CHAMBER, #OTTER-AI, #TRANSCRIPTION, #PARAKEET, #PRIVACY - **Excerpt**: Echo Chamber keeps recording, search, notes, and transcript questions on your Apple device. Compare that personal workflow with Otter’s shared meeting workspace. #### Key Takeaways - Echo Chamber connects live recording and file import to searchable transcripts, bookmarks, local notes, summaries, and questions about what was said. - Otter’s meeting bots, integrations, shared access, and administration suit team workflows; speech processing happens in its cloud service. - Test both with a recording like your own. Names, numbers, background noise, and overlapping voices matter more than a model’s leaderboard position. #### Full Article Content #### Choose around what happens after the conversation Echo Chamber is a strong fit when you want to record a conversation, find the exact passage later, and turn it into useful notes without uploading it for AI processing. Otter is built around a shared meeting service, with bots, integrations, and team controls. The decision is whether your recordings belong in a personal library on your Apple devices or a workspace other people need to use with you. The meeting ends, but the work usually does not. You may need the decision someone made, the phrase you want to quote, or a short set of notes to send afterward. That is the work to compare. Echo Chamber keeps those follow-up tools with your recording; Otter places them in a collaborative meeting service. This guide compares documented features, not measured transcription accuracy. #### Echo Chamber and Otter.ai solve different transcription jobs | Decision | Echo Chamber | Otter.ai | | --- | --- | --- | | Core processing | Speech recognition and transcript intelligence run on supported Apple hardware after required model setup. | Otter’s official accuracy FAQ describes the service as entirely cloud-based. | | Live capture | Records in the app and produces a searchable local transcript. | Records in its apps and can join supported online meetings through its cloud workflow. | | Existing files | Import an existing audio or video file for local processing. Check the current app for supported formats and plan limits. | Imports many audio and video formats; the file is uploaded and processed to create transcripts and AI meeting content. | | Collaboration | Centered on a private personal archive and user-initiated exports. | Built around accounts, workspaces, sharing, AI Chat, meeting templates, and team administration. | | Accuracy evidence | No directly comparable product-level accuracy result is established here. Test a representative recording. | Otter publishes guidance about factors that affect accuracy. No head-to-head result is established here. | | Price model | Free to download with optional Pro. The App Store and in-app purchase screen show the current offer. | Free Basic tier; paid Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans with limits and collaboration features that change by plan. | #### Keep the recording and the follow-up work together In Echo Chamber, a live or imported recording becomes a searchable transcript. Bookmarks mark passages you want to return to; local transcript tools help produce notes, summaries, and answers from the conversation. You can then export the result. Recording and AI processing happen on supported Apple hardware, without sending the source audio to Obsidian Ridge Labs. Optional iCloud and exports create separate copies that you control. Otter makes a different trade. Its official documentation says the speech engine is cloud-based, and its terms explain that audio can be ingested by recording or upload, processed in cloud infrastructure, and delivered back through the service. Otter also documents AWS storage, server-side encryption, sharing controls, two-factor authentication, SOC 2 Type 2 controls, and deletion behavior. Those are meaningful cloud security measures; they are not the same claim as local inference. Echo Chamber minimizes remote exposure by keeping its core workflow on the Apple device, while a cloud workspace accepts additional copies in exchange for shared access. #### Bring the recording you already have Echo Chamber can process recordings made elsewhere. Import an audio or video file, then search, review, and use its transcript on your device. Check the current app for supported formats and allowance. Otter also accepts imported files, with its supported formats and plan limits documented in the help center; its speech processing takes place in the cloud. #### Test the details you cannot afford to misquote Word error rate counts substitutions, deletions, and insertions relative to a reference transcript. The result only describes that test: its audio, language, model, preprocessing, and scoring rules. A model leaderboard cannot establish how an app will handle your meeting. Use a short recording that resembles your actual work. Check names, numbers, technical terms, and overlapping speech against the audio. A transcript still needs review before you quote it or act on it. > **Accuracy is conditional**: Model choice matters, but so do distance from the microphone, noise, reverberation, overlapping speakers, specialized names, language, and the reference-transcript rules. Compare products on your own representative, consented test recording before relying on any average. #### When a shared meeting workspace is the better fit Otter’s paid plans add workspace membership, advanced meeting templates, AI chat across meetings, shared vocabulary, integrations, administrative controls, and meeting bots. Those features are useful when colleagues need to share and manage recordings in one service. Echo Chamber suits a different routine: record or import, revisit the words, make your notes, and choose what to share. You do not have to put the source recording in a vendor’s AI workspace to get that help. - CHOOSE BY DATA PATH: Decide whether the source recording can become a remote service copy before comparing interface polish. - TEST THE REAL INPUT: Use a consented sample with the same room, accents, terminology, and speaker overlap as the work you plan to transcribe. - CHECK IMPORT LIMITS: Confirm supported media, duration, file size, monthly quotas, and whether video means audio extraction or visual analysis. - CHECK THE EXIT: Confirm transcript, timestamp, subtitle, document, and audio exports before building an archive. - PLAN COLLABORATION: A local file is not automatically a shared workspace; a cloud workspace is not automatically the right home for every conversation. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Is Echo Chamber an offline alternative to Otter.ai?** Echo Chamber can record, transcribe, search, and use local transcript tools on supported hardware after required setup. Features and allowances depend on the app version and device. It does not require uploading the recording to an external AI service. **Q: Can Echo Chamber transcribe an MP4 video or an existing audio recording?** Echo Chamber imports audio and video for local speech processing. Check the current import screen for accepted files and your plan allowance. **Q: How should I compare transcript accuracy?** Try the same recording in both apps and listen back to the details that matter: names, numbers, technical terms, and overlapping voices. A model benchmark does not establish how the complete app will handle your conversation. **Q: Does Echo Chamber require Apple Intelligence?** Apple Intelligence is one supported route for transcript tools. Speech recognition and AI availability depend on your hardware, system version, and installed models. Check the requirements and model settings in the current app. **Q: Can I buy Echo Chamber without another subscription?** Echo Chamber offers optional Pro purchases. Open the App Store or the in-app purchase screen to compare the current subscription and lifetime options and their local prices. **Q: Does private transcription remove the need for recording consent?** No. A local data path can reduce disclosure to a vendor, but it does not change the laws, workplace rules, professional duties, or human expectations that govern recording. Obtain the permission required for the context. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Otter: speech and transcription accuracy FAQ](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/360048322533-Speech-transcription-accuracy-FAQ) - [Otter: import an audio or video file](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/360047733574-Import-an-audio-or-video-file) - [Otter pricing and plan limits](https://otter.ai/pricing) - [Otter privacy and security](https://otter.ai/privacy-security) - [NVIDIA Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3 model card](https://huggingface.co/nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3) - [Apple Intelligence device requirements](https://support.apple.com/en-us/121115) - [Google Cloud Speech-to-Text audio preprocessing guidance](https://docs.cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/docs/best-practices) - [OpenAI Whisper large-v3 model card](https://huggingface.co/openai/whisper-large-v3) - [Hugging Face Open ASR Leaderboard](https://huggingface.co/spaces/hf-audio/open_asr_leaderboard) > **Call to Action**: Try Echo Chamber with a conversation you need to remember. Record or import it, find a passage, and use the local transcript tools to make something useful from it. Download free; the App Store shows the current Pro options. (App ID: echochamber) --- ### Five Transcription Apps for Private Recordings and Useful Notes - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/best-offline-transcription-apps - **Date**: 2026.07.11 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 7 MIN READ - **Category**: PRIVATE TRANSCRIPTION GUIDE - **Content Type**: listicle - **Primary Question**: What is the best private transcription app that works offline or processes audio on my iPhone, iPad, or Mac? - **Tags**: #OFFLINE-TRANSCRIPTION, #PRIVATE-TRANSCRIPTION, #VOICE-TO-TEXT, #APPLE - **Excerpt**: Compare Echo Chamber, MacWhisper, Aiko, Voice Memos, and Otter by the work you need: live capture, file transcription, local notes, or team meetings. #### Key Takeaways - Choose Echo Chamber when you want to keep using a recording after transcription: find a passage, bookmark it, summarize it, ask a question, or export your notes. - MacWhisper, Aiko, and Voice Memos cover different local workflows. Otter belongs on the shortlist when sharing and meeting automation outweigh the need for local processing. - Try one representative file before committing. Check the transcript, export format, supported device, and any optional remote AI settings. #### Items Compared 1. **Echo Chamber**: Live and imported recordings become searchable transcripts, bookmarks, local notes, and answers you can use. 2. **MacWhisper**: A deep Mac transcription workstation with local model choices, broad file support, batch tools, subtitles, automation, and optional cloud services. 3. **Aiko**: A focused Apple-platform Whisper app that favors accurate local file transcription and subtitle export over live transcription or speaker detection. 4. **Apple Voice Memos**: Built-in live and post-recording transcription on supported iPhones, with copy, search, optional iCloud, and Writing Tools summaries. 5. **Otter.ai**: A cloud-first meeting transcription and collaboration service with workspaces, bots, sharing, AI chat, and integrations. #### Full Article Content #### Start with the recording you need to use Echo Chamber brings live recording, imported files, searchable transcripts, and local notes into one Apple-device workflow. MacWhisper offers a deeper Mac transcription workbench; Aiko focuses on file transcription; Voice Memos covers built-in recording; Otter adds a shared cloud workspace. Start with the source you have and the result you need, then check where each step is processed. A transcript can be the finished result, or the start of another piece of work. An interview may need quotations, a lecture may need study notes, and a team meeting may need shared follow-up. The apps below differ most in how far they take you after the words appear. Local processing matters too, especially when the recording contains something you would not ordinarily hand to another company. #### Five transcription tools by practical fit and data path | App | Core fit and processing | Boundary to verify | | --- | --- | --- | | Echo Chamber | Live or imported recordings, searchable transcripts, local notes and answers, and export on supported Apple hardware. | Check the current device requirements, local model setup, plan allowance, and storage/sync settings. No product-level accuracy ranking is established here. | | MacWhisper | Mac-centered local transcription with Whisper, Parakeet, Apple speech, batch processing, subtitles, speaker tools, dictation, CLI, and automation. | Optional cloud transcription, remote AI prompts, translation, and webhooks intentionally send selected data outside the local path. | | Aiko | Focused local Whisper file transcription across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Vision, with many languages and subtitle export. | The official listing says it favors accuracy over speed, does not transcribe live while recording, and lacks speaker detection. | | Voice Memos | Built-in recording, live or later transcription, transcript search and copy on supported iPhones. | Language, device, and region availability apply; optional iCloud creates synced copies and advanced summaries require supported Apple Intelligence. | | Otter.ai | Cloud meeting capture, imported files, speaker identification, AI chat, bots, workspaces, sharing, and integrations. | Audio is processed through cloud infrastructure; plan quotas and workspace permissions affect the practical boundary. | A note on a new arrival: Fireflies launched Talk, free unlimited voice dictation that stores completed dictations on your device. Its own announcement says audio is still sent to Fireflies' speech-to-text provider for processing. Stored locally is not the same as processed on-device, and the distinction is worth keeping in mind as dictation features multiply. #### 1. Echo Chamber: return to the conversation and work with it Echo Chamber is for recordings you expect to revisit. Capture speech live or import audio or video, search the transcript, and bookmark passages worth keeping. Its local tools can turn the conversation into notes, summarize it, or answer questions from the transcript. You can move the result into your next piece of work through export. Available formats and individual features depend on the installed version and platform. Accuracy varies with source quality, accent, language, terminology, and overlapping speakers. Listen back to important passages and correct the transcript before using it as a quotation or record. A model benchmark alone does not establish how a complete recording workflow performs. Echo Chamber is free to download, with optional Pro. The App Store and in-app purchase screen show current prices and allowances. Its main fit is a personal Apple-device archive; someone who needs a browser workspace or centralized team administration should compare those requirements separately. #### 2. MacWhisper: a transcription workbench for Mac MacWhisper transcribes dragged-in audio and video, microphone recordings, meetings, podcasts, URLs, and watch folders. Its official site documents local models, more than 100 languages, speaker recognition, search, editing, batch work, subtitles, many export formats, dictation, a command-line tool, and integrations. The free Mac tier covers core transcription; the official page showed a €64 pay-once Pro license when checked. Its workstation depth is Mac-centered, while Echo Chamber provides a more unified private workflow across supported iPhone, iPad, and Mac hardware. MacWhisper’s privacy documentation is unusually explicit about optional paths. Default transcription and speaker identification can remain local after a model download. Choosing a cloud transcription provider sends audio to that provider; choosing a remote AI prompt service sends transcript text; DeepL translation sends text for translation; configured webhooks send transcript content to their destination. Local Ollama or LM Studio can keep prompts on the Mac. “MacWhisper is private” is therefore incomplete without naming which switches are enabled. #### 3. Aiko: a focused way to transcribe a file Aiko is a one-time-purchase Apple-platform app built by Sindre Sorhus. Its current US App Store listing describes OpenAI Whisper running locally, no developer data collection, support for many languages, word replacement, and subtitle export. It is intentionally narrower than Echo Chamber or MacWhisper. The same listing says Aiko favors accuracy over speed, does not perform live transcription while recording, and does not currently detect speakers. Echo Chamber extends the private file workflow with live transcription, local notes and summaries, search, and a broader document archive. #### 4. Voice Memos: start with the recorder already on your iPhone Apple Voice Memos can display a transcript while recording or afterward on supported iPhones, copy part or all of the text, search titles and transcripts, and jump from a selected term to its location in the waveform. Apple documents language, region, and hardware limits. Voice Memos can also sync recordings through iCloud when the user enables it, and supported Apple Intelligence devices can summarize with Writing Tools. It covers basic built-in capture, while Echo Chamber adds existing audio and video import, local AI tools, richer export, and dedicated archive controls. #### 5. Otter: shared meetings in a cloud workspace Otter belongs in a private-transcription comparison because privacy decisions are architectural tradeoffs. Its cloud service can import audio and video, join supported meetings, identify speakers, create AI content, share conversations, search across meetings, and give administrators centralized controls. Official security documentation describes encryption, access controls, retention, and compliance options. The source recording still must reach the service. Echo Chamber avoids that required remote copy for its core workflow and is the stronger option when private Apple-device processing is the priority. - VERIFY EVERY STAGE: recording, speech recognition, speaker labeling, summary, translation, sync, integration, and export can each have a different data path. - CHECK HARDWARE BEFORE BUYING: local models need storage, memory, recent operating systems, and sometimes a specific chip or downloaded asset. - COMPARE LANGUAGES AND SPEAKERS: a multilingual file workflow and a live English meeting workflow are not the same product test. - EXPORT A TEST: confirm that the timestamps, speaker labels, subtitles, and document format remain useful outside the app. - GET CONSENT: local processing changes vendor exposure, not the permission required to record another person. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Which transcription apps work locally on iPhone?** Echo Chamber processes speech on supported Apple devices after model setup. Aiko offers local file transcription, while Voice Memos provides built-in transcription on supported iPhones. Check language, hardware, model, and plan requirements for the workflow you need. **Q: Which transcription apps can import video?** Echo Chamber accepts audio and video for local speech processing. MacWhisper also supports video files on Mac. Otter imports them through its cloud service. Check each app for supported formats and current plan limits. **Q: How should I compare transcription accuracy?** Use the same representative recording in each app, then compare names, numbers, missing words, and overlapping speech against the audio. Confirm the actual model and settings in each test. This guide does not establish a measured accuracy winner. **Q: Does Echo Chamber work without Apple Intelligence?** Speech transcription does not depend on Apple Intelligence alone. Transcript-tool availability depends on the hardware, operating system, and local models offered by the installed version. Check Echo Chamber’s current requirements and model settings. **Q: Can I buy Echo Chamber once instead of subscribing?** Echo Chamber offers optional Pro purchases, including subscription and lifetime options. Check the current App Store listing or purchase screen for availability, features, and your local price. **Q: Can a transcription app be private if it offers cloud features?** A privacy claim must name the exact boundary. Echo Chamber keeps its core recording, transcription, search, notes, and summaries on supported Apple hardware. Optional cloud paths in other products may be acceptable for a specific workflow, but they create additional recipients and copies that local processing avoids. #### Sources & Further Reading - [MacWhisper official features and pricing](https://www.macwhisper.com/) - [MacWhisper: keeping transcriptions private](https://docs.macwhisper.com/article/52-keeping-transcriptions-private) - [MacWhisper for iOS](https://docs.macwhisper.com/article/33-macwhisper-for-ios) - [Aiko App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/aiko/id1672085276) - [Apple: view a Voice Memos transcription](https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/iphone/iph00953a982/ios) - [Apple: make a recording and optional iCloud sync](https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/iph4d2a39a3b/ios) - [Otter pricing](https://otter.ai/pricing) - [Otter privacy and security](https://otter.ai/privacy-security) - [NVIDIA Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3 model card](https://huggingface.co/nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3) - [Apple Intelligence device requirements](https://support.apple.com/en-us/121115) - [Google Cloud Speech-to-Text audio preprocessing guidance](https://docs.cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/docs/best-practices) > **Call to Action**: Echo Chamber is free to download, with optional Pro. Bring one real recording and try the whole workflow, from capture or import to a passage you can find again and notes you can use. (App ID: echochamber) --- ### Budgeting Without Linking a Bank: Five Apps Compared - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/finance-app-red-flags - **Date**: 2026.01.15 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 7 MIN READ - **Category**: BUDGET APP PRIVACY GUIDE - **Content Type**: listicle - **Primary Question**: Which budgeting app lets me track money without linking a bank, and what financial data is shared if I turn bank sync on? - **Tags**: #BUDGETING-APPS, #FINANCIAL-PRIVACY, #BANK-SYNC, #PLAID - **Excerpt**: Compare manual entry, file imports, forecasts, and optional bank connections in Vault, Actual Budget, YNAB, Copilot, and Monarch. #### Key Takeaways - Vault’s local workflow is built around a practical question: what would this purchase leave after your upcoming obligations? Receipt and statement imports help supply the records. - A manual account avoids a continuous bank feed, but does not necessarily keep the budget off a vendor’s servers. Actual, YNAB, and Copilot have different storage models. - Vault’s optional banking uses Plaid and an Obsidian Ridge Labs relay. Its local manual workflow and connected features should be evaluated separately. #### Items Compared 1. **Vault · pre-release**: Purchase checks and cash-flow forecasts using reviewed records, with no bank connection required for manual use. In development. 2. **Actual Budget**: Open-source, local-first envelope budgeting with local accounts, file import, optional self-hosted sync, and optional bank providers. 3. **YNAB**: Account-based budgeting with unlinked accounts, manual entry, file import, and optional direct import through supported providers. 4. **Copilot Money**: US-focused finance tracking across Apple platforms and web, with connected and manual accounts, export, and an account-based cloud service. 5. **Monarch Money**: Subscription financial dashboard for connected accounts, budgeting, goals, investments, reports, and household collaboration. #### Full Article Content #### A bank connection should earn its place You can keep a useful budget without giving an app continuous access to your bank. Actual Budget and YNAB support manual and imported records; Copilot also documents manual accounts. Vault, still in development, adds a native Apple workflow for reviewing receipts and statements, forecasting cash flow, and weighing a purchase against upcoming obligations. Compare the work each app saves before deciding whether automatic bank updates are worth connecting. The convenience of a linked bank is easy to understand: fewer transactions to type and a balance that updates for you. The alternative should be judged just as practically. Can you import the statements you already download? Correct a category before it affects a budget? See what remains after the bills? These questions make a better shortlist than a security badge alone. #### Five budgeting products by manual path and connection model | App | Manual or local path | Connected path and important limit | | --- | --- | --- | | Vault | Reviewed manual records and imports, purchase checks, budgets, and cash-flow forecasts on Apple devices. | In development. Optional Plaid banking uses an Obsidian Ridge Labs relay; paid enrichment can send merchant and amount details. | | Actual Budget | Local-first database, local accounts, manual entry, and CSV, QIF, OFX, QFX, or CAMT file import. | Optional sync server and bank providers require configuration; bank-sync tokens are not covered by Actual’s budget-data end-to-end encryption. | | YNAB | Unlinked accounts, manual entry, scheduled transactions, reconciliation, and file import without a bank link. | Optional Direct Import uses supported providers such as Plaid or MX; YNAB remains an account-based cloud product. | | Copilot Money | Manual accounts and transactions are available for several account types, with stated limits on historic balances and imports. | Connected accounts use aggregators or direct OAuth; Copilot stores service data in cloud infrastructure and documents export and deletion controls. | | Monarch Money | Manual records may supplement the dashboard, but the product’s central proposition is an aggregated financial home base. | Unlimited connected accounts, integrations, household collaboration, and reporting are included in the subscription service. | #### Vault: review the records, then see what a purchase changes Vault’s development build brings manual expenses, receipt capture, and statement imports into a review step before those records affect the budget. Its purchase check and cash-flow forecast use the balances and obligations you supply, helping you see the effect of spending before you spend. Processing runs locally on iPhone and iPad. Bank linking is optional: it uses Plaid and an Obsidian Ridge Labs relay that retains access tokens and handles connected data. Paid enrichment can send merchant and amount information to Plaid; optional diagnostics are off by default. > **Vault is in development**: Vault is not available to download yet. The workflow described here is implemented in the development build; release timing and the final offer have not been announced. #### 2. Actual Budget: local-first control with self-hosted responsibility Actual Budget is an open-source envelope-budgeting system whose official documentation calls it local-first: the primary database lives on the local device. A user can create a local account, enter transactions, and import financial files without bank sync. Optional sync uses an Actual server, and end-to-end encryption can protect budget data from that server. This architecture offers unusual control, but it also gives the user responsibility for hosting, updates, backups, passwords, and recovery. The official native mobile apps are deprecated; the responsive web app can be installed as a PWA. Actual’s bank-sync documentation makes an important caveat visible: providers such as SimpleFIN, GoCardless, Pluggy, or regional alternatives require an Actual server and user-supplied credentials, and the server stores bank-sync API secrets or tokens outside the budget file’s end-to-end encryption. That does not make the feature inherently unsafe; it means “the budget is encrypted” is not a complete description of the connected path. Self-hosters should understand server access, token storage, provider scopes, and backup before enabling it. #### 3. YNAB: manual budgeting inside an account service YNAB supports unlinked accounts, manual transactions, scheduled entries, reconciliation, and file-based import. Its current help center explicitly describes Direct Import as optional and lets a person create an unlinked account instead. File import can bring QFX, OFX, and other supported bank exports into the web app or iPad without maintaining a bank connection. Those options avoid continuous aggregation, but the budget records still live inside YNAB’s account-based cloud service. YNAB is still an online account service, not a local-only database. Its privacy notices describe account, product, device, support, and financial data practices, along with service providers and user rights. Direct Import can involve providers including Plaid or MX, depending on location and institution. Compare the manual workflow to the convenience of automatic updates, then read the current policy and import documentation rather than assuming that an unlinked bank also means no financial records are stored by YNAB. #### 4. Copilot Money: connected intelligence plus newer manual accounts Copilot Money is available in the United States across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and web. Its help center now documents manual checking, savings, cash, credit card, investment, loan, and real-estate accounts, with manual transactions on selected types. It also explains limitations: historic balances begin when the manual account is created, some account types cannot carry negative balances, and historic balance imports are not supported. That makes manual use possible without pretending it duplicates the history and automation of a connected account. For connections, Copilot names Plaid, Mastercard Data Connect, and direct OAuth integrations. Its privacy-and-security page says Copilot does not see or store bank login credentials, uses encryption at rest and in transit, offers transactional-data export, and removes integrated financial information after account deletion subject to stated legal exceptions. It also explains that the service runs on Google Cloud and that the cloud provider’s certifications are not Copilot certifications. Those details reveal the remote service boundary more clearly than a generic “bank-grade” claim. #### 5. Monarch Money: a paid connected household dashboard Monarch’s value proposition is aggregation: unlimited connected accounts, budgets, cash-flow views, goals, investment performance, reports, integrations, and household collaboration across web, mobile, and iPad. Its official pricing page showed $99.99 billed yearly when checked and states that the subscription is ad-free and the company does not resell financial data. Those claims describe a business model and service commitment; they do not turn a connected dashboard into a local app. A household should still review providers, access scopes, collaboration permissions, retention, export, and deletion. #### Before connecting a bank, check these details - CAN I USE IT UNLINKED? Check manual entry, local accounts, file import, budgets, forecasts, and exports before granting ongoing access. - WHO HANDLES AUTHENTICATION? Name the aggregator or OAuth institution and determine whether the app developer ever receives the bank password. - WHAT FIELDS ARE REQUESTED? Balances, transactions, account numbers, identity, investments, loans, and location are different permission scopes. - WHAT DERIVED DATA LEAVES? Merchant categories, notes, goals, budget questions, support logs, and AI prompts can reveal more than the original transaction. - HOW DO I DISCONNECT AND DELETE? Revoking bank access, deleting an app account, deleting local records, and cancelling a subscription are separate actions. - CAN I LEAVE WITH A USEFUL EXPORT? Verify formats, fields, attachments, category history, and whether the export can be restored elsewhere. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: What budgeting app works without linking a bank?** Vault is being designed around manual local use without a required bank connection, including budgets, forecasts, and on-device statement or receipt import. It remains pre-release. Actual Budget, YNAB, and Copilot also document unlinked or manual paths, but each uses a different storage, account, and sync model. **Q: Does using Plaid mean the budgeting app gets my bank password?** Plaid says it does not share the login and password with the connected app. Depending on the institution, authentication may use bank OAuth or Plaid may collect login data needed to connect. Review the live Plaid consent screen and requested fields. **Q: Is a local-first budget automatically safer?** No. Local-first can reduce vendor data movement, but device compromise, weak backups, misconfigured self-hosting, exports, and optional sync can still create risk. It also does not guarantee correct calculations or financial outcomes. **Q: Can an AI budgeting app give financial advice?** Treat generated coaching and forecasts as educational estimates based on incomplete inputs, not personalized financial, tax, legal, credit, or investment advice. Verify important decisions with the relevant statements and qualified professionals. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Actual Budget: local-first FAQ](https://actualbudget.org/docs/faq/) - [Actual Budget: bank sync and token caveats](https://actualbudget.org/docs/advanced/bank-sync/) - [Actual Budget: importing transactions](https://actualbudget.org/docs/transactions/importing/) - [YNAB: add linked or unlinked accounts](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/how-to-add-an-account-ByoxswMJs) - [YNAB: file-based import without linking a bank](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/file-based-import-a-guide-Bkj4Sszyo) - [YNAB: how optional Direct Import works](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/how-direct-import-works-H1IGYLgnxl) - [Copilot Money: manual accounts](https://help.copilot.money/en/articles/10682991-understanding-manual-accounts) - [Copilot Money: privacy and security](https://www.copilot.money/privacy-and-security) - [Monarch Money pricing and included features](https://partners.monarchmoney.com/pricing) - [Plaid: how bank connections work](https://plaid.com/what-is-plaid/) - [Plaid privacy and security policies](https://plaid.com/legal/) > **Call to Action**: Explore Vault’s purchase check, reviewed imports, and cash-flow forecast. It is being built for the decisions between paydays, with no bank connection required for its manual workflow. (App ID: vault) --- ### Vault vs YNAB, Monarch, Copilot, and Actual - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/vault-vs-ynab-monarch-copilot-actual - **Date**: 2026.07.11 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 6 MIN READ - **Category**: PRIVATE BUDGET APP COMPARISON - **Content Type**: comparison - **Primary Question**: How will pre-release Vault compare with YNAB, Monarch Money, Copilot Money, and Actual Budget for private budgeting without a required bank connection? - **Tags**: #VAULT, #YNAB, #MONARCH-MONEY, #COPILOT-MONEY, #ACTUAL-BUDGET - **Excerpt**: Vault focuses on purchase decisions and local financial records. Compare it with envelope budgeting, shared household dashboards, and connected account services. #### Key Takeaways - Vault brings purchase checks, cash-flow forecasts, and reviewed receipt or statement imports together on iPhone and iPad. - YNAB suits a category-based budgeting practice; Actual adds local-first control; Copilot and Monarch offer established connected dashboards. - Vault’s manual workflow does not require bank linking. Its optional Plaid features do connect through an Obsidian Ridge Labs relay. #### Full Article Content #### Start with the decision you want help making Vault is being built to help you judge a purchase against the bills and commitments ahead, using records you can enter or import without linking a bank. YNAB centers a budgeting method, Actual offers a local-first envelope budget, and Copilot and Monarch organize connected financial accounts. If your main need is deciding what you can spend next, Vault’s purchase check is the feature to watch. It remains in development. A complete view of your accounts is useful, but it may still leave the question you opened the app to answer: can I make this purchase and cover what comes next? Vault starts there. Other apps in this comparison put a budgeting method, a connected transaction inbox, or household collaboration first. The right choice depends on which of those jobs you will actually return to each week. #### Pre-release Vault against four available budgeting approaches | Product | What it is good at | Tradeoff relative to Vault’s direction | | --- | --- | --- | | Vault | Reviewed manual records and imports, purchase checks, budgets, and cash-flow forecasts on Apple devices. | In development. Optional Plaid banking uses an Obsidian Ridge Labs relay; paid enrichment can send merchant and amount details. | | Actual Budget | Open-source local-first envelope budgets, local accounts, flexible imports, self-hosted sync, and optional encryption. | Requires more setup and operational responsibility; bank-sync secrets have a separate server boundary. | | YNAB | Established budgeting method, education, unlinked accounts, manual or file import, optional direct import, and broad platform access. | Account-based cloud service with subscription pricing; the method and workflow are more prescriptive than a lightweight tracker. | | Copilot Money | Polished transaction review, categories, recurring views, cash flow, investments, manual accounts, and Apple-focused design plus web. | Connected financial data and service records live in cloud infrastructure; US availability and manual-history limits apply. | | Monarch Money | Unlimited connections, household collaboration, budgets, cash flow, goals, investments, reports, and broad integrations. | Aggregation-first subscription is a larger remote data footprint than Vault’s planned manual default. | #### Vault: put the purchase beside the obligations Vault’s development build lets you enter or import financial records, review them, and use them in a budget and cash-flow forecast. The purchase check places a proposed expense against the money and obligations already recorded. That gives the decision some context beyond the current balance. It also makes the quality of the input important: a missing bill or irregular income can change the result. The forecast is an estimate from your records, not a promise about what the bank will show. #### Actual Budget provides an available local-first comparison Actual puts the local database at the center. It supports local accounts and common financial-file imports, works offline, and can sync through an Actual server you select. Optional end-to-end encryption protects budget data from that server, while bank integration stores provider secrets separately. Vault’s difference is the native Apple workflow around reviewed document capture and purchase decisions, without server administration as part of manual use. #### YNAB emphasizes method, education, and an account service YNAB organizes money around assigning available dollars to categories, reconciling accounts, and adjusting the plan as life changes. Unlinked accounts, manual entry, scheduled transactions, and file imports make bank linking optional. Choose it when the budgeting method and established service are what you need. Vault’s narrower focus is helping you use your own records to understand an upcoming spending decision. #### Copilot and Monarch center the aggregation experience Copilot turns connected accounts into a transaction inbox, recurring analysis, budgets, and cash-flow and investment views; manual accounts are also available for several asset and liability types. Monarch offers a wider household service with goals, budget systems, reports, investment views, and collaborators. Those services make sense when you need shared visibility or less manual upkeep. Vault is being built around a personal workflow that remains useful with manually maintained records. #### Optional Plaid must remain visibly optional Vault’s optional connected-bank path uses Plaid and an Obsidian Ridge Labs relay. The relay handles access tokens and requests, while paid enrichment can send merchant and amount information for categorization. Manual imports have a local path and do not require linking a bank. The current app is in development; deployed service behavior and the release offer still need verification. > **Availability**: Vault is still in development. The other apps in this comparison are available now; the linked product pages are the place to check their current prices and supported connections. #### Choose the job you want to keep doing - VAULT: Designed for a local manual core, on-device document import, deterministic forecasts, private coaching, and explicitly optional Plaid. It remains pre-release. - ACTUAL BUDGET TRADEOFF: Local-first open source and file imports come with self-hosted setup, maintenance, recovery, and a separate server boundary for bank-sync secrets. - YNAB TRADEOFF: Manual and unlinked use exists inside an established account-based cloud service with a prescriptive budgeting method. - COPILOT TRADEOFF: Automatic financial review and an Apple-centered interface depend on a service account and cloud infrastructure. - MONARCH TRADEOFF: Broad household aggregation, reports, investments, and collaboration create a larger remote financial-data footprint than Vault’s planned manual default. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Is Vault available as a YNAB or Monarch alternative?** Not yet. Vault is in development with no announced release date or final price. Its intended alternative is a local manual core, on-device imports and coaching, deterministic forecasts, and optional Plaid instead of an aggregation-first cloud account. **Q: Will Vault require Plaid?** The intended design does not. Manual tracking, budgets, imports, forecasts, and local coaching are planned without a linked bank. Plaid is a separate optional path whose final scope must be documented at release. **Q: How does Vault’s local-first direction differ from the other options?** Vault is designed as a native iPhone and iPad local core with on-device document import and optional Plaid, but it remains unreleased. Actual uses a local database with optional self-hosted sync, YNAB offers unlinked use inside its cloud service, and Copilot and Monarch center service-based financial dashboards. **Q: Will Vault forecasts predict my bank balance accurately?** They are intended as estimates from the records and assumptions supplied. Missing transactions, irregular income, fees, timing, and changing behavior can make any projection wrong. A forecast is not a guarantee or professional financial advice. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Actual Budget: accounts and local account option](https://actualbudget.org/docs/accounts/) - [Actual Budget: syncing and end-to-end encryption](https://actualbudget.org/docs/getting-started/sync/) - [Actual Budget: bank-sync caveats](https://actualbudget.org/docs/advanced/bank-sync/) - [YNAB: linked and unlinked accounts](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/how-to-add-an-account-ByoxswMJs) - [YNAB: optional Direct Import](https://support.ynab.com/en_us/how-direct-import-works-H1IGYLgnxl) - [Copilot Money: manual account behavior](https://help.copilot.money/en/articles/10682991-understanding-manual-accounts) - [Copilot Money: privacy and security](https://www.copilot.money/privacy-and-security) - [Monarch Money: pricing and feature scope](https://partners.monarchmoney.com/pricing) - [Plaid: connection and data choices](https://plaid.com/what-is-plaid/) - [Plaid: privacy and security policies](https://plaid.com/legal/) > **Call to Action**: See how Vault reviews imported records and uses them in purchase checks and cash-flow forecasts. Follow its development if that is the gap in your current budget. (App ID: vault) --- ### Molehill vs Goblin Tools, Tiimo, Structured, and Todoist - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/molehill-vs-goblin-tools-tiimo-structured-todoist - **Date**: 2026.07.11 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 7 MIN READ - **Category**: AI TASK BREAKDOWN COMPARISON - **Content Type**: comparison - **Primary Question**: How will Molehill compare with Goblin Tools Magic ToDo, Tiimo, Structured, and Todoist when a task feels too overwhelming to start? - **Tags**: #MOLEHILL, #GOBLIN-TOOLS, #TIIMO, #STRUCTURED, #TODOIST - **Excerpt**: Compare tools for breaking down a task, focusing on one step, planning a day, or managing a project. Molehill starts with the step that still feels too large. #### Key Takeaways - Molehill’s distinctive action is splitting the specific step you are stuck on, then returning to one-step focus. - A timer, recurring tasks, and editable brain-dump results support the work; a basic splitter remains available after the free AI allowance is used. - Molehill is in development for iPhone with Apple Intelligence required. The available alternatives offer broader scheduling, integrations, or shared projects. #### Full Article Content #### The right tool depends on where you get stuck Molehill is being built for the moment a task is written down but still feels too large to begin. It turns a task or brain dump into editable actions, shows one step, and lets you split that step again. Goblin Tools offers quick breakdown tools; Tiimo and Structured put work into a visual day; Todoist manages longer-lived projects. Choose the level of planning you need, rather than collecting more generated subtasks. “Sort out the paperwork” looks manageable on a list until you sit down to do it. Which folder? Which form? What are you looking for? A breakdown tool earns its place by helping you find an action you can start. A calendar or project manager earns its place later, when you need to put that action among appointments, deadlines, and other people’s work. #### Five approaches to getting from a vague task to a next action | Product | Core approach | Boundary or limitation | | --- | --- | --- | | Molehill | Editable local breakdown, one-step focus, and the option to split a stuck step again. | In development for iPhone on iOS 26 with Apple Intelligence required. Includes streaks and completion history. | | Goblin Tools | Magic ToDo decomposes tasks by “spiciness”; Compiler turns a ramble into tasks; Taskmaster works through one item at a time. | Most AI tools use back-end models whose output is explicitly described as guesswork; web sync and many exports add separate paths. | | Tiimo | AI Co-planner turns typed or spoken thoughts into steps, estimates time, and places work into a visual schedule with focus tools. | Account and cross-device service; AI breakdown is a Pro feature, and product wellness language should not be mistaken for treatment evidence. | | Structured | Tasks, calendar events, and routines share a visual timeline; optional AI can create, edit, or scan tasks. | AI sends the query and an anonymous identifier through Structured and OpenAI servers and may retain data for up to 30 days. | | Todoist | Cloud projects, subtasks, dates, recurring work, filters, collaboration, integrations, and optional Task Assist. | Account-based cloud system; AI runs through Doist infrastructure and selected model providers rather than on the user’s device. | #### Molehill: make the stuck step smaller Molehill’s current build can turn a task or brain dump into actions you review and edit. Open a task and focus on one step. If it is still too large, ask for a smaller breakdown of that step without replacing the rest of the plan. A timer and recurring tasks help carry the list into a routine. The app also has streaks and completion history; the smaller-step action is the reason to choose it. > **In development for iPhone**: Molehill is not yet available. The current app requires iOS 26 and Apple Intelligence. A basic, rule-based splitter remains available after the free AI allowance is used; this does not remove the hardware requirement. #### Goblin Tools uses server AI for single-purpose decomposition Goblin Tools describes itself as a collection of simple, single-task tools, mostly for everyday difficulties experienced by neurodivergent people. Magic ToDo uses a “spiciness” control as a hint for how much decomposition to generate. Each item can be broken down again, estimated, categorized, edited, reordered, or exported. Compiler turns a free-form ramble into tasks, while Taskmaster presents items one at a time with a timer and an optional next-task suggestion. The website is free without ads or paywalls, and low-cost mobile apps support the project. Goblin Tools states that most tools use back-end AI and that results are guesses rather than facts. Magic ToDo can export to files, Markdown, iCalendar, and several task systems, with optional encrypted sync. That is useful for a quick breakdown you want to take elsewhere. Molehill keeps its breakdown on the iPhone and carries the result into its own one-step focus view. #### Tiimo turns the breakdown into a visual day Tiimo’s AI Co-planner accepts typed or spoken thoughts, breaks them into structured tasks, estimates time, and can schedule them. The rest of the product provides a visual timeline, to-do inbox, focus timer, routines, widgets, Live Activities, mood check-ins, and cross-device access across iOS, iPad, watchOS, Android, Mac, and web. Official guidance encourages a brain dump first, then adjusting the proposed schedule rather than accepting it blindly. AI task breakdown and advanced planning sit in Tiimo Pro, with regional pricing shown at checkout. Tiimo is worth considering when a task list is only part of the problem: you also want time estimates, transitions, and routines visible across a day. Its broader account-based service includes sync and several platforms. Molehill’s narrower job is helping you begin the task in front of you, with local breakdown and one-step focus. #### Structured makes the timeline the primary answer Structured combines tasks, to-dos, calendar events, routines, and focus into one visual daily timeline. Optional Structured AI can interpret typed or spoken instructions and scan a physical planner to create, edit, or delete tasks. Its privacy documentation says ordinary entries are stored locally unless iCloud or Structured Cloud sync is enabled, while Structured AI sends the instruction and anonymous identifier through Structured and OpenAI servers and may retain that data for up to 30 days. Molehill is pursuing a narrower local breakdown path rather than making a full daily timeline the organizing surface. #### Todoist places decomposition inside a cloud task system Todoist starts with a durable task database: projects, subtasks, priorities, recurring dates, reminders, filters, calendars, file attachments, collaboration, templates, history, and more than 90 integrations. Todoist Assist can suggest steps toward a goal, rewrite a task, generate tips, or break complex work into subtasks. Current official pricing lists a free Beginner tier and a Pro tier that includes Task Assist. That breadth serves a cloud project system, while Molehill is deliberately focused on private local decomposition and one next action. Doist documents server-side AI processing through its infrastructure and selected providers, with agreements against training provider models on the processed data. Todoist’s advantage is where the result lands: a mature project system that can be shared and connected to other tools. Molehill keeps a smaller personal workflow on the iPhone. Choose based on whether the task needs that project structure after you begin. #### Try a task you have already postponed - START WITH A VERB: “Open the document and write three headings” is more actionable than “make progress on report.” - CHECK DEPENDENCIES: A generated sequence can be wrong when it does not know the people, permissions, tools, or decisions involved. - CHANGE THE GRANULARITY: If a step still creates resistance, split it again; if the list becomes noise, combine obvious actions. - KEEP EDIT CONTROL: The tool should make deletion, reordering, correction, and manual entry easier than regenerating everything. - SEPARATE PLANNING FROM TREATMENT: A productivity interface can support a routine but cannot diagnose ADHD, treat executive dysfunction, or guarantee follow-through. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Is Molehill a private alternative to Goblin Tools?** Molehill’s development build performs task breakdown locally on iPhone and carries the result into a one-step focus view. Goblin Tools uses back-end AI for most generation and offers a broad set of quick tools and exports. Molehill is not yet available. **Q: What app can turn a brain dump into tasks?** Molehill is being designed to turn a brain dump into editable tasks locally on iPhone and then center one next step, but it remains pre-release. Goblin Tools Compiler, Tiimo Co-planner, Structured AI, and Todoist Assist also transform or decompose input through their documented server or account-based workflows. **Q: Which task app shows only one step at a time?** Molehill is designed around a next-action view with a smaller-step action, but it remains pre-release. Goblin Tools Taskmaster also walks through Magic ToDo items one at a time, while Tiimo and Structured combine focus tools with a broader schedule. **Q: Is an AI task breakdown app an ADHD treatment?** No product in this comparison should be represented as diagnosis or medical treatment. It can suggest structure, but the output may be wrong and cannot evaluate health, disability accommodations, safety, or personal circumstances. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Goblin Tools Magic ToDo](https://goblin.tools/ToDo) - [Goblin Tools About and AI limitations](https://goblin.tools/About) - [Goblin Tools Compiler](https://goblin.tools/Compiler) - [Goblin Tools Taskmaster](https://goblin.tools/Taskmaster) - [Tiimo official features, privacy summary, and plan model](https://www.tiimoapp.com/) - [Tiimo task and brain-dump workflow](https://www.tiimoapp.com/faq/manage-tasks) - [Structured official product overview](https://structured.app/) - [Structured AI creation and data path](https://help.structured.app/en/articles/331074) - [Structured privacy explanation](https://help.structured.app/en/articles/1747138) - [Todoist Assist documentation](https://www.todoist.com/help/articles/introduction-to-todoist-assist-KgPP22q5O) - [Todoist pricing and task feature comparison](https://www.todoist.com/pricing/) > **Call to Action**: Explore Molehill’s task breakdown and one-step focus. Start with the action you keep putting off, and see how the smaller-step workflow is being built to handle it. (App ID: molehill) --- ### Five Task Breakdown Apps for Getting Started and Staying Organized - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/best-ai-task-breakdown-apps - **Date**: 2026.07.11 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 7 MIN READ - **Category**: TASK BREAKDOWN APP GUIDE - **Content Type**: listicle - **Primary Question**: What app can break an overwhelming task or brain dump into small steps and help me focus on what to do next? - **Tags**: #TASK-BREAKDOWN, #BRAIN-DUMP, #FOCUS-APP, #EXECUTIVE-FUNCTION - **Excerpt**: Molehill, Goblin Tools, Tiimo, Structured, and Todoist solve different problems. Compare smaller steps, visual schedules, and full project systems. #### Key Takeaways - Molehill lets you split a stuck step again and keep working from a one-step view. It is still in development. - Choose a visual planner when the problem is fitting work around appointments; choose a project manager when tasks need collaborators, history, or integrations. - Review a generated list before using it. Remove steps you do not need, correct dependencies, and make the first action specific enough to begin. #### Items Compared 1. **Molehill · pre-release**: Editable task breakdown, one-step focus, and a smaller-step action for the point where you are stuck. In development. 2. **Goblin Tools**: Focused task decomposition, brain-dump compilation, step estimates, one-item Taskmaster, and extensive exports. 3. **Tiimo**: Visual cross-device planning with AI brain dumps, estimated steps, schedules, timers, routines, and flexible daily structure. 4. **Structured**: One visual timeline for tasks and calendar events, with optional AI task creation, voice input, and planner scanning. 5. **Todoist**: Cloud projects, subtasks, recurring work, collaboration, integrations, and optional Task Assist decomposition. #### Full Article Content #### Choose what you need after the list is generated For a task that still feels too big after you have planned it, Molehill is being built around repeated breakdown and one-step focus on iPhone. Goblin Tools suits a quick checklist; Tiimo and Structured help fit tasks into the day; Todoist keeps them in a project system. The useful test is what you can do with the first step, and how easily you can change it. Sometimes you need a smaller first step. Sometimes you need to see where it fits in the day. Sometimes several people need to agree who owns it. These are different problems, and a long generated checklist will not solve all three. This guide separates breakdown tools from daily planners and project managers so you can choose the amount of structure that helps. #### Task-breakdown apps by the bottleneck they address | App | Primary workflow | Question to ask before committing | | --- | --- | --- | | Molehill | Editable local breakdown, one-step focus, and the option to split a stuck step again. | In development for iPhone on iOS 26 with Apple Intelligence required. Includes streaks and completion history. | | Goblin Tools | Quick decomposition and brain-dump conversion with minimal setup. | Is a back-end AI request acceptable, and which export or optional sync path will preserve the result? | | Tiimo | Turning a brain dump into estimated steps and a flexible visual schedule across devices. | Do the account, sync, subscription, and AI data path fit the sensitivity of your tasks? | | Structured | Seeing tasks and appointments in one daily timeline and creating them through text, voice, or a scan. | Will ordinary local storage, optional sync, and the separate server-based AI path be clear enough for your workflow? | | Todoist | Maintaining a durable personal or team task system with optional AI decomposition. | Do you need the project, collaboration, history, and integration breadth, or only a temporary checklist? | #### 1. Molehill: split the step that is still stopping you Molehill turns a task or brain dump into actions you can edit, then brings one step into focus. If that step still feels too large, split it again. The current iPhone build also includes a timer, recurrence, streaks, completion history, and Pro export to Reminders or Calendar. Its basic splitter remains available after the free AI allowance is used, so you can keep breaking work down. iOS 26 and Apple Intelligence are required. > **Molehill is in development**: Molehill is not available to download yet. Its place in this guide is the local breakdown and focus workflow being built; there is no announced release date. #### 2. Goblin Tools: server-backed breakdown without a productivity migration Magic ToDo lets a person enter a large task and choose how “spicy” it feels; that hint changes how aggressively the system decomposes it. Generated items can be expanded again, edited, reordered, estimated, categorized, completed, or hidden. Compiler accepts a free-form ramble and converts it to tasks, and Taskmaster presents the list one item at a time with a timer. These server-backed tools address fast decomposition without building a permanent project database. Molehill is pursuing the same moment through a local and quieter workflow. Goblin Tools says its website will remain free without ads or paywalls and that mobile purchases help fund it. The service uses back-end AI for most tools and explicitly warns that results are variable guesswork. Magic ToDo can save or load files, copy Markdown, print, export iCalendar, and create formats for several task systems. Optional encrypted synchronization exists, but the site warns that its sync system is changing. Back up a real list before treating it as the only copy. #### 3. Tiimo: brain dump, estimate, schedule, and focus Tiimo’s Co-planner turns spoken or typed input into structured tasks with estimated time, icons, tags, and a proposed schedule. A to-do inbox holds unscheduled ideas; Today holds timed or flexible work; Focus mode and a visual timer help during execution. Calendars, widgets, Live Activities, mood check-ins, routines, and broad device support make it a more complete daily system. AI breakdown is part of Pro, while a free version includes selected core planning tools. The official workflow emphasizes adjustment: save the proposed tasks only after reviewing them, move a to-do into the day when it belongs, and avoid scheduling more than is realistic. That review remains necessary because model time estimates do not know the person’s energy, environment, interruptions, or accessibility needs. Tiimo’s privacy summary says it is ad-free, never sells data, and follows GDPR. Read the complete policy for the exact AI, sync, account, analytics, and deletion paths. #### 4. Structured: translate the list into one visible timeline Structured puts tasks and calendar events on one visual line through the day, with weekly and monthly views, inbox capture, routines, widgets, and focus. Structured AI can accept natural-language or spoken instructions and scan a physical planner or task list. It can create, edit, or delete tasks while considering the current day. That timeline addresses scheduling around appointments, while Molehill deliberately stays focused on local decomposition and one next action. Structured distinguishes normal storage from AI processing. Its help center says regular entries remain local unless iCloud or Structured Cloud is enabled. When Structured AI is invoked, the instruction and an anonymous identifier reach Structured and OpenAI servers and may be stored for up to 30 days. AI is otherwise inactive. The disclosure confirms that ordinary storage and AI requests have different boundaries. Molehill’s intended generation path stays on the iPhone instead. #### 5. Todoist: server AI inside a cloud project system Todoist is appropriate when the breakdown needs due dates, recurrence, priorities, projects, filters, reminders, attachments, collaborators, integrations, and history after the moment of overwhelm passes. Subtasks work without AI. Task Assist can suggest tasks toward a goal, generate tips, rewrite an item, and break complex work into subtasks. The official pricing page currently places Task Assist in paid Pro and Business tiers, while the free tier retains core tasks and subtasks. Doist says Assist processing stays within its secure infrastructure, uses providers on AWS Bedrock and Google Cloud Vertex AI, and is governed by commitments not to train provider models on processed customer data. That remains server processing. Molehill’s planned advantage is a narrower local path for sensitive personal context, while Todoist’s result lands inside an established shared system. The privacy decision follows the content and data path, not the popularity of the app. #### Test the first step before adopting the whole system - IS THE FIRST STEP PHYSICAL AND SPECIFIC? “Research” is vague; “open the three saved sources and write their titles” can be started. - DOES THE ORDER RESPECT DEPENDENCIES? A model may schedule work before an approval, file, person, or tool is available. - ARE STEPS THE RIGHT SIZE? Split the one that still feels blocked; merge mechanical fragments that make the list harder to scan. - CAN I CHANGE THE PLAN WITHOUT PUNISHMENT? Editing, snoozing, deleting, and pausing should be ordinary states, not failure. - WHERE DID THE BRAIN DUMP GO? Check local storage, AI processors, sync, exports, analytics, deletion, and support before entering sensitive context. - DO I NEED A PERSON INSTEAD? Safety, health, accommodations, relationships, and high-stakes work can require judgment no task model has. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: What if a generated step still feels too large?** Split that specific step again. Molehill is being built around this action, alongside editable brain-dump results and one-step focus. Goblin Tools also supports further breakdown, while Tiimo, Structured, and Todoist add broader planning systems. **Q: Can an app turn a voice brain dump into a schedule?** Molehill is being designed to turn a brain dump into local editable actions and one next step, but a full scheduled day is outside its narrow focus. Tiimo and Structured document spoken-input scheduling through their broader account or server workflows. Review every proposed duration and dependency. **Q: Does Molehill send my task to a remote AI service?** Its current development workflow performs the breakdown on the iPhone. It requires Apple Intelligence, with a basic splitter available after the free AI allowance is used. Molehill is not yet released. **Q: Do task breakdown apps help with ADHD?** Some products are designed with neurodivergent users in mind and may provide useful structure, but a productivity tool is not diagnosis or treatment. Individual needs vary, and generated output should not replace qualified support or accommodations. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Goblin Tools Magic ToDo](https://goblin.tools/ToDo) - [Goblin Tools mission, model, and limitations](https://goblin.tools/About) - [Goblin Tools Compiler](https://goblin.tools/Compiler) - [Goblin Tools Taskmaster](https://goblin.tools/Taskmaster) - [Tiimo visual planner and product model](https://www.tiimoapp.com/) - [Tiimo task, to-do, and Co-planner workflow](https://www.tiimoapp.com/faq/manage-tasks) - [Tiimo platform and subscription FAQ](https://www.tiimoapp.com/faq) - [Structured daily planner](https://structured.app/) - [Structured AI task creation](https://help.structured.app/en/articles/331074) - [Structured privacy data paths](https://help.structured.app/en/articles/1747138) - [Todoist Assist and AI processing](https://www.todoist.com/help/articles/introduction-to-todoist-assist-KgPP22q5O) - [Todoist pricing and task features](https://www.todoist.com/pricing/) > **Call to Action**: Explore Molehill if your current list tells you what to do but still leaves you stuck at the start. Its smaller-step action is built for that moment. (App ID: molehill) --- ### Your Meetings Shouldn't Live on Someone Else's Servers - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/meeting-notetaker-liability - **Date**: 2026.10.03 - **Read Time**: 5 MIN READ - **Category**: TRANSCRIPTION PRIVACY - **Content Type**: guide - **Primary Question**: Are AI meeting notetakers a privacy risk, and is there a transcription app that keeps recordings entirely on-device? - **Tags**: #ECHO-CHAMBER, #TRANSCRIPTION, #PRIVACY, #AI-NOTETAKERS - **Excerpt**: Four recent stories say the same thing about AI notetakers: the cloud part is the liability. Echo Chamber's answer: your meetings never leave your device. #### Key Takeaways - Four recent stories, one pattern: wherever meeting audio lives in the cloud, it can be breached, subpoenaed, repurposed, or carried out the door. - The Sequoia Benefits suit shows the governance gap: notes in a personal AI account follow the employee, not the company. - Echo Chamber keeps the whole workflow on your Apple device, so there is no central copy to lose in the first place. #### Full Article Content #### Your meetings should not live on someone else's servers In the last two months, four stories have landed that all say the same thing about AI notetakers: the cloud part is becoming the liability. A benefits firm is suing over meeting notes that allegedly walked out the door with a departing employee. A federal court is letting wiretapping claims against a notetaker proceed. More than 180,000 meeting records were exposed by a backend flaw. And some 'AI' phone calls turned out to have humans on the line. The common thread is not one bad app. It is the architecture: wherever your audio lives, it can be breached, subpoenaed, repurposed, or carried out the door. #### When the notes follow the employee The freshest story is a governance story. On October 1, Sequoia Benefits filed suit in federal court in Colorado against a former broker and her new employer, Alliant. The complaint alleges she ran Granola AI on a personal account for roughly four months, capturing client meeting notes, and kept those notes after joining Alliant in July. Five claims, including federal and Colorado trade-secret misappropriation. Read that slowly. The meeting notes lived in a personal cloud account, not a company system. When the employee left, the notes went with her, because nothing in the architecture stopped them. Every company that lets staff take notes in personal AI accounts is one resignation away from the same complaint. > **A note on framing**: The defendants in the Sequoia case are the former employee and Alliant, not Granola's maker. This is a story about governance risk in cloud notetakers generally, not an attack on one app. #### When the bot is a third-party eavesdropper In August, a California federal court let wiretapping and biometric-privacy claims against Otter.ai proceed toward discovery. The court held that Otter's meeting bot is a third-party eavesdropper under California law, not an invited participant, because it independently collects, retains, and uses recordings for its own commercial purposes, including training its AI models. Statutory damages in play run up to $10,000 per violation under federal wiretapping law, with no proof of actual harm required. #### When the backend is the breach Also in August, Dark Reading found a vulnerability in tl;dv's backend that exposed more than 180,000 meeting records belonging to over 80,000 users. One authenticated user could read other customers' meetings. A later write-up put the pattern plainly: every centrally stored transcript is a record of everything said, including the parts nobody would have chosen to write down, and most notetakers store them centrally by default. #### When 'AI-powered' means human eyes In September, Reuters and 404 Media found that some of Meta's Muse assistant 'AI' phone calls were routed through human call-center contractors, undisclosed to the people on the calls. Meta acknowledged the miss and rolled it back. The label said AI. The reality included more human eyes on your data than the label admitted. #### Consent dialogs are promises. Architecture is the guarantee. Across all four stories, the failure was never that users failed to read a privacy policy. It was that the audio existed somewhere it could be breached, subpoenaed, repurposed for training, overheard by contractors, or carried out the door in a personal account. You cannot breach, subpoena, or walk out with a recording that was never uploaded. #### Built so there is nothing to hand over That is why Echo Chamber is built the way it is. Recording, transcription, AI notes and summaries, search, and export all run on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, with Apple Intelligence where available and a bundled local model as the fallback where it isn't. Speech recognition runs on-device. The AI polish only ever touches punctuation, capitalization, and paragraphs, never your words. There is no meeting bot to join your calls. There is no account. The only things that ever leave the device are a model download, an App Store purchase check, an encrypted copy to your own iCloud if you turn sync on, or a support request you choose to send. With sync off, your recordings stay on the device that made them. > **Put plainly**: We could not hand over your meetings if we were asked to, because we never receive them. No central transcript store to breach. No training pipeline fed by your calls. No contractor queue your audio passes through. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Does Echo Chamber upload my recordings anywhere?** No. Recording, transcription, notes, summaries, search, and export run on your device. The only exceptions are the ones you control: a speech-model download, an App Store purchase check, encrypted iCloud sync if you turn it on, or a support request you choose to send. **Q: What if my company needs to keep meeting records?** Exports are yours to keep: TXT, Markdown, PDF, and DOCX. The difference is custody. With Echo Chamber, the recording lives with you until you decide to share it, instead of living in a vendor cloud from the moment it is made. **Q: Can I use it for calls I am not hosting?** The Mac app can detect calls in Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Slack, Discord, FaceTime, and Webex, capturing microphone and system audio with your permission. You are responsible for following the consent laws where you record, and for telling participants when you do. **Q: Is on-device transcription accurate enough?** Accuracy depends on the audio: clear speech does well, while crosstalk, unfamiliar names, and room echo hurt every engine. Check names and numbers against the recording when precision matters. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Sequoia Benefits suit over Granola meeting notes](https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/risk-compliance-legal/sequoia-sues-after-departing-broker-allegedly-used-ai-app-to-grab-client-data-592167.aspx) - [Granola lawsuit raises AI note-taking privacy concerns](https://www.computerworld.com/article/4206255/granola-lawsuit-raises-concerns-over-ai-note-taking-app-privacy.html) - [AI notetaker backend exposed meeting records](https://Www.Darkreading.com/application-security/ai-notetaker-spy-government-corporate-video-calls) - [Meta tested human callers behind Muse AI agent](https://www.vktr.com/ai-platforms/meta-tested-human-callers-behind-its-muse-ai-agent-without-disclosure/) > **Call to Action**: If a meeting is worth recording, it is worth keeping off someone else's servers. Echo Chamber is free to start, with 60 minutes of recording per month. (App ID: echochamber) --- ### Stored Locally Is Not the Same as Processed On-Device - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/stored-locally-vs-processed-on-device - **Date**: 2026.10.08 - **Read Time**: 3 MIN READ - **Category**: TRANSCRIPTION PRIVACY - **Content Type**: guide - **Primary Question**: Does Fireflies Talk process dictation audio on-device, and how is that different from Echo Chamber? - **Tags**: #ECHO-CHAMBER, #TRANSCRIPTION, #PRIVACY, #VOICE-DICTATION - **Excerpt**: Fireflies Talk stores dictations on your device, but still sends your audio to its speech-to-text provider. The distinction that matters: where your voice is processed, not just where the text rests. #### Key Takeaways - Fireflies Talk stores completed dictations locally, but its own announcement says audio is sent to Fireflies' speech-to-text provider for processing. - Stored locally answers where the finished text rests. Processed on-device answers whether your audio ever travels at all. - Echo Chamber transcribes on on-device models, works in airplane mode, and sends nothing to an external AI service for transcription. #### Full Article Content #### Stored locally is not the same as processed on-device Fireflies just launched Talk, free unlimited voice dictation for the workday. Their announcement says completed dictations are stored locally on your device, and neither Fireflies nor your workspace admin can view them. That is a real improvement, and credit where it is due. But the same announcement says that to convert speech into text, audio is sent to Fireflies' speech-to-text provider for processing. Your voice still leaves the device every time you dictate. #### Two different questions Stored locally answers where the finished text rests. Processed on-device answers whether your audio ever travels at all. Both matter, but they are not the same promise. When an app says your dictations are private because they are stored on your device, ask the second question: where was the audio turned into text? This is the same fault line running through the meeting-notetaker stories: the architecture decides what is possible, and the privacy policy only describes what is promised. A policy can say audio is not stored after processing. Only the architecture can say the audio never left. #### What Fireflies actually built Talk is dictation inside the Fireflies desktop app for Mac and Windows, with iOS and Android planned. You hold a key, speak, and release, and clean text appears wherever your cursor is: email, Slack, docs, prompts. It supports more than 90 languages, formats a dictated email like an email and a Slack message like chat, and turns a spoken teammate name into an @mention. It is free and unlimited on every Fireflies plan, which undercuts standalone dictation apps that charge a monthly subscription for the same job. On privacy, the company says completed dictations are stored locally and cannot be viewed by Fireflies or a workspace administrator, are not stored on its servers after processing, and are not used to train AI models. Its supplemental terms add detail worth reading: audio, transcribed text, and optional Screen Context are sent to Fireflies and its listed service providers for processing. Screen Context can be switched off. Fireflies also advises against dictating while viewing passwords, payment details, or protected health information. #### Why the distinction matters Audio in transit is audio that can be intercepted, logged, or mishandled by a third party, no matter how careful the storage policy is after the fact. Fireflies says dictations are not stored on its servers after processing and are not used to train models, and those are meaningful commitments. But the processing step still happens on someone else's infrastructure, under someone else's controls. There is also a practical angle. A dictation feature that needs a connection stops working when the connection does. On-device processing keeps working in airplane mode, on hotel wifi, or anywhere you would rather not send your voice in the first place. #### The on-device alternative Echo Chamber was built on the second definition. Transcription runs on on-device models, it works in airplane mode, and nothing is sent to an external AI service for transcription. Recordings and transcripts stay on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. There is no account, no ads, and no third-party analytics. Speech recognition runs on the device, and the AI polish only ever touches punctuation, capitalization, and paragraphs, never your words. You can test the claim the same way you would test any privacy promise: turn on airplane mode after setup and dictate. If the words still appear, the processing is local. It is free for 60 minutes of recording per month. Pro is $2.99/month, $29.99/year, or $79.99 lifetime. #### Questions to ask any dictation app - WHERE IS MY AUDIO TURNED INTO TEXT: On the device, or on a provider's servers? - WHAT ELSE TRAVELS WITH IT: Transcript text, screen context, account identifiers? - WHAT SURVIVES PROCESSING: Is anything retained, logged, or used for training? - DOES IT WORK OFFLINE: Dictate in airplane mode and see what happens. > **Put plainly**: Ask not only where your words are kept, but where your voice went to become words. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Does Fireflies Talk store my dictations in the cloud?** According to its launch announcement, completed dictations are stored locally on your device and are not stored on Fireflies servers after processing. But audio is sent to its speech-to-text provider for processing, so the audio does travel. **Q: Is Echo Chamber really fully on-device?** Transcription runs on on-device models. The only things that ever leave the device are a speech-model download, an App Store purchase check, an encrypted copy to your own iCloud if you turn sync on, or a support request you choose to send. **Q: Why does on-device matter if a company promises not to store my audio?** A promise describes intent; architecture describes what is possible. Audio that never leaves the device cannot be intercepted in transit, mishandled by a provider, or reached through a request to a third party. **Q: How can I verify an on-device claim myself?** Turn on airplane mode after setup and use the core feature. If transcription still works with no connection, the processing is local. Then check exports, sync settings, and the App Store privacy label separately. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Fireflies.ai launches Fireflies Talk, bringing free unlimited voice dictation to the workday](https://cxotoday.com/media-coverage/fireflies-ai-launches-fireflies-talk-bringing-free-unlimited-voice-dictation-to-the-workday/) - [Fireflies.ai launches Fireflies Talk for free, unlimited voice dictation](https://fossbytes.com/fireflies-ai-launches-fireflies-talk-for-free-unlimited-voice-dictation/) > **Call to Action**: If your dictations should never leave the device, Echo Chamber is free to start, with 60 minutes of recording per month. (App ID: echochamber) --- ### Five AI Journals for Writing, Reflection, and Finding Your Own Words - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/private-ai-journal-guide - **Date**: 2026.02.18 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 7 MIN READ - **Category**: PRIVATE AI JOURNAL GUIDE - **Content Type**: listicle - **Primary Question**: What is the most private AI journal app, and which journal keeps my entries or AI processing on my iPhone? - **Tags**: #AI-JOURNAL, #JOURNAL-PRIVACY, #ON-DEVICE-AI, #COVE - **Excerpt**: Compare Cove, Day One, Rosebud, Stoic, and Mindsera by how you want to journal: preserve an archive, follow a routine, have a conversation, or revisit an entry. #### Key Takeaways - Cove connects a journal question to relevant entries, so you can read the original context behind the response. - Day One, Rosebud, Stoic, and Mindsera take different approaches to archiving, conversation, routines, and analysis. Choose the one that matches how you actually write. - Storage and AI processing are separate choices. Cove processes reflection locally but uses private iCloud storage by default when available. #### Items Compared 1. **Cove**: Journal questions that link back to the source entries, with on-device reflection. In development. 2. **Day One**: A mature, cross-platform life archive with encrypted sync, rich media, export, and optional AI features in its Gold tier. 3. **Rosebud**: A cloud-based AI reflection companion focused on conversational guidance, cross-entry patterns, voice, goals, and weekly insights. 4. **Stoic**: A guided journaling and mental-wellness toolkit with prompts, mood trends, breathing, meditation, iCloud sync, and optional server-based AI. 5. **Mindsera**: An analytical AI journal with structured thinking frameworks, voice journaling, summaries, and physical-journal scanning. #### Full Article Content #### Decide what you want your journal to give back Cove is being built for returning to your own writing: ask a question, receive a reflection based on relevant excerpts, and follow the links back to the entries. Day One emphasizes a long-term archive; Rosebud centers conversational reflection; Stoic adds daily routines; Mindsera offers structured analysis. Those differences matter as much as the AI features. Cove remains in development, with reflection processed on-device and private iCloud storage when available. Writing something down is one job. Making sense of it weeks later is another. You may want a dependable archive, a prompt that helps you begin, or a way to find what you wrote about the same problem last month. The journals below put different weight on each. Their linked documentation also describes different storage and AI-processing arrangements; the competitor details were checked in July 2026. #### Five journal apps, five different architectures | App | Primary use case | Storage and AI boundary | Important limitation | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Cove | Local-first iPhone reflection and private recall. | On-device reflection and retrieval; private iCloud storage by default when available, with a local fallback. | In development. Requires Apple Intelligence, so iPhone 15 Pro or later or iPad M1 or later on iOS 26; a device that cannot run it is told so at launch. | | Day One | A mature life archive with media and multi-device access. | Day One documents end-to-end encrypted sync and optional AI features in Gold. | AI processing should not be assumed to be on-device merely because synced entries are encrypted; verify the current feature disclosure. | | Rosebud | Conversational reflection and patterns across journal history. | Rosebud stores data on its servers and names Firestore plus OpenAI, Anthropic, and Groq in its privacy policy, with anonymization and zero-data-retention agreements described for AI providers. | It is a cloud service with an account, not a local-only journal. “HIPAA-aligned” is not the same claim as an independently verified medical product. | | Stoic | Guided routines, mood tracking, mindfulness, and optional AI mentors. | Stoic documents iCloud sync for journal data; its AI privacy page says the current journal entry is sent to OpenAI for AI features and may be retained for up to 30 days. | The broad wellness toolkit may feel busier than a writing-first journal, and AI has a distinct remote data path. | | Mindsera | Analytical reflection and structured thinking frameworks. | Mindsera says writing is encrypted at rest and in transit and is not used to train or improve AI models. | Its service is account-based, and official pricing and supported AI behavior can change; confirm them at checkout. | #### Cove: find the entry behind the reflection Cove’s current build accepts typed entries, photos, moods, and saved voice memos. Ask a question about the journal and it retrieves relevant excerpts for an on-device response, with links to the source entries. That makes it possible to move from a reflection back into your own words. Search and Markdown, JSON, or media-inclusive ZIP export give you other ways to use the archive. Cove requires Apple Intelligence and uses private iCloud storage when available, with a local fallback. > **Cove is in development**: Cove is being built for iPhone and iPad and is not yet available. Release timing and the final offer have not been announced. #### 2. Day One: the established encrypted archive Day One is a released traditional journal with a long product history. Its free Basic tier includes unlimited entries and journals, one photo per entry, templates, prompts, encrypted Day One Sync from one active device, and export. Silver, listed at $49.99 per year in the United States when checked, expands media and multi-device features. Gold, listed at $74.99 per year, adds Daily Chat, entry highlights, deeper prompts, title suggestions, image generation, multi-entry summaries, and Labs. Its model prioritizes long-term archiving, broad platform availability, rich media, and encrypted sync. That service boundary differs from Cove’s current on-device reflection path. #### 3. Rosebud: persistent reflection through a cloud account Rosebud is organized around an AI relationship that can learn from a person’s journal history, recognize patterns, guide voice or text reflection, track moods and goals, and deliver weekly insights. Persistent context is its defining product value. The same design also creates a different privacy boundary. Rosebud’s policy explains that entries are stored on its servers for cross-device access and reliability. It names Google Firestore for storage and OpenAI, Anthropic, and Groq for language processing, describing anonymization, business agreements, and zero-data-retention arrangements. Those are meaningful safeguards, but they are not local processing. #### 4. Stoic: journaling inside a wider daily-wellness routine Stoic combines morning preparation, evening reflection, guided journals, mood trends, habits, breathing, meditation, quotes, therapy notes, Health integration, and iCloud sync across Apple devices. That range can suit someone who wants a structured daily practice rather than an empty page. Optional Premium AI adds mentors, contextual prompts, pattern analysis, and smarter notifications. Stoic’s AI privacy documentation is unusually useful for comparison because it states that AI features send the current entry to OpenAI and that OpenAI may retain it for up to 30 days for service and abuse detection. A person can disable AI, but should not describe that AI path as local. #### 5. Mindsera: structured analysis for people who want thinking frameworks Mindsera emphasizes summaries, guided frameworks, emotional vocabulary, conversational reflection, voice journaling, and scanning text from a physical journal. Its official site says data is encrypted at rest and in transit, can be exported, and is not used to train or improve AI models. The current official pricing page showed a free tier and a Genius plan at $14.99 monthly or $129 billed annually when checked. It is an analytical web-and-mobile service rather than an on-device substitute. Its current data flow, price, supported languages, and export format remain important checks before moving a long-running archive. #### Choose around a week of real writing - DECIDE WHETHER SYNC OR MINIMAL DATA MOVEMENT MATTERS MORE: A local-only journal can reduce exposure but creates a different backup and device-loss tradeoff. - IDENTIFY THE AI PROVIDER: Look for a named on-device framework or named remote processor, the exact content sent, retention, training policy, and whether AI can be disabled. - CHECK WHAT REMAINS USEFUL OFFLINE: Writing should survive a missing network. Ask whether search, reflection, voice transcription, or export also works offline after setup. - TEST EXPORT BEFORE COMMITTING: A portable archive in a documented format is more useful than a vague promise that data belongs to you. - REVIEW DEVICE AND LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS: On-device models can require newer hardware, a supported language, a downloaded asset, and a recent operating system. - SEPARATE WELLNESS FROM HEALTH CARE: Reflective prompts may be useful, but an app should not diagnose, detect crisis, or replace professional support unless it is appropriately validated and regulated for that purpose. > **Use reflection as a starting point**: A generated reflection can miss context or misread what you meant. Return to the entry before accepting an interpretation. Cove is a journal, not a substitute for mental-health care. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: What makes Cove different from a conventional journal?** Cove connects questions and reflections to relevant entries, so you can return to the writing behind a response. Its current build processes those features locally and uses private iCloud storage when available. Cove is still in development. **Q: Is there an AI journal that works without internet?** Cove’s current architecture keeps its core journal, semantic search, basic fallback, and supported Foundation Models reflection local after setup. Because it is still in development, offline behavior must be verified again in the release build. **Q: Does encrypted sync mean AI processing is on-device?** No. Encryption for storage or sync and the location of AI inference are separate questions. An app can protect synced records and still send selected content to a remote model for an optional feature. **Q: Can an AI journal replace a therapist?** No app in this comparison should be treated as a replacement for qualified mental-health care or crisis support. Use reflective output as a prompt to think, not as diagnosis or authority. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Day One pricing and features guide](https://dayoneapp.com/guides/premium-subscription/day-one-pricing-features-guide/) - [Day One privacy and security FAQ](https://dayoneapp.com/privacy-faqs/) - [Day One Gold features](https://dayoneapp.com/Gold/) - [Rosebud privacy policy](https://help.rosebud.app/about-us/privacy-policy) - [Rosebud App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/rosebud-ai-journal-diary/id6451135127) - [Stoic privacy, data, and AI disclosure](https://help.getstoic.com/faq/3sfUSwpkyPFw22e8F1CRHk/privacy-data-and-ai/6f9eBdDY7nmUseRBxVxvQV) - [Stoic App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/stoic-ai-journal-diary/id1312926037) - [Mindsera official features and pricing](https://mindsera.com/) - [Apple Foundation Models framework](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/FoundationModels) - [NIMH: Technology and the future of mental health treatment](https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/technology-and-the-future-of-mental-health-treatment) - [988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline](https://988lifeline.org/) > **Call to Action**: Explore Cove’s journal questions, source-entry links, and local reflection. It is being built for the writing you want to return to, as well as the writing you want to get down. (App ID: cove) --- ### Cove vs Day One, Rosebud, Stoic, and Mindsera - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/cove-vs-day-one-rosebud-stoic-mindsera - **Date**: 2026.07.11 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 6 MIN READ - **Category**: AI JOURNAL COMPARISON - **Content Type**: comparison - **Primary Question**: How does Cove compare with Day One Gold, Rosebud, Stoic, and Mindsera for private AI journaling? - **Tags**: #COVE, #DAY-ONE, #ROSEBUD, #STOIC, #MINDSERA - **Excerpt**: Cove makes it easier to return to the entries behind a reflection. Compare that approach with a life archive, conversational journal, daily routine, and thinking toolkit. #### Key Takeaways - Cove’s journal questions include links to retrieved entries. The original writing stays part of the experience. - Choose Day One for a mature life archive, Rosebud for conversation, Stoic for a guided daily routine, or Mindsera for analytical frameworks. - Cove keeps reflection and retrieval on-device. Its private iCloud storage is a separate, default path when available. #### Full Article Content #### A journal you can ask, with entries you can revisit Cove’s strongest difference is the route from a question back to your writing. Its current build retrieves relevant excerpts, answers on-device, and links to the entries it drew from. That suits someone who wants help revisiting an experience without sending it to a remote AI service. Day One, Rosebud, Stoic, and Mindsera offer established alternatives with different strengths; Cove is still in development. A useful reflection may be the one that takes you back to a paragraph you had forgotten. Cove is being built around that connection. This comparison looks at how each journal helps you write and return to what you wrote, alongside the storage and AI arrangements documented on the linked product pages in July 2026. #### Cove and four established AI-journal approaches | App | Product role | AI and data boundary | Current availability and price | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Cove | Private journal with restrained reflection, semantic recall, weekly digest, app lock, and export. | On-device Foundation Models; private iCloud storage when available, with a local fallback. | In development; no final price or release date; requires Apple Intelligence on iOS 26. | | Day One | Traditional life archive with rich media, encrypted sync, export, and optional Gold AI. | Day One documents end-to-end encryption for sync. Current public Gold pages describe optional AI but should be checked for the exact processing path. | Basic free; Silver $49.99/year and Gold $74.99/year on the US pricing page when checked. | | Rosebud | Conversational reflection, cross-entry patterns, goals, mood tracking, voice, and weekly insights. | Server storage for cross-device use; privacy policy names Firestore and external AI providers with stated safeguards. | Shipping on mobile and web; subscriptions and storefront prices vary. | | Stoic | Morning and evening routines, guided journals, mood trends, breathing, meditation, and AI mentors. | Journal sync uses the user’s iCloud; AI documentation says the current entry is sent to OpenAI and may be retained up to 30 days. | Free journaling tier plus Premium and Premium AI in-app purchases; storefront pricing varies. | | Mindsera | Analytical summaries, guided frameworks, conversation, voice, and scanned paper-journal text. | Mindsera states encryption at rest and in transit and says content is not used to train or improve AI models. | Free tier; official page showed $14.99 monthly or $129 annually for Genius when checked. | #### Cove: follow an answer back to your own words Ask Cove about your journal and it searches for relevant entries, gives bounded excerpts to the on-device model, and attaches links to the source writing. You can read the response, open the entry, and decide whether the interpretation fits. That is useful when your question is less about getting advice and more about remembering what happened or how you described it at the time. #### Cove vs Day One: local reflection or mature encrypted archiving Day One is an established archive with broad platform support, rich media, encrypted sync, and optional AI. It is a strong fit if keeping years of writing and media together is the main job. Cove’s focus is the question-and-revisit workflow, with local reflection and retrieval. Its current build also uses private iCloud storage and offers Markdown, JSON, and media-inclusive ZIP export; it remains unreleased. #### Cove vs Rosebud: bounded reflection or persistent AI memory Rosebud centers conversational reflection and persistent context across journal history. It can identify themes, provide weekly insights, and connect entries with goals. Its policy describes server storage and names Firestore and external AI providers, with stated anonymization and retention safeguards. Cove takes a more focused route: retrieve relevant excerpts locally, answer using those excerpts, and link back to the entries. Choose around whether you want an ongoing conversational service or a way to revisit your own writing on the device. #### Cove vs Stoic: quiet archive or guided wellness toolkit Stoic surrounds journaling with prompts, mood check-ins, habits, meditation, breathing, quotes, sleep tools, therapy preparation, Health integration, reminders, streaks, and trends. Its product model is a daily routine with multiple entry points. Cove is intentionally calmer: write or dictate, attach selected context, review a restrained reflection, find related moments, and return to the original words. Stoic also makes its AI boundary clear. Its help center says AI features send the current entry to OpenAI and may retain it for up to 30 days; AI can be disabled. Cove has no analogous remote AI path in the current build, although it also lacks Stoic’s platform breadth and mature habit system. #### Cove vs Mindsera: personal memory or analytical frameworks Mindsera emphasizes summaries, structured frameworks, conversation, voice, mood tools, and scanning a paper journal. Those tools suit deliberate analysis of what you write. Cove focuses on preserving and revisiting entries through local search and source-linked reflection. Mindsera states that writing is encrypted in transit and at rest and is not used for model training. Cove keeps the reflection on-device, with private iCloud storage when available and newer Apple hardware required. #### What the source-entry links help you check A journal response can sound plausible while leaving out an entry that changes the picture. Cove’s source links give you a practical way to check: open what it used, read the surrounding context, and compare that with what you remember. Retrieval can miss relevant writing, so the answer should be a way back into the journal, not the final interpretation of your life. > **Keep a copy you can use**: Cove’s development build exports Markdown, JSON, and a ZIP containing available media. Whatever journal you choose, test an export while your archive is still small enough to check. #### Before moving your existing journal - Can I export a useful, documented copy before and after subscribing? - Does the app explain whether an entry, selected excerpt, or full archive reaches a remote model? - Is sync required, optional, encrypted, or unavailable, and what happens when it is disabled? - Can I write, search, review, and export without a network after setup? - Which devices and languages support the AI path, and what fallback appears when it is unavailable? - Does the product clearly say that reflection is not diagnosis, therapy, crisis detection, or medical advice? #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Is Cove a Day One replacement?** Day One is a released, cross-platform archive with a broader feature set. Cove is in development for on-device reflection and retrieval on iPhone and iPad. It uses private iCloud when available, with a local fallback; that configuration does not establish released sync reliability. **Q: Where does Cove process my journal questions?** Cove’s current build retrieves relevant excerpts and generates the response on your device. It uses private iCloud storage by default when available, with a local fallback. Local AI processing and cloud storage are separate parts of that design. **Q: Does Cove need Apple Intelligence?** Yes. Cove’s current development build requires supported Apple Intelligence hardware at launch. Local search and fallback reflection code do not make a device without that support eligible. **Q: When will Cove be released and what will it cost?** Cove remains in development, with no announced release date or final public price. The product page describes the workflow being built. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Day One pricing and features guide](https://dayoneapp.com/guides/premium-subscription/day-one-pricing-features-guide/) - [Day One privacy and security FAQ](https://dayoneapp.com/privacy-faqs/) - [Rosebud privacy policy](https://help.rosebud.app/about-us/privacy-policy) - [Rosebud official product site](https://www.rosebud.app/) - [Stoic privacy, data, and AI disclosure](https://help.getstoic.com/faq/3sfUSwpkyPFw22e8F1CRHk/privacy-data-and-ai/6f9eBdDY7nmUseRBxVxvQV) - [Stoic subscription and plans](https://help.getstoic.com/getting-started/nMb4jABmc8oatYuUUyT5Q5/subscription--plans/6f9eBdDY7ngGS3y5u7kPU6) - [Mindsera official features and pricing](https://mindsera.com/) - [Apple Foundation Models framework](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/FoundationModels) - [FTC mobile health app interactive tool](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/mobile-health-apps-interactive-tool) - [NIMH: Finding help for mental illnesses](https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help) > **Call to Action**: See how Cove brings questions back to source entries. Explore its capture, search, reflection, and export workflow while the app is in development. (App ID: cove) --- ### Wove vs Stylebook, Whering, Indyx, and Acloset - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/wove-vs-stylebook-whering-indyx-acloset - **Date**: 2026.07.11 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 7 MIN READ - **Category**: DIGITAL WARDROBE COMPARISON - **Content Type**: comparison - **Primary Question**: How does Wove compare with Stylebook, Whering, Indyx, and Acloset for organizing my closet and making outfits from clothes I own? - **Tags**: #WOVE, #STYLEBOOK, #WHERING, #INDYX, #ACLOSET - **Excerpt**: Compare ways to build outfits from your own wardrobe: Wove’s local suggestions, Stylebook’s outfit canvas, social inspiration, and personal styling services. #### Key Takeaways - Wove composes from captured garments and lets you add personal notes or reject combinations. Plus adds personalization from wear history and capsules built from saved clothes. - Stylebook suits hands-on outfit creation; Whering and Indyx add social or human input; Acloset offers a wider service-based toolkit. - Wove remains in development. Garment images stay local; optional Plus iCloud record sync is not a complete photo backup. #### Full Article Content #### Choose how you want to put an outfit together Wove is being built to suggest combinations from clothes you have saved, using your notes and feedback without sending wardrobe photos to a styling service. Stylebook gives you mature manual composition tools; Whering adds social inspiration; Indyx connects closets with people and stylists; Acloset offers a broad AI wardrobe service. Choose whether you want to arrange the outfit, get a starting suggestion, or bring someone else into the decision. The same wardrobe can support several different routines. You may enjoy arranging outfits yourself, want a suggestion before work, or prefer help from someone who can see possibilities you miss. Those are the distinctions behind this comparison. Privacy and setup effort matter too: photographing your clothes is a commitment, so choose a workflow you will keep using. #### Five digital wardrobe approaches at a glance | App | Primary use case | Photo, account, and AI boundary | Pricing or availability | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Wove | Private outfit composition, weather-aware checks, wear history, capsules, and packing. | Garment subject lift and styling run locally; images remain local files; no Wove account or developer wardrobe server; optional Plus iCloud metadata path. | In development for iPhone and iPad; no final price; complete cross-device photo sync is not promised. | | Stylebook | Mature manual wardrobe, outfit canvas, shuffle, calendar, packing, and cost-per-wear. | Stylebook says closet contents are not collected by its developer, images stay on the device, and data syncs through the user’s iCloud by default unless paused. | $4.99 one-time purchase in the US App Store when checked. | | Whering | Social closets, large catalog search, outfit discovery, packing, and wardrobe analytics. | Requires an account for its service; privacy policy names cloud hosting, image processors, analytics, and clothes-photo processing. | Free with in-app purchases according to the current US App Store listing. | | Indyx | Digital closet plus friend, community, and professional styling. | Uploads can be cleaned and auto-tagged; closets are private by default but can be shared. Review current privacy controls before enabling social features. | Free core wardrobe; US App Store listed $12.99 monthly or $74.99 annual membership when checked. | | Acloset | AI styling, weather and schedule context, store imports, community, and shopping support. | Cloud account and AI feature set; US App Store privacy label reports tracking and several collected data categories. | Up to 100 items free; several subscription tiers and prices vary by storefront. | #### Wove vs Stylebook: two privacy-minded closets with different styling models Stylebook provides a released iPhone and iPad comparison with a documented privacy policy. The developer says it does not collect closet contents, user images remain on the device, and the app uses the person’s iCloud for default sync. Stylebook documents more than 90 features, including background removal, clothing import, a free-form outfit canvas, Outfit Shuffle, a calendar, packing lists, wear history, closet value, and cost per wear. Its current App Store listing also describes Apple Intelligence image generation from text. Wove generates outfits from captured garments using on-device Foundation Models and checks closet membership and basic outfit coverage. Plus capsules use saved garments; the trip checklist uses generic item types. Stylebook is available now and syncs; Wove’s photos currently do not. #### Wove vs Whering: private composition or social wardrobe discovery Whering is designed as a social wardrobe and styling platform. It lets people add their own photos, draw from a large item database or retailer pages, remove backgrounds, create and schedule outfits, see friends’ closets, build wishlists and moodboards, prepare packing lists, and track measures such as cost per wear and closet longevity. Those social and shared-catalog features require an account and cloud service. Whering’s privacy policy identifies clothes photos, Google Cloud and MongoDB infrastructure, image and AI processors, analytics, authentication, and other providers. Wove deliberately omits a developer account and social feed. The tradeoff is that Wove cannot offer a cloud community or a verified complete photo-sync path in its current build. #### Wove vs Indyx: on-device suggestions or people-powered styling Indyx combines a free digital closet with outfit boards, wear tracking, cost-per-wear analytics, packing collections, closet sharing, and access to friends, community members, or professional stylists. Its latest official listing describes AI cleanup and tagging for imperfect hanger shots or flat lays, receipt forwarding, product-link import, and an optional paid Insider membership. Another person’s eye is part of that product value. Wove does not claim to replace a human stylist. It proposes editable combinations from a retrieved local closet and checks closet membership and basic outfit coverage. The dividing line is the service boundary: Indyx connects a closet to people and an account, while Wove’s pre-release direction keeps composition local and omits the social wardrobe layer. #### Wove vs Acloset: a bounded local closet or broad AI shopping assistant Acloset offers automatic clothing organization, AI outfit recommendations, a style chat, color and fit analysis, calendar planning, weather and schedule context, trip planning, a browser extension, shopping-history import, a community, and purchase guidance. The free limit is currently 100 items, after which subscription tiers apply. Its US App Store privacy label reports tracking and the handling of identifiers, usage, coarse location, contact information, photos, and diagnostics for various purposes. Wove uses a smaller current data boundary because its scope is narrower: photograph garments, organize them, compose looks from owned pieces, log what was worn, and plan capsules or packing locally. Wove does not claim Acloset’s breadth, community, virtual try-on, or retailer integration. #### Wove starts with the clothes you take time to capture In Wove’s development build, you photograph laid-out garments and review the category and color information proposed by local recognition. The saved pieces become candidates for outfit suggestions. Personal notes and rejected-combination feedback help express what you will actually wear; Plus adds personalization drawn from wear history. The app checks that selected pieces belong to your closet and that basic outfit coverage is present. You still decide whether the combination suits the occasion. #### Weather and packing serve different jobs With permission, Wove requests approximate location when refreshing the local forecast through WeatherKit. The cache keeps weather context rather than a location history. This is a request to an Apple service, not an entirely offline feature. The trip checklist uses current local weather and calendar season; it does not obtain a forecast for the destination. > **Photo storage**: Wove’s garment images remain local files. Optional Plus iCloud sync covers supported records; it should not be treated as a complete backup of wardrobe photos. #### Try building an outfit for an ordinary day - CAPTURE EFFORT: Can the app import from photos, retailer pages, receipts, a shared catalog, or only manual entry? - EDITABILITY: Can a person correct every generated color, type, season, occasion, and outfit? - OUTFIT MODEL: Does it provide a manual canvas, random shuffle, deterministic matching, AI generation, a community, or a human stylist? - REAL-LIFE CONTEXT: Does it use weather, occasion, calendar, wear history, or personal feedback, and how is that context obtained? - PACKING: Can saved outfits produce an item checklist, and does the app prevent duplicate counts? - DATA BOUNDARY: Where are photos stored, is an account required, which providers process images, and can social visibility be disabled? - PORTABILITY: Can the closet be exported or moved, and what happens to images if sync or the account is disabled? #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Why consider Wove instead of Stylebook?** Wove is being built around local outfit suggestions from saved garments, with personal notes and feedback. Stylebook offers an established manual outfit canvas and wardrobe tools. Wove is not yet available, and its optional record sync is not a complete photo-sync service. **Q: Does Wove upload photos of my clothes?** The current build uses Apple Vision locally and stores garment images as local files. Optional Plus iCloud can mirror supported metadata, but complete image sync is not being claimed. **Q: Does Wove require Apple Intelligence?** Yes. The current development build requires Apple Intelligence to be available. A resolver checks generated garment choices and a built-in stylist can supply fallback combinations after a generation failure. That fallback does not bypass the launch requirement or guarantee every styling constraint. **Q: When can I download Wove?** Wove remains in development. No release date, final price, or final compatibility promise is being made. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Stylebook App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/stylebook/id335709058) - [Stylebook official features](https://www.stylebookapp.com/features.html) - [Stylebook privacy policy](https://www.stylebookapp.com/privacy.html) - [Whering official site](https://whering.co.uk/) - [Whering privacy policy](https://whering.co.uk/privacy) - [Whering App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/whering-your-digital-closet/id1519461680) - [Indyx official site and feature comparison](https://www.myindyx.com/) - [Indyx App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/indyx-wardrobe-outfit-app/id1599179405) - [Acloset official site](https://www.acloset.app/) - [Acloset App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/acloset-ai-fashion-assistant/id1542311809) - [Apple Vision framework](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/vision) - [Apple WeatherKit privacy and requirements](https://developer.apple.com/weatherkit/) > **Call to Action**: Explore Wove’s garment capture, personal notes, and outfit suggestions. It is being built to make more use of the wardrobe already in front of you. (App ID: wove) --- ### Five Wardrobe Apps for Making More Use of Your Clothes - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/best-digital-wardrobe-apps - **Date**: 2026.07.11 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 7 MIN READ - **Category**: DIGITAL WARDROBE GUIDE - **Content Type**: listicle - **Primary Question**: What is the best app to make outfits, capsules, and packing lists from clothes I already own? - **Tags**: #DIGITAL-CLOSET, #OUTFIT-PLANNER, #CAPSULE-WARDROBE, #COST-PER-WEAR - **Excerpt**: Find the right approach to outfit planning: local suggestions, a manual canvas, social closets, human stylists, or a broad AI wardrobe service. #### Key Takeaways - Wove’s focus is combinations from clothes you own, with notes, rejection feedback, and optional wear-based personalization. It is in development. - Manual composition, social discovery, and human styling are different experiences. Pick the one you will want to use on an ordinary morning. - Check how photos are stored and backed up before cataloging everything. Wove’s optional record sync does not currently include a verified complete photo library. #### Items Compared 1. **Wove**: Outfit suggestions from saved clothes, with personal notes and feedback. In development. 2. **Stylebook**: A mature, private-by-design Apple wardrobe with manual outfit creation, shuffle, packing, statistics, and one-time pricing. 3. **Whering**: A social closet with shared item discovery, friends’ outfits, moodboards, packing, and sustainability-oriented analytics. 4. **Indyx**: A digital closet connected to friends, a community, and optional paid professional styling. 5. **Acloset**: A broad AI wardrobe with shopping imports, community, weather, schedule, and style chat. #### Full Article Content #### Choose the kind of help you want when getting dressed Wove is being built around local outfit suggestions from your own clothes, with personal notes and feedback to make the starting point more useful. Stylebook is for hands-on composition, Whering for social discovery, Indyx for closet sharing and styling help, and Acloset for a broader AI wardrobe service. The best fit depends on how you want to make the outfit, not how many clothes an app can catalog. A wardrobe app earns the effort of photographing your clothes when it helps with a real decision: what to wear tomorrow, which pieces work together, or whether something new would fill a gap. Begin with a small set of clothes and one of those questions. This guide compares five approaches using the linked product documentation checked in July 2026. #### Five wardrobe architectures compared | App | Primary use case | Notable tools | Boundary to understand | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Wove | Local-first outfit composition without a developer wardrobe account. | Local subject lift, editable tags, deterministic and on-device styling, weather checks, capsules, packing, wear history. | In development; WeatherKit is a service request; optional Plus iCloud covers metadata; complete photo sync is not promised. | | Stylebook | Private, established wardrobe management on Apple devices. | Outfit canvas and shuffle, calendar, packing, cost per wear, closet statistics, iCloud sync. | Developer says it does not collect closet contents; data syncs through the user’s iCloud by default unless paused. | | Whering | Social inspiration and a large shared clothing ecosystem. | Catalog and retailer import, background removal, Dress Me, friends’ closets, moodboards, packing, stats. | Account and cloud service use named infrastructure, image, analytics, authentication, and communication providers. | | Indyx | Friends, community, or a professional stylist using the same closet. | Photo enhancement, auto-tags, outfit boards, wear and cost-per-wear analytics, packing, social styling. | Core closet is free; sharing and paid membership or styling introduce account and service boundaries. | | Acloset | AI styling plus shopping and community features. | Auto-registration, chat, weather and schedule, trip planning, purchase imports, browser extension, style analysis. | Free item limit and paid tiers; App Store label reports tracking and several collected data types. | #### 1. Wove: a starting outfit from your own clothes Wove’s development build uses local recognition to capture laid-out garments, then suggests combinations from the saved pieces. You can add personal notes and reject combinations on the free tier. Plus adds personalization from wear history, capsules made from owned garments, and shopping comparisons against the closet. Its separate trip checklist contains generic item types, rather than selecting your saved clothes. Wove requires Apple Intelligence; images stay local, with optional Plus sync for supported records. #### 2. Stylebook: mature private closet tools and manual creative control Stylebook has been developed for more than fifteen years and currently costs $4.99 in the US App Store. It combines a searchable closet, multiple import paths, background removal, a free-form outfit canvas, Outfit Shuffle, an outfit calendar, packing lists, wear history, closet value, and cost-per-wear statistics. Manual outfit creation rather than model-led composition is central to its workflow. Its privacy policy says the developer does not collect personally identifiable information or closet contents, imported images remain on the device, and iCloud handles default sync unless the person pauses it. Wove differs through on-device composition, deterministic outfit checks, and local garment files in its pre-release design. #### 3. Whering: social styling and shared wardrobe discovery Whering turns a digital closet into a community. A person can take clothing photos, search a large item database, add items from retailer sites, remove backgrounds, create or receive outfit ideas, schedule looks, inspect friends’ wardrobes, save moodboards and wishlists, prepare packing lists, and track measures such as cost per wear and closet longevity. Inspiration from other people is central to that service model. Whering’s official privacy policy explains that an account can include identity details and clothes photos and names cloud, database, image-processing, analytics, authentication, messaging, and support providers. The policy also describes private and public account visibility. Those controls matter before a full closet is uploaded. #### 4. Indyx: a closet that can be styled by people Indyx’s core wardrobe is free and combines photo cleanup, AI auto-tagging, search, outfit boards, calendar logging, cost-per-wear analytics, capsules, packing lists, and style education. The distinguishing layer is human: a person can share a private-by-default closet with friends or other members and can purchase professional styling. The current US App Store listing also describes receipt forwarding and product-link imports that reduce catalog setup. An optional Insider membership was listed at $12.99 monthly or $74.99 annually when checked, while professional styling is a separate service. Indyx is not trying to be the most isolated closet; its service value comes from letting selected people work with the same inventory. #### 5. Acloset: broad AI assistance and shopping context Acloset combines cloud AI styling, shopping, community, weather, and schedule features. Its current product materials describe automatic registration from photos, retailer and purchase-history imports, AI outfit recommendations, style chat, color and fit analysis, an outfit calendar, trip planning, wear statistics, a browser extension, and shopping guidance. Up to 100 items are free, after which several subscription tiers apply. That scope requires more data and services. The US App Store privacy section reports data used to track a person across services and other data used for functionality, analytics, personalization, and advertising. The current label and policy are important context before linking email purchase history or uploading personal photos. > **Wove is in development**: Wove is not yet available. The other apps below are released products, so choose one of them if you need to begin cataloging your wardrobe now. #### Start with a small wardrobe sample - A CAPTURE PATH YOU WILL FINISH: Background removal helps, but retailer imports, batch tools, receipt forwarding, and a shared catalog can matter more for a large wardrobe. - EDITABLE OUTPUT: Colors, categories, seasons, fit, occasion, and outfits should remain suggestions rather than permanent automated judgments. - CONTEXT YOU CONTROL: Weather, schedule, location, purchase history, social visibility, and stylist access should be permissioned and explained. - REAL WEAR HISTORY: An outfit recommendation becomes more personal when it learns from what was explicitly worn, skipped, repeated, or packed. - PACKING FROM OUTFITS: A useful trip tool turns saved combinations into a deduplicated item checklist instead of generating a separate fantasy wardrobe. - A CLEAR EXIT: Check whether closet records and images can be exported, deleted, or retained if a subscription ends or sync is disabled. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Which app can suggest outfits from my own clothes?** Wove’s development build proposes combinations from captured garments and lets you add personal notes and reject combinations. Stylebook offers manual creation and shuffle; Whering and Indyx add social input; Acloset offers broader AI assistance. Choose the kind of input you want when putting an outfit together. **Q: Which wardrobe app is best for packing?** Compare whether the app selects your actual saved garments or produces a checklist of item types. Wove’s Plus capsules use saved clothes; its separate trip checklist is generic and uses current local weather and season, not a destination forecast. Wove remains in development. **Q: Is there a closet app that does not collect my clothing photos?** Stylebook states that its developer does not collect closet contents and images remain on the device, with optional control over iCloud sync. Wove’s current pre-release architecture also stores garment images locally, but its release behavior must be verified later. **Q: Can a wardrobe app tell me what I should buy?** Some services offer shopping analysis or recommendations. Treat them as suggestions that may reflect incomplete closet data or commercial incentives. A useful first step is checking wear history, cost per wear, duplicate categories, and combinations using what you already own. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Stylebook App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/stylebook/id335709058) - [Stylebook privacy policy](https://www.stylebookapp.com/privacy.html) - [Stylebook official feature list](https://www.stylebookapp.com/features.html) - [Whering official site](https://whering.co.uk/) - [Whering privacy policy](https://whering.co.uk/privacy) - [Indyx official site](https://www.myindyx.com/) - [Indyx App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/indyx-wardrobe-outfit-app/id1599179405) - [Acloset official site](https://www.acloset.app/) - [Acloset App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/acloset-ai-fashion-assistant/id1542311809) - [Apple App Store privacy-label explanation](https://support.apple.com/en-us/102399) - [Apple Vision framework](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/vision) - [Apple WeatherKit](https://developer.apple.com/weatherkit/) > **Call to Action**: See how Wove turns captured garments, notes, and feedback into outfit suggestions. Follow its development if you want help using the clothes you already own. (App ID: wove) --- ### Mettle vs Fitbod, Alpha Progression, Boostcamp, and Hevy - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/mettle-vs-fitbod-alpha-progression-boostcamp-hevy - **Date**: 2026.07.11 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 7 MIN READ - **Category**: STRENGTH APP COMPARISON - **Content Type**: comparison - **Primary Question**: How does Mettle compare with Fitbod, Alpha Progression, Boostcamp, and Hevy for progressive overload and adaptive strength training? - **Tags**: #METTLE, #FITBOD, #ALPHA-PROGRESSION, #BOOSTCAMP, #HEVY - **Excerpt**: Compare strength apps by who makes the next training decision. Mettle uses your logged sets to calculate targets and show the reason behind them. #### Key Takeaways - Mettle links the next target to your completed sets. “Why this?” shows the evidence used by the calculation, rather than asking AI to invent an explanation afterward. - The coach can help shorten a session, swap an exercise, or change training days, with changes you can review. - Choose an established program library or logger if you already know the plan you want. Mettle is still in development and requires Apple Intelligence on a supported iPhone. #### Full Article Content #### Know why the next set has that target Mettle is being built for lifters who want a plan that responds to their logged sets and explains the next reps and load. Its “Why this?” view uses the same rule and evidence that calculated the target. Fitbod generates adaptive sessions, Alpha Progression specializes in muscle-building plans, Boostcamp offers established programs, and Hevy records the routine you choose. Mettle remains in development. After logging a difficult set, you need to decide what happens next: repeat the load, aim for another rep, or change the session. Mettle is being built to make that decision visible, with targets tied to your history and a reason you can inspect. The alternatives put different parts of training first, from generated sessions to named programs and fast logging. #### Five strength-training app models | App | Primary job | How progression or adaptation works | Availability and boundary | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Mettle | Targets calculated from logged sets, with a reason you can inspect. | Training rules calculate reps and loads; “Why this?” uses the same evidence. The local coach proposes reviewable plan changes. | In development for iPhone with Apple Intelligence required. Private iCloud storage is the default when available, with a local fallback. | | Fitbod | Generate personalized workouts around goals, history, recovery, equipment, and time. | Adaptive system changes workouts and recommendations from logged performance and available context. | Released across iOS and Android; official US web price was $15.99 monthly or $95.99 yearly. | | Alpha Progression | Generate hypertrophy plans and precise progression recommendations. | Uses past performance to recommend weight and rep targets; includes training and body charts. | Released; official page listed $12.99 monthly or $79.99 yearly with a 14-day annual trial. | | Boostcamp | Follow coach-designed or community programs and track them in one app. | Program-specific progression and auto-progression coexist with a large library and custom builder. | Released on iOS and Android; core library and tracker free; Pro listed at $59.99 yearly or $14.99 monthly. | | Hevy | Log routines quickly, inspect progress, and optionally share with a lifting community. | The product centers records, routines, charts, and social accountability rather than one universal generated plan. | Released across mobile, web, and wearables; free with optional Pro; profiles and workouts can be made private. | #### Mettle and Fitbod: how the next workout is decided Mettle’s “Why this?” connects the next reps and load to the training evidence that calculated them. Fitbod’s documented recommendations respond to experience, goals, equipment, history, recovery, and logged effort. It also offers progress analytics, wearable integrations, Apple Health, Android Health Connect, and offline access to previously loaded workouts. Its US website listed $15.99 monthly or $95.99 yearly when checked. Fitbod is available now; Mettle’s development focus is a local plan whose changes you can inspect. #### Mettle vs Alpha Progression: general explainable strength or hypertrophy specialization Alpha Progression focuses on muscle building. Its Pro plan generator uses equipment, experience, goals, and schedule; its progression system recommends weights and reps from past performance, with exercise and body charts. The official page listed $12.99 monthly or $79.99 yearly when checked. Mettle is being built around the connection between a calculated target and its explanation, with a local coach for reviewable adjustments. Consider Alpha Progression if its established hypertrophy workflow is what you need today. #### Mettle vs Boostcamp: generated personal plan or published program ecosystem Boostcamp offers a large library of coach-designed and community programs with workout tracking, progression, RPE and RIR logging, rest timers, a plate calculator, and analytics. Most programs and core tracking are free; Pro adds further programs, analytics, and creation tools. It is useful when you want to choose a named training approach and follow it. Mettle instead builds around your setup and logged performance, then helps adapt the plan as your schedule or equipment changes. #### Mettle vs Hevy: adaptive plan or flexible social log Hevy centers workout logging, progress tracking, and optional social features. You can build routines, record sets, track measurements, review charts and records, and use supported wearables. It also documents private profiles, private workouts, and controls for removing social features. Choose it when you already have a plan and want a useful log. Mettle is being built to help with the plan and next targets as well as recording the work. #### Mettle keeps reps and loads tied to training rules Mettle calculates targets from completed sets and the program’s progression rules. Its “Why this?” view reads the same evidence used for that calculation. The on-device coach can explain the plan and propose changes, such as a shorter session or an exercise swap, for you to review. That is useful when your day changes but you still want a coherent workout. The language model does not freely invent the numbers. The current app requires Apple Intelligence at launch, even though its underlying training calculations are rule-based. #### The Watch is a workout remote Mettle’s Watch app supports an active workout owned by the iPhone. You can log a set and control the rest timer, with haptic confirmation, without repeatedly reaching for the phone. Keep the iPhone part of the setup: this is not a standalone Watch app that creates and adapts a program independently. #### Where Mettle keeps the training history Mettle has no Obsidian Ridge Labs account, analytics SDK, or developer workout server. The current Release configuration uses private iCloud by default when available, with a local store as its fallback. Coaching and progression remain on-device. HealthKit is optional and permission-based: with approval, Mettle can read the latest bodyweight and write completed workouts. Apple explains that HealthKit requires fine-grained permission for each data type and that users can revoke access. Fitbod, Boostcamp, and community products use accounts and server data for features their users may value. A smaller data path does not demonstrate better progression, form, adherence, or outcomes. > **Mettle is in development**: Mettle is a strength-planning app, not an injury assessment or rehabilitation service. Its targets still need your judgment about technique, readiness, and what is appropriate for you. It is not yet available to download. #### Choose who should make the training decisions - WHO WROTE THE PLAN: A named coach, the user, an algorithm, an AI model, or a hybrid? - WHO OWNS THE NUMBERS: Can the app explain the evidence for each set, rep, load, rest interval, progression, and deload? - WHAT INPUTS MATTER: Goal, experience, equipment, days, session duration, past sets, RPE or RIR, pain, and substitutions should have documented roles. - WHAT HAPPENS OFFLINE: Determine whether the plan, exercise history, workout session, timer, adaptation, and export remain available. - HOW HEALTH DATA IS USED: Check optional permissions, server collection, Apple Health or Health Connect scope, deletion, and marketing restrictions. - WHAT THE WATCH CAN DO: Distinguish a remote, logger, heart-rate display, and fully independent workout app. - HOW TO LEAVE: Look for CSV or another usable export and understand what remains after account deletion or subscription expiry. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Is Mettle a Fitbod alternative?** Mettle is being built for a related job, but is not yet available. Its distinction is the way logged sets feed calculated targets and “Why this?” explanations, with local coaching for changes you can review. Fitbod is an established adaptive training service. **Q: Who decides Mettle’s reps and loads?** Training rules calculate reps and loads from the program and logged sets. The language model helps with explanation and bounded exercise selection or plan changes. You still decide whether a suggested set is appropriate for you. **Q: Does Mettle require Apple Intelligence?** Yes. The current development app requires Apple Intelligence at launch on a supported iPhone with iOS 26.1. Training calculations and logging are local, but their rule-based design does not remove the launch requirement. **Q: Can Mettle run a workout from Apple Watch without my iPhone?** No. The current Watch app is a remote for an active iPhone-owned workout, not a standalone training app. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Fitbod subscriptions and current pricing](https://help.fitbod.me/hc/en-us/sections/1500000506081-Subscriptions) - [Fitbod official FAQ and integrations](https://fitbod.me/faqs/) - [Fitbod privacy policy](https://fitbod.me/privacy-policy/) - [Alpha Progression Pro features and pricing](https://alphaprogression.com/en/subscribe) - [Boostcamp official product site](https://www.boostcamp.app/) - [Boostcamp Pro features and pricing](https://www.boostcamp.app/pro) - [Boostcamp privacy policy](https://www.boostcamp.app/privacy-policy) - [Hevy official feature list](https://www.hevyapp.com/features/) - [Hevy privacy and social controls](https://help.hevyapp.com/hc/en-us/articles/34461853165079-How-to-keep-my-information-private-Account-Single-Private-Workout-Remove-Social-Media-Features) - [ACSM 2026 resistance training guideline update](https://acsm.org/resistance-training-guidelines-update-2026/) - [Apple HealthKit privacy guidance](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/healthkit/protecting-user-privacy) > **Call to Action**: Explore Mettle’s next-set targets, “Why this?” explanations, and reviewable plan changes. It is being built for training you can understand as well as log. (App ID: mettle) --- ### Five Strength Apps for Planning, Progression, and Workout Logs - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/best-progressive-overload-apps - **Date**: 2026.07.11 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 7 MIN READ - **Category**: PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD GUIDE - **Content Type**: listicle - **Primary Question**: What is the best workout app for progressive overload, adaptive weights, offline logging, and explanations I can understand? - **Tags**: #PROGRESSIVE-OVERLOAD, #STRENGTH-TRAINING, #WORKOUT-APP, #METTLE - **Excerpt**: Mettle, Fitbod, Alpha Progression, Boostcamp, and Hevy take different approaches to the next workout. Compare target explanations, generated sessions, programs, and logs. #### Key Takeaways - Mettle’s “Why this?” connects the next reps and load to the same history and rule used to calculate them. It remains in development. - A program library and a workout logger can be the right choice when you already trust a training plan and need help following it. - Compare the workout flow as well as the plan: logging a set, changing an exercise, taking a rest, and seeing what to do next. #### Items Compared 1. **Mettle**: Next-set targets tied to logged performance, with “Why this?” explanations from the same training rules. In development. 2. **Fitbod**: Established adaptive workout generation based on goals, history, equipment, recovery, and logged effort. 3. **Alpha Progression**: Hypertrophy-focused planning with explicit weight and repetition recommendations. 4. **Boostcamp**: Coach-designed and community programs with a full free tracker and program-specific progression. 5. **Hevy**: Flexible logging, progress charts, routines, wearables, and optional social accountability. #### Full Article Content #### Choose how much of the plan you want the app to own Mettle is being built to turn logged sets into the next targets and show why they changed. Fitbod generates adaptive sessions; Alpha Progression focuses on muscle-building plans; Boostcamp carries established programs; Hevy keeps the log for a routine you choose. Start with whether you need a plan, help adjusting it, or a better record of what you already do. A workout log can tell you what happened last time. The next question is what to do with that information. Some apps recommend the next reps and load, some generate the whole session, and others help you follow a program you already trust. This guide compares those roles, rather than treating every strength app as the same kind of coach. #### Five ways an app can support progressive overload | App | Primary use case | Progression model | Question to ask | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Mettle | Targets calculated from logged sets, with a reason you can inspect. | Training rules calculate reps and loads; “Why this?” uses the same evidence. The local coach proposes reviewable plan changes. | In development for iPhone with Apple Intelligence required. Private iCloud storage is the default when available, with a local fallback. | | Fitbod | A generated workout that adapts to available equipment and history. | Personalized recommendations shaped by performance, recovery, goals, and workout context. | Can you see why a movement or target changed, and can you override it without losing useful history? | | Alpha Progression | Hypertrophy plans and set-level weight or rep targets. | Recommendations calculated from past performance, with exercise and muscle charts. | Does its exercise selection and volume match your equipment, recovery, and training preference? | | Boostcamp | Following an established or community program. | Program-defined rules, auto-progression, RPE or RIR logging, and custom-program support. | Who wrote the program, what is the progression rule, and is the version faithful to the methodology? | | Hevy | Recording a routine you already understand. | History, records, charts, and user-controlled routines support manual decisions. | Do you want the app to set targets, or would training target interfere with a plan you already trust? | #### 1. Mettle: targets with a reason you can inspect Mettle starts with your goals, experience, equipment, schedule, and session length. As you log sets, its training rules calculate the next targets. Open “Why this?” to see the evidence used for the decision. The local coach can help you change the plan when time or equipment changes, with actions you review. The current build also includes resumable workouts, CSV export, and a Watch remote. It requires Apple Intelligence; training calculations happen on-device, while private iCloud storage is used by default when available. #### 2. Fitbod: adaptive workout generation Fitbod is intended to remove much of the daily planning burden. Official materials describe personalized workouts based on goals, training history, muscle recovery, equipment, workout duration, and logged effort such as reps in reserve. It includes exercise tracking, progress insights, a large exercise library, wearable and health-platform integrations, and previously loaded offline workouts. The current US website price is $15.99 monthly or $95.99 yearly after a trial. Variety and mature adaptive generation are central to its model. Its explanation depth, substitution behavior, account requirements, and health-data path are the relevant contrasts with Mettle’s inspectable local design. #### 3. Alpha Progression: hypertrophy-focused targets Alpha Progression’s Pro page focuses on muscle building. Its plan generator uses equipment, experience, goal, and schedule. Its progression system recommends precise weight and repetition targets for each set from past performance. Charts cover exercises, muscles, training, and body measurements. The official page currently lists $12.99 per month or $79.99 per year, with an annual trial. Hypertrophy specialization and explicit set targets are central to its model. A precise number is still a recommendation: actual readiness, pain, technique, sleep, equipment differences, and exercise setup can justify a different choice. #### 4. Boostcamp: progression inside a known program Boostcamp organizes more than 11,000 coach and community programs alongside a workout tracker. Its free offering includes most of the coach-designed library, workout logging, RPE and RIR, a plate calculator, rest timers, personal records, estimated one-repetition maximums, and limited custom creation. Pro adds exclusive programs, advanced analytics, personalized programming, and unlimited creation. The annual price shown was $59.99; the month-to-month option was $14.99. Its model assumes that a lifter has selected a named program and wants the app to execute that progression rather than invent a new structure each day. The important research question is who authored each plan and how faithfully the app represents its rules. #### 5. Hevy: flexible logging and optional social accountability Hevy describes its core around workout logging, progress tracking, and social connection. A person can build routines, log sets, inspect exercise performance, follow body measurements and muscle-group charts, review reports and records, and use supported wearables. A fast record for an existing plan or coach is central to its model. Social features are optional: Hevy documents private profiles, private individual workouts, and removal of social surfaces. Progression decisions can remain with the person or their coach, using the log as evidence rather than authority. > **Mettle is in development**: Mettle is not available to download yet. Its distinction here is the connection between logged performance, calculated targets, and the explanation shown to you. #### Look for the reason behind a changed target - THE PREVIOUS EVIDENCE: Completed sets, repetitions, load, effort rating, skipped work, substitutions, and relevant notes. - THE RULE: For example, remain inside a target range until all planned sets reach the upper threshold with acceptable effort, then make a small load change. - THE NEXT TARGET: The exact sets, range, load, rest, and whether the app is holding, progressing, regressing, or deloading. - THE REASON: A plain-language explanation tied to history rather than generic motivational copy. - THE OVERRIDE: A person must be able to reduce, substitute, skip, or stop without fighting the interface. - THE UNCERTAINTY: Missing history, changed equipment, stale bodyweight, pain, or unusual fatigue should be visible rather than silently converted into false precision. #### Separate coaching language from training calculations Ask what the app uses to change a target: completed reps, load, a program rule, logged effort, or a model-generated suggestion. Mettle ties the calculation and its explanation to the same evidence. That makes a recommendation easier to inspect, but you still decide what to attempt. Also check whether a history of missed sets is visible and whether changing an exercise leaves you with a usable plan. > **A target is a recommendation**: An app cannot watch every repetition or assess pain. Use the plan alongside your judgment and qualified guidance where needed; a precise number does not make a set appropriate for everyone. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: How does Mettle decide the next target?** Its training rules use completed sets and target ranges to calculate what comes next. “Why this?” uses the same evidence to explain the change. Mettle remains in development; the product page describes its progression and coaching workflow. **Q: Should I increase weight every workout?** Not automatically. A sound progression may add repetitions within a range, hold a load while technique stabilizes, change volume, or schedule a deload. Follow the program’s documented rule and adjust for real readiness and professional guidance. **Q: Can an AI workout app replace a personal trainer?** No. An app can organize history and suggestions, but it cannot fully observe technique, pain, equipment, context, or medical considerations. Qualified coaching can provide individualized observation and judgment. **Q: Which strength app keeps workout data on my iPhone?** Mettle performs coaching and progression on the iPhone. Its current Release configuration uses a private iCloud database by default when available, with a local fallback. It remains in development; local processing and synced storage are distinct boundaries. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Fitbod official FAQ](https://fitbod.me/faqs/) - [Fitbod subscriptions and pricing](https://help.fitbod.me/hc/en-us/sections/1500000506081-Subscriptions) - [Fitbod privacy policy](https://fitbod.me/privacy-policy/) - [Alpha Progression Pro features and pricing](https://alphaprogression.com/en/subscribe) - [Boostcamp official product site](https://www.boostcamp.app/) - [Boostcamp Pro features and pricing](https://www.boostcamp.app/pro) - [Hevy official feature list](https://www.hevyapp.com/features/) - [Hevy privacy and social controls](https://help.hevyapp.com/hc/en-us/articles/34461853165079-How-to-keep-my-information-private-Account-Single-Private-Workout-Remove-Social-Media-Features) - [ACSM 2026 resistance training guideline update](https://acsm.org/resistance-training-guidelines-update-2026/) - [HHS Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans](https://odphp.health.gov/our-work/nutrition-physical-activity/physical-activity-guidelines/current-guidelines/top-10-things-know) - [CDC guidance for chronic conditions and disabilities](https://www.cdc.gov/physical-activity-basics/guidelines/chronic-health-conditions-and-disabilities.html) - [Apple health and fitness app privacy guidance](https://developer.apple.com/health-fitness/) > **Call to Action**: See how Mettle uses completed sets to set the next targets and explain them. Follow its development if your workout log leaves you doing that work yourself. (App ID: mettle) --- ### Memora vs Anki, Quizlet, RemNote, and Knowt - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/memora-vs-anki-quizlet-remnote-knowt - **Date**: 2026.07.11 - **Updated**: 2026.10.03 - **Read Time**: 7 MIN READ - **Category**: FLASHCARD APP COMPARISON - **Content Type**: comparison - **Primary Question**: Which is better for turning my notes or PDFs into flashcards: Memora, Anki, Quizlet, RemNote, or Knowt? - **Tags**: #AI-FLASHCARDS, #FSRS, #PRIVATE-STUDY, #PDF-TO-FLASHCARDS - **Excerpt**: Memora turns your own material into a local review routine. Compare card creation, scheduling, shared sets, and connected notes before choosing a study app. #### Key Takeaways - Memora makes cards locally from your own material, lets you select the drafts to keep, and puts saved cards into an FSRS review schedule. - Choose Anki for deep customization, Quizlet for shared sets, RemNote for linked notes and PDFs, or Knowt for a broader mix of study sources. - Check the input and export limits: Memora needs selectable PDF text, and its deck exports do not preserve the review history or schedule. #### Full Article Content #### Choose the route from your material to regular review Memora offers a focused iPhone routine: bring in notes, a photo, or a PDF with selectable text; review the proposed cards; add the ones you want; and return when FSRS schedules the next review. Anki offers extensive control, Quizlet shared sets and study activities, RemNote connected notes and cards, and Knowt broader source support. Memora’s appeal is keeping creation and study together on the phone without uploading the source for generation. It is available on the App Store. > **Memora is available on the App Store**: Memora is now available for iPhone. Its release status was updated in October 2026; competitor features and US prices below were checked against the linked documentation in July 2026. The useful comparison begins with the material you already have. A page of lecture notes, an annotated PDF, and a classmate’s shared deck ask different things of an app. Then comes the longer job: making the cards clear enough to study and returning to them regularly. Choose a workflow that helps with both, rather than stopping at how quickly it generates the first deck. #### Feature direction verified from official product documentation on July 11, 2026 | App | Primary workflow | Source-to-card workflow | Scheduling and storage | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Memora | Privacy-minded iPhone learners willing to review every generated draft. | Typed or pasted notes, PDFs with embedded text, and one selected photo with local Vision OCR. Foundation Models generates drafts on the device, and Memora requires Apple Intelligence-capable hardware; some features can continue while the model is unavailable. | FSRS with four recall grades and visible intervals, never paywalled. Current records use local SwiftData; no current iCloud-sync claim. | | AnkiMobile | Desktop-linked scheduling, customization, large decks, and the Anki ecosystem. | Manual and import workflows. The official iOS listing describes AnkiMobile as a companion and says some note-type editing and image-occlusion creation require desktop. | FSRS and SM-2, optional AnkiWeb sync, offline media, and local import/export. Current US App Store price: $24.99 once. | | Quizlet | Learners who want shared sets, several study modes, and a familiar classroom ecosystem. | Official AI tools accept pasted notes, PDFs, slides, Google Drive files, and mobile photos, then let the learner edit the generated set. | Adaptive Learn and practice modes rather than an advertised FSRS workflow. Account-based service with user-controlled set visibility. | | RemNote | Learners who want connected notes, PDF annotation, flashcards, and a study system in one workspace. | Its Learn PDF feature creates summaries, AI flashcards, quizzes, and tutor interactions from PDFs. | Supports FSRS as an optional beta scheduler. Synced and local knowledge bases are available, with different backup and collaboration tradeoffs. | | Knowt | Students who want AI-assisted cards from several web and class-media sources plus free study modes. | Official pages advertise cards from PDFs, articles, lecture videos, notes, and imported sets. | Offers a spaced-repetition mode alongside Learn, practice tests, and games in an account-based study platform. | #### Make cards you will want to review Memora shows the front and back of each generated draft before you add the batch. Deselect cards you do not want, save the rest, and edit saved cards in the deck. That review step lets you discard duplicates or questions that miss the point before they join your routine. It does not include editing draft text in place or a source-document side pane, so keep the original material available when checking facts. Memora’s input boundary is intentionally narrower than the broad upload claims on several established services. It can extract embedded text from a PDF, but it does not currently OCR every page of a scanned PDF. It can run Vision OCR over one photo selected from the library, but it does not currently promise an in-app document camera or batch capture. Those limitations belong in the comparison because a student with a scanned textbook needs a different workflow from someone with lecture notes exported as a text-layer PDF. #### Use a schedule that responds to your recall AnkiMobile’s official listing supports both SM-2 and FSRS along with large decks, media, search, and a desktop companion. RemNote also supports FSRS, although its current help page labels the feature beta. Memora implements the familiar Again, Hard, Good, and Easy loop with visible next intervals, memory-state updates, intra-session relearning, and one-step undo. That gives Memora a modern scheduling foundation without reproducing Anki’s add-ons, desktop authoring model, shared ecosystem, or years of production use. Spacing and retrieval practice have support in the learning-science literature linked below. They are useful reasons to build a review routine, but they do not settle which app you should use. Card quality, honest recall ratings, and whether the workflow fits your day still matter. Memora combines local card creation with FSRS so that making the deck and returning to it are part of the same app. #### Decide whether you need a shared study system Memora keeps OCR, generation, decks, and review history on the iPhone, with no app-managed cloud sync. It requires Apple Intelligence-capable hardware. If the model is off or unavailable on eligible hardware, the current build can continue after an advisory; manual study and imports remain available, and source-to-card generation has a deterministic fallback. Similar mode and the tutor require the model. AnkiWeb sync is optional, and RemNote offers local knowledge bases as well as a synced service. Quizlet’s shared sets can be valuable when your class already uses them; Knowt supports a broad range of submitted sources. Each has its own AI and storage disclosures. Memora keeps its current study archive local, which suits personal material but gives up the shared workspace and automatic cross-device continuity of a service. #### Match the app to your study habits - MEMORA: Designed for local iPhone generation, draft selection, FSRS, local study history, and useful fallback behavior. It is available on the App Store. - ANKIMOBILE TRADEOFF: Deep customization, large collections, optional sync, and desktop-assisted authoring come with a more complex desktop-linked workflow. - QUIZLET TRADEOFF: Shared sets, classroom activities, and multi-device access use an account-based community and cloud processing model. - REMNOTE TRADEOFF: Notes, PDF annotations, AI study tools, and flashcards can share one workspace, with separate synced-data and external AI boundaries. - KNOWT TRADEOFF: Several AI source types and study modes operate inside an account-based platform with sharing and submitted-content terms to review. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Can Memora replace AnkiMobile?** Memora offers a focused iPhone workflow from your source material to selected cards and FSRS review. Anki offers a larger desktop-linked ecosystem and deeper customization. Memora is available on the App Store, and its Anki import is limited to compatible legacy text cards without media. **Q: Can Memora turn a scanned PDF into flashcards?** Not as an entire scanned document in the current implementation. The PDF importer needs embedded text. A learner can select one image for local Vision OCR, but batch scanned-PDF OCR and an in-app document camera are not current claims. **Q: Does RemNote have an offline or local option?** Yes. RemNote documents local knowledge bases that stay off RemNote’s servers. The tradeoff is that the user becomes responsible for backups and loses server-backed multi-device access for that knowledge base. AI features have their own third-party processing disclosures. **Q: Does using FSRS guarantee that I will remember more?** No. FSRS estimates when a card should return based on review history and chosen recall grades. Learning also depends on card quality, honest ratings, prior knowledge, feedback, consistency, and the material itself. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Memora App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/memora-study-flashcards/id6810065777) - [Apple Foundation Models framework](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/FoundationModels) - [Anki official website](https://apps.ankiweb.net/) - [AnkiMobile App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ankimobile-flashcards/id373493387) - [Quizlet AI Flashcard Generator](https://quizlet.com/features/ai-flashcard-generator) - [Quizlet pricing](https://quizlet.com/upgrade?source=footer) - [Quizlet Privacy Policy](https://quizlet.com/privacy) - [RemNote Learn from Any PDF](https://www.remnote.com/feature/learn-any-pdf) - [RemNote FSRS documentation](https://help.remnote.com/en/articles/9124137-the-fsrs-spaced-repetition-algorithm) - [RemNote pricing](https://www.remnote.com/pricing) - [RemNote note privacy documentation](https://help.remnote.com/en/articles/7974260-privacy-of-your-notes) - [Knowt Flashcards](https://knowt.com/flashcards) - [Knowt Privacy Policy](https://knowt.com/privacy) - [Knowt Terms of Service](https://knowt.com/terms) - [Nature Reviews Psychology: spacing and retrieval practice](https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-022-00089-1) - [Educational Psychology Review: retrieval practice systematic review](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-021-09595-9) > **Call to Action**: Explore Memora’s source-to-card workflow and FSRS review. Download it from the App Store to turn your study material into a review routine on your iPhone. (App ID: memora) --- ### Five Flashcard Apps for Turning Notes into a Study Routine - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/best-ai-flashcard-apps-pdf-notes-privacy - **Date**: 2026.07.11 - **Updated**: 2026.10.03 - **Read Time**: 7 MIN READ - **Category**: AI FLASHCARD LIST - **Content Type**: listicle - **Primary Question**: What is the best AI flashcard app for turning PDFs, notes, or photos into editable cards? - **Tags**: #AI-STUDY-APPS, #FLASHCARD-GENERATOR, #FSRS, #OFFLINE-STUDY - **Excerpt**: Compare Memora, Anki, Quizlet, RemNote, and Knowt by the material you start with, the cards you can edit, and the way you want to review. #### Key Takeaways - Memora connects local card generation with an FSRS review schedule. Drafts are selected before adding; saved cards can then be edited. - Your source format matters. Memora handles selectable-text PDFs and individual photos, rather than whole scanned PDFs or lecture videos. - Test a deck export before committing. Memora exports card content and images, but a re-import starts a new review schedule. #### Items Compared 1. **Memora**: Local card generation, draft selection, and FSRS review for your own study material. Available on the App Store. 2. **AnkiMobile**: A desktop-linked scheduling ecosystem with FSRS, large decks, and extensive control. 3. **Quizlet**: A large shared-set ecosystem with classroom familiarity and varied study activities. 4. **RemNote**: A connected workspace for notes, PDFs, linked knowledge, and flashcards. 5. **Knowt**: An account-based platform with broad AI source formats and several student study modes. #### Full Article Content #### The deck is only the beginning Memora turns your notes, photos, and text-based PDFs into a local flashcard routine on iPhone, with draft selection and FSRS scheduling. Anki gives you more control over a long-lived study system; Quizlet makes shared sets central; RemNote joins notes and cards; Knowt accepts a wider range of class and web material. Choose an app you can keep using after the first batch of cards is made. > **About this selection**: This guide compares source support, card review, scheduling, and sharing. Memora is our app and is available on the App Store. Its release status was updated in October 2026. The linked competitor documentation and US prices were checked in July 2026. #### Five flashcard products for five different priorities | App | Why it makes the list | Important tradeoff | Availability | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Memora | Local generation from bounded sources, draft selection before adding, FSRS, local history, and no current account or AI server. | Text-layer PDFs only, one selected photo at a time, Apple-Intelligence limits, no current iCloud sync, and a new release. | Available for iPhone on iOS 26 with an A17 Pro chip or later. Free to download, with optional Plus. | | AnkiMobile | FSRS and SM-2, large decks, rich media, search, optional sync, and a mature desktop companion. | Steeper setup; the official iOS listing says some authoring and image-occlusion creation still require desktop. | Available on the US App Store for $24.99 once as checked July 11, 2026. | | Quizlet | AI generation from notes, PDFs, slides, Drive, and mobile photos plus shared sets, Learn, tests, and games. | Its account-based community and service model is different from a local-only private archive. | Available with free access and paid annual tiers advertised from $35.99/year. | | RemNote | PDF annotation, linked notes, AI cards and quizzes, and optional FSRS in one knowledge system. | More workspace complexity; AI and synced-data paths require reading its detailed privacy documentation. | Available; current annual plans advertise Free, $96 Pro, and $216 Pro with AI. | | Knowt | AI cards from PDFs, articles, videos, and notes with Learn, tests, games, and spaced repetition. | Account and sharing behavior may not suit people seeking a device-only study archive. | Available on web and mobile; plan details should be verified in the reader’s region. | #### 1. Memora: your material, followed by a review routine Memora turns a bounded passage of notes, selectable PDF text, or text recognized from a photo into a small batch of card drafts on the iPhone. Review the front and back, deselect what you do not need, and add the rest. You can edit the saved cards afterward. The current generation flow uses up to 4,000 source characters and proposes up to 12 cards at a time, so work through longer material in sections. Saved cards use FSRS to schedule the next review from your recall grades. Match, Listen, and manual image cards offer other ways to practice; Plus adds Test, Tutor, and automatic image-label detection. Compatible Anki imports bring in legacy text cards, without media or newer .anki21b collections. Exports include deck content and images but exclude scheduling and review history. Memora is available on the App Store. #### 2. AnkiMobile: scheduling control and established workflows AnkiMobile belongs on this list even though AI generation is not its central pitch. Its official listing supports the same SM-2 and FSRS schedulers as desktop Anki, optional AnkiWeb sync, offline media, advanced search, statistics, MathJax, LaTeX rendering, and decks with more than 100,000 cards. It is the benchmark for a learner who is willing to shape note types, imports, templates, and review settings around a durable personal system rather than asking one generator to do everything. The tradeoff is workflow complexity. AnkiMobile calls itself a companion to the computer version. Its App Store description says modifications such as some note-type changes must be made on desktop, add-ons are not supported on mobile, and image-occlusion cards can be studied but not created in the iOS app. Its defining advantage is control rather than a quick PDF-to-cards path. #### 3. Quizlet: shared sets and varied practice Quizlet’s official AI generator can turn pasted text, PDFs, Google Drive documents, slides, and mobile photos into a first draft. The result can be edited, reordered, and studied through familiar flashcards, Learn, tests, and other activities. Its library and group features make it particularly useful when a class, teacher, or study group already exchanges Quizlet sets. That collaborative breadth is a real advantage that a local-only app does not reproduce. Students handling private, unpublished, regulated, or personally sensitive material should read Quizlet’s current privacy policy and visibility controls before uploading it. Quizlet lets creators choose whether their content is viewable by other users and uses service providers for external processing. That is not inherently disqualifying, but it is a different decision from keeping generation and storage inside one device. #### 4. RemNote: notes, PDF annotation, and flashcards together RemNote approaches study material as a connected knowledge base. Its PDF workflow advertises summaries, prioritized AI flashcards, quizzes, and an interactive tutor, while its core product keeps notes and flashcards linked. It supports both an Anki-style SM-2 scheduler and optional FSRS. The design serves learners who annotate source material and want cards to remain attached to the surrounding explanation. Its privacy model is more nuanced than either “cloud” or “offline.” RemNote says a local knowledge base can remain off its servers, with the user responsible for backup and without server-backed multi-device access. Its synchronized service encrypts data in transit and at rest but is not end-to-end encrypted. Its AI features can send snippets to a documented list of providers, although it says note text is not used to train models. Read those controls in the context of the material you plan to study. #### 5. Knowt: broad AI inputs and student study modes Knowt’s official pages advertise AI flashcards from lecture notes, PDFs, articles, and lecture videos. It also supports imported flashcard sets, Learn mode, practice tests, games, and spaced repetition. That combination can reduce friction for students whose course material moves between a browser, video platform, class document, and mobile study session. It is a broader media-ingestion proposition than Memora’s current bounded input path. The data and sharing terms deserve the same attention as the feature list. Knowt’s March 2026 privacy policy discusses account information, classroom use, and sharing some student-generated cards and notes with other users. Its terms grant broad rights over submitted content, including possible model improvement. Those documents contain qualifications, including separate treatment of Google user data, so comparisons should link the original language rather than reduce it to an alarmist label. #### Try one source and one week of review - Start with one representative source: a real lecture PDF, a page of notes, or a photo, not a polished demo document. - Check whether the app accepts that exact format and whether a scanned PDF needs a separate OCR step. - Inspect ten generated cards for source fidelity, ambiguity, answer length, duplicated ideas, and accidental hints. - Confirm that you can edit or reject every generated card before it affects your study queue. - Identify the scheduler and whether its next-review logic is visible enough for your preferences. - Decide whether you need shared sets and sync more than you need a device-local archive. - Export a test deck and learn what content, media, and study history the file includes. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Can Memora use the PDF I already have?** The current importer needs selectable text inside the PDF. It does not read a whole scanned PDF through OCR. You can select an individual photo for local text recognition, then review the proposed cards before adding them. Memora is available on the App Store. **Q: Which flashcard apps use FSRS?** Anki and RemNote officially document FSRS support. Memora also uses FSRS. Verify the default status and available settings in the version you actually use. **Q: Should I let AI make all of my flashcards?** AI can reduce setup, but generated cards should be reviewed against the source. The learner should correct false premises, vague questions, missing exceptions, and answers that are too broad before studying them. **Q: Does offline storage automatically make study data safe?** No. Local storage reduces one data-transfer path but still depends on device access, operating-system protections, backups, exports, and deletion. It is not a substitute for a security audit or a backup plan. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Anki official website](https://apps.ankiweb.net/) - [AnkiMobile App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ankimobile-flashcards/id373493387) - [Quizlet AI Flashcard Generator](https://quizlet.com/features/ai-flashcard-generator) - [Quizlet AI Study Tools](https://quizlet.com/features/ai-study-tools) - [Quizlet pricing](https://quizlet.com/upgrade?source=footer) - [Quizlet Privacy Policy](https://quizlet.com/privacy) - [RemNote Learn from Any PDF](https://www.remnote.com/feature/learn-any-pdf) - [RemNote FSRS documentation](https://help.remnote.com/en/articles/9124137-the-fsrs-spaced-repetition-algorithm) - [RemNote pricing](https://www.remnote.com/pricing) - [RemNote note privacy documentation](https://help.remnote.com/en/articles/7974260-privacy-of-your-notes) - [Knowt Flashcards](https://knowt.com/flashcards) - [Knowt Chrome and AI source workflows](https://knowt.com/chrome-extension) - [Knowt Privacy Policy](https://knowt.com/privacy) - [Knowt Terms of Service](https://knowt.com/terms) - [Memora App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/memora-study-flashcards/id6810065777) - [Apple Foundation Models framework](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/FoundationModels) - [Nature Reviews Psychology: spacing and retrieval practice](https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-022-00089-1) > **Call to Action**: Explore Memora’s card creation and study modes. Download it from the App Store to go from your own notes to regular review without uploading the source to an AI service. (App ID: memora) --- ### Trove vs Home Inventory Apps: Capture, Find, and Keep the Evidence - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/trove-vs-home-inventory-apps - **Date**: 2026.07.11 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 7 MIN READ - **Category**: HOME INVENTORY COMPARISON - **Content Type**: comparison - **Primary Question**: How does pre-release Trove compare with Under My Roof, HomeZada, Itemtopia, NAIC, and Sortly for private capture, insurance documentation, export, and backup? - **Tags**: #HOME-INVENTORY, #RENTERS-INSURANCE, #WARRANTY-TRACKER, #PRIVATE-AI - **Excerpt**: Compare Trove with Under My Roof, HomeZada, Itemtopia, NAIC, and Sortly by how you capture belongings, find receipts, and keep a usable backup. #### Key Takeaways - Trove’s capture workflow proposes item details from photos, receipts, and labels, with a review step before you rely on the record. - Free archive export and restore include available local photos. Plus adds formatted reports, a selected-item claim report, multiple homes, and record sync. - Choose a broader home-management or business system if maintenance projects, teams, or stock quantities are the main job. #### Full Article Content #### Make the record useful when you need it Trove is being built to turn photos, receipts, and labels into household records you review, search, and back up with the photos included. That suits someone who wants less typing and an easier way to find an item’s details later. Under My Roof adds extensive Apple home management; HomeZada covers the wider property; Itemtopia supports flexible catalogs; NAIC offers a free starting point; Sortly brings business inventory tools. Trove remains in development. > **An inventory supports the record**: Photos, receipts, and serial numbers can help document what you own. An app does not decide coverage, appraise an item, or guarantee a claim payment. Think about the last time you needed a serial number, a receipt, or a warranty date. It may have been in a drawer, an email, and a photo you could not find. A home inventory brings those pieces together. The Insurance Information Institute and NAIC recommend keeping records of belongings; the practical question here is which app makes that habit easier to start and maintain. #### Home inventory approaches verified from first-party pages on July 11, 2026 | App | Primary use | Notable scope | Storage, price, or boundary | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Trove · pre-release | Private Apple-device capture with less manual field entry. | Items, rooms, photos, receipts, serials, values, warranty context, local search, Ask Trove, and CSV export. | Local store with optional Plus iCloud record sync; photos are separate files. Free photo-inclusive archive backup; paid reports. No verified public release. | | Under My Roof | Apple households wanting a mature, detailed home-management database. | Belongings, documents, home details, maintenance, renovations, collections, policies, claims, moving, and reports. | Developer says data stays on device or optional personal iCloud. $34.99/year or $4.99/month in the US. | | HomeZada | Homeowners wanting inventory alongside maintenance, projects, finances, and future asset planning. | Room-based inventory, documents, reports, AI photo recognition, replacement forecasts, and broader home management. | Essentials advertised free; Premium $99/year or $15.95/month. Account-based multi-user service. | | Itemtopia | People cataloging homes, collections, properties, services, or business assets across platforms. | Custom records for items, receipts, warranties, values, documents, maintenance, and sharing. | Available on iOS, Android, and Apple-silicon Mac. Free to try; current regional pricing is shown inside the app. | | NAIC Home Inventory | A free, regulator-supported insurance-preparedness starting point. | Photos, rooms/categories, barcode scanning, export, disaster preparation, and claims guidance. | Free consumer tool. Confirm current platform availability and data practices in the store listing used for download. | | Sortly | People who want business-style visual inventory, labels, quantities, and team workflows. | Photos, folders, custom fields, QR/barcode labels, reports, multi-device access, and business integrations. | Free plan currently advertises 100 unique items. Paid plans are primarily positioned for businesses and teams. | #### Trove: capture the evidence while it is in front of you In Trove’s development build, photograph an item, receipt, barcode, or serial label and review the details proposed by local recognition. Correct the fields while you still have the item and source image in front of you. Later, search the inventory or ask a question using the saved records. Trove requires Apple Intelligence at launch; its generation fallbacks do not make unsupported devices eligible. That household workflow differs from an operational inventory system. Sortly’s labels, quantities, and team tools serve stock and equipment tracking. Trove concentrates on the evidence attached to a belonging: where it lives, what it is, the receipt, serial number, photos, and warranty context. Choose the app that matches the record you will actually need. #### Under My Roof provides a released Apple home-management comparison Under My Roof’s official site says the developer cannot access an inventory because it remains on the person’s devices and, when enabled, in that person’s iCloud account. It already spans iPhone, iPad, and Mac and supports purchase and warranty records, receipts, document scanning, maintenance, renovations, moving, collections, insurance policies, claims, multiple homes, and family sharing. Those are released capabilities, while Trove’s narrower capture and local-question workflow remains in development. Trove’s free archive export and restore include the inventory relationships and available local photos, so the backup is more than a list of item names. Plus adds formatted reports, selected-item claim reports, multiple homes, and optional private iCloud record sync. Photos are separate files; keep a photo-inclusive archive rather than assuming record sync has backed up every image. #### HomeZada and Itemtopia cover more of the home or asset lifecycle HomeZada connects inventory with maintenance, remodeling, documents, home finances, reports, multiple properties, and newer AI-powered asset replacement forecasts. Its scope is a whole-home management system rather than a private contents catalog. Its free Essentials plan includes inventory and documents, while paid tiers add more management breadth. Compare the account, sharing, and data policies directly if privacy is a primary requirement. Itemtopia supports homes, collections, properties, business assets, services, receipts, and warranties across iOS, Android, and Mac. It is worth considering when you need flexible fields or shared access, particularly in a household using more than Apple devices. Prices are shown in the regional purchase flow; check the linked privacy and export documentation alongside the features you need. #### NAIC is the free baseline, not a substitute for reading the policy The NAIC Home Inventory app offers the essential insurance-preparedness workflow: group belongings by room or category, take photos, scan barcodes, export the inventory, and read disaster and claim guidance. It is an especially credible starting point because NAIC supports state insurance regulators rather than selling a home-management subscription. Its narrower feature set may be enough for many households. No paid app should imply that a more elaborate PDF receives automatic preference from an insurer. #### Build one complete record before cataloging a room - START WITH THE PURPOSE: insurance preparation, moving, warranties, estate planning, collections, maintenance, or business-style stock control. - RECORD CLAIM-RELEVANT FIELDS: description, room, make, model, serial, purchase date and price, receipt, photo, and a clearly labeled current estimate where appropriate. - TEST CAPTURE ON A HARD ITEM: a reflective serial label, faded receipt, unboxed appliance, or object without a barcode. - CHECK CORRECTION CONTROLS: AI and barcode results must remain editable and should never overwrite the source evidence. - CREATE A SECOND COPY: confirm PDF, CSV, photo, or backup behavior and store a protected copy somewhere that survives loss of the phone and home. - READ THE POLICY: replacement cost, actual cash value, deductibles, exclusions, and special limits are insurance terms, not app settings. - RECHECK THE INVENTORY: add significant purchases and review the catalog and coverage with the appropriate insurance professional periodically. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: What should I include in a home inventory for insurance?** Commonly useful details include a photo, description, room, make, model, serial number, purchase location and date, price, receipt, and relevant warranty or supporting documents. Ask the insurer what it expects and keep high-value items and policy limits in view. **Q: Can Trove tell me what my belongings are worth?** Trove can store user-entered values and propose context for review, but it is not an appraisal service and does not determine replacement cost or policy coverage. Receipts, professional appraisals where appropriate, market evidence, and insurer instructions remain authoritative. **Q: Does Trove send warranty-expiration notifications?** The development build can schedule local warranty reminders, usually 30 days before expiry, subject to notification permission and the saved date. Review any date extracted from a receipt before relying on a reminder. **Q: Can I submit a Trove PDF directly to an insurer?** Plus PDF reporting and a selected-item claim report are implemented in the development build. Trove is not yet released, and a report is supporting documentation, not a guarantee of insurer acceptance or payment. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Insurance Information Institute: How to create a home inventory](https://www.iii.org/article/how-create-home-inventory) - [NAIC Home Inventory consumer page](https://content.naic.org/consumer/home-inventory) - [NAIC homeowners insurance guidance](https://content.naic.org/consumer/homeowners-insurance.htm) - [Under My Roof official site](https://undermyroof.app/) - [Under My Roof App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/under-my-roof-home-inventory/id1524335878) - [HomeZada Home Inventory](https://www.homezada.com/homeowners/home-inventory) - [HomeZada pricing](https://www.homezada.com/homeowners/pricing/) - [HomeZada 2026 asset forecasting announcement](https://www.homezada.com/press/homezada-launches-ai-powered-major-asset-forecasting-to-help-homeowners-predict-future-replacement-costs) - [Itemtopia official site](https://www.itemtopia.com/) - [Itemtopia pricing](https://www.itemtopia.com/pricing) - [Sortly Home Inventory Software](https://www.sortly.com/solutions/home-inventory-software/) - [Sortly pricing](https://www.sortly.com/pricing/) - [Apple Foundation Models framework](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/FoundationModels) > **Call to Action**: Explore Trove’s capture, search, and photo-inclusive archive. It is being built to keep the details of your belongings within reach when a receipt or serial number suddenly matters. (App ID: trove) --- ### Six Home Inventory Apps for Receipts, Records, and Backup - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/best-home-inventory-apps-insurance-privacy - **Date**: 2026.07.11 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 8 MIN READ - **Category**: HOME INVENTORY LIST - **Content Type**: listicle - **Primary Question**: What is the best home inventory app for documenting belongings, receipts, warranties, and insurance records? - **Tags**: #HOME-INVENTORY-APP, #INSURANCE-PREP, #RECEIPTS, #HOME-PRIVACY - **Excerpt**: Choose a home inventory by what you need to record and recover. Compare Trove, Under My Roof, NAIC, HomeZada, Itemtopia, and Sortly. #### Key Takeaways - Trove reduces manual entry by proposing fields from item photos, receipts, and labels. You review the details before relying on them. - Its development build includes free photo-inclusive archive export and restore; reports, multiple homes, and record sync are Plus features. - A complete inventory needs a protected second copy. A report can support an insurance conversation, but it does not determine coverage or claim acceptance. #### Items Compared 1. **Trove · pre-release**: Reviewed item and receipt capture with search and free photo-inclusive archive backup. In development. 2. **Under My Roof**: A detailed Apple home-management database across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. 3. **NAIC Home Inventory**: A free regulator-supported insurance-preparedness checklist and inventory. 4. **HomeZada**: Inventory plus maintenance, projects, finances, and long-term home planning. 5. **Itemtopia**: Flexible cross-platform home, collection, property, and asset records. 6. **Sortly**: Business-style visual inventory, barcodes, labels, quantities, and teams. #### Full Article Content #### Choose the record you will be able to maintain Trove is being built for reviewed photo and receipt capture, local inventory questions, and a backup that includes the available photos. Under My Roof is a broader Apple home-management system, NAIC offers a free inventory starting point, HomeZada manages the property as well as its contents, Itemtopia supports flexible records, and Sortly suits stock and equipment. Start with capture and recovery: can you make a useful record, and get it back when you need it? > **About this selection**: The apps are grouped by their main job, from household records to operational inventory. Trove is our app and is still in development. Competitor details were checked against the linked sources in July 2026. Start with an appliance you bought recently. Can you put its receipt, model, serial number, warranty date, and photo in one place without turning it into a weekend project? Then try exporting that record with its evidence. Those two tasks tell you more about an inventory app than a polished dashboard does. Once the workflow is easy enough to repeat, work through the rest of the room. #### Six home inventory options by primary job | App | Best for | Key evidence workflow | Important limitation or question | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Trove | Upcoming local Apple capture. | Reviewable OCR/barcode/receipt extraction, local records, warranty/value context, Ask Trove, and implemented CSV. | Unreleased; Plus reports, multiple homes, and iCloud record sync are implemented. Photo-inclusive archive export is free. | | Under My Roof | Private Apple home management. | Photos, receipts, documents, serials, warranties, maintenance, claims, reports, multiple homes, and optional personal iCloud. | Subscription; broader feature set can be more than a simple inventory needs. | | NAIC | Free insurance preparedness. | Photos, rooms/categories, barcode capture, export, disaster tips, and claim guidance. | Narrower than full home-management suites; verify current store compatibility and privacy details. | | HomeZada | Whole homeowner lifecycle. | Inventory plus documents, maintenance, remodels, finances, reports, and AI-assisted home planning. | Account-based breadth and paid tiers may be unnecessary for a contents-only list. | | Itemtopia | Flexible cross-platform records. | Customizable items, receipts, warranties, services, properties, collections, and shared use cases. | Regional pricing is in-app; examine current privacy and export documentation for your workflow. | | Sortly | Business-style organization. | Visual folders, photos, QR/barcode labels, fields, quantities, reports, and team access. | Business orientation and paid pricing can exceed a household’s needs. | #### 1. Trove: capture the details and keep the photos with them Trove’s development build reads item photos, receipts, barcodes, and labels locally, then asks you to review the proposed details. The saved record holds the evidence with the item, and Ask Trove can use inventory context to help find what you need. This is useful for the records that are otherwise scattered across camera rolls and paperwork. Apple Intelligence is required on supported iPhone and iPad hardware. The free archive can export and restore the inventory with available local photos. Plus adds PDF and CSV reports, a selected-item claim report, multiple homes, and optional private iCloud record sync. Local warranty reminders use the dates you record and require notification permission. Trove is not yet released, and its reports do not guarantee an insurer will accept or pay a claim. #### 2. Under My Roof: private Apple home management Under My Roof combines a particularly broad current set of privacy and household-management features in this list. The developer says the inventory stays on the person’s devices and, if chosen, in the person’s iCloud account; the developer does not have access. It runs on iPhone, iPad, and Mac and records belongings, home facts, receipts, manuals, warranties, renovation history, maintenance, collections, policy details, claims, moving boxes, and custom fields. The US price shown by the developer is $34.99 per year or $4.99 per month with a trial. A single subscription covers the purchaser’s Apple devices and supports Family Sharing. Its scope supports a long-lived home record rather than only a one-time insurance checklist. Someone who only wants a simple list may find that scope larger than necessary. #### 3. NAIC Home Inventory: free insurance-preparedness baseline NAIC provides the clearest baseline for what a consumer inventory should accomplish: photograph belongings, group them by room or category, scan barcodes, export the record, and understand disaster preparation and claim steps. Because NAIC is the US standard-setting and regulatory support organization governed by state insurance regulators, its guidance is more authoritative for the purpose of an inventory than a software company’s claim-oriented marketing. Free does not automatically mean sufficient for every household. High-value collections, renovation records, household collaboration, scheduled maintenance, or sophisticated report layouts may require another tool. Check the current App Store or Google Play listing for compatibility, data-safety disclosures, and update history before committing years of records. #### 4. HomeZada: whole-home lifecycle management HomeZada goes well beyond possessions. Its current product connects home inventory with documents, maintenance, projects, finances, dashboards, home value context, and replacement planning. In 2026 the company announced AI-powered forecasting for the future replacement year and cost of major assets such as roofs, HVAC systems, and appliances. That makes it relevant to a homeowner budgeting for the property itself, not only documenting personal contents. The advertised Essentials plan is free and includes inventory and documents. Premium is currently $99 per year or $15.95 per month, while Deluxe adds multiple-property features at a higher price. Treat generated forecasts as planning estimates, not bids, appraisals, policy coverage, or financial advice. Review HomeZada’s current account and privacy terms if the records include sensitive financial or property information. #### 5. Itemtopia: flexible records across several asset types Itemtopia is useful when “home inventory” is only one part of the catalog. Its official site positions the app for belongings, collections, properties, business assets, receipts, warranties, maintenance, services, sharing, and even item-sale pages. It is available on iOS, Android, and Macs with Apple silicon, which gives mixed-device households more options than an Apple-only tool. Itemtopia shows current subscription details inside the Apple and Google purchase flow. Try a record with the fields, attachments, and sharing you need before moving a larger collection. Check what its export includes and how the people sharing the inventory can access it. #### 6. Sortly: business-style inventory mechanics Sortly can catalog home possessions, but its main orientation is operational inventory. It supports visual folders, high-resolution photos, custom fields, barcode and QR scanning, label creation, quantities, stock counts, reports, users, and business integrations. Those mechanics address home workshops, event inventory, rental equipment, or family businesses where “how many and where?” matters as much as proof of ownership. The current free plan advertises 100 unique items and one user. Paid tiers expand items, labels, users, reports, and business functions, with promotional pricing and renewal details that can change. A household with thousands of possessions may reach limits quickly, while a family that only documents high-value items may never need a paid operational system. #### What makes an item record useful later - A clear item description and the room or location where it is normally kept. - Make, model, serial number, and barcode where those identifiers exist. - Purchase date, seller, price paid, receipt, and a photo showing ownership and condition. - Warranty documents, service history, manuals, and relevant accessories for major items. - A clearly labeled current estimate or professional appraisal when appropriate for a high-value item. - Off-site or storage-unit belongings that the applicable policy may cover. - An export or backup stored somewhere that will remain available if the device and home are both inaccessible. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Is a home inventory app better than a spreadsheet?** An app may make photos, barcodes, receipts, rooms, and mobile capture easier. A spreadsheet can be more portable and transparent. The better system is one you will maintain, export, back up, and understand before a loss. **Q: Do I need a receipt for every item?** Requirements vary by policy, carrier, item, and claim. Photos, serial numbers, bank records, manuals, appraisals, and other evidence may also help. Ask the insurer what documentation it expects rather than relying on a universal rule from an app. **Q: Where should I back up my inventory?** Keep a protected second copy somewhere that is not exposed to the same loss as the device and home. Options can include a private sync service, encrypted external storage kept elsewhere, or a secure provider chosen by the user. Match the choice to the sensitivity of the records. **Q: Can an inventory app tell me whether I have enough coverage?** It can total user-entered or estimated values and support a discussion, but the policy language, limits, deductibles, exclusions, valuation method, and insurer or licensed adviser determine coverage, not the app dashboard. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Insurance Information Institute: How to create a home inventory](https://www.iii.org/article/how-create-home-inventory) - [Insurance Information Institute: Three reasons to take a home inventory](https://www.iii.org/article/three-reasons-take-home-inventory) - [NAIC Home Inventory consumer page](https://content.naic.org/consumer/home-inventory) - [NAIC homeowners insurance guidance](https://content.naic.org/consumer/homeowners-insurance.htm) - [Under My Roof official site](https://undermyroof.app/) - [Under My Roof App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/under-my-roof-home-inventory/id1524335878) - [HomeZada Home Inventory](https://www.homezada.com/homeowners/home-inventory) - [HomeZada pricing](https://www.homezada.com/homeowners/pricing/) - [HomeZada 2026 asset forecasting announcement](https://www.homezada.com/press/homezada-launches-ai-powered-major-asset-forecasting-to-help-homeowners-predict-future-replacement-costs) - [Itemtopia official site](https://www.itemtopia.com/) - [Itemtopia pricing](https://www.itemtopia.com/pricing) - [Sortly Home Inventory Software](https://www.sortly.com/solutions/home-inventory-software/) - [Sortly pricing](https://www.sortly.com/pricing/) - [Apple Foundation Models framework](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/FoundationModels) > **Call to Action**: See how Trove brings photos, receipts, and labels into an item record you can find and back up. The app is in development for iPhone and iPad. (App ID: trove) --- ### Kith vs Hippo, Dex, Monica, and Covve - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/kith-vs-personal-crm-apps - **Date**: 2026.07.11 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 7 MIN READ - **Category**: PERSONAL CRM COMPARISON - **Content Type**: comparison - **Primary Question**: Which personal CRM is best for staying in touch with friends and family without making relationships feel like sales leads? - **Tags**: #PERSONAL-CRM, #RELATIONSHIP-REMINDER, #FRIENDS-AND-FAMILY, #PRIVATE-AI - **Excerpt**: Compare personal relationship apps by reminders, saved context, message preparation, and connected accounts. Kith focuses on the conversation you want to have next. #### Key Takeaways - Kith carries saved context into the next interaction: recaps, talking points, and editable message drafts are generated on-device. - You choose the cadence and can snooze reminders. Messages are handed to the system app; Kith does not send outreach for you. - Choose wider Apple coverage, self-hosting, or professional integrations if those matter more than Kith’s focused local workflow. #### Full Article Content #### A reminder is more useful with something to remember Kith is being built to put the details you saved about someone beside the next call or message. Review a recap, use a talking point or editable draft, reach out through the system app, and log the interaction when you return. Hippo offers an established Apple relationship notebook, Monica adds open-source control, and Dex and Covve emphasize connected professional networks. Kith is still in development for iPhone. > **You set the pace**: Kith’s reminders use the cadence you choose. They do not measure the quality of a relationship or decide when another person wants to hear from you. “Call Sam” is a useful reminder. Remembering that Sam was waiting on an interview makes it a more useful conversation. Kith is being built to connect those two moments: the detail you wanted to remember and the point when you reach out. The alternatives below offer different ways to collect that context, from deliberate notes to connected professional accounts. #### Five approaches to personal relationship memory | App | Primary use | How it helps follow-through | Data or product boundary | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Kith · pre-release | Saved context and help preparing a call or message on iPhone. | Adjustable cadence, important dates, recaps, talking points, and drafts you choose whether to send. | In development. Requires Apple Intelligence; records are local, with no app-managed cloud sync. | | Hippo | Apple users who prioritize a released no-account, privacy-first personal CRM. | Contact notes, events, reminders, linked relationships, calendar context, and native Apple apps. | Developer says data stays on device or optional personal iCloud. $14.99/year or $29.99 lifetime after trial. | | Dex | Professional networkers who want communication context gathered from connected services. | Keep-in-touch reminders, interaction history, email/calendar/social integrations, and AI-assisted context. | Account-based cross-platform service. Official 2026 comparison advertises $12/month billed annually for its core plan. | | Monica | People who want an open-source personal CRM and are comfortable with web or self-hosting. | Family links, notes, call reminders, dates, gifts, interactions, journal, import/export, and API. | Free self-hosted; hosted plan $9/month or $90/year, with a restricted 10-contact free tier. | | Covve | Professional relationship management and mobile networking. | Smart reach-out reminders, notes, interaction history, contact news, analytics, business-card capture, and exports. | Professional account and service model. Current Starter page advertises $12/month or $119/year; verify plan scope before purchase. | #### Kith: bring the last conversation into the next one Kith keeps people in circles with a reach-out cadence you can change. The Today view respects snoozes and prioritizes pinned people, while important dates remain visible separately. Open a person to review saved context and use a recap, talking point, or editable draft before reaching out. After a message handoff, Kith can prompt you to log the interaction when you return. The benefit is a shorter path from remembering someone to doing something with the thought. You still decide whether to reach out, what to say, and when to move a reminder. The Warmth Ring reflects time relative to the cadence you set; it is not a grade for the friendship. #### Hippo provides a released privacy-first Apple comparison Hippo’s official site and App Store listing describe a native personal CRM for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that needs no account. It stores notes, events, reminders, and relationship links on the device, with optional sync through the user’s private iCloud rather than a Hippo server. Its released status, wider Apple-platform coverage, linked-person relationships, and annual or lifetime pricing distinguish it from Kith’s unfinished iPhone-only direction. Kith’s distinction is the link between a reminder, saved context, and on-device help preparing the next interaction. Hippo already offers a released private notebook across more Apple devices, with optional iCloud. If you need that wider coverage today, it deserves a place on the shortlist. #### Dex is built for integration-rich professional follow-through Dex brings together contacts and interaction context from services such as email, calendars, LinkedIn, and other communication platforms. Its current first-party articles describe keep-in-touch reminders, AI summaries, mobile and web access, and deeper professional-network integrations. For a founder, consultant, recruiter, journalist, or executive whose relationships already live across those systems, automatic context can reduce far more manual work than an isolated local record. Those integrations also create a different trust and complexity decision. A person using Kith must enter or import the context they want and retains a narrower local boundary; a Dex customer gains automation by connecting accounts. Neither architecture is universally better. Compare the services you are willing to connect, data access requested, export and deletion options, and whether the product’s professional-network language fits the relationships you plan to track. #### Monica offers control through open source and self-hosting Monica is a web-based open-source personal CRM for storing what matters about loved ones. Its official feature page includes partners, children and pets, contact methods, private notes, call logs and future reminders, important dates, gifts, debts, interactions, a journal, import/export, and a REST API. The hosted version is convenient; technically capable users can install the same software on a server they control for free. Self-hosting is not the same as effortless privacy. The operator becomes responsible for updates, authentication, backups, network exposure, and server security. Monica itself says nothing online is ever completely safe and presents self-hosting as an option for people who want additional control. Kith avoids server administration by staying local in its current design, but currently gives up web access and cross-platform reach. #### Covve focuses more strongly on professional networking Covve’s personal CRM page emphasizes smart reminders when someone is losing touch, people-centered notes and interactions, curated news about contacts, and relationship analytics. Its broader product also covers card scanning, exports, and CRM integrations. Those features suit business development and professional networking, where timely context and network health are explicit goals. For a professional network, analytics and connected context can save useful preparation time. For friends and family, you may prefer a smaller record you maintain deliberately. Kith takes the latter approach, with adjustable cadence and local preparation for a call or message. The choice is about how you want to remember and act, not a claim that one app makes you a better friend. #### Prepare the message, then make it yours Kith’s on-device helpers can organize a brain dump into facts, recap what you saved, suggest talking points or gift ideas, and draft a message. You review and edit the wording before a system handoff; sending remains your action. The useful part is having context at hand when you sit down to reach out. A draft still needs your voice and your judgment about what is appropriate. #### Choose the kind of relationship record you want - KITH: Designed for circles, adjustable cadence, a non-punitive Warmth Ring, private on-device helpers, and Apple-system shortcuts. It remains pre-release. - HIPPO TRADEOFF: A released no-account Apple personal CRM with local records and optional iCloud, but without Kith’s circle-and-warmth interaction model. - DEX TRADEOFF: Automatic professional context from connected email, calendar, social, and messaging services requires an account-based platform. - MONICA TRADEOFF: Open source, web access, extensive personal fields, API automation, and self-hosting add operator responsibility. - COVVE TRADEOFF: Professional reminders, contact intelligence, card capture, exports, and network analytics use a professional service model. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Is Kith a CRM for sales leads?** No. Kith is designed as a private relationship manager for friends, family, and other people the user cares about. It has no deal stages, lead value, conversion funnel, bulk outreach, or displayed friendship grade in the current design. **Q: Does Kith read my texts, email, or social accounts automatically?** No such automatic ingestion is part of the current product description. People and context are added deliberately through the app and system-supported pickers or actions. That is less automated than Dex and some professional personal CRMs. **Q: Does Kith require Apple Intelligence?** Yes. Kith’s current build requires an iPhone 15 Pro or later with iOS 26 and Apple Intelligence enabled. Recaps, talking points, drafts, and other local helpers are part of its core workflow. **Q: Can a reminder app improve loneliness or mental health?** No product-specific evidence supports that claim here. Social connection is important, but a reminder app is not healthcare or therapy and cannot determine relationship quality. Anyone in distress should seek appropriate human or professional support. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Hippo official site](https://gethippo.app/) - [Hippo App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hippo-personal-crm/id1458330948) - [Dex: Dex vs Clay personal CRM comparison](https://blog2.getdex.com/blog/dex-vs-clay/) - [Dex: Personal CRM tools with email and calendar integrations](https://blog2.getdex.com/blog/personal-crm-email-calendar-integration/) - [Monica features](https://www.monicahq.com/features) - [Monica pricing and self-hosting](https://www.monicahq.com/pricing) - [Covve Personal CRM](https://covve.com/personal-crm) - [Covve pricing](https://covve.com/pricing) - [Apple Foundation Models framework](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/FoundationModels) - [US Surgeon General: Social Connection](https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports-and-publications/connection/index.html) - [US Surgeon General: Recommendations for social connection](https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports-and-publications/connection/resources/index.html) > **Call to Action**: Explore Kith’s saved context, reminders, and message preparation. It is being built to make the next call or text easier to begin with something that matters to the person. (App ID: kith) --- ### Five Apps for Remembering Conversations and Keeping in Touch - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/best-relationship-reminder-apps-friends-family - **Date**: 2026.07.11 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 7 MIN READ - **Category**: RELATIONSHIP APP LIST - **Content Type**: listicle - **Primary Question**: What app can remind me to stay in touch with friends and family and remember important details about them? - **Tags**: #KEEP-IN-TOUCH, #RELATIONSHIP-REMINDER, #PERSONAL-CRM, #PRIVACY - **Excerpt**: Compare Kith, Hippo, Monica, Dex, and Covve by the context you want to remember, the reminders you need, and the accounts you are willing to connect. #### Key Takeaways - Kith connects deliberate notes with the next interaction, using local recaps, talking points, and editable drafts. It remains in development. - You control Kith’s cadence and snoozes; the app hands off messages for you to send and can prompt a log when you return. - Decide whether you want a small personal notebook or automated professional context. That choice determines how many services you need to connect. #### Items Compared 1. **Kith · pre-release**: Saved context, flexible reminders, and local help preparing the next call or message. In development. 2. **Hippo**: A no-account relationship memory for iPhone, iPad, and Mac with optional iCloud. 3. **Monica**: Open-source personal CRM fields, web access, and optional self-hosting. 4. **Dex**: Professional relationships connected across email, calendars, LinkedIn, and messaging services. 5. **Covve**: Professional reminders, contact news, card capture, and network analytics. #### Full Article Content #### Choose what you want beside the reminder Kith is being built for a reminder with personal context: what you last saved about someone, a recap or talking point, and an editable draft when you need a start. Hippo offers a released Apple notebook, Monica a detailed open-source record, and Dex and Covve more connected professional tools. A calendar reminder may be enough if all you need is the date. Choose a relationship app when the remembered detail would help you follow through. > **About this selection**: These apps offer different kinds of memory and follow-up support. Kith is our app and is not yet available. Competitor features were checked against the linked sources in July 2026. A date is easy to put in a calendar. The details around it are easier to lose: a friend’s new job, a difficult move, the book they wanted to tell you about. A relationship app earns its place when it brings those details back at a useful moment. The five options here differ in how you save that context and what they help you do with it. #### Five relationship tools with different definitions of helpful | App | Best for | Reminder and context model | Tradeoff | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Kith | Saved context and help preparing a call or message on iPhone. | Adjustable cadence, important dates, recaps, talking points, and drafts you choose whether to send. | In development. Requires Apple Intelligence; records are local, with no app-managed cloud sync. | | Hippo | Private Apple relationship memory. | Notes, events, to-dos, person-to-person links, calendar context, and reminders. | Apple-only; optional iCloud rather than broad email or social ingestion. | | Monica | Open-source depth and self-hosting. | Family links, life details, calls, dates, gifts, journal, reminders, and API. | Web/server workflow; self-hosters maintain security and backups themselves. | | Dex | Professional network automation. | Connected interaction history, keep-in-touch reminders, AI summaries, and cross-platform access. | Requires trusting and managing connected account data; professional orientation. | | Covve | Mobile professional networking. | Smart reminders, contact notes, curated news, analytics, scanning, and exports. | Professional features and pricing may exceed a friends-and-family use case. | #### 1. Kith: saved context for the next call or message Kith’s current iPhone build organizes people into circles and lets you set the pace of reminders. The Today view respects snoozes, gives pinned people priority, and keeps upcoming dates visible separately. Open a person before reaching out to see the context you saved, then use a recap, talking point, or editable draft if it helps. After a message handoff, a prompt helps you record the interaction. Kith performs its helpers on-device and stores records locally, with no app-managed cloud sync in the current build. It requires Apple Intelligence at launch. JSON export includes record data, but excludes photos and does not restore the complete app archive. Kith remains in development. You decide when to reach out and what to send. The Warmth Ring reflects time against your chosen cadence, not how well a relationship is doing. Keep reminders flexible enough to fit the people they are meant to help you remember. #### 2. Hippo: private relationship memory on Apple devices Hippo is a focused personal CRM for remembering details about friends, family, and colleagues. Its current app supports notes, events, reminders, calendar imports, and explicit links between people such as partners, siblings, colleagues, and mentors. The developer says no account or broad Contacts access is required and that the personal database stays on the device, with optional sync through the user’s own private iCloud Drive. It runs natively on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The current official price is $14.99 per year or $29.99 for lifetime access after the trial, while the App Store listing describes a limited free start. Its released, relatively simple private memory model does not ingest professional communication automatically. #### 3. Monica: open source, detailed life context, and self-hosting Monica stores the kind of details that make a personal CRM genuinely personal: significant others, children, pets, contact methods, private notes, calls, future reminders, birthdays, gifts, money owed, interactions, and journal entries. It can be accessed through a hosted web service or installed on a server the user controls. Import, export, and a REST API support people who want to automate or migrate the archive. The hosted version currently costs $9 per month or $90 per year, and a restricted free tier includes ten contacts. Self-hosting the open-source version is free but shifts responsibility for software updates, server security, authentication, backups, and uptime to the operator. That control and field depth come with more operational responsibility than a native mobile-first experience. #### 4. Dex: an integration-heavy professional network Dex focuses on the person whose network already lives in email, calendars, LinkedIn, messaging, and other connected tools. Its first-party 2026 content describes synchronized interaction history, keep-in-touch reminders, AI-generated context, mobile and web access, and plans oriented toward different levels of professional integration. That can prevent a consultant or founder from manually recreating a conversation timeline. The same automation is unnecessary for someone who only wants to call a sibling monthly and remember a friend’s new job. Dex’s current official comparison advertises a $12-per-month plan billed annually, with higher professional capability described separately. Examine every connected service, permission, retention rule, export, and deletion control rather than treating automatic context as free of privacy tradeoffs. #### 5. Covve: professional reminders and contact intelligence Covve combines smart reminders, notes, interaction history, curated contact news, and relationship analytics. Its broader plans include scanning, exports, integrations, and team-oriented features. That makes it relevant when “stay in touch” means arriving at a professional conversation with current context and measuring whether a business network is being maintained. Covve’s current pricing page advertises a Starter plan at $12 per month or $119 per year, but the site spans scanning, personal CRM, and team products; confirm that the plan includes the features you expect. For friends and family, decide whether news and analytics feel helpful or make the relationship feel performative. More intelligence is not automatically more humane. #### Start with a few people you already mean to contact - Track only the people and context that genuinely help you show up with care; do not import an entire address book by default. - Use a cadence as a flexible prompt, not an obligation or definition of closeness. - Store sensitive facts about another person sparingly and with the same respect you would expect for your own private information. - Review every generated message and rewrite it in your own voice before sending anything. - Snooze or remove reminders when contact would be intrusive, unsafe, one-sided, or simply unnecessary. - Export or delete test records before committing important personal history to any platform. - Read current privacy terms for integrations, backups, analytics, and AI, not only the marketing headline. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: What does Kith add to a calendar reminder?** Kith is being built to bring saved context to the reminder: a recap, talking point, or editable draft before the call or message. You choose when and what to send. If a date is all you need, a calendar reminder may be sufficient. **Q: What is a personal CRM?** It is a private contact-and-context system for remembering interactions, important dates, follow-ups, and details about people. Unlike a business CRM, a personal CRM does not need deals, revenue stages, bulk outreach, or lead scoring. **Q: Is it ethical to keep notes about friends?** It depends on what is stored and how it is used. Keep only context that supports respectful follow-through, protect the device or service, avoid secrets or sensitive judgments, and delete information that would feel invasive if the person saw it. **Q: Can AI write a thoughtful message for me?** It can suggest a starting draft from supplied context, but it cannot know the full relationship or guarantee an appropriate tone. Verify every fact, remove presumptions, and rewrite the message so it reflects your actual intent. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Hippo official site](https://gethippo.app/) - [Hippo App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hippo-personal-crm/id1458330948) - [Monica features](https://www.monicahq.com/features) - [Monica pricing and self-hosting](https://www.monicahq.com/pricing) - [Dex: Dex vs Clay personal CRM comparison](https://blog2.getdex.com/blog/dex-vs-clay/) - [Dex: Personal CRM tools with email and calendar integrations](https://blog2.getdex.com/blog/personal-crm-email-calendar-integration/) - [Covve Personal CRM](https://covve.com/personal-crm) - [Covve pricing](https://covve.com/pricing) - [Apple Foundation Models framework](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/FoundationModels) - [Apple: Meet the Foundation Models framework](https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2025/286/) - [US Surgeon General: Social Connection](https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports-and-publications/connection/index.html) - [US Surgeon General: Recommendations for social connection](https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports-and-publications/connection/resources/index.html) > **Call to Action**: See how Kith carries remembered details into the next conversation. Follow its development if your reminders have the date but not the context. (App ID: kith) --- ### Mise vs Paprika, Pestle, Mela, and AnyList - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/mise-vs-paprika-pestle-mela-anylist - **Date**: 2026.09.07 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 6 MIN READ - **Category**: RECIPE APP COMPARISON - **Content Type**: comparison - **Primary Question**: Which recipe manager should I use for saving recipes from anywhere, planning a week, and cooking: Mise, Paprika, Pestle, Mela, or AnyList? - **Tags**: #RECIPE-MANAGER, #ON-DEVICE-AI, #MEAL-PLANNING, #GROCERY-LIST - **Excerpt**: Compare recipe apps from saved recipe to cooked dinner: import, choosing what to make, grocery lists, cooking steps, and help with a question at the stove. #### Key Takeaways - Mise connects import, dinner selection, groceries, and cooking steps, with local assistance using selected recipe and pantry context. - Choose around the work you need: a lasting recipe archive, difficult imports, cooking help, or a list the household edits together. - Mise fetches recipe pages and images from their hosts. Parsing and cooking assistance run locally; optional Plus iCloud sync is off by default. #### Full Article Content #### Choose what you need after saving the recipe Mise is being built to help you use the recipes you save: choose dinner from the collection, combine ingredients into a grocery list, follow readable steps with timers, and ask a cooking question using selected recipe and pantry context. Paprika and Mela offer established archives, Pestle emphasizes flexible importing, and AnyList centers shared household lists. Mise remains in development and requires Apple Intelligence. > **Mise is in development**: Mise is not yet available and has no announced release date or final public price. It requires supported Apple Intelligence hardware. Competitor details below come from the linked sources checked in September 2026. The recipe is saved. Now you need to decide whether it works for tonight, buy what is missing, and keep track of the cooking. That sequence is where recipe apps start to feel different. An excellent archive may be enough; a shared grocery list or a little help with the method may matter more. Mise is being built to keep those decisions connected. #### Capability direction summarised from official product pages and reputable coverage, September 2026 | App | Best suited to | Getting recipes in | Sync, sharing, and pricing model | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Mise · pre-release | Cooks who want local cooking assistance using saved recipe and pantry context. | Share sheet, paste-and-parse, photo OCR for cookbook pages and handwritten cards, and manual entry. Published recipe data is read directly from the page; anything messier is parsed by Apple Foundation Models on the device. | Local storage with optional private iCloud sync as a paid feature. No account and no backend. Planned free tier plus subscription with a lifetime option. | | Paprika Recipe Manager 3 | People who want a mature, self-contained manager and dislike subscriptions. | A built-in browser that captures recipes from websites, plus manual entry and import. | Its own sync service across devices. Sold as a one-time purchase per platform, so iOS, macOS, and Windows are bought separately. | | Pestle | Apple users who want strong import from awkward sources and a lifetime purchase option. | Import from websites and social sources, including on-device processing of captions to build a recipe. | Apple-native sync. Pro is sold as a subscription with a lifetime option alongside it. | | Mela | People who want a beautiful, quiet, Apple-native manager with no subscription. | A built-in browser, document import, scanning, manual entry, and recipe RSS feeds. | iCloud sync across the developer’s apps. One-time purchase, priced separately for iOS and macOS. | | AnyList | Households whose real problem is a shared shopping list rather than a recipe archive. | Web recipe import, capped on the free tier, with meal planning in the paid tier. | Real-time shared lists across household members. Annual subscription, with an individual and a household tier. | #### From importing a recipe to making dinner Many recipe sites publish structured ingredients and steps alongside the page. Mise reads that data directly where available, with no model involved; you still need to check the quantities and method. Paprika and Mela offer in-app browsers for saving web recipes. Pestle also handles sources such as social captions with on-device processing. Try the recipe sites you actually use before judging an importer. Mise’s dinner picker ranks saved recipes, while the local cooking assistant answers questions using bounded context: saved recipe titles, pantry items, dietary notes, or part of the recipe you have open. You might ask about a substitution or a step you do not understand. The weekly plan can feed a consolidated grocery list, and cooking mode keeps steps readable with concurrent timers. Check ingredients and dietary suitability yourself; a model answer is not an allergy check. #### Match the payment model to the job Paprika and Mela use one-time purchases, which can suit a recipe collection you expect to keep for years. Licensing is per platform, so check the total for the devices you use. Also test export: the ability to take your collection elsewhere matters under either a purchase or subscription model. Pestle offers a lifetime tier alongside its subscription. Mise’s development build has free recipe and daily AI allowances, with paid options being prepared; the final public offer is not yet announced. AnyList centers a shared household service. Compare the recurring features you need, the export you can keep, and the current store offer rather than choosing by price structure alone. #### Separate local cooking help from connected import and sync A recipe box is not a diary. But it does describe how a household eats, what it can afford, its allergies, and its religious or medical restrictions, and increasingly it is processed by a cloud model in order to be useful. The honest comparison is not privacy scores but data paths. Mise parses recipes and runs cooking assistance on-device. It fetches recipe pages and recipe images directly from their hosts, and optional Plus iCloud sync uses a private Apple database. Model setup and StoreKit can also need a connection. Paprika and Mela have their own storage and sync arrangements, while AnyList uses a service for shared lists. Compare the specific connections alongside the workflow you need. #### Choose the workflow you will use during the week - MISE: On-device parsing and a conversational sous chef grounded in your own recipes, pantry, and dietary profile, with no backend. It requires Apple Intelligence and remains pre-release. - PAPRIKA TRADEOFF: A mature, stable, subscription-free manager with its own sync, at the cost of per-platform purchases and a more traditional feature set. - PESTLE TRADEOFF: Excellent import from awkward sources and a lifetime option, inside a more conventional manager-plus-planner shape. - MELA TRADEOFF: Elegant, Apple-native, and subscription-free, with recipe RSS and Reminders integration, but no conversational cooking assistant. - ANYLIST TRADEOFF: The best answer if the real problem is a shared household list, with recipe management as a supporting feature and a service-based sync model. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Can Mise replace Paprika?** Mise is not available yet. Its development focus is connecting import, dinner planning, groceries, cooking steps, and local assistance. Paprika is an established recipe archive with its own sync service and support for Windows and Android as well as Apple platforms. **Q: Why does Mise require Apple Intelligence when other recipe apps do not?** The current app is built around local recipe processing and cooking assistance, so it requires supported Apple Intelligence hardware at launch. Other recipe managers can offer a useful archive without that requirement. **Q: Which of these is best for a shared household grocery list?** AnyList makes shared household lists a central part of its service. Mise’s current build consolidates ingredients into a grocery list and can share it as text; that is a different workflow from several people editing the same list in real time. **Q: Will my recipes be stuck in Mise?** No. Every recipe can be exported as JSON from Settings, and individual recipes can be shared as image cards. Portability is worth checking in any recipe app you commit to, because a collection built over a decade is the thing you would actually miss. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Apple Foundation Models framework](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/FoundationModels) - [Paprika Recipe Manager official site](https://www.paprikaapp.com/) - [Pestle: Recipe Manager on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pestle-recipe-manager/id1574776971) - [Pestle official site](https://pestlechef.app/) - [Mela: Recipe Manager on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mela-recipe-manager/id1548466041) - [AnyList Complete](https://www.anylist.com/complete) - [Schema.org Recipe vocabulary](https://schema.org/Recipe) > **Call to Action**: Explore Mise’s route from a saved recipe to dinner: choose from your collection, build the grocery list, cook with steps and timers, and ask for help using local recipe context. (App ID: mise) --- ### Five Recipe Apps for Saving, Planning, and Cooking - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/journal/best-private-recipe-manager-apps - **Date**: 2026.09.07 - **Updated**: 2026.09.28 - **Read Time**: 6 MIN READ - **Category**: RECIPE APP GUIDE - **Content Type**: listicle - **Primary Question**: What is the best recipe app for saving recipes from anywhere, planning meals, and building a grocery list? - **Tags**: #RECIPE-APP, #MEAL-PLANNING, #COOK-MODE, #PRIVATE-AI - **Excerpt**: Compare Mise, Paprika, Pestle, Mela, and AnyList by what gets in the way of dinner: scattered recipes, awkward imports, unanswered cooking questions, or shared shopping. #### Key Takeaways - Mise connects saved recipes with dinner selection, a consolidated grocery list, cooking steps, and local assistance. - Choose a shared-list service if coordinating shopping is the main problem; choose an archive if saving and finding recipes already covers your needs. - Test an import and an export with a recipe you actually use. Check quantities, photos, steps, and what is included in the file. #### Items Compared 1. **Mise · pre-release**: Recipe import, dinner selection, groceries, and cooking help using local recipe context. In development. 2. **Paprika Recipe Manager 3**: The mature, subscription-free archive with its own cross-platform sync. 3. **Pestle**: Strong import from awkward and social sources, with a lifetime purchase option. 4. **Mela**: An elegant Apple-native manager with recipe RSS and a one-time purchase. 5. **AnyList**: The shared household grocery list that everyone in the house will actually use. #### Full Article Content #### Find the gap between the recipe and dinner Mise is being built for the work after import: pick from saved recipes, plan groceries, follow cooking steps, and ask a question using recipe or pantry context on the device. Paprika and Mela suit people seeking an established recipe archive; Pestle focuses on more kinds of import; AnyList is built around shared lists. Mise is not available yet, so the released options are the place to start if you need a recipe manager today. A good recipe app should fit the moment you reach for it. That may be saving a recipe from a browser, finding something to make with what you have, or checking the shopping list in a store. Use those moments to choose. A long feature list is less helpful than one workflow that fits how your household cooks. > **Mise is in development**: Mise is our app and is not yet available. The current build requires Apple Intelligence. The other products are described from the linked sources checked in September 2026; their current prices are on their product and store pages. #### 1. Mise: connect the saved recipe to tonight’s dinner Mise accepts recipe links, pasted text, a photo, or manual entry. It reads structured recipe data directly where available and uses local processing for unstructured material. Review the result, then use the saved collection to choose dinner. The cooking assistant can use recipe titles, pantry items, dietary notes, or a bounded portion of the open recipe when answering a question. It does not read an unlimited recipe archive or guarantee that a substitution is suitable for every diet. Mise’s weekly plan feeds a consolidated grocery list. Cooking mode keeps the screen awake, shows readable steps, and supports concurrent timers. Recipe import fetches pages and images from their hosts; optional Plus iCloud sync is off by default. The current development targets iPhone and iPad on iOS 26, with a Watch companion and Apple Intelligence required. #### 2. Paprika: an established recipe archive Paprika Recipe Manager has been the default answer in this category for years, and the reason is unglamorous: it is stable, it is thorough, and it is a one-time purchase rather than a subscription. It captures recipes with a built-in browser, plans meals, builds grocery lists, and syncs through its own service across platforms. The trade is per-platform licensing, so a household with iPhones, an iPad, and a Mac may buy it more than once, and the interface is functional rather than delightful. If what you want is a filing cabinet that will not start charging you rent, this is still the safest choice on the list. #### 3. Pestle: more ways to bring a recipe in Most people discover the limits of their recipe app when they try to save something from a social post rather than a recipe site. Pestle has invested specifically here, including on-device processing to build a recipe from a caption, and it pairs that with a well-regarded cook mode and planner. It is sold as a subscription with a lifetime option alongside it, which is the pattern this category responds best to. If your saved-recipe pipeline is mostly screenshots and social links, start here. #### 4. Mela: a focused Apple recipe manager Mela is an elegant Apple-native manager from the developer behind Reeder, and it shows. It stores recipes for offline reading, syncs over iCloud, and includes an unusual feature for this category: recipe RSS feeds, so the sites you actually cook from arrive in the app. It scans, imports documents, has a built-in browser, and plans meals, with grocery handling that leans on Apple Reminders. It is a one-time purchase, priced separately on iOS and macOS. What it does not have is a conversational assistant, which for many people is precisely the appeal. #### 5. AnyList: coordinate the household shopping It is worth being honest about which problem you have. For a lot of households, the recipe archive is a nice-to-have and the actual daily friction is that two people cannot see the same shopping list. AnyList is built around exactly that: real-time shared lists across household members, with recipe import and meal planning in the paid tier. The free tier caps web recipe imports, and the paid tier is an annual subscription with individual and household pricing. If everyone in the house needs to edit one list from two different shops, no amount of on-device intelligence in a single-user app substitutes for that. #### Try the whole route with one familiar recipe - TEST THE IMPORT FIRST: Try to save three recipes from the sites and apps you genuinely use. This eliminates more candidates than any feature list. - FIND THE EXPORT BUTTON: Before you add fifty recipes, confirm you can get them out. A collection you cannot export is a collection you cannot leave. - DECIDE WHO ELSE NEEDS ACCESS: A single-user app and a shared household service are different products, and no feature list resolves that for you. - PICK YOUR PRICING SHAPE: One-time purchase suits a long-lived archive. A subscription is easier to justify for continuous shared sync or continuous AI use. - READ THE AI DATA PATH: If an app processes your recipes with a model, find out where that model runs before it becomes the app you keep your household’s dietary restrictions in. #### Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Do I need an AI recipe app at all?** If saving, finding, and following recipes already covers your needs, an established archive may be enough. Mise’s local assistance is for questions that arise around the recipe, using selected recipe or pantry context. The app remains in development. **Q: What happens to my recipes if an app shuts down?** That depends entirely on export. This category has seen large services close, so the practical protection is an app that can hand you your collection in a portable format. Check that before you commit, not after. **Q: Why do some recipe apps import perfectly and others fail on the same page?** Many sites include structured recipe data, which an app can read directly. That data can still be incomplete or wrong. When it is missing or malformed, the app needs to interpret the page, and results vary. Check quantities and steps whichever import path is used. **Q: Is a photographed cookbook page reliable?** Reasonably, with care. Flatten the page, get even light, and fill the frame. Always check quantities before saving, because fractions and handwriting are exactly where text recognition struggles, and a misread measurement is the error that actually ruins dinner. #### Sources & Further Reading - [Apple Foundation Models framework](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/FoundationModels) - [Paprika Recipe Manager official site](https://www.paprikaapp.com/) - [Pestle official site](https://pestlechef.app/) - [Mela: Recipe Manager on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mela-recipe-manager/id1548466041) - [AnyList Complete](https://www.anylist.com/complete) - [Schema.org Recipe vocabulary](https://schema.org/Recipe) > **Call to Action**: See how Mise connects recipes, dinner planning, groceries, and cooking help. Follow its development if saving the recipe is already easy but deciding and cooking still take the work. (App ID: mise) --- ## Help Center & Knowledge Base ### Echo Chamber: Help Guides Learn to record, import, search, and export with Echo Chamber, and manage models, storage, and purchases. #### Welcome to Echo Chamber - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: A quick tour of what Echo Chamber does and why it stays on your device. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/welcome Echo Chamber records conversations and turns them into searchable text, notes, and answers on supported Apple devices. Device requirements and features vary by platform. There is no account to create and no sign-in. You open the app and you can record. The transcription runs on the device in your hand, so your words stay with you. #### What you can do - Record from the app, the Lock Screen, Control Center, Siri, or your Apple Watch. - Get a live transcript on supported devices. - Generate summaries, ask questions about a recording, and pull out action items. - Search every transcript instantly, and organize with folders and favorites. - Export to TXT, Markdown, PDF, or DOCX, and translate a transcript without an internet connection. > **Your recordings are yours** Echo Chamber processes recordings and transcripts on your device. Optional iCloud sync and files you choose to share or export are separate storage paths. Model setup and purchases can need a connection. Ready to begin? The next article walks you through your first recording. #### Make your first recording - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: Start a recording, follow the live transcript, and save the conversation. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/first-recording Making a recording is the heart of Echo Chamber, and it takes one tap. The first time, you will be asked for microphone and speech recognition access, which the app needs to hear you and write your words down. 1. **Open the app and tap Record**: The big record button sits at the center of the main screen. 2. **Allow access when asked**: Tap Allow for Microphone and Speech Recognition. These are requested only the first time, and only so transcription can run on your device. 3. **Speak**: Watch the live waveform move and text appear as you talk. You can lock your screen or switch apps and it keeps recording. 4. **Tap Stop when you are done**: Your recording is saved automatically, with a finished transcript ready to read, search, and share. > **First run downloads a model once** The very first transcription may take a moment to download a speech model. This happens once. After that, transcription works offline, every time. **Q: Which permissions will I be asked for?** A: Microphone and Speech Recognition are required, so the app can hear you and transcribe on your device. Optional permissions, asked only in context, include Face ID, Notifications, Calendar, and Contacts. You can change any of them later in the iOS Settings app. **Q: Why does Speech Recognition appear if everything is on-device?** A: Apple groups on-device speech features under that permission. Granting it lets transcription run locally; nothing about it sends your audio to a server. #### Every way to start a recording - **Topic**: Recording & transcription - **Summary**: Record from the app, the Lock Screen, Control Center, Siri, or your Apple Watch. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/ways-to-record The fastest recording is the one you do not have to dig for. Echo Chamber gives you several ways to start so you can capture a thought before it slips away. - In the app, tap the record button on the main screen. - From the Lock Screen, add the Echo Chamber widget and tap it to start without unlocking. - From Control Center, add the Echo Chamber control and tap it from anywhere. - With Siri, set up a Shortcut and say your phrase to begin hands-free. - From your Apple Watch, tap record on the wrist and your iPhone does the transcribing. > **Recording keeps going in the background** Once a recording starts, you can lock your phone, check a message, or switch apps. Echo Chamber keeps capturing audio until you stop it, and a Live Activity keeps it visible on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. **Q: How do I add the Lock Screen or Control Center option?** A: Touch and hold your Lock Screen to edit widgets, or pull open Control Center and tap the plus to add a control, then choose Echo Chamber. **Q: Can Siri start a recording for me?** A: Yes. Echo Chamber supports Siri Shortcuts, so you can create a phrase like Start a recording and trigger it by voice. #### Recording a meeting or lecture - **Topic**: Recording & transcription - **Summary**: Prepare a recording you can return to after the conversation. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/recording-in-meetings Echo Chamber is built for real conversations, not just quick notes. There is no bot that joins your call and no setup beyond pressing record. 1. **Place your device where it can hear**: Set your phone on the table, screen up, roughly toward the people speaking. 2. **Start recording before things begin**: A few seconds of room tone at the start helps the transcript settle in. 3. **Let it run**: Background recording means you can take notes, check the time, or step out briefly without stopping. 4. **Stop and review**: When the meeting ends, tap Stop. Review the transcript against the audio before using or sharing it. > **On a Mac, let it offer to record** If you are on a Mac, Echo Chamber can detect when you join Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, and more, and offer to record both sides of the call. See the Mac guide for details. > **A note on consent** Laws about recording conversations vary by place. When others are involved, it is good practice, and sometimes required, to let everyone know they are being recorded. #### How transcription works, and how fast it is - **Topic**: Recording & transcription - **Summary**: Speech recognition turns a recording into searchable text on your device. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/transcription-speed-accuracy Echo Chamber transcribes speech on your device. The speech engine available to you depends on your hardware, operating system, language, and installed models. A clear recording gives the recognizer more to work with. Noise, distance from the microphone, accents, technical terms, and overlapping speech can all affect the transcript. Listen back to important passages before using them. Speed depends on your device and the length of the recording, but short notes are usually ready the moment you stop, and longer recordings finish processing quickly in the background. > **Models download once** The speech model downloads a single time over the internet. After that, recording and transcription keep working fully offline. **Q: Why are a few words wrong?** A: No transcription is perfect, especially with names, jargon, crosstalk, or background noise. You can fix any word by editing the transcript, and Custom Vocabulary helps the engine get specialized terms right. **Q: Does a longer recording need internet?** A: No. Once the model is downloaded, even hour-long recordings transcribe on your device without a connection. #### Edit a transcript, tap to play, and add vocabulary - **Topic**: Recording & transcription - **Summary**: Fix any word inline, jump to that moment in the audio, and teach Echo Chamber your terms. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/edit-transcript A transcript is yours to refine. Echo Chamber ties words to the audio with word-level timestamps, so you can check anything and clean up the few words that need it. 1. **Open the recording**: Tap any recording in your history to see its full transcript. 2. **Tap a word to hear it**: Because timestamps are word-level, tapping a word seeks the audio to that exact moment. 3. **Tap Edit to make changes**: Correct a misheard word, fix a name, or tidy punctuation directly in the text. 4. **Your edits save automatically**: Changes are kept with the recording and carried through when you export. #### Teach it your words with Custom Vocabulary Every field has words a general speech model will not know, from product names to medical and legal terms. Add them in Settings under Custom Vocabulary, and future transcriptions favor your terms so they show up spelled correctly. > **Fix it once, name it once** If a specialized word keeps coming out wrong, adding it to Custom Vocabulary often solves it for every future recording, instead of correcting it each time. #### Checking who said what - **Topic**: Recording & transcription - **Summary**: Check speaker attribution against the original audio before quoting or sharing a conversation. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/naming-speakers Speaker tools differ by platform and app version. Do not assume every recording will contain automatic speaker labels or that a saved name will identify the same person in later recordings. Play the passage back before attaching a name to it. If your version shows speaker controls, review the labels and correct them there. Otherwise, add the context you need when editing or exporting your notes. > **Keep the recording as your reference** Overlapping voices and shared microphones make attribution harder. A speaker label is a transcription aid, not proof of who said something. #### Import audio and video to transcribe - **Topic**: Recording & transcription - **Summary**: Bring in existing recordings, from MP3 to MP4, and get a transcript. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/import-audio-video You do not have to record inside Echo Chamber to transcribe with it. Import audio or video files you already have and turn them into searchable text on your device. Common formats are supported, including MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, MP4, and MOV, so a voice memo, a downloaded recording, or a video file all work. 1. **Open the import option**: Choose to add a file from the app. 2. **Pick your file**: Select an audio or video file from Files, the share sheet, or another app. 3. **Let it transcribe**: Echo Chamber processes the file on your device and produces a transcript you can edit, summarize, and export. > **Enhancement built for transcription** A clear recording usually produces a cleaner transcript. Keep the microphone close enough to capture each voice, reduce background noise where possible, and review names and numbers against the audio. #### Summarize a recording - **Topic**: Summaries, chat & action items - **Summary**: Turn a transcript into Cornell notes, minutes, bullets, and more, on-device. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/ai-summaries Echo Chamber can turn a transcript into a shorter note on your device. Read the note against the transcript before relying on it; generated summaries can omit or misread something that was said. #### Summary styles you can choose - Cornell notes, with cues, notes, and a summary, great for study and review. - Meeting minutes, a structured record of decisions and discussion. - Bullet points, the key takeaways at a glance. - Outline, the structure of what was said. - Q&A, the questions raised and answers given. - Executive summary, the short version for someone who was not there. 1. **Open a recording and choose Summarize**: Find the AI options on the recording's detail screen. 2. **Pick a style**: Choose the format that fits, such as Cornell notes or bullet points. 3. **Read, copy, or export**: Use the summary in the app, or include it when you export the recording. > **Summaries run on your device** Summaries run on your device with an available local AI model. Check the app model settings for the options supported by your hardware. Your transcript is not sent to an external AI service. > **Without Apple Intelligence** Transcript-tool availability depends on the installed app version, hardware, operating system, and local model setup. Check the model settings before using these tools offline. #### Chat with a transcript - **Topic**: Summaries, chat & action items - **Summary**: Ask a recording questions and get answers drawn from what was actually said. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/chat-with-transcript Sometimes you do not want to reread a whole transcript, you just want one answer. Chat lets you ask a recording a question in plain language and get a reply based on its contents. 1. **Open a recording**: Go to the recording you want to ask about. 2. **Open Chat**: Choose the chat option on the recording's detail screen. 3. **Ask anything**: Try questions like What did we decide about the budget, or Summarize the part about hiring. > **Your questions stay on-device** Chat is answered on your device. The recording, your questions, and the answers are not uploaded to any server. **Q: Can it answer about something that was not discussed?** A: Chat draws from what is in the recording. If a topic never came up, it cannot invent an answer for you, which is exactly what you want from a trustworthy transcript. #### Send action items to Reminders - **Topic**: Summaries, chat & action items - **Summary**: Pull the to-dos out of a recording and drop them into Apple Reminders. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/action-items The useful part of a meeting is often the list of who-does-what. Echo Chamber can extract those action items from a recording and send them straight to Apple Reminders. 1. **Open a recording and extract action items**: Choose the action items option on the recording's detail screen. 2. **Review the list**: Echo Chamber pulls out the tasks it found so you can check them. 3. **Send to Reminders**: Add the items to Apple Reminders with a tap, ready to check off later. > **You stay in control** Action items are extracted on your device, and nothing is added to Reminders until you choose to send it. Review the list first, then commit the ones you want. #### Search every transcript instantly - **Topic**: Organizing, searching & exporting - **Summary**: Find any word across all your recordings with fast, local full-text search. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/search-transcripts Once you have a stack of recordings, search is how you find the one you need. Echo Chamber searches the full text of every transcript, instantly, right on your device. 1. **Open your history**: Go to the list of your recordings. 2. **Type in the search field**: Enter a name, a phrase, or any word that was spoken. 3. **Jump to the result**: Tap a match to open that recording at the relevant spot. > **Search never leaves your device** Full-text search is performed locally. Your search terms and your transcripts are never sent anywhere to make this work. #### Organize with folders, favorites, series, and dates - **Topic**: Organizing, searching & exporting - **Summary**: Keep recordings tidy with folders, star the ones you revisit, and browse by day. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/folders-favorites A little structure goes a long way. Echo Chamber gives you folders to sort recordings, favorites to mark the important ones, and automatic series detection to group recordings that belong together. - Folders let you group recordings by project, class, or client. - Favorites star the recordings you come back to, so they are one tap away. - Series detection notices related recordings, such as a recurring meeting, and groups them for you. - The calendar view lets you find a recording by the day it was made. 1. **Create a folder**: From your history, make a new folder and give it a name. 2. **Move recordings in**: Add recordings to the folder to keep a topic together. 3. **Favorite the essentials**: Tap the star on any recording to find it quickly later. 4. **Browse by date**: Switch to the calendar view and tap a day to see what you recorded then. > **Let series do the sorting** If you record the same weekly meeting, series detection can gather those sessions automatically so you do not have to file each one by hand. #### Export a transcript in four useful formats - **Topic**: Organizing, searching & exporting - **Summary**: Share clean text, Markdown, a PDF, or a Word document. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/export-formats When a transcript is ready, choose an export format from the menu. Available formats depend on the installed version and platform; use a short sample to check the layout before exporting an important recording. #### The four formats - TXT, for clean plain text that opens almost anywhere. - Markdown, for notes apps and documents. - PDF, for a polished shareable document. - DOCX, for an editable Microsoft Word document. 1. **Open a recording**: Go to the transcript you want to share. 2. **Tap Export and choose a format**: Pick the format that suits where the transcript is headed. 3. **Share or save**: Send it through the share sheet, save it to Files, or hand it to another app. > **Check the export menu** The export menu shows the formats available in the current app version and plan. Open the exported file and check its text, timestamps, and any labels before sharing it. #### Translate a transcript - **Topic**: Organizing, searching & exporting - **Summary**: Turn a finished transcript into another language, on your device. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/translate-transcript A transcript should be useful to everyone who needs it. Echo Chamber transcribes in many languages, and it can translate a finished transcript using Apple's on-device Translation framework, so the text is rendered in another language without leaving your device. 1. **Open a recording**: Go to the transcript you want to translate. 2. **Choose Translate**: Select the translation option on the recording's detail screen. 3. **Pick a target language**: Choose the language you want, and the translated text appears. > **Translation stays local** Translation runs on your device through Apple's Translation framework. The first time you use a language pair it may download once, and after that it works offline. > **Best results in a single language** For the cleanest transcript and translation, try to keep one recording mostly in one language. Heavy switching between languages mid-sentence is harder for any model. #### Using iCloud sync - **Topic**: Syncing & your devices - **Summary**: Understand optional iCloud sync, local processing, and the copies you keep or export to another destination. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/icloud-sync Echo Chamber stores recordings and transcripts on your device by default. You can enable iCloud sync in the app settings when it is available for your plan. Sync uses your Apple account; it is separate from speech and AI processing on the device. Before moving to another device, let sync finish and open the recordings you need there. Keep an export of important material before erasing a device or changing your storage setup. > **Sync is another copy** Turning sync off is not the same as deleting content already stored in iCloud. Review the app settings and your iCloud storage before removing a copy. Exported or shared files are controlled by the destination you choose. #### Echo Chamber on Mac - **Topic**: Syncing & your devices - **Summary**: A menu-bar app that offers to record your video calls and captures system audio. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/mac-meeting-detection On a Mac, Echo Chamber lives in your menu bar and is built for calls. When you join a meeting, it can offer to record, capturing both what you say and what you hear. #### Apps it can detect - Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. - Slack and Discord calls. - FaceTime and Webex. 1. **Join a call as usual**: Start or join a meeting in one of the supported apps. 2. **Accept the offer to record**: Echo Chamber notices the call and asks if you want to record it. 3. **Choose per-app behavior**: Set each app to always record, ask first, or never, so it fits how you work. > **Capturing both sides** On Mac, Echo Chamber can capture system audio along with your microphone using ScreenCaptureKit, which is why it can transcribe everyone on the call. This needs Screen Recording permission, requested in context. > **Light on your Mac** The Mac app is designed for low CPU use, so it can sit in your menu bar and watch for calls without weighing your machine down. #### Apple Watch, widgets, and Live Activities - **Topic**: Syncing & your devices - **Summary**: Record from your wrist and start faster from the Lock Screen, Home Screen, and Control Center. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/apple-watch-widgets Echo Chamber meets you where you already are. Your Apple Watch can capture a moment when your phone is away, and widgets put recording one tap from your Home Screen or Lock Screen. #### On your Apple Watch - Start and stop a recording from the wrist. - Use playback controls to review on your watch. - Transcription happens on the paired iPhone, so the watch stays light. #### Widgets and Live Activities - Add a Lock Screen or Home Screen widget to start recording instantly. - Add the Control Center control for a recording button you can reach from anywhere. - Watch a Live Activity show your recording in progress on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. > **Keep your iPhone nearby** Because transcription runs on the paired iPhone, keeping your phone within range gives your watch the smoothest experience. #### Where recordings are processed and stored - **Topic**: Privacy & security - **Summary**: Local processing, optional sync, and the files you choose to share. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/what-stays-on-device Echo Chamber records, transcribes, searches, and runs transcript AI on supported Apple devices. Recordings and transcripts are not uploaded to an external AI service for those tasks. #### Storage is a separate choice The app stores recordings and transcripts locally by default. Optional iCloud sync creates a cloud-storage path through your Apple account. Files you share or export go to the destination you choose and take on its access and retention rules. #### Connections and setup Model downloads, purchase verification, and cloud sync can need a connection. Links, support, and sharing also have their own destinations. Check the app settings for the model, plan, and sync options available in your version. > **An app lock is an access control** Locking the app helps control access on your device. It does not retract an exported file or delete an existing iCloud copy. #### Lock the app with Face ID - **Topic**: Privacy & security - **Summary**: Add a layer of privacy so only you can open your recordings. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/app-lock Your recordings can be personal, so Echo Chamber lets you put them behind Face ID. With App Lock on, the app asks for your face before it opens. 1. **Open Settings**: Find the App Lock or Face ID setting in the app's settings. 2. **Turn on Face ID lock**: Enable it, and grant Face ID access if asked. 3. **Test it**: Close and reopen Echo Chamber. It should ask for Face ID before showing your recordings. > **Optional, and on-device** App Lock is optional and uses your device's built-in biometrics. Your face data never reaches Echo Chamber, it is handled by your device, as Apple designed it. #### Free download and Pro options - **Topic**: Plans & billing - **Summary**: What is free, what Pro adds, and your purchase options. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/free-vs-pro Echo Chamber is free to download. Free includes 60 minutes of recording a month, plus three file or link imports, three AI notes, and three chat questions a month. Pro removes every monthly limit: recording, imports, AI notes, and chat. The in-app plan screen always shows the allowances for the version you have installed. #### Choose a purchase option Compare the subscription and lifetime options shown in the App Store or in-app purchase screen. Apple displays your local price and the terms before you confirm. > **Already purchased Pro?** Use Restore Purchases with the Apple Account that made the purchase. A restore checks your existing entitlement; it does not buy Pro again. #### Restore a purchase - **Topic**: Plans & billing - **Summary**: Bring back Pro on a new device or after reinstalling, at no extra cost. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/restore-purchase Your Pro purchase is tied to your Apple Account, not a single device. If you reinstall the app or set up a new device, you can restore Pro without paying again. 1. **Sign in with the same Apple Account**: Use the Apple Account you used when you bought Pro. 2. **Open Settings in Echo Chamber**: Go to the app's settings. 3. **Tap Restore Purchases**: Echo Chamber checks with the App Store and re-enables your Pro features. > **Billing is managed by Apple** To change or cancel a monthly or yearly subscription, open the App Store, tap your profile, and choose Subscriptions. Lifetime is a one-time purchase and does not renew. **Q: Restore did not bring Pro back, what now?** A: Confirm you are signed in with the exact Apple Account used for the purchase, then make sure you have a connection so the App Store can verify it. If it still does not appear, try again in a few minutes. #### Why a word is wrong, and how to improve accuracy - **Topic**: Troubleshooting - **Summary**: Practical ways to get cleaner transcripts and fix the words that slip through. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/improving-accuracy No speech recognizer is flawless. Names, acronyms, overlapping voices, accents, and background noise are common sources of mistakes. Listen back to uncertain passages and correct the transcript before using it as a quotation or record. - Record closer to the speaker and away from noisy machines. - Check names, numbers, and technical terms against the original audio. - Add specialized terms to Custom Vocabulary so they transcribe correctly. - Edit any word inline, and the fix stays with the recording and its exports. - For imported files, start with the clearest source audio you have. > **Fix it once, name it once** When a name keeps coming out wrong, adding it to Custom Vocabulary often solves it for every future recording, instead of correcting it each time. #### My recording was interrupted - **Topic**: Troubleshooting - **Summary**: How Echo Chamber recovers a recording after a call, crash, or low battery. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/recording-recovery Life interrupts. A phone call, a low battery, or an unexpected restart can cut a recording short. Echo Chamber is built to recover what was captured up to that point so your work is not lost. - If a recording is interrupted, Echo Chamber saves what it captured rather than discarding it. - When you reopen the app, it can offer to recover an interrupted recording. - The recovered audio transcribes like any other recording. > **Give long sessions a charge** For long meetings, keep your device charged or plugged in. Recovery protects you if something goes wrong, but a full battery is the surest way to capture the whole thing. **Q: A recording disappeared, can I get it back?** A: Reopen Echo Chamber and look for a recovery prompt. The app preserves interrupted recordings so they can be restored when you return. #### Using Echo Chamber offline - **Topic**: Troubleshooting - **Summary**: Prepare local models and check your allowance before disconnecting. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/offline-use Recording and speech recognition run on your device. Before going offline, finish the required model downloads and make a short test recording. AI notes and other transcript tools also need their local model to be ready. - Check that the speech model is installed. - Check the current recording and feature allowances in the app. - Make a recording, then turn on airplane mode and confirm Wi-Fi is off. - Open the transcript, search for a word, and test the tools you plan to use. > **Some services still need a connection** Model downloads, purchases, purchase checks, and iCloud sync use the network. If the app asks to refresh an allowance, reconnect before starting the recording. Offline processing does not remove plan limits. #### Managing storage - **Topic**: Troubleshooting - **Summary**: See what your recordings use and free up space when you need to. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/echochamber/storage-management Audio takes space, and over time a library of recordings adds up. Echo Chamber keeps everything on your device by default, so managing storage is straightforward and in your hands. - Delete recordings you no longer need from your history. - Use folders to spot large groups of recordings you can clear out. - If iCloud sync is on, your recordings also count toward your iCloud storage. > **Deleting is permanent on this device** Removing a recording deletes its audio and transcript from this device. If you might want it later, export it first. With iCloud sync on, a delete can propagate to your other devices too. > **Export before you delete** If you want the words but not the audio, export the transcript to text or PDF first, then delete the recording to reclaim the space. --- ### Vault: Help Guides Learn how Vault is designed to handle setup, budgets, transactions, forecasts, privacy, optional bank connections, exports, and plans. > **Preview documentation:** This product is in development. Features, compatibility, and exact steps may change before release. #### Set up your first budget - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: Shape your month in Plan and add optional category limits inside your flexible pool. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/set-up-your-first-budget Vault's Plan tab divides your month into expected income, fixed commitments, a flexible pool, and goals and reserves. Category budgets are optional guardrails inside the flexible pool, and your safe-to-spend number is paced from what is left. 1. **Open Plan**: Tap the Plan tab. This month shows your expected income, fixed commitments, flexible pool, and goals and reserves. 2. **Choose how Vault plans**: Under Planning method, pick the approach that fits you. Switching methods never deletes transactions, goals, or limits. 3. **Add a category guardrail**: Scroll to Category guardrails and tap Manage, then tap the plus button and choose Custom Budget or Use Template. Pick a category and a monthly limit. You can change it any time. 4. **Save**: Vault shows spent against each limit on the Plan tab and keeps your safe-to-spend number on Today up to date. > **A gentle heads-up, never a scolding** When a budget passes about 80 percent with days still left in the month, Vault gives you a quiet nudge. To turn budget alerts on or off, tap your profile picture on Today, then choose Notifications, data, and advanced settings, and look under Notifications. > **Not sure what to budget?** Track for a week first, then ask the AI coach "where did my money go?" The answer makes a realistic starting budget easy to pick. **Q: Can I have more than one budget?** A: Yes. Add a budget for each category you want to watch closely. Your overall plan for the month lives on the Plan tab. **Q: What if I go over?** A: Nothing breaks and nobody is judging you. Your safe-to-spend simply reflects it, and you can adjust the budget or spending from there. #### Lock Vault with Face ID - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: Keep your finances private with a Face ID lock that only you can open. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/set-up-face-id-lock Because your money lives on your device, Vault lets you put a lock in front of it. With the app lock on, Vault asks for Face ID (or your passcode) every time you open it. 1. **Open Settings**: Tap your profile picture on Today, then choose Notifications, data, and advanced settings. 2. **Turn on app lock**: Under Privacy, turn on the App Lock switch. Its label shows Face ID, Touch ID, or Passcode, whichever your device uses. 3. **Confirm with Face ID**: Authenticate once to confirm. From now on Vault will be locked until you do. > **Uses Apple's secure unlock** The lock uses iOS biometric authentication. Vault never sees or stores your face data or passcode; it only asks iOS whether the unlock succeeded. **Q: What if Face ID fails?** A: You can fall back to your device passcode, just like other apps that use Face ID. **Q: Does the lock protect my widgets?** A: Widgets only show your safe-to-spend number, never transaction details, so your sensitive data stays behind the lock. #### Widgets, Live Activities & Siri - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: See your daily number at a glance and add expenses hands-free. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/widgets-and-siri Vault meets you outside the app, too. Put your safe-to-spend number on your Home Screen and Lock Screen, and use your voice to log spending without unlocking your phone. #### Add a widget 1. **Enter edit mode**: Touch and hold an empty area of your Home Screen or Lock Screen until things jiggle. 2. **Add a widget**: Tap the plus button, then search for Vault. 3. **Pick a size**: Choose a Home Screen or Lock Screen widget to show your safe-to-spend number, then place it. Live Activities can also surface your daily number when it is most useful, so a quick glance is all it takes. #### Use Siri & Shortcuts - Add Expense - Check Budget - View Spending Summary - Add to Goal - Ask Coach - Can I Afford It? > **Spotlight too** Swipe down on your Home Screen and search to jump straight to Vault actions from Spotlight. #### Add an expense - **Topic**: Tracking spending - **Summary**: Log spending by hand in seconds, fully on your device. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/add-an-expense Manual entry is the heart of Vault and it is always free. Every expense you add by hand stays entirely on your iPhone. 1. **Tap the plus button**: Tap the gold plus button in the tab bar to start a new expense. 2. **Enter the amount**: Type what you spent. This is the only field you truly need. 3. **Add the details**: Optionally add a merchant, date, note, or category. Vault suggests a category for you and learns as you go. 4. **Save**: Tap save and your safe-to-spend number updates right away. > **Even faster** Ask Siri to add an expense, or use a Home Screen widget, when you do not want to open the app. **Q: Do I have to pick a category?** A: No. Vault suggests one automatically. If you skip or change it, the app quietly learns your preference for next time. **Q: Can I edit an expense later?** A: Yes. Tap any expense to change the amount, date, category, or note. #### Scan a receipt - **Topic**: Tracking spending - **Summary**: Point your camera at a receipt and let Vault read the amount, merchant, and date. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/scan-a-receipt Receipt scanning saves you typing. Vault uses your iPhone's on-device text recognition to pull the key details, then lets you confirm before saving. 1. **Start a scan**: Press and hold the gold plus button in the tab bar to open Add Expense, then tap Scan a receipt. Vault asks for camera access the first time. 2. **Frame the receipt**: Hold your phone steady over the receipt so the total is clearly visible. 3. **Review what Vault found**: Vault fills in the amount, merchant, and date. Check them and fix anything that looks off. 4. **Save**: Tap save to add the expense. > **The scan happens on your device** Vault reads receipts using Apple's on-device Vision text recognition. The image and the text are never uploaded; nothing about the receipt leaves your iPhone. > **For the best read** Good lighting and a flat receipt help a lot. Faded or crumpled receipts may need a quick manual touch-up. #### Import a PDF or CSV statement - **Topic**: Tracking spending - **Summary**: Bring in a batch of transactions from a bank statement, with duplicates filtered out. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/import-a-statement If you would rather not link a bank, importing a statement is a great way to catch up on many transactions at once. Vault accepts PDF and CSV files. 1. **Download your statement**: Get a PDF or CSV statement from your bank's website or app, and save it to Files or Photos. 2. **Start an import**: Press and hold the gold plus button and tap Import a bank statement. You can also open Notifications, data, and advanced settings from your profile picture and choose Import from PDF or Import from CSV under Data. Then pick your file. 3. **Review the transactions**: Vault reads the file and shows what it found so you can confirm before anything is added. 4. **Import**: Confirm to add them. Vault categorizes each one and you can adjust as needed. > **Duplicates are handled for you** Vault de-duplicates as it imports, so transactions you already have (from a previous import or manual entry) will not pile up twice. > **Importing is on-device** Reading and matching your statement happens entirely on your iPhone. Importing a file does not send anything to a server. **Q: My PDF did not read perfectly. What now?** A: Statement layouts vary a lot. Review the parsed list before importing and edit any rows that look off, or try the CSV export from your bank instead. **Q: Is importing the same as linking a bank?** A: No. Importing is a one-time file you bring in yourself and is fully on-device. Linking a bank via Plaid keeps transactions syncing automatically. #### Fix a miscategorized expense (and teach Vault) - **Topic**: Tracking spending - **Summary**: Correct a category once and Vault's on-device model learns it for next time. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/fix-a-miscategorized-expense Vault guesses categories automatically, and it gets smarter the more you use it. When a category is wrong, fixing it takes a tap and quietly trains the app to your habits. 1. **Open the expense**: Tap the transaction with the wrong category. 2. **Change the category**: Tap the category and choose the right one. 3. **Save**: Your correction is saved and applied right away. > **Your corrections teach Vault** Vault uses an on-device machine-learning model that learns from your corrections. Fix a merchant once and similar transactions are more likely to land in the right category next time. > **Learning stays on your phone** The category model lives and retrains on your device. Your corrections, merchants, and amounts are never sent anywhere to improve it. **Q: Will old transactions get recategorized automatically?** A: Corrections shape future suggestions. Past transactions keep whatever category they have unless you change them. **Q: Can I create my own categories?** A: Yes. You can organize spending in the way that makes sense for your life. #### What "safe to spend" means (and why it changes) - **Topic**: Safe-to-spend & budgets - **Summary**: The one daily number that tells you what you can spend today, and the everyday reasons it moves. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/what-is-safe-to-spend Safe to spend is the single number at the top of Vault. It answers the question you actually have: can I spend on this right now and still be okay? #### How it is calculated Vault starts with your monthly budget, subtracts what you have already spent, and sets aside money you have reserved for goals, bills, or upcoming needs. What remains, spread across the days left, is your safe-to-spend. - Your monthly budget sets the ceiling. - Spending you have logged reduces the number. - Set-asides for goals and known bills are protected so you do not accidentally spend them. - The remainder is paced across the rest of the period. #### Why your number changed - You logged a new expense, so today's amount went down. - A new day began, which refreshes the number as your budget repaces. - You changed a budget, or added or funded a goal that set money aside. - A bill or known expense came due and was reserved. - New transactions arrived from a linked bank, if you connected one through Plaid. > **A guide, not a rule** Some days you spend more, some less. A big purchase lowers today's number, then the remaining budget repaces across the coming days, so tomorrow usually rebounds. > **Want the detail?** Ask the AI coach "why did my safe-to-spend change?" for a plain-language explanation based on your own activity. #### Create a savings goal - **Topic**: Goals, debt & net worth - **Summary**: Set a target, add contributions, and celebrate milestones along the way. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/create-a-goal Goals turn saving into something you can see. Set a target, chip away at it, and Vault marks the milestones so progress feels good. 1. **Open Goals**: Open the Plan tab, tap Goals under Plan structure, then tap Add goal. 2. **Name your goal and target**: Give it a name like Emergency Fund or Trip to Lisbon, and set the amount you are aiming for. 3. **Add contributions**: Log money toward the goal whenever you like. You can also do this with Siri or a Shortcut. 4. **Watch it grow**: Vault tracks your progress and celebrates milestones as you reach them. > **Goals protect your money** Money you set aside for a goal is held back from your safe-to-spend, so you are less likely to spend it by accident. > **Celebrations are gentle** Milestone moments are encouraging and low-key, here to cheer you on, never to pressure you. #### Track debt and net worth - **Topic**: Goals, debt & net worth - **Summary**: Add balances and interest to see your payoff timeline, and watch your net worth grow. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/track-a-debt Debt tracking gives you a clear, calm view of what you owe and when you will be free of it. No judgment, just a plan you can see. 1. **Add a debt**: Open the Plan tab and tap Debt plan, then add a debt with its name, current balance, and interest rate. 2. **Review the timeline**: Vault estimates a payoff timeline so you can see the finish line. 3. **Update as you pay**: Keep balances current and watch the timeline shorten as you make progress. #### Your net worth Net worth is the big-picture view: everything you own minus everything you owe. You find it on the Accounts tab under Financial position, next to your health score and liabilities. Add assets like cash, savings, or a car's value, and your debts count as liabilities, so paying them down lifts your net worth automatically. > **Update at your own pace** Net worth does not need to be perfect or daily. Update values when something changes and the upward trend takes care of itself. #### Read your cash-flow forecast - **Topic**: Goals, debt & net worth - **Summary**: See where your money is heading so there are no surprises at month's end. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/read-the-forecast The cash-flow forecast looks ahead. Open it from the Coach tab by asking something like "will I make it to payday?" and following the forecast action. Based on your budget, known bills, and recent patterns, it projects where you are likely to land so you can plan with confidence. #### How to read it - An upward trend means you are on track to have money left over. - A dip toward zero is an early warning to ease up or adjust a budget. - Known bills and set-asides are factored in, so the picture is realistic. > **A projection, not a promise** The forecast is an estimate based on your habits. The more consistently you track, the more accurate it becomes. > **Ask in plain language** You can ask the AI coach "will I make it to payday?" for a forecast-aware answer in everyday words. #### Using the AI coach - **Topic**: The AI coach - **Summary**: Ask money questions in plain language and get answers that never leave your iPhone. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/using-the-ai-coach The AI coach is like having a thoughtful friend who happens to know your budget. Ask it anything about your money in everyday language and it answers using what is already on your device. #### Things you can ask - "Can I afford takeout tonight?" - "Where did my money go this month?" - "Why did my safe-to-spend change?" - "How am I doing on groceries?" - "Will I make it to payday?" - "How is my debt payoff going?" > **Your finances never leave your phone** The coach runs on your device and uses your records to answer financial questions. Built-in answers and calculations cover everyday questions on every plan. Open-ended conversation uses Apple Intelligence where your iPhone has it, or the optional Cedar model where it does not, and after setup it is part of Plus and higher. Vault requires iOS 26. > **Cedar: an on-device model for iPhones without Apple Intelligence** If your iPhone does not have Apple Intelligence, Vault offers a one-time download of an on-device model nicknamed Cedar during coach setup. The download uses plain file requests that contain no account details and none of your financial data. After that, Cedar runs entirely on-device. **Q: Does it give financial advice?** A: It helps you understand your own numbers and make everyday decisions. It is a helpful guide, not a licensed financial advisor. **Q: Can I ask hands-free?** A: Yes. You can reach the coach with Siri, and it falls back gracefully if it does not understand, so it keeps being useful. #### Connect a bank with Plaid - **Topic**: Connecting a bank (Plaid) - **Summary**: Link an account so your transactions and balances stay up to date automatically. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/connect-a-bank Linking a bank is optional, and it is the easiest way to keep Vault current without typing. Connections are handled by Plaid, a trusted service that securely connects apps to banks. > **A paid feature** Bank linking is part of Plus and higher. On the Free plan, Vault stays fully manual and on-device. See Compare plans for what each tier includes. 1. **Start the connection**: Tap your profile picture on Today, then choose Bank sync under Connections. Tap Connect your bank. 2. **Choose your bank in Plaid**: Plaid's secure Link screen opens. Search for and select your institution. 3. **Sign in with Plaid**: Enter your bank username and password on Plaid's screen. You are signing in to your bank through Plaid, not into Vault. 4. **Pick accounts and finish**: Choose which accounts to share. Plaid hands a secure token back, and your transactions begin to sync. > **Vault never sees your bank password** You type your bank credentials inside Plaid's own secure screen, not in Vault. Vault never sees or stores your bank username or password. The access token that allows syncing is held on a secure relay server, never on your device. Once linked, transactions and balances keep themselves current. You can also pull the latest any time with Sync now. #### Is it safe to link my bank? - **Topic**: Connecting a bank (Plaid) - **Summary**: Exactly what Plaid sees, what Vault sees, and why your password is never exposed to us. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/is-it-safe-to-link-my-bank It is a fair question to ask before connecting anything to your bank. Here is the honest, complete picture of how linking works in Vault. > **You sign in to your bank inside Plaid, not Vault** When you link a bank, Plaid's own secure Link screen opens and you enter your bank credentials there. Vault never sees, receives, or stores your bank username or password. That is by design. #### What each party sees - Plaid sees the bank credentials you enter on its screen, and your transactions, balances, and (for credit cards and loans) liability details. - A lightweight relay server holds the secure access token that lets Plaid fetch your data, and passes transactions through to your device. The token stays on the server, never on your phone. - Vault, on your device, receives the resulting transactions and balances and stores them locally. > **What the relay server does not receive** The relay only handles bank tokens and transactions. It never receives your AI-coach chats, your category corrections, your goals, or your behavioral patterns. Those stay on your device. Plaid is widely used by major financial apps to connect to banks securely. When you link an account, Plaid's privacy policy applies to the bank connection it provides. **Q: Can Vault move money or make payments?** A: No. Linking is read-only for transactions and balances. Vault cannot transfer funds, pay bills, or change anything at your bank. **Q: What if I do not want any of this?** A: Then do not link a bank. Manual entry, receipt scanning, and statement import are fully on-device and require no connection. #### A bank transaction is missing or out of date - **Topic**: Connecting a bank (Plaid) - **Summary**: Use Sync now, understand automatic syncing, and re-connect a bank when needed. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/missing-bank-transaction Most of the time your linked transactions arrive on their own. If something is missing or looks stale, these steps usually sort it out. 1. **Tap Sync now**: Tap your profile picture on Today, open Bank sync under Connections, and tap Sync now to fetch the latest right away, rather than waiting for the automatic nightly sync. 2. **Give it a moment**: Banks sometimes post transactions a day or two late. A pending charge may appear once your bank finalizes it. 3. **Re-connect if asked**: Occasionally a bank requires you to confirm access again. If Vault asks you to reconnect, run through Plaid's secure screen once more. > **How syncing works** Linked banks update automatically when your bank signals new activity, and you can always pull updates on demand with Sync now. > **Still missing something?** You can always add a transaction manually. Vault de-duplicates, so if the synced version arrives later it will not double up. **Q: Why do I have to reconnect sometimes?** A: Banks periodically require fresh consent for continued access. Reconnecting through Plaid restores the secure connection. **Q: A charge shows the wrong category.** A: Just fix it on the transaction. Your correction also helps Vault categorize similar charges better next time. #### Does my data leave my phone? - **Topic**: Privacy & your data - **Summary**: The honest answer about what stays on-device and the few things that can leave. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/does-my-data-leave-my-phone You deserve a straight answer. Here it is, without spin. > **Your financial data lives on your device** Your expenses, budgets, goals, debts, and coach chats are stored locally on your iPhone. The AI coach and category learning run on-device. None of this is sold, brokered, or sent to analytics services. #### The only things that can leave the device - Bank sync is an optional paid connection through Plaid and an Obsidian Ridge Labs relay. Some connected transactions may use Plaid enrichment for categorization; this path can carry merchant and amount information. - Optional anonymous diagnostics, if you turn them on. These are event-name counts plus a hashed ID only, never your amounts, merchants, categories, chats, or balances. They are off by default. - A one-time AI model download, if you choose to set up the optional Cedar model. The download is plain file requests with no account or financial data. > **What Vault deliberately does not do** No third-party analytics SDKs (no Firebase, Amplitude, and the like), no ads, no advertising identifiers, no data brokers, and no selling of your data. Manual records and local calculations do not require linking a bank. If you choose bank sync, Plaid and an Obsidian Ridge Labs relay process the connected data. Paid enrichment can also send merchant and transaction details to Plaid. Diagnostics are separately optional and off by default. #### Turn anonymous diagnostics on or off - **Topic**: Privacy & your data - **Summary**: An optional, off-by-default way to help improve Vault that never includes your financial details. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/turn-diagnostics-on-or-off Anonymous diagnostics are a small, optional way to help make Vault better. They are off by default, and you are in full control. > **What diagnostics include, and never include** If you opt in, Vault sends only counts of which features were used, along with a hashed ID. It never sends your amounts, merchants, categories, chat content, balances, incomes, or debt details. 1. **Open Privacy and usage data**: Tap your profile picture on Today, then choose Privacy and usage data under AI & Privacy. 2. **Find Anonymous usage counts**: This toggle ships turned off. Vault never collects diagnostics unless you turn it on. 3. **Choose your preference**: Flip it on to help, or leave it off. Turning it off afterward stops collection and clears anything queued. > **Truly anonymous** The hashed ID cannot be tied back to your name, email, or phone, and is kept separate from any bank connection so the two cannot be cross-referenced. #### Export your data (CSV) - **Topic**: Privacy & your data - **Summary**: Export expenses as CSV or keep an encrypted backup for supported restore. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/export-your-data Export expenses as CSV for a spreadsheet, or use the passphrase-encrypted .vaultbackup format for supported backup and restore. CSV is an expense table, not a complete backup of the app. 1. **Open Settings**: Tap your profile picture on Today, then choose Notifications, data, and advanced settings, then find the Data section. 2. **Export to CSV**: Tap Export to CSV. Vault creates a CSV with dates, amounts, categories, and notes. 3. **Save or share it**: Use the share sheet to save the file to Files, email it to yourself, or move it wherever you keep backups. > **Great before switching phones** Use the passphrase-encrypted backup format when moving supported records to another device. The CSV expense table does not preserve complete app state. > **Reports export too** CSV is useful for a spreadsheet or expense analysis. Keep the encrypted backup and its passphrase if you need the supported restore path. #### Moving to a new iPhone - **Topic**: Privacy & your data - **Summary**: How to bring your money into a new device, and the honest truth about syncing. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/move-to-a-new-phone Because Vault keeps your data on your device for privacy, moving to a new iPhone works a little differently than apps that sync to the cloud. Here is the honest picture and your best options. > **There is no iCloud sync in this version** Vault stores your data locally on each device and does not sync your financial data between devices through iCloud. This is a deliberate privacy choice for this version, so your data is not the same across your iPhone and iPad. #### Your options for a new device - Re-link your bank through Plaid on the new phone to pull your transactions back in. - Re-import statements you have saved as PDF or CSV. - Export a CSV from your old phone first, so you keep a personal copy of your records. > **Before you switch** Export a CSV from your current iPhone while you still have it set up. It is the simplest way to carry your history forward. **Q: Will my data appear automatically on my iPad?** A: No. Data is local to each device. To populate another device, re-link a bank or re-import there. **Q: Is cloud sync coming?** A: This version is intentionally local-only. We will always be upfront about what changes if that ever does. #### Compare Free, Plus, Premium & Premium Plus - **Topic**: Plans & billing - **Summary**: See what each plan includes so you can pick the right fit. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/compare-plans Vault is genuinely useful for free, and paid plans add automatic bank syncing and a few extras. All three paid plans are monthly subscriptions. Vault has no lifetime purchase, because every linked bank costs a monthly fee to keep connected. Here is how the tiers compare. - Free: manual entry, receipt scanning, statement import, budgets, goals, debt tracking you enter yourself, net worth, forecast, and the coach's built-in answers. Open-ended coach chat is included during setup. No linked banks; everything stays on-device. - Plus, $2.99 per month: everything in Free, plus 1 linked bank with automatic background sync, and open-ended coach chat. - Premium, $4.99 per month: everything in Plus, up to 5 linked banks, smart categorization of bank transactions, debt tracking from up to 2 linked accounts, and Autopilot Safety Net. - Premium Plus, $9.99 per month: everything in Premium, up to 10 linked banks, and debt tracking from up to 5 linked accounts. > **Manual is always free and on-device** You never need to pay to track money in Vault. Paid plans are only about optional bank syncing and the extras above. Subscriptions are charged through your Apple Account and renew monthly until you cancel. #### What happens if I downgrade or cancel - **Topic**: Plans & billing - **Summary**: Bank sync stops, but everything already imported stays with you. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/downgrade-plan Plans change, and that is okay. Vault is designed so you never lose your history when your plan does. > **Your data stays** If you downgrade or cancel, automatic bank syncing stops, but every transaction already imported stays right where it is. You keep your expenses, budgets, goals, debts, and history. - Bank syncing pauses, so new transactions stop arriving automatically. - Already-synced and manually entered data remains fully available. - You can keep tracking by hand, scanning receipts, and importing statements, all free and on-device. - Re-subscribe any time to resume syncing. > **Keep a copy** Before erasing records, use Encrypted Backup and Restore under Data in Settings and keep its passphrase safe. CSV export is useful for expense analysis but does not replace the backup format. **Q: How do I cancel?** A: Subscriptions are managed through your Apple Account in iOS Settings, the same place you manage other App Store subscriptions. **Q: Will I lose my linked-bank transactions?** A: No. The transactions already imported from a linked bank stay. Only future automatic syncing pauses. #### Restore purchases - **Topic**: Plans & billing - **Summary**: Get your subscription back after reinstalling or on another device. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/vault/restore-purchases If you reinstalled Vault or set it up on another device and your plan is not showing, restoring purchases reconnects your subscription. 1. **Check your Apple Account**: Make sure you are signed in with the same Apple Account you used to subscribe. 2. **Open the Subscription screen**: Tap your profile picture on Today, then choose Subscription. Restore Purchases is in the bar at the bottom of the screen. 3. **Restore**: Tap Restore Purchases. Vault checks with the App Store and re-enables your plan. > **Subscriptions live with Apple** Your subscription is tied to your Apple Account, not to your local data. Restoring brings back access to paid features like bank syncing. > **Remember: data is local** Restoring purchases restores your plan, not your transactions. Since data is local to each device, re-link a bank or re-import to repopulate a fresh install. --- ### Molehill: Help Guides Learn how Molehill turns an overwhelming task into one manageable next step, with guides for focus, privacy, AI, integrations, and plans. > **Preview documentation:** This product is in development. Features, compatibility, and exact steps may change before release. #### Welcome to Molehill - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: An introduction to task breakdown, editable steps, and one-step focus. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/welcome-to-molehill Some tasks feel like mountains. You know you should start, but your brain just will not pick up the shovel. Molehill is built for exactly that moment. You type the thing you have been avoiding, and Molehill breaks it into small, concrete steps. Then it shows you only the next one, so you are never staring down the whole intimidating list. > **There is nothing to keep up with** Molehill helps you get back into a task by making the next step smaller. It also shows streaks and progress totals. If an action is still too big, open the split flow and ask for smaller steps. #### The four tabs - Today: your home base, with a hero card for your single next step. Break It Down and Brain Dump both start here. - Library: everything you have ever made, searchable, with nothing lost. - You: your streak, the shape of your week, and quiet proof the small steps add up. - Settings: themes and app icons, the daily nudge, your AI status, restore purchases, and privacy. Everything happens on your iPhone. There is no account to make and nothing to sign in to, so you can start in the next thirty seconds. #### Your first task breakdown - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: Add a task, review the suggested breakdown, and choose a step to begin. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/your-first-task Let us turn your first mountain into a molehill. Pick something that has been sitting heavy on you. It does not need to be big or important, just something you have been avoiding. 1. **Type the task**: On the Today screen, tap to add a task and write it the way it lives in your head: "sort out the kitchen," "reply to that email," "do my taxes." Messy is fine. 2. **Tap Break It Down**: Molehill thinks for a moment, right on your iPhone, and splits the task into small concrete steps. 3. **Glance at the steps**: Read them over. They are suggestions, not orders, so you can edit, reorder, or delete any of them. 4. **Do the first one**: Look only at step one. That is the whole job right now. When it is done, mark it complete and Molehill moves you to the next. > **The first step is small on purpose** Molehill tries to make step one almost embarrassingly easy, like "clear the counter" or "open the document." That is the point. Starting is the hard part, so the first step is built to be startable. That is it. You do not have to finish today. Doing one step and stopping is a real win here. #### Gentle ways to actually start - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: Ways to make the next action smaller when starting a task feels difficult. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/starting-when-its-hard If you are frozen, you are not lazy and nothing is wrong with you. Task paralysis is real, and it usually means the task feels too big to hold all at once. Here are some things that help. - Shrink the step. If "do the dishes" feels heavy, re-break it down until the first step is just "put one cup in the sink." Tiny is allowed. - Use Focus mode for one step. The full-screen view hides everything else, so there is only the one thing to look at. - Set a 5-minute timer and promise to quit when it dings. You almost never will, but knowing you can makes starting safe. - Trust the next step. You do not have to plan the whole task. Molehill is holding the rest for you. Just do the one on screen. - Lower the bar to "badly." A messy, half-done version beats a perfect one that never happens. > **Body doubling, on your Lock Screen** Add the Just One Step widget so your next step is always visible without opening the app. Sometimes just seeing it sitting there is the nudge that gets you moving. And if today is not the day? That is okay. Molehill will be holding everything exactly where you left it, no penalty, whenever you come back. #### Choosing the detail (and re-breaking down) - **Topic**: Breaking tasks down - **Summary**: Big Picture, Balanced, or Every Tiny Step, and how to redo a breakdown when the steps are not right. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/choosing-granularity Before Molehill breaks a task down, you get to choose how fine the steps should be. There is no right answer. It depends on how much your brain can hold right now. 1. **Big Picture**: About 3 to 5 broad steps. Good when you basically know how to do the thing and just need a shape to follow. 2. **Balanced**: About 5 to 8 steps. A comfortable middle ground, and a great default for most tasks. 3. **Every Tiny Step**: About 8 to 14 small steps. Reach for this when a task feels impossible. The smaller the steps, the easier it is to start. > **When in doubt, go smaller** If you are staring at the list and still feel stuck, that is a sign the steps are too big. Re-break the task down with Every Tiny Step. You can always combine steps later. ##### When the steps are not right Came out too broad, too detailed, or just not how you would do it? Open the task, tap Break It Down again, and pick a different granularity. When the new steps appear, edit, reorder, or trim them until they feel right. > **A note on free AI actions** On the free plan, each breakdown counts as one of your 3 daily AI actions. If you are out for the day, you can still adjust the steps you already have by hand, and that never costs anything. #### Editing steps and time estimates - **Topic**: Breaking tasks down - **Summary**: Reword, reorder, add, remove, and adjust the minutes on any step. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/editing-steps The steps Molehill creates are a starting point, not a contract. You know your task best, so make them yours. - Reword a step by tapping it and editing the text. - Reorder steps by dragging them into the sequence that makes sense to you. - Add a step you know is missing, with its own title and time estimate. - Delete any step that does not apply: swipe it away. ##### About the time estimates Each step gets a rough estimate in minutes. It is just a friendly guess to help you plan, not a deadline and not a stopwatch. To change one, tap the step and pick a new estimate (anything from a minute to an hour and a half), or clear it entirely if you would rather not think about time. > **Estimates add up** Molehill totals the minutes from your remaining steps, so you can see roughly how long a task has left. Those same estimates are what shape your calendar blocks if you choose to export. #### When a step is still too big - **Topic**: Breaking tasks down - **Summary**: Split one stubborn step into two to four smaller ones, right where you are stuck. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/make-it-smaller Sometimes the breakdown is right and you still cannot move. “Call the dentist” is one step, and it is still a wall. That is not a failure of willpower. It is a step that was sized wrong for today. So Molehill lets you cut any single step down further. The step you split disappears and two to four smaller ones take its place, in order, right where it was. 1. **Find the step you cannot start**: It can be the hero step on Today, the step in front of you in Focus mode, or any step inside a task in the Library. 2. **Choose Make it smaller**: On Today and in Focus it is a button under the step. In Task Detail, swipe the step and pick it from the actions. 3. **Read the smaller pieces**: Molehill proposes two to four concrete replacements with their own time estimates. 4. **Use them, or try again**: Accept the split and it replaces the original step, or ask for another pass if the pieces still feel too large. > **It offers before you ask** Snooze the same step twice and Molehill will quietly offer to shrink it next time. A step that keeps getting pushed was sized wrong. That is information, not a verdict on you. Task breakdown tells you what to do. This is the move that gets you started, and it is the one thing most task apps leave out. > **It costs one AI action** On the free plan a split counts as one of your 3 daily AI actions. You can always add smaller steps by hand instead, which is free and unlimited. #### Tasks that come back on their own - **Topic**: Breaking tasks down - **Summary**: Daily, weekday, weekly, and monthly tasks that quietly line up the next occurrence. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/recurring-tasks Some things are not one-off projects. The bins, the meds, the weekly review. Molehill can repeat a task so you do not have to remember to recreate it. - Daily: every day. - Weekdays: Monday to Friday only. - Weekly: the same day each week. - Monthly: the same date each month. Set the repeat on the task, and completing it quietly schedules the next occurrence. No badge, no red count, and no pile of missed instances waiting to shame you if you skip one. > **Steps come back too** A recurring task keeps its steps, so a routine you broke down once stays broken down. That is the whole point: you pay the setup cost a single time. #### Snoozing a step without guilt - **Topic**: Breaking tasks down - **Summary**: Park something for later today, tomorrow, or next week, and let it step aside quietly. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/snooze-a-step Not now is a legitimate answer. Snooze any step for later today, tomorrow, or next week and it steps out of the way. It does not turn red, it does not accumulate, and nothing counts it against you. Today simply moves on to the next thing you could actually start, which is usually what an overwhelmed brain needs more than a reminder that it failed. > **Two snoozes is a signal** If you snooze the same step twice, Molehill offers to make it smaller. Repeatedly pushing a step is almost always a sizing problem, and shrinking it is usually the fix. #### The You screen - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: A gentle look at your streak, the shape of your week, and what the small steps added up to. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/your-progress The You tab is the one place Molehill keeps score, and it is deliberately quiet about it. You will find your current streak, a small chart of the week, and counts of the steps you finished today, this week, and in total. > **The streak cannot be lost** Molehill’s streak celebrates showing up. There is no red warning when it ends, no notification begging you to save it, and no penalty for a quiet week. If it resets, it resets. Pro adds gentle insights on the same screen: your biggest day, your longest streak, and roughly how much time you have invested. They are there if you find them motivating and easy to ignore if you do not. #### Themes and app icons - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: Six warm themes, each with a matching app icon and widgets. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/themes-and-icons Molehill ships with six warm themes. Each one carries through the whole app, the widgets, and the Home Screen icon, so your phone does not look like it is running two different products. 1. **Open Settings**: The fourth tab. 2. **Choose a theme**: Choose the colors you prefer. The theme also changes the app icon and widgets. 3. **The icon follows**: The Home Screen icon and the widgets change to match. iOS may take a moment to redraw the icon. > **What is free** The original theme and its icon are free forever. The other five are part of Pro. #### Doing a brain dump - **Topic**: Brain dump - **Summary**: Pour out everything on your mind and let Molehill organize it into tasks. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/brain-dump-basics When your head is full of a hundred half-thoughts, a brain dump clears the noise. You write it all out, and Molehill turns the pile into a tidy, prioritized list. 1. **Open Brain Dump**: Go to the Brain Dump screen and just start typing. Lines, sentences, fragments: it all works. Do not worry about order or grammar. 2. **Empty your head**: Get it all out: errands, worries, that thing you keep forgetting. The messier the better. Sorting comes after. 3. **Let it sort**: Tap to sort, and Molehill reads what you wrote and groups it into clear tasks across categories like home, work, errands, people, and self-care. 4. **Review and keep**: Look over the suggested tasks. Change a category, mark something urgent, drop anything you do not want, then add the rest to your list. > **Nothing is committed until you say so** The sorted list is a draft you review. Anything you do not adopt simply disappears, so you can dump freely without creating a mess of tasks. Once a brain-dump item becomes a task, you can break it down into steps just like anything else. Not sure when to dump versus break down one thing? Dump when your mind is crowded and you are not even sure what the tasks are; break down a single task when you already know the one thing you are avoiding. #### Using Focus mode and timers - **Topic**: Focus mode, timers & widgets - **Summary**: A full-screen view of one step, with an optional timer and a Lock Screen Live Activity. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/focus-mode Focus mode strips everything away except the single step you are on. No queue, no other tasks, just one thing, big and clear, with nothing else competing for your attention. 1. **Enter Focus**: From your next step, tap into Focus mode. The step fills the screen. 2. **Add a timer if you like**: Optionally pick 5, 10, 15, or 25 minutes. It is there to give you a gentle container for the work, not to pressure you. If you switch apps, a soft chime lets you know the timer is still going. 3. **Do the thing**: Work on just this step. Mark it done to move to the next, or step out of Focus whenever you want. > **A Live Activity keeps you company** When you start a Focus session, Molehill puts your step and timer on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. It keeps running even if you leave the app, so your step is right there waiting, and you can mark it done from the Live Activity itself. > **Stopping early is allowed** The timer is a tool, not a test. If you need to stop before it ends, that is completely fine. You still showed up and did some of it. Try the 5-minute length when starting feels impossible. #### The Just One Step widget - **Topic**: Focus mode, timers & widgets - **Summary**: Add your next step to the Lock Screen and Home Screen, and why it shows only one. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/just-one-step-widget Just One Step is a widget that shows you exactly one thing: your next step. No list, no scroll, just the single next move, wherever you put it. ##### Add it to your Lock Screen 1. **Touch and hold the Lock Screen**: Then tap Customize, and choose the Lock Screen. 2. **Add a widget**: Tap a widget slot, find Molehill, and pick the Just One Step widget. 3. **Done**: Your next step now lives on your Lock Screen, updating as you complete steps. - Lock Screen and Dynamic Island sizes show a glanceable line with your next step. - The small Home Screen size shows the step on its own. - The medium Home Screen size adds today’s progress bar and a tappable Done button. > **Why only one step?** This is on purpose. A whole list on your Lock Screen is just one more place to feel overwhelmed. Showing a single step keeps your eyes (and your brain) on the only thing that matters right now. > **If the widget looks out of date** iOS refreshes widgets on its own schedule, so once in a while it may show a step you just finished. Open Molehill, or lock and wake your phone, and it catches up. Your tasks inside the app are always correct. A lagging widget is only a display delay. #### Sending steps to Apple Reminders - **Topic**: Reminders & Calendar - **Summary**: Turn a task’s remaining steps into a Reminders list in one tap. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/send-to-reminders If you live in Apple Reminders, Molehill can hand your steps over so they show up alongside the rest of your life. 1. **Open the task**: Go to the task whose steps you want to export. 2. **Choose Send to Reminders**: Molehill creates a new Reminders list named after your task, with one reminder for each remaining step. 3. **Grant access the first time**: Reminders will ask permission so Molehill can create the list. You only need to allow it once. > **This is a Pro feature** Sending to Reminders is part of Molehill Pro. It is also a great way to move your steps to other devices, since Reminders syncs through your own iCloud. > **Permission, explained** Creating a named list requires full Reminders access, which is why iOS asks for it. Molehill uses that access only to add your list and steps. It does not read or send your existing reminders anywhere. #### Blocking focus time on your Calendar - **Topic**: Reminders & Calendar - **Summary**: Turn step estimates into back-to-back calendar blocks to protect your time. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/block-calendar-time Sometimes a task gets done only if you give it a place on the calendar. Molehill can block sequential focus time using your steps and their estimates. 1. **Open the task**: Pick the task you want to schedule. 2. **Choose Send to Calendar**: Molehill lays your remaining steps out one after another, sizing each block from its time estimate. 3. **Grant access the first time**: Calendar asks for write permission so Molehill can add the events. Allow it once and you are set. > Want roomier blocks? Bump up the minutes on your steps before exporting, and the calendar blocks follow your estimates. > **Write-only access** Molehill requests write-only Calendar access, meaning it can add your focus blocks but cannot read anything already on your calendar. It is a Pro feature. #### How the on-device AI works - **Topic**: The on-device AI - **Summary**: Molehill’s breakdowns run on your iPhone’s own chip. Here is what that means. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/on-device-ai When Molehill breaks a task down or sorts a brain dump, that thinking happens right on your iPhone using Apple Intelligence, the device’s own on-device model. Your words never travel to a server. > **Nothing leaves your phone** There is no cloud step here. What you type stays on your device, even while the AI is working on it. Molehill makes no network calls at all. ##### It even works offline Because everything runs locally, Molehill keeps working in Airplane Mode, on a plane, in a basement, or anywhere with no signal. There is no connection to wait on. Curious whether Apple Intelligence is active on your device? Open Settings inside Molehill, where the current AI status is shown in plain language. #### Why Molehill requires Apple Intelligence - **Topic**: The on-device AI - **Summary**: Check device requirements and what to do when Apple Intelligence is unavailable. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/apple-intelligence-requirement Molehill checks for Apple Intelligence when it launches. On-device AI is the product here rather than a garnish, so a half-working Molehill would be worse than an honest explanation. #### What you need An Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone running the required iOS version, with Apple Intelligence enabled and its model ready. See the product page for the operating-system requirement. #### What you might see - Hardware that cannot run Apple Intelligence: a full-screen explanation instead of the app. This one is an honest dead end. - Apple Intelligence turned off: a screen with a direct path into iOS Settings, which clears itself when you come back. - The model still downloading: an explanation that resolves on its own the next time you open Molehill. > **Why the check happens at launch** There is no App Store setting that prevents installation on a device without Apple Intelligence, so the check has to run when the app does. That is why Molehill can be downloaded and then tell you it cannot help. #### Why not a lesser version instead A deterministic engine still backs the app up when a single call fails mid-session, and manual step editing is always free and unlimited. What it cannot do is replace the model on a device that was never eligible. #### What is free and what Pro adds - **Topic**: Plans & billing - **Summary**: Compare free task and AI allowances with the features included in Pro. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/free-vs-pro Molehill is designed to be genuinely helpful without paying a cent. Pro is there if you want to lift the limits and support the app. ##### Free includes - Unlimited manual tasks, steps, and timers. - Focus mode and every Lock Screen and Home Screen widget. - 3 AI actions a day: an AI breakdown or a brain-dump sort, your choice. - Everything staying private on your device. ##### Pro adds - Unlimited AI actions: break down as much as the day throws at you. - Full brain-dump sorting, as often as you like. - Sending steps to Apple Reminders. - Blocking focus time on your Apple Calendar. ##### Pricing - $2.99 per month. - $19.99 per year. - $39.99 once, for lifetime access, no subscription. > That lifetime option is everything Pro offers, forever, with a single payment. There is nothing else to buy beyond it. #### Your 3 free AI actions a day - **Topic**: Plans & billing - **Summary**: What counts as an AI action, and what stays free no matter what. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/free-ai-actions On the free plan you get 3 AI actions each day. Here is exactly what that means, in plain terms. ##### What counts as one action - An AI breakdown of one task counts as one action. - An AI brain-dump sort counts as one action. - Re-breaking a task down with AI counts again, since it is a fresh breakdown. ##### What is always free - Creating, editing, reordering, and completing tasks and steps by hand. - Focus mode, all timers, and every widget. - Sorting a brain dump with the standard engine when your AI actions are used up. > **It resets at midnight** Your 3 actions refill at local midnight, so tomorrow is a clean slate. If you run out today, Molehill keeps working. You can still arrange steps yourself or use the standard engine. Want to stop counting altogether? Molehill Pro makes AI actions unlimited. #### Restoring your purchase - **Topic**: Plans & billing - **Summary**: Get Pro back on a new phone or after reinstalling, at no extra charge. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/restore-purchases Already bought Pro but not seeing it? Restoring brings it right back, and it never costs anything extra. 1. **Open Settings in Molehill**: Head to the Settings screen inside the app. 2. **Tap Restore Purchases**: Molehill checks your Apple Account for any Pro purchase tied to it. 3. **You are back**: If a purchase is found, Pro unlocks again immediately. > **A couple of things to check** Make sure you are signed in with the same Apple Account you bought Pro on. A lifetime purchase restores the same way a subscription does. #### Do my tasks ever leave my phone? - **Topic**: Privacy & devices - **Summary**: Learn where Molehill stores tasks, how on-device processing works, and which user-chosen actions can create an external copy. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/do-tasks-leave-my-phone This is the question that matters most, so here it is plainly: no. What you write in Molehill stays on your iPhone. > **Data Not Collected** Molehill has no account and no cloud. It makes no network calls at all, not for AI, not for analytics, not for anything. Your tasks, steps, and brain dumps are stored locally on your device and never leave it. - No sign-up, no login, no profile. - No tracking and no analytics. - The AI runs on your iPhone, so even your breakdowns stay local. - It works fully in Airplane Mode, because there is nothing to connect to. The only time anything touches another app is if you choose to export to Reminders or Calendar, and even then it goes only to Apple’s own apps on your device, never to us. Because your data lives on this device, an iPhone backup is how it travels if you switch phones. You can read this same promise in plain language any time, under Settings inside the app. #### Will Molehill sync to my iPad or Mac? - **Topic**: Privacy & devices - **Summary**: Current device availability and ways to export steps to other Apple apps. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/will-it-sync We will be straight with you: Molehill does not sync across devices yet. It is built for iPhone today (iOS 26 or later, designed for portrait), and your tasks stay on that one phone. > **The workaround that helps now** If you need a task somewhere else, export its steps to Apple Reminders or Apple Calendar (both Pro features). Those sync through your own iCloud, so the steps will appear on your iPad and Mac. Cloud sync, an Apple Watch app, and turning a photo into a checklist are all things we would love to add down the road. We are not promising dates, just letting you know they are on our minds. **Q: Do I need Apple Intelligence?** A: Yes. Molehill needs an iPhone 15 Pro or later on iOS 26 or later with Apple Intelligence turned on. The breakdown engine is the product, so a device that cannot run it gets an explanation at launch rather than a hollowed-out to-do list. **Q: Does it work without internet?** A: Yes, completely. Everything runs on your device, so Molehill works in Airplane Mode and anywhere with no signal. #### Finding old tasks in the Library - **Topic**: Privacy & devices - **Summary**: Search, browse, and bring back anything you have ever made. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/find-old-tasks Nothing in Molehill disappears on you. The Library is the chronological home for everything you have made: active, done, and archived. - Search by name to jump straight to any task, using full-text search. - Browse by state to see what is active, finished, or tucked away. - Unarchive a task to pull it back into your active list any time. > **Archiving keeps things tidy without losing them** When a task is done or just not for now, archive it. It leaves your Today view but stays safe in the Library, so your daily list feels light while your history stays intact. If you ever truly want a task gone, you can delete it for good from the Library, but the everyday path is simply archiving, so nothing is lost by accident. > **Even faster: Siri and Spotlight** Ask Siri "What’s Next" to hear your next step, or "Quick Dump" to drop a thought into your inbox. Your tasks are indexed in Spotlight too, so you can swipe down on the Home Screen, type a task name, and tap straight to it. #### Siri, Shortcuts & sharing into Molehill - **Topic**: Privacy & devices - **Summary**: Add a task, get your next step, start focusing, or send things in, all hands-free. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/siri-and-shortcuts Molehill works with Siri and Shortcuts, so you can capture and start things without even opening the app, handy when your hands are full or your focus is fragile. ##### Things you can ask Siri - "What’s Next": hear your single next step. - "Break down…": turn something you say into steps. - "Quick Dump": drop a thought straight into your brain-dump inbox. - "Start Focus": jump into Focus mode on your current step. You can also drop these actions into your own Shortcuts and automations, for example, starting Focus automatically when a certain Focus mode turns on. ##### Share things into your inbox When an email, article, or note lands that you will need to handle, you do not have to deal with it right then. In Mail, Safari, Notes, or almost any app, open the Share sheet, choose Molehill, and the item drops into your brain-dump inbox, ready to sort into a real task whenever you are. > Your tasks are indexed in Spotlight too, so you can swipe down on your Home Screen, type a task name, and tap straight to it. #### The gentle daily nudge - **Topic**: Privacy & devices - **Summary**: An optional, soft reminder to check in, off by default, on your terms. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/molehill/the-daily-nudge If a gentle daily check-in would help, Molehill can send one: a single soft notification at a time you choose. It is off by default, because the last thing your brain needs is another thing pinging at it. 1. **Open Settings**: Go to the Settings screen in Molehill. 2. **Turn on the daily nudge**: Flip the toggle on and pick a time that fits your day. The default is 9:00 AM if you keep it. 3. **Allow notifications**: If asked, allow notifications for Molehill so the nudge can reach you. No pressure either way. > The daily reminder is optional and can be turned off. Molehill also displays streaks and completion history inside the app. > The nudge is a local notification scheduled on your device. Like everything else in Molehill, it involves no server and nothing leaving your phone. --- ### Cove: Help Guides Learn to write entries, use on-device reflections, revisit your journal, and manage storage and exports. > **Preview documentation:** This product is in development. Features, compatibility, and exact steps may change before release. #### Welcome to Cove - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: An introduction to writing entries, using reflections, and finding past entries. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/welcome-to-cove Cove is a journal with an unusual constraint: the AI that reads your words runs on your iPhone. Not on a fast server somewhere with a good privacy policy. On the phone in your hand. That constraint is the whole product. It is what makes it reasonable to write the thing you would not paste into a chatbot, and it is the one promise a cloud journal cannot structurally match. #### The four screens - Home: today's prompt, a quick mood check-in, and the fastest way into writing. - Journal: everything you have written, searchable by words and by meaning. - Insights: mood trends, recurring themes, and your weekly reflections. - Settings: the app lock, reminders, export and import, your plan, and the privacy panel. > **Writing is never paywalled** Unlimited entries, photos, voice journaling, tags, and search are free forever. A journal you can only afford to keep while you are subscribed is not really your journal. There is no Cove account and nothing to sign in to. You can write your first entry about thirty seconds after opening the app. #### Writing your first entry - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: Write and save your first entry, then read its on-device reflection. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/your-first-entry The blank page is the hardest part of journaling, so Cove tries not to hand you one. 1. **Open Home**: There is a prompt waiting for you. If it does not fit today, tap for another, or ignore it entirely and start writing. 2. **Say how you feel**: Tap one of the mood orbs. It takes a second and it is what makes the trends later worth looking at. You can skip it. 3. **Write, or talk**: Type, or tap the microphone and speak. Dictation runs on the device, and you can keep the recording alongside the text if you want it. 4. **Save**: Cove reads the entry on the device and offers a short reflection: the tone it noticed, a theme, and one warm line back to you. > **Two sentences counts** There is no minimum length and nothing scolds you for a short entry. A journal you actually keep beats a journal you keep perfectly for nine days. While you write, Cove may offer one gentle follow-up question. It is dismissible, it is generated on the device, and it is a nudge rather than a requirement. #### Setting a daily reminder - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: One quiet nudge at a time you choose, or none at all. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/daily-reminder Cove can send one local notification a day at a time you pick. It is scheduled on your device from your own settings, so no server knows when you journal. 1. **Open Settings**: Find the reminders section. 2. **Choose a time**: Pick a moment you are usually still and unhurried. Evening works for most people; some prefer the first coffee. 3. **Allow notifications**: iOS asks once. If you decline, you can change it later in the iOS Settings app under Cove. > **It will not escalate** Cove sends one reminder. It does not send a second one because you ignored the first, and it does not warn you about a streak you are about to lose. #### Voice journaling and dictation - **Topic**: Writing an entry - **Summary**: Speak an entry, keep the recording, and know exactly where the audio lives. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/voice-journaling Some days it is easier to talk than to type. Tap the microphone in the editor and speak; Cove transcribes on the device and drops the text straight into the entry, where you can edit it like anything else you wrote. You can also keep the take. If you do, the audio is saved as part of the entry rather than being discarded after transcription. > **Kept audio is real data** A saved voice memo is stored with the entry and is included in a full ZIP export. Treat it as something you are keeping, not as transient dictation that quietly disappears. **Q: Does the audio go to a transcription service?** A: No. Transcription happens on the device, which is also why it works in airplane mode. **Q: Can I delete just the recording?** A: Yes. Remove the voice memo from the entry and the written text stays behind. #### Photos, tags, and Markdown - **Topic**: Writing an entry - **Summary**: Attach what makes the moment legible, and label entries in your own words. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/photos-and-tags An entry can carry photos you pick from your library. They open in a calm full-screen viewer with pinch to zoom, and they travel with the entry when you export. Tags are yours to invent. Add a few words that mean something to you (work, sleep, mum, that project) and they become searchable alongside the text, the themes, and the meaning-based search. > **Light Markdown when you reread** Cove renders basic Markdown such as bold and italics when you read an entry back. What is stored stays plain text, so nothing is trapped in a proprietary format. #### Prompts and guided programs - **Topic**: Writing an entry - **Summary**: A daily prompt when you need a way in, and seven-day arcs when you want direction. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/prompts-and-programs A daily reflective prompt appears on Home and in the widget. Tap it and you are already writing, which is usually the entire battle. Cove Plus adds guided programs: seven-day arcs such as Gratitude, Steadier Days, and Growth, with progress shown on Home. Each day gives you a prompt with a direction rather than a blank page. > **A program is not a course** Guided programs are writing prompts arranged in a sensible order. They are not therapy, treatment, or a clinical protocol, and skipping a day breaks nothing. #### What Cove notices in an entry - **Topic**: Reflection and insight - **Summary**: Tone, a theme, and one warm line back, produced on your device. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/what-cove-notices When you save an entry, Cove reads it on the device and offers a small, deliberately restrained response: the tone it picked up, a theme it saw, and one sentence reflecting the entry back to you. It is meant to feel like being heard, not analysed. Cove Plus shows the full set of emotions and themes it noticed rather than the headline one. > **This is reflection, not diagnosis** Cove is a journal. It does not diagnose, detect crises, provide medical advice, or replace a professional. If something you wrote worries you, please talk to someone qualified rather than a phone. #### Which engine produced it Cove labels its insights honestly. On Apple Intelligence hardware, Apple's on-device model writes the reflection. Where that is unavailable, a local NaturalLanguage engine produces sentiment and lexical themes instead. It is plainer, and it is still entirely local. #### The weekly reflection - **Topic**: Reflection and insight - **Summary**: A short private synthesis when a week closes, written from digests rather than raw entries. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/weekly-reflection When a week closes, Cove can compose a short reflection on it and let you know it is ready. Past reflections are kept as an archive you can reread, which turns out to be the part people value most after a few months. #### How it is built Cove does not feed a week of raw journal entries into a model. Each entry's insight is aggregated in plain Swift into a compact digest, and the model writes over that digest. It keeps generation inside the model's limits and keeps the raw text out of the summarisation step. > **One free preview** You get one free weekly reflection preview after your first written week, so you can decide whether the feature is worth anything to you before paying for it. Automatic weekly reflections are part of Cove Plus. #### Asking your own journal - **Topic**: Reflection and insight - **Summary**: A conversation grounded in your entries, with the sources it drew from. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/ask-your-journal Ask your journal a real question. When did I last feel like this? What do I keep saying about work? What was going on the month before the move? Cove retrieves the relevant entries first, answers from them, and shows you which entries the answer came from. Follow-up questions remember the exchange, and the whole conversation runs on the device. > **Check the sources** The cited entries are the point. If an answer surprises you, open the entries behind it. Your own words are the authority here, not the summary of them. The free plan includes one conversation a week, opener plus follow-ups. Cove Plus removes the limit. You can also scope a question to a single entry from that entry's page. #### Why Cove requires Apple Intelligence - **Topic**: Reflection and insight - **Summary**: Check device requirements and what to do when Apple Intelligence is unavailable. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/apple-intelligence-requirement Cove checks for Apple Intelligence when it launches. On-device AI is the product here rather than a garnish, so a half-working Cove would be worse than an honest explanation. #### What you need iPhone 15 Pro or later, or an iPad with M1 or later, running iOS 26 or later, with Apple Intelligence turned on in Settings and the on-device model finished downloading. #### What you might see - Hardware that cannot run Apple Intelligence: a full-screen explanation instead of the app. This one is an honest dead end. - Apple Intelligence turned off: a screen with a direct path into iOS Settings, which clears itself when you come back. - The model still downloading: an explanation that resolves on its own the next time you open Cove. > **Why the check happens at launch** There is no App Store setting that prevents installation on a device without Apple Intelligence, so the check has to run when the app does. That is why Cove can be downloaded and then tell you it cannot help. #### Why not a lesser version instead Writing, photos, voice, tags, moods, search, export, and the app lock are not AI features, but the reflection engine is the reason Cove exists. A build without it would be a plain text editor with a paywall, so Cove does not ship one. #### Search that understands meaning - **Topic**: Finding what you wrote - **Summary**: Find the entry you half-remember, even when you cannot recall the words. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/search-your-journal Cove searches two ways at once. Keyword search finds exact words and tags. Semantic search finds entries that mean something similar, which is what you actually need when you remember the feeling but not the phrasing. Search for "felt out of my depth at work" and you will surface the entry where you wrote about the presentation, even though it never used those words. > **The index is yours too** Semantic search uses multilingual embeddings computed on the device, cached to disk. No entry text is sent anywhere to build or query that index. #### On This Day, pinning, and rereading - **Topic**: Finding what you wrote - **Summary**: Let the journal hand back the entry you did not know you needed. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/on-this-day On This Day surfaces what you wrote on this date in previous years. It is the quietest feature in Cove and often the most affecting one, particularly after the first year. You can pin entries you want near the top, and swipe an entry in the Journal list to pin or delete it. Pinned entries get their own section. > **Give it a year** Most of Cove's value compounds. Search, patterns, and On This Day all get better the more you have written, which is a good reason to keep entries short and frequent rather than long and rare. #### Mood logging and trends - **Topic**: Moods and patterns - **Summary**: A one-tap check-in, a 14-day trend, and the themes that travel with each mood. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/mood-trends Logging a mood takes one tap, on Home or from the widget. Cove charts a 14-day trend for free, and Cove Plus opens up all-time trends and the correlations between moods and themes. The correlations are the interesting part. Seeing that your lowest days cluster around one theme is the kind of thing that is obvious in hindsight and invisible in the moment. > **A pattern is not a cause** Cove shows what co-occurs in what you wrote. It does not establish why, and it is not a clinical measurement of your mental health. If you like, moods can also sync to Apple Health as State of Mind. That is optional, permission-based, and off until you turn it on. #### Year in Review - **Topic**: Moods and patterns - **Summary**: A private look back at the year, shareable as aggregates only. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/year-in-review Year in Review is a private look back at your writing year: how much you wrote, how the moods moved, and the themes that kept returning. > **Shareable without sharing your words** If you export it as an image, that image contains aggregates only. Your entries themselves are not included, because a Wrapped card is not worth leaking a diary over. Year in Review is part of Cove Plus. #### Optional Apple Health mood sync - **Topic**: Moods and patterns - **Summary**: Write moods to Health as State of Mind, only if you ask for it. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/health-sync Cove can write the moods you log into Apple Health as State of Mind entries, so they sit alongside sleep, activity, and anything else you track there. 1. **Open Settings**: Find the Health section. 2. **Turn on mood sync**: iOS shows its own permission sheet. Cove only gets the specific access you grant. 3. **Change your mind anytime**: Revoke it in the Health app under Sharing, or turn the toggle back off in Cove. > **Health is Apple's, not ours** Data written to Health lives in your Health database under Apple's protections. Obsidian Ridge Labs does not receive it, and this feature is off until you enable it. #### Widgets, Siri, Spotlight and Control Center - **Topic**: Devices and sync - **Summary**: Reach the journal without opening the app first, from the Lock Screen, Siri, or Spotlight. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/widgets-and-siri The friction between thinking something and writing it down is where most journals die. Cove tries to remove it. - Home Screen, Lock Screen, and StandBy widgets showing today's prompt, your streak, or a mood orb. - An interactive mood widget: log how you feel without opening Cove. - A Control Center control for quick entry. - Siri and Shortcuts, including "Ask Cove about my journal". - Spotlight search, scoped for privacy, so entries are findable from the Home Screen. > **Put the prompt on the Lock Screen** The Lock Screen prompt widget is the single highest-leverage setup change. Seeing a question at a glance is what turns journaling from an intention into a habit. #### Cove on iPad - **Topic**: Devices and sync - **Summary**: Reread your journal as a two-page spread on iPad, and how quick capture works without a Watch app. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/ipad Cove runs on iPhone and iPad. On iPad, the Journal opens as a two-page spread, which is a much better way to reread a stretch of writing than a phone-sized column. When iCloud is available, your entries sync between devices signed in to the same Apple Account through Cove's private iCloud database. The mode your device is actually using is named in Settings. > **Cove has no Apple Watch app** Cove is built for iPhone and iPad. To capture a thought quickly, use a Cove widget, the Control Center control, Siri, or the quick actions on the Cove icon. #### How Cove uses iCloud - **Topic**: Devices and sync - **Summary**: Your own private database, with a local-only fallback, and Settings tells you which one opened. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/icloud-sync Cove uses a private iCloud database when available, with a local store as its fallback. That is the default storage path, not an in-app opt-in setting. Reflection and search run on your device; syncing journal records is a separate network path through your Apple account. #### The fallback chain - Private iCloud sync when the container is available. - Local-only at the same location when it is not, so the app still opens and nothing is lost. - In-memory with a plain-language alert only if the on-disk store is genuinely corrupt. > **Settings shows the mode you are actually in** The privacy panel in Settings names which of those three opened. You should not have to guess whether your journal is syncing. Export remains the backup you fully control either way. #### Does my journal ever leave my iPhone? - **Topic**: Privacy, lock and export - **Summary**: Learn how entries are processed, where they are stored, and what sharing includes. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/where-entries-live The short version: there is no Cove account, no Obsidian Ridge Labs server that receives your entries, no advertising profile, and no analytics SDK. Reflection runs on your device. #### The parts worth stating precisely - When the private iCloud database is available, journal records can sync through your Apple account. Cove uses this storage path by default, with a local fallback. - If you turn on Health sync, the moods you log are written into your Health database. - App Store purchases are verified by Apple, which is how any paid app works. - Anything you export leaves Cove's protection and inherits the privacy of wherever you put it. > **Why we list the exceptions** Local processing and synced storage are different things. Cove’s privacy panel shows the active storage mode. Health sharing and Spotlight have their own controls; the app does not provide an iCloud opt-in switch. #### Locking Cove with Face ID - **Topic**: Privacy, lock and export - **Summary**: Biometric or passcode lock, plus a cover in the app switcher. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/app-lock A journal is the one app most worth locking. Turn on the app lock in Settings and Cove requires Face ID, Touch ID, or your device passcode to open. > **The app switcher is covered too** When you swipe away from Cove, it shows a privacy cover instead of your open entry. Someone flicking through your apps does not get to read a paragraph over your shoulder. **Q: What if Face ID fails?** A: You can fall back to the device passcode, exactly as you would elsewhere on iOS. **Q: Does the lock encrypt my entries?** A: The lock controls access to the app. Your entries also sit inside iOS data protection on a device with a passcode, which is the layer that matters most. #### Export, import, and erase - **Topic**: Privacy, lock and export - **Summary**: Export Markdown, JSON, or a ZIP archive, import from Day One, and delete entries. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/export-your-journal Your journal should be portable, including away from us. Cove exports in three shapes. - Markdown: readable anywhere, good for archiving or moving into another writing app. - JSON: structured, good if you want to process entries yourself. - ZIP archive: the complete set, with photos and audio included. #### Coming from Day One Cove includes a Day One importer, so years of existing entries can come with you rather than being stranded in an app you have decided to leave. > **Erase means erase** Settings includes an in-app erase action. Synced records can also be affected, so export the journal before deleting if you may need a copy later. Deleting the app is not the same action as erasing records from a private iCloud database. #### What is free and what Cove Plus adds - **Topic**: Plans and billing - **Summary**: The line between the two, stated plainly, including the parts that stay free forever. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/compare-free-and-plus #### Free, forever - Unlimited entries, photos, voice journaling, and tags. Writing is never paywalled. - A per-entry on-device insight: tone, a theme, and a warm reflection. - A daily prompt, a follow-up question while you write, and mood logging with a 14-day trend. - Keyword and semantic search, On This Day, pinning, widgets, Siri, Spotlight, and the app lock. - Export, the Day One importer, and full erase. - One Ask your journal conversation each week, and one Weekly Reflection preview after your first written week. #### Cove Plus - Automatic weekly reflections, kept as a rereadable archive. - Unlimited Ask your journal conversations. - Guided seven-day programs. - Every emotion and theme Cove notices, not just the headline one. - All-time mood trends, mood and theme patterns, and Year in Review. > **Pricing** Cove Plus is $5.99 per month, $34.99 per year with a two-week free trial on annual, or $89.99 once for lifetime access. Apple shows your local price and the terms before you confirm. #### Restoring a purchase - **Topic**: Plans and billing - **Summary**: New phone, reinstall, or a purchase that did not appear. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/cove/restore-purchase Purchases belong to your Apple Account, not to a Cove account, because there is no Cove account. Restoring is quick. 1. **Check the Apple Account**: Make sure the device is signed in with the same Apple Account you purchased on. Family members each need their own purchase unless it is shared through Family Sharing. 2. **Open Settings in Cove**: Tap Restore Purchases. 3. **Give it a moment**: The App Store confirms the entitlement and Plus features unlock. If nothing happens, check your network and try once more. > **Still stuck?** Email support@obsidianridgelabs.com with the Apple Account email used for the purchase and roughly when you bought it, and a real person will sort it out. Refunds themselves are handled by Apple. --- ### Wove: Help Guides Learn to capture garments, review outfit suggestions, plan looks, and manage wardrobe records and photos. > **Preview documentation:** This product is in development. Features, compatibility, and exact steps may change before release. #### Welcome to Wove - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: What Wove does, why cataloguing is the hard part, and how it is made easier. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/welcome-to-wove Wove helps you find outfits in the clothes you own and keep a record of what you wear. Plus adds capsules, a shopping advisor, and a separate trip checklist. Start with a few pieces you wear often. Wove can capture individual garments or several pieces laid out with space between them. Review the detected items and their cut-outs before adding them to the closet. #### The four tabs - Today: the day's look, weather-aware, with wear this and not this. - Closet: everything you own, searchable and filterable. - Style: outfit ideas, capsules, packing, saved looks, and the stylist chat. - Insights: what you wear, what you do not, and what is missing. > **No account, no caps** There is no Wove account to make and no limit on how many garments you can add. Photos of your clothes stay on your device as files. #### Adding your first garments - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: The fastest path from a wardrobe full of clothes to a closet you can style from. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/add-your-first-garments You do not need to catalogue everything before Wove is useful. Twenty pieces is enough for real outfits. Start with what you actually reach for. 1. **Find a plain surface**: A bed, a floor, a table. Wove lifts the garment off its background, so contrast helps and a busy duvet does not. 2. **Lay out several pieces**: Leave space between garments and take one photo. Wove proposes separate entries for detected pieces; overlapping clothes can merge or be missed. 3. **Confirm the tags**: Colour, type, and season are proposed on the device. Fix anything wrong now; it takes seconds and improves every later suggestion. 4. **Repeat until bored**: Genuinely. Add a batch, use the app, add more when you notice something missing. > **Batch import from your library** Already have photos of clothes? Pick up to twenty at once and confirm the whole lot in a single review pass. #### Several garments from one photo - **Topic**: Building the closet - **Summary**: How the multi-item capture works, and what makes it work better. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/several-garments-one-photo Apple Vision can find every distinct subject in a photograph. Wove reads each one separately, crops it to its own bounds, and creates a garment with its own cut-out and its own crop of the original photo. #### What helps - Space between pieces. Overlapping garments read as one shape. - A plain, contrasting surface. - Even light. Hard shadows can be mistaken for edges. - Flat, not folded into a lump. A folded jumper is a rectangle to a computer. > **It runs on your phone** Segmentation, colour analysis, and category tagging all happen on the device. Nothing about this step needs a network, which is also why it works with your phone in airplane mode. #### Editing, archiving and organising garments - **Topic**: Building the closet - **Summary**: Fix a tag, retire something for the season, or take a piece out of rotation. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/edit-a-garment Every proposed tag is editable, because a model looking at a photo of a navy jumper in warm light will sometimes call it black. - Category, colour, formality, and seasons. - Favourites, so the pieces you love get weighted properly. - Archive, for anything out of rotation without deleting its wear history. - Delete, when a piece genuinely leaves your life. > **Formality is the tag worth fixing** Colour errors produce slightly odd pairings. Formality errors produce trainers with a suit. If you correct one field, correct that one. #### Today's look - **Topic**: Outfits and styling - **Summary**: A weather-aware outfit each morning, with the reason it works. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/todays-look Today shows one outfit built from your closet, aware of the forecast, with a short styling tip explaining the specific move that makes it land rather than just restating what is in it. - Wear this: one tap logs it, which is what teaches Wove what you really reach for. - Not this: one tap restyles you from a different corner of the closet, and is remembered. - More looks: cycle through alternatives when neither of those is quite it. > **Not this is the important button** Wove stores rejected combinations locally and uses them in future styling. Their influence fades with a 45-day half-life. This feedback is available free; learning from wear history through the taste profile requires Plus. You can count and erase your rejections in Settings if you want to start that signal over. #### Saved looks and the outfit calendar - **Topic**: Outfits and styling - **Summary**: Keep the combinations that work and plan them onto real days. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/saved-looks-calendar When a combination works, save it. Saved looks can be worn with one tap later, or planned onto a future date. The calendar shows a month of what you actually wore. You can log a past day retroactively when you forget, and a look planned onto a future day takes over Today and the widget when that day arrives. > **Plan the day you dread** The highest-value use of the calendar is the morning you know will be rushed. Decide the night before; wake up with it already on the Lock Screen. #### Asking the stylist - **Topic**: Outfits and styling - **Summary**: Ask the stylist questions using context from your saved wardrobe. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/ask-the-stylist Ask about your closet in plain language. What goes with these grey trousers? And for something dressier? What should I wear to a wedding in October? The conversation is multi-turn and grounded in your actual garments, so the answers reference pieces you own rather than describing an aspirational wardrobe you would have to go buy. > **Every garment has an ask button** Open any piece and use Ask about this piece to start a conversation scoped to it. It is the quickest way to get value out of something you never know how to wear. The conversational stylist is part of Wove+. #### Why Wove requires Apple Intelligence - **Topic**: Outfits and styling - **Summary**: Check device requirements and what to do when Apple Intelligence is unavailable. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/apple-intelligence-requirement Wove checks for Apple Intelligence when it launches. On-device AI is the product here rather than a garnish, so a half-working Wove would be worse than an honest explanation. #### What you need iPhone 15 Pro or later, or an iPad with M1 or later, running iOS 26 or later, with Apple Intelligence turned on in Settings and the on-device model finished downloading. #### What you might see - Hardware that cannot run Apple Intelligence: a full-screen explanation instead of the app. This one is an honest dead end. - Apple Intelligence turned off: a screen with a direct path into iOS Settings, which clears itself when you come back. - The model still downloading: an explanation that resolves on its own the next time you open Wove. > **Why the check happens at launch** There is no App Store setting that prevents installation on a device without Apple Intelligence, so the check has to run when the app does. That is why Wove can be downloaded and then tell you it cannot help. #### Why not a lesser version instead The outfit resolver checks that proposed garments belong to your closet and that a combination covers the required parts of an outfit. A built-in stylist supplies fallback combinations when generation fails. These checks do not guarantee that every preference, weather condition, or styling rule is satisfied. #### Building a capsule - **Topic**: Capsules, packing and shopping - **Summary**: A small set of pieces that layer into many looks, drawn from what you own. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/capsule-wardrobes A Plus capsule selects a small group of garments from your closet. Unlike the generic trip checklist, it uses your saved clothing pieces. It is the most useful answer to the ninety percent of a wardrobe that never gets worn: not buy less, but see clearly which pieces are doing the work. > **Start with an everyday capsule** Neutral, easy to combine, weather-appropriate. Once you trust it, try one for a specific occasion or trip. #### Packing for a trip - **Topic**: Capsules, packing and shopping - **Summary**: A Plus checklist of clothing types and travel essentials, with packing progress. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/packing-lists With Plus, enter the trip dates and purpose to create a checklist of clothing types and essentials. The packing flow does not select specific garments from your closet. Review the list and choose the actual pieces yourself. 1. **Create a trip**: Give it dates and a focus, such as everyday, work, or formal. 2. **Review the list**: Add and remove pieces. You know that one jacket is non-negotiable. 3. **Pack against it**: Tick items off. A Live Activity keeps pack progress on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island while you are actually packing. > **Season, not destination forecast** Trip suggestions use the calendar season and your current local weather context. They are not a destination weather forecast, so check the actual forecast where you are going. #### The shopping advisor - **Topic**: Capsules, packing and shopping - **Summary**: Compare a potential purchase with the clothes already saved in your wardrobe. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/shopping-advisor Snap a piece you are considering. Wove shows which of your own clothes pair with it, using real images, warns you if you already own something very similar, and gives a buy or skip verdict. It also projects a cost per wear from the price and how often you genuinely wear comparable pieces. That number is usually the argument. > **It is advice, not authority** The verdict is based on your closet and your own wear history. It has no opinion about fit, quality, or whether the thing makes you happy, which are the parts only you can judge. The shopping advisor is part of Wove+. #### Logging what you wore - **Topic**: Wear tracking and insights - **Summary**: Record worn outfits and learn how wear history informs wardrobe insights. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/wear-tracking Logging a wear takes one tap on Today, on the widget, on your watch, or from a garment. There is also a quick multi-select for the days you got dressed without consulting an app. Wear history records what you chose and can support cost-per-wear estimates. Plus uses wear-derived preferences to personalize future styling. Rejecting a suggestion and adding personal notes are available free. > **Any wear can be undone** Logged the wrong thing? Undo it. The history is meant to be accurate, not permanent. #### Closet gaps and wardrobe insights - **Topic**: Wear tracking and insights - **Summary**: What you actually wear, what you never touch, and what is missing. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/closet-gaps Insights is where the wear log pays off. Wove shows the composition of your wardrobe, your most and least worn pieces, and your best value by cost per wear. - Signature pairings: the combinations you keep returning to. - Cold-weather go-tos: what you actually reach for when it turns. - Forgotten pieces: things you own and never wear. - Closet gaps: what would round out what you already have. > **What is free** The top closet gap is free. The full gaps breakdown, signature pairings, cold-weather go-tos, and best-value analysis are part of Wove+. #### Closet Recap and share cards - **Topic**: Wear tracking and insights - **Summary**: Turn a year of wear logs into something worth looking at. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/year-recap Closet Recap turns your year of wear logs into a swipeable, shareable story: what you wore most, what you rediscovered, how your closet actually behaved. Any individual look can also be exported as a branded share card, which is the easiest way to ask a friend what they think without sending them into your app. #### Apple Watch, widgets and Siri - **Topic**: Watch, widgets and weather - **Summary**: Wear this from your wrist or your Lock Screen, without opening the app. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/watch-and-widgets You decide what to wear standing in front of a wardrobe, not sitting down with your phone. So Wove puts today's look where you already are. - Apple Watch: today's look on your wrist, with wear this and not this right there. - Home Screen, Lock Screen, and StandBy widgets, including a one-tap wear button on the widget itself. - A Control Center control for what to wear. - Siri: ask what you should wear. - Optional morning look notifications. > **Extensions never run the model** The app computes today's look and publishes a small self-contained snapshot. The widget and the watch only render it, which is why they are instant and do not drain your battery. #### How Wove uses weather and location - **Topic**: Watch, widgets and weather - **Summary**: Approximate location requests for the local forecast, without a stored location history. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/weather-and-location With permission, Wove requests approximate location when refreshing the local forecast through Apple WeatherKit. Each refresh can make another location request. If permission is denied or the service is unavailable, styling can use cached weather or seasonal context. > **Stated precisely** Wove caches the forecast, not the location. This is a disclosed Apple service request, so it is not accurate to say nothing ever leaves the device when weather is on. You can decline the permission and everything else keeps working. **Q: Does Wove track my location over time?** A: No. It is a one-shot coarse request when a forecast is needed, not continuous location monitoring. **Q: Can I turn it off?** A: Yes, in iOS Settings under Wove. Outfits then use season and your tags instead of live weather. #### Where your garment photos live - **Topic**: Privacy and your data - **Summary**: Files on your device, a database of names and tags, and what sync actually covers. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/where-photos-live Garment images are stored as files in Wove's own shared container on your device. The database holds only the file names and the tags extracted from each photo, which is why the app stays fast and the widgets can read images directly. There is no Wove account, no advertising network, no analytics SDK, and no server of ours that receives photographs of your clothes. #### What iCloud sync covers > **Records sync, image files are a separate question** Turning on iCloud Sync in Settings mirrors your closet records through your own private iCloud database. The garment image files live outside that database, so photos stay on the device where you added them. Turning sync on or off applies the next time you launch the app. #### Exporting your whole closet - **Topic**: Privacy and your data - **Summary**: Take the records and every photo with you, whenever you want. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/export-your-closet Settings can export the entire closet to Files: the records as JSON and all of your garment photos alongside them. > **An export is a copy you own** Once exported, those files inherit the privacy of wherever you put them. Saving to a synced cloud folder puts them under that provider's terms, not ours. You can also undo any logged wear and archive or unarchive pieces freely. Nothing about your wardrobe history is locked in one direction. #### What is free and what Wove+ adds - **Topic**: Plans and billing - **Summary**: The line between the two, with no caps on the part that matters. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/compare-free-and-plus #### Free - Unlimited garments, with automatic cut-out and tagging. No item cap. - Several garments from one photo, and batch import of up to twenty photos. - Today's look with a styling tip, wear this, and not this. - Manual and AI outfit building, with a few AI styling generations a day. - Wear logging, wear history, and the outfit calendar. - Share cards, Closet Recap, and the top closet gap. - Widgets, Control Center, Siri, Apple Watch, and full closet export. #### Wove+ - A stylist that tunes to your taste over time. - The shopping advisor. - The conversational stylist. - Full insights: signature pairings, cold-weather go-tos, best value, and the complete gaps breakdown. - iCloud sync across devices. > **Pricing** Wove+ is $3.99 per month, $19.99 per year, or $24.99 once for lifetime access, as a single entitlement. Both subscriptions start with a seven-day free trial. Apple shows your local price and the terms before you confirm. #### Restoring a purchase - **Topic**: Plans and billing - **Summary**: Restore access to a purchase after reinstalling or moving to a new phone. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/wove/restore-purchase Purchases belong to your Apple Account. There is no Wove account, so there is nothing to log into. 1. **Check the Apple Account**: The device must be signed in with the account you purchased on. 2. **Open Settings in Wove**: Tap Restore Purchases. 3. **Wait a moment**: The App Store checks your purchase and restores Wove+ access. > **Still stuck?** Email support@obsidianridgelabs.com with the Apple Account email and roughly when you purchased. Refunds are handled by Apple. --- ### Mettle: Help Guides Guides for building a program, running a session, understanding your reps and loads, and adjusting the plan when your needs change. > **Preview documentation:** This product is in development. Features, compatibility, and exact steps may change before release. #### Welcome to Mettle - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: An introduction to your training plan, workout log, and target explanations. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/welcome-to-mettle Most strength apps tell you what to lift. Mettle tells you why: because you topped the rep range, because you are four weeks from a deload, because your squat needs volume your bench does not. It also meets you where you are. On day one the language is plain and reassuring. A year in, the same program gets described in the terms an experienced lifter actually wants. What changes is the explanation, never the quality of the plan underneath. #### The four tabs - Today: the session waiting for you, or a recovery card if you have earned one. - Plan: the program, the training week, and the ability to edit any day. - Coach: a conversation grounded in your own program and history. - Progress: volume, duration, heart rate, tempo, records, and set-by-set history. > **No account, no body data sent to us** There is nothing to sign up for. Programs are generated on your iPhone, and your training and body metrics stay on your devices. #### Building your first program - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: Six answers, then a complete plan generated on your phone. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/build-your-first-program Mettle needs to know your situation before it can write anything sensible. The setup is short and every answer is changeable later. 1. **Goal**: Build muscle, get stronger, or general fitness. This shapes rep ranges and how volume is distributed. 2. **Experience**: Choose the experience level that fits your training history. Mettle can suggest an adjustment as you log workouts. 3. **Equipment**: Full gym, home setup, dumbbells only, bodyweight. Mettle uses your equipment setup when choosing exercises and load targets. 4. **Schedule**: Training days per week and roughly how long a session can be. A realistic three days beats an aspirational six. 5. **Units and bodyweight**: The current development build uses pounds for training. Optional bodyweight helps put training numbers in context; CSV import/export has separate unit handling. 6. **Generate**: Mettle builds training days with exercises, sets, reps, and rest targets based on your setup. > **The baseline check is worth the five minutes** Mettle can ask about lifts you already know and run a few gentle movement checks. It is the difference between a first week calibrated to you and a first week of guessing. #### Reading Why this? - **Topic**: Your program - **Summary**: See the logged performance and training rule behind your next reps and load. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/why-this Tap Why this? beside a target and Mettle shows the actual reasoning: you topped the rep range last time, so the load went up five pounds and the reps restarted at six. #### The evidence behind the target The explanation is produced by the same deterministic engine that produced the numbers. It is not a language model narrating a decision it did not make, which is how most apps do it and why their explanations can be confidently wrong. > **The depth follows your level** A new lifter sees permission and safety. An experienced lifter sees the increments, the rep-range logic, and where they sit in the deload cycle. Same reasoning, different altitude. #### How progression and deloads work - **Topic**: Your program - **Summary**: Double progression, real gym increments, and deloads counted from weeks you actually trained. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/how-progression-works Mettle uses double progression: work up through the rep range at a given load, and when you top it, the load goes up and the reps restart at the bottom of the range. - Increments are real: a 45 lb bar, 2.5 lb change plates, 5 lb dumbbell jumps. Your equipment setup helps determine the available load increments. - Your own feedback counts. Too light, just right, or too heavy after a set feeds directly into the next target. - Weekly volume is accumulated per muscle across the whole week against a landmark appropriate to your experience, so a six-day split cannot quietly double your chest volume. #### Deloads A deload lands every fifth training week, counted from weeks you actually trained rather than weeks on the calendar. A three-week layoff does not fast-forward you into recovery, and regenerating your program does not reset the cycle. > **Take the deload** It is scheduled because the previous four weeks worked, not because Mettle thinks you are fragile. Skipping it repeatedly is the most common way to stall. #### Growing out of your level - **Topic**: Your program - **Summary**: How logged performance can lead to a suggested change in training level. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/level-up Mettle infers experience from evidence rather than from what you claimed in onboarding: how long you have trained, your strength relative to bodyweight, whether you log RPE, and the language you use in notes. When the evidence says you have outgrown your level, Mettle says so and offers to move you up. Coaching depth, terminology, and program structure follow. > **It is an offer, not a demotion system** Level-up prompts are free, never nagging, and always declinable. You can also set your level yourself if the inference does not match how you feel. #### Editing your program by hand - **Topic**: Your program - **Summary**: Add, remove, and reorder exercises while Mettle calculates the training targets. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/edit-your-program A generated program is a starting point, not a contract. Open any training day and add, remove, reorder, or retune the sets, reps, and rest. > **The division of labour** The volume is yours. The weight stays with the engine, so your edits cannot accidentally produce a load your history does not support. You can also add your own exercises for the machines your gym actually has. Custom exercises are searchable, swappable, loggable, and charted like anything else. They are deliberately never handed to the AI, because the curated library is the safety boundary for generation. #### The exercise library - **Topic**: Your program - **Summary**: Browse the exercise library and choose alternatives for your program. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/exercise-library Mettle’s development build includes a curated exercise library. Each is tiered as core, common, or novelty, which is why traditional staple lifts lead your program and unusual variations stay available as a swap rather than becoming the default in your plan. - Instructions and form cues for each movement. - Animated demonstrations for nearly all of them, bundled offline at around eleven megabytes and aware of Reduce Motion. - Full search, and indexing into Spotlight so you can find a lift from the Home Screen. > **Demonstration media credit** Animated demonstrations are licensed media, credited in the app. They are bundled rather than streamed, so they work in a basement gym with no signal. #### Running a live workout - **Topic**: Running a session - **Summary**: One big button, automatic warm-ups, plate math, and a rest alert that reaches a locked phone. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/running-a-session The live workout screen is built for someone with chalk on their hands. The Complete Set action is deliberately large, and the screen stays awake for the whole session. - Automatic warm-up sets, and first-use load calibration for a lift you have never done here. - Plate math, so you know what to put on the bar rather than doing arithmetic between sets. - Smart rest timers, with an alert that reaches you even when the phone is locked. - Timed, AMRAP, drop, and failure sets, unilateral sides, and supersets. - Reorder, skip, or swap an exercise mid-session when the rack is taken. > **Minimise, do not quit** Leaving the session collapses it into a resume bar so you can browse the rest of the app without losing your place. A force-quit is survivable too; Mettle offers to resume. #### When the equipment is taken - **Topic**: Running a session - **Summary**: Swapping an exercise when the rack is taken, without leaving a hole in your training week. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/mid-session-swap Someone is camped on the rack. Swap the exercise from within the session and Mettle offers alternatives that train the same thing with the equipment you have. Because the engine tracks volume per muscle across the week rather than per exercise, a substitution keeps your week intact instead of leaving a hole. > **Skipping is allowed** You can skip a set or an exercise. Mettle records what actually happened so the next target can use your completed work. #### What the AI coach can and cannot decide - **Topic**: The AI coach - **Summary**: Learn which training targets use rules and where the AI coach can help. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/ai-coach-boundaries This is the most important thing to understand about Mettle. The language model never owns a number. - The deterministic engine owns every set, rep, load, rest interval, progression step, and deload. - The model selects and sequences exercises only from the curated library, and explains the plan. - Why this? uses the same training rule and logged evidence that calculated the target. > **It is not a medical professional** Mettle is a training tool. It is not a physiotherapist, doctor, or diagnostic service. Pain that is sharp, persistent, or worsening deserves a qualified human, not an app. The practical consequence is that the model cannot invent an unsafe movement or a nonsensical load, because it was never given the authority to set one. #### What the coach remembers - **Topic**: The AI coach - **Summary**: Use saved training context in coaching conversations and review proposed changes. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/coach-memory The Coach tab is a real conversation grounded in your program, history, and training targets. Tell it something like "I hurt my shoulder" or "I feel unsteady in squats" and it keeps that as a structured fact rather than losing it when the chat scrolls. #### Proposals are previewed, not applied When the coach proposes an exercise swap or schedule change, review the action card before applying it. Relevant preferences or restrictions may be remembered during the conversation, separately from applying a program change. > **The conversation stays on the phone** The coach runs on Apple's on-device model. Your training complaints, injuries, and history are not sent to Obsidian Ridge Labs or to any AI provider. Conversations, athlete memory, and injury restrictions are all free. The line for Pro is drawn at depth, never at the coach's memory. #### The readiness check - **Topic**: Readiness, injury and rest - **Summary**: Three taps that can make today shorter, easier, or bodyweight-only without rewriting the plan. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/readiness-check Before a session you can answer three quick questions about energy, soreness, and sleep. Mettle combines them conservatively with any Health signals you have opted into. Then you choose. Start as planned, or instantly make the day shorter, easier, no-barbell, or bodyweight-only. None of those rewrite your program; they adjust today. > **A shorter session beats a skipped one** The readiness options exist because the alternative to a hard session is usually no session at all. Turning down the dial keeps the week intact. #### Rest is part of the plan - **Topic**: Readiness, injury and rest - **Summary**: Why Today sometimes shows a recovery card instead of a workout. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/rest-days Finish today's session, or meet your weekly commitment, and Today switches to a recovery card rather than pushing another workout at you. Training anyway is always one tap away. The card is a default, not a lock. > **Rest days do something** If you have an active injury restriction, a phase-appropriate stretching routine appears on rest days, so recovery is a small task rather than an absence of one. #### Training around an injury - **Topic**: Readiness, injury and rest - **Summary**: Record restrictions, review exercise changes and load limits, and update them at check-in. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/injury-restrictions Tell the coach where it hurts and it becomes a restriction rather than a note you have to remember yourself. - Affected movements are substituted out of your program. - Progression caps are applied, landing on real gym increments. - Phase-matched prehab drills join your warm-up. - A stretching routine appears on rest days. - A three-tap weekly check-in tightens, loosens, or resolves the restriction. > **Mettle is not treating you** This is programming that works around discomfort you report. It is not rehabilitation, diagnosis, or medical advice. See a professional for anything sharp, persistent, or worsening. Every adjustment made under a restriction says why it was made. #### Mettle on Apple Watch - **Topic**: Watch, Health and widgets - **Summary**: Rep tempo, per-rep haptics, live heart rate, and the rest timer on your wrist. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/apple-watch The Watch app is a companion to a session your iPhone owns. It times the lowering and lifting phase of each rep, gives you a short distinct haptic on every completed rep, logs sets, shows live and average heart rate, and runs the rest timer. > **It handles a phone in a locker** Commands queue when the phone is briefly unreachable and deduplicate on delivery, so tapping twice because nothing happened does not log two sets. A real HealthKit workout session runs in the background, which is what records heart rate and active energy properly rather than estimating them. #### Apple Health, widgets and reminders - **Topic**: Watch, Health and widgets - **Summary**: Opted-in signals in, rich workouts out, and nudges that learn when you train. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/health-integration With your permission, Mettle reads body and recovery signals from Health and writes rich Watch workouts back to it. Heart rate and measured rep tempo can extend recovery and refine the next set or session. > **Processed locally, never sent to us** Health data is used on the device. Obsidian Ridge Labs does not receive it, and you can revoke access in the Health app at any time. #### Reminders that learn you On the device, Mettle learns roughly when you train on each weekday and nudges you then, with supportive notes on rest days. The wording is generated by Apple Intelligence and tuned to your level, with a deterministic fallback, and it never invents a statistic about you. Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, Live Activities during a session, Siri and Shortcuts, and Spotlight indexing are all included and all free. #### Where your training data lives - **Topic**: Privacy and your data - **Summary**: On your device, in your own private iCloud, and nowhere we can read it. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/where-training-data-lives Mettle has no account, no analytics, and no tracking. Program generation, coaching, and progression all run on your iPhone, and the app works offline. Mettle uses a private iCloud database by default when available, with a local store as its fallback. Coaching and progression run on your iPhone; synced training records remain a separate storage path through your Apple account. > **What still uses the network** Apple model setup, App Store purchase verification, and private iCloud sync can need a connection. Health and Apple Watch integrations have their own permissions and device paths. Web links open only when you choose them. Export remains the backup you fully control either way. #### Exporting, importing, and erasing - **Topic**: Privacy and your data - **Summary**: Bring a training history in, take yours out, or delete it permanently. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/export-and-import You can export your entire history, and import Mettle exports or common workout-log CSVs from other apps. Parsing and saving both happen on the device. #### Imports show their work - You see what was found and which weight unit was detected before anything is written. - An ambiguous file never silently assumes kilograms. - Duplicates are skipped. - A whole import can be undone in one tap. > **Erase is permanent** Settings can erase everything. There is no Obsidian Ridge Labs backup to restore from, so export first if you might want the history. #### What is free and what Mettle Pro adds - **Topic**: Plans and billing - **Summary**: Compare the core training features with the additional tools included in Pro. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/compare-free-and-pro #### Free - AI program generation and weekly regeneration. - Full live-workout logging, rest timer, and Live Activity. - The conversational coach that remembers you. - Injury restrictions, prehab warm-ups, and weekly check-ins. - History, body metrics, and the Today widget. - Custom exercises, and CSV import and export. - The Apple Watch companion and hands-free logging. - Widgets, App Intents, Siri shortcuts, exercise swaps, and contextual lift questions. #### Mettle Pro - Multiple saved programs, and switching between them. - The weekly Coach Review, with evidence and next actions. - Personal records and per-exercise strength trends. - Proactive form-tip coaching on every rest. > **Pricing** Mettle Pro is $4.99 per month, $29.99 per year with a seven-day trial, or $79.99 once for lifetime access. Apple shows your local price and the terms before you confirm. #### Restoring a purchase - **Topic**: Plans and billing - **Summary**: Restore access to a purchase after reinstalling or moving to a new phone. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mettle/restore-purchase There is no Mettle account, so purchases live with your Apple Account. 1. **Check the Apple Account**: The device must be signed in with the account used for the purchase. 2. **Open Settings in Mettle**: Tap Restore Purchases. 3. **Wait a moment**: The App Store checks your purchase and restores Pro access. > **Still stuck?** Email support@obsidianridgelabs.com with the Apple Account email and roughly when you purchased. Refunds are handled by Apple. --- ### Memora: Help Guides Learn to make flashcards from notes, PDFs, and photos, review them with FSRS, and import an existing deck. #### Welcome to Memora - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: An introduction to making cards, reviewing them, and finding your way around Memora. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/welcome-to-memora Memora turns material you already have into flashcards, then schedules them so each card comes back at roughly the moment you would otherwise forget it. Two things are deliberately not negotiable. Generation happens on your iPhone, so your notes are not uploaded to a study platform. And FSRS, the scheduling algorithm that makes the whole thing work, is free for everyone. Charging for the algorithm would be charging for the point. #### The four screens - Study: what is due today, and your decks. - Progress: streak, due counts, mature cards, and review history. - Settings: study limits, reminders, import and export, your plan, and privacy. - Generate, reached from a deck or the home screen, is where new cards come from. > **No account** There is nothing to sign up for and no analytics SDK. Decks, generation, OCR, and your review history all live on the device. #### Your first deck - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: Generate card drafts from your notes, review them, save a deck, and begin studying. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/your-first-deck During setup, paste a short passage from your notes and tap Make my flashcards. Review the proposed cards against your notes, then save them as your first deck. You can edit cards after they have been saved. 1. **Paste your notes**: Use a short paragraph or definition list. Keep the original notes available so you can check the cards. 2. **Generate**: Read the proposed questions and answers, and check that they match the material you pasted. 3. **Save as My First Deck**: Choose to save the generated cards as My First Deck. Open the saved deck if you need to edit a card. 4. **Study it**: Reveal each answer and choose Again, Hard, Good, or Easy based on your recall. The interval preview shows when each choice would bring the card back. > **Coming from another app?** You can also open the importer during setup. Import is free; check the import guide for supported Anki, Quizlet, and CSV formats and their limits. #### Making cards from notes, PDFs and photos - **Topic**: Making cards - **Summary**: Prepare notes, a PDF, or a photo for generation and check the supported formats. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/generate-from-notes The Notes, PDF, and Photo modes create draft cards from material you provide. Generation uses a bounded excerpt of up to 4,000 characters and can propose up to 12 cards at a time. Similar mode is different: it asks for new cards on a topic inferred from examples. Check any generated card before studying it. #### The three inputs - Typed or pasted notes. The most reliable input, because you control what goes in. - PDFs with an embedded text layer, read with PDFKit. - Photos and camera-scanned pages use on-device Vision OCR. Check the recognized text; unclear text or handwriting may not be read correctly. > **A scanned PDF is not the same as a text PDF** If a PDF is really a stack of images with no text layer, Memora cannot read it as a document. Photograph or screenshot the pages instead and use the photo path, which does run OCR. Drafts start selected. Review them, deselect the ones you do not want, then add the selected batch. You can edit the saved cards in the deck. #### Choosing which generated cards to keep - **Topic**: Making cards - **Summary**: Review the proposed cards, choose which to add, then edit saved cards. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/the-review-gate Generated cards arrive as selected drafts. Read the front and back, deselect unwanted cards, then add the selected batch. The review screen does not edit draft text; open a saved card in the deck to change it. This is not a safety formality. Deciding what deserves to be a card is a meaningful part of learning the material, and skipping it produces decks full of cards you never understood in the first place. > **Discard freely** Keep the cards that match what you need to learn. Leave weak or irrelevant drafts unselected, and check important facts against your original material. #### Card types, cloze and image occlusion - **Topic**: Making cards - **Summary**: Basic cards, fill-in-the-blank, and hiding labels on a diagram. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/card-types Memora supports basic question-and-answer cards, cloze cards where part of a sentence is hidden, and image occlusion for diagrams. #### Image occlusion Drop in a diagram and hide the labels. Masks can be dragged to move and grabbed at the corners to resize. The base image is only re-encoded when you actually replace it, so repeated edits do not slowly degrade it. > **Plus can find the labels for you** Automatic label detection is a Plus feature, and running it again on the same image will not create duplicate masks. Placing masks by hand is free. Every card, however it was created, can be edited, paused, or deleted later. Decks also have an accent colour and an SF Symbol so they are recognisable at a glance. #### Why Memora requires Apple Intelligence - **Topic**: Making cards - **Summary**: Check device requirements and what to do when Apple Intelligence is unavailable. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/apple-intelligence-requirement Memora requires an Apple Intelligence-capable iPhone with iOS 26. Unsupported hardware is blocked. On eligible hardware, the app can continue after an advisory while Apple Intelligence is off or its model is unavailable. #### What you need An Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone running the required iOS version, with Apple Intelligence enabled and its model ready. See the product page for the operating-system requirement. #### What you might see - Hardware that cannot run Apple Intelligence: a full-screen explanation instead of the app. This one is an honest dead end. - Apple Intelligence off on eligible hardware: an advisory with a path to Settings and an option to continue. - The model downloading on eligible hardware: continue with manual cards, imports, and study while setup finishes. > **Why the check happens at launch** Memora checks hardware and model readiness separately. Manual study and imported cards do not require a live model. Source-to-card generation has a deterministic fallback; Similar mode and Tutor need the model. #### Why not a lesser version instead Manual cards and FSRS study are free. On eligible hardware, source-to-card generation has a deterministic fallback when the local model is unavailable. Similar mode and Tutor require the model. #### A study session, start to finish - **Topic**: Studying - **Summary**: Reveal and rate cards, edit a saved card, undo a rating, and review your session summary. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/study-session Tap a deck, study, and see the front of a card. Try to recall the answer before revealing it. The effort of failing to remember is most of the value. 1. **Reveal**: Tap, or flick. The answer appears along with the next interval each grade would produce. 2. **Rate honestly**: Choose Again, Hard, Good, or Easy to match how well you recalled the answer. Your rating affects when the card returns. 3. **Fix things in place**: Spotted a typo? Edit the card without leaving the session. You can also pause a card you are not ready for. 4. **Finish**: A completion summary shows cards reviewed, recall percentage, and time spent. > **One-tap undo** Mis-tapped a grade? Undo it immediately. A wrong rating quietly distorts a card's schedule for weeks, so fixing it straight away is worth the second. Cards you rate Again come back within the same session, which is what relearning means. If you have to leave, a mid-session snapshot survives a force-quit and Memora offers to finish the session for up to half a day. #### Hints and Why? explanations - **Topic**: Studying - **Summary**: A nudge that does not give it away, and an explanation grounded in the card. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/study-hints Stuck on a card before revealing it? The Hint button writes a nudge that points you at the answer without handing it over. If the model cannot complete the request, it falls back to a first-letters hint, which is genuinely useful more often than it sounds. After you reveal, Why? explains the answer, grounded strictly in the card itself rather than wandering off into general knowledge. > **Both are free** Hints and explanations are free and entirely on-device. They are the study aids most likely to keep someone from abandoning a hard deck, so they are not behind the paywall. #### When the queue is empty - **Topic**: Studying - **Summary**: Use Practice Ahead for an extra session when no cards are due for review. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/practice-ahead An empty queue is technically the correct answer and a terrible experience the night before an exam. So Memora lets you practice ahead: it pulls upcoming cards, soonest first, capped at a sensible number. > **FSRS reschedules from now** Cards you study early are rescheduled from the moment you reviewed them, so practising ahead does not corrupt the algorithm's model of your memory. #### Match, Listen, tests and the tutor - **Topic**: Studying - **Summary**: Match, Listen, practice tests, and the deck tutor: other ways to retrieve the same material. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/other-study-modes Spaced repetition is the backbone, but variety helps, particularly when you are bored of your own deck. - Match: pair prompts and answers against the clock. - Listen: hear the card rather than read it. - Practice tests: a set of questions in one sitting with a result at the end. - The deck tutor: ask questions about the deck, grounded strictly in its cards. > **What needs what** Practice tests and the tutor are Plus features, and the tutor also requires Apple Intelligence. The paywall never advertises model-powered perks on a device that cannot run them. #### What FSRS actually does - **Topic**: FSRS and scheduling - **Summary**: How your recall ratings affect the date of the next review. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/how-fsrs-works FSRS models two things about each card: how hard it is for you, and how long the memory currently lasts. Every time you rate a card, both are updated, and the next review is scheduled for roughly the point where you would be about to forget it. That is why intervals grow so fast. A card you keep getting right does not need daily attention, and reviewing it daily is wasted effort that crowds out cards you are actually failing. #### What the four grades mean - Again: you did not recall it. The card comes back in this session. - Hard: you got there, but it was a struggle. Shorter interval than Good. - Good: recalled with normal effort. This is the honest default. - Easy: instant and effortless. Use it sparingly, or intervals overshoot. > **Memora shows the interval before you choose** Each grade displays the next interval it would produce. Watching that number react is the fastest way to develop an intuition for honest rating. FSRS is free on every card. Custom FSRS tuning is a Plus feature for people who want to adjust the parameters. #### New-card limits and taming a backlog - **Topic**: FSRS and scheduling - **Summary**: Set a daily new-card limit and work through cards waiting for review. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/daily-limits Settings has a per-day new-card limit, and it shapes the queue across all your decks rather than per deck. It is the single most useful control in the app. Every new card you introduce today becomes reviews for weeks. Introducing two hundred in one evening is how people end up with an eight-hundred-card day and quit. > **If you are already buried** Set new cards to zero for a week and just clear reviews. The backlog shrinks quickly once you stop adding to it. You can also pause individual cards, and sort or filter a deck by due, new, or paused to see exactly what is coming. #### Organising decks and folders - **Topic**: FSRS and scheduling - **Summary**: Search, sort, filter, and folders that appear only when you need them. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/organise-decks Decks carry an accent colour and an SF Symbol so you can pick one out at a glance. Inside a deck you can search cards, sort by added, due, or alphabetical, and filter by due, new, or paused. > **Folders stay out of the way** Folders only appear once you use them. A small library stays flat, because organising six decks into a hierarchy is procrastination with extra steps. #### Importing from Anki, Quizlet, or a spreadsheet - **Topic**: Importing and sharing - **Summary**: Three formats, all free, with cloze converted for you. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/import-from-anki Imports are always free. Charging someone to bring in the decks they already made would be a strange way to earn trust. - Compatible Anki .apkg text decks using legacy .anki2 or .anki21 collections. Media is not imported; newer .anki21b collections are not supported. - Quizlet and Anki text exports. - Any CSV or TSV from a spreadsheet. 1. **Get the file onto your iPhone**: AirDrop, Files, or Mail all work. Memora registers the document types, so tapping the file opens the importer directly. 2. **Review what was found**: Memora shows what it parsed before writing anything. 3. **Import**: Cards land in a deck you choose, and cloze cards keep their blanks. > **One Anki export format needs a checkbox** If Memora rejects a newer Anki package, export it using Anki’s compatibility option. The importer accepts legacy .anki2 and .anki21 collections inside .apkg files, not .anki21b. Images and audio are not carried over. Memora is compatible with Anki files. It is not affiliated with Anki or Quizlet in any way. #### Sharing a deck - **Topic**: Importing and sharing - **Summary**: Check which card content is shared and which study records remain private. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/share-a-deck You can share a deck as a .memora file. Small text-only decks can also travel as a QR code, which is faster than any file transfer when you are sitting next to someone. > **A share carries cards, not your learning record** Review history, schedule, and streak data are excluded from the share format. The recipient gets the study content, not evidence of how badly you did on it. #### Backing up your whole library - **Topic**: Importing and sharing - **Summary**: Export deck content and images; review schedules and history are excluded. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/backup-library Settings has Export All Decks, which writes a .memorabackup file containing deck content and images. It does not include review history or FSRS scheduling. Re-imported cards start with a new study schedule. > **This is your backup** Memora is local-first and does not currently offer iCloud deck sync, so there is no server copy to fall back on. If your study library matters, export it somewhere safe before you change phones. CSV export also round-trips cloze markers, so a spreadsheet stays a viable long-term archive. #### Widgets, Siri, Spotlight and reminders - **Topic**: Widgets and shortcuts - **Summary**: Reaching a study session in one tap or one sentence. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/widgets-and-siri - Home Screen widgets in small and medium, Lock Screen widgets in circular, rectangular, and inline, and StandBy: due count, streak, and your top decks. Tap to jump straight into studying. - A Live Activity showing study progress in the Dynamic Island. - Siri and Shortcuts: quiz me on a deck, start studying, add a flashcard. - Spotlight: decks are indexed, and a result deep-links into a session. - A Control Center control for one-tap Study. - A gentle daily review reminder, scheduled entirely on the device. > **The due-count widget is free** Put it on your Lock Screen. Seeing the number is what makes the habit stick, and it does not require a subscription. #### Does my study material leave my iPhone? - **Topic**: Privacy and your data - **Summary**: Learn how Memora stores and processes study material, and what sharing or export includes. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/where-decks-live Decks, card generation, PDF text extraction, photo OCR, and your entire review history are local. There is no Memora account, no developer server, no analytics SDK, and no third-party data sharing. #### The only ways material leaves - You share a deck file or a QR deck, deliberately. - You export a backup or a CSV to Files. - App Store purchase verification, which is Apple, not us. - A web link you choose to tap. > **There is no iCloud deck sync today** That is a real limitation rather than a privacy feature to boast about: it also means no automatic backup. Use Export All Decks before switching phones. #### What is free and what Memora Plus adds - **Topic**: Plans and billing - **Summary**: Compare free allowances with Plus generation limits and study features. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/compare-free-and-plus #### Free - Unlimited manual cards, and full FSRS on every card. The algorithm is never paywalled. - Up to three decks. - Around fifty AI-generated cards a month. Only real on-device model generations count against it. - Around ten page scans a month. - In-session hints and Why? explanations. - All imports, CSV export, library backup, the due-count widget, and daily reminders. #### Memora Plus - Unlimited AI generation and unlimited decks. - Practice tests and the deck tutor. - Automatic label detection for image occlusion. - Custom FSRS tuning and advanced stats, including review-history and rating charts. - The full ecosystem surface of widgets and shortcuts. > **Pricing** Memora is free to download, with optional Memora Plus. The US App Store currently lists Plus at $3.99 per month, $24.99 per year, or $49.99 for lifetime access. Check the offer in the app for trial eligibility, included features, and your local price. #### Restoring a purchase - **Topic**: Plans and billing - **Summary**: Restore access to a purchase after reinstalling or moving to a new phone. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/memora/restore-purchase There is no Memora account, so purchases live with your Apple Account. 1. **Check the Apple Account**: The device must be signed in with the account used for the purchase. 2. **Open Settings in Memora**: Tap Restore Purchases. 3. **Wait a moment**: The App Store checks your purchase and restores Plus access. > **Decks are separate from purchases** Restoring a purchase does not restore decks, because decks were never on a server. Bring those back with your .memorabackup file. --- ### Trove: Help Guides Learn to capture belongings and receipts, track warranties, find item details, and export inventory records. > **Preview documentation:** This product is in development. Features, compatibility, and exact steps may change before release. #### Welcome to Trove - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: What Trove is for, and why most home inventories never get finished. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/trove/welcome-to-trove A home inventory is the record you wish you had after a burglary, a flood, a move, or a warranty argument. Almost nobody has one, and it is not because the apps are bad. It is because nobody photographs two hundred objects one at a time. Trove attacks that directly. Photograph a whole room and it proposes every belonging it can recognise, which turns an evening's work into a few minutes. > **This data is worth protecting** A photographed catalogue of everything you own, with serial numbers and values, is a burglar's shopping list. That is exactly why Trove keeps it on your device rather than on a server. The Home dashboard shows total recorded value, documentation rings per room, recent additions, and quick actions. Finishing a room closes a ring, which turns out to be a surprisingly effective reason to finish rooms. #### Cataloguing your first room - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: Where to start, and what is actually worth recording. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/trove/your-first-room Start with the room holding the most value, which for most homes is the living room or the home office. If you never catalogue another room, that one covers most of the risk. 1. **Create the room**: Name it the way you actually refer to it. Trove uses rooms for organisation, value breakdowns, and the documentation rings. 2. **Run a Room Scan**: One photo of the room. Trove proposes the belongings it recognises, and you deselect what is not yours or not worth recording. 3. **Fill in the expensive things properly**: For anything you would actually claim on, add the serial number, a receipt, and a value. Everything else can stay a photo and a name. 4. **Move to the next room**: The rings tell you how documented each one is. > **What insurers tend to want** A photo, a description, a purchase date, a price or replacement estimate, and a serial number for anything with one. A receipt turns a claim from a negotiation into a formality. #### Room Scan - **Topic**: Capturing what you own - **Summary**: One photo of a room, a grid of proposed belongings, and what makes it work well. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/trove/room-scan Point the camera at a room and take one photo. Trove examines the whole frame and a grid of crops across it, classifies each region on the device, filters the results against a household vocabulary, and then names and values the room in a single pass. You get a review grid. Deselect anything that is not yours or not worth recording, edit values inline, and commit. Sets of identical objects, such as four dining chairs, collapse into one entry with a quantity. #### Getting a better scan - Stand back far enough to get the room in frame. Trove is looking for many things, not one thing. - Good light. It is a camera; the usual rules apply. - Two or three scans from different corners beat one heroic wide shot. - Doors and drawers open if what is inside matters. > **The vocabulary is deliberate** Trove filters recognition results against a list of household belongings. A sofa and a television survive; a photo of your fruit bowl does not fill your inventory with produce. #### Capturing one item properly - **Topic**: Capturing what you own - **Summary**: Labels, barcodes, serial numbers, and a confidence meter that means something. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/trove/single-item-capture For anything valuable, capture it individually. Photograph the item and then its label or barcode, and Trove reads the text and the code on the device and proposes brand, model, serial, category, and an estimated value. > **The confidence meter is honest** It is grounded in the strength of the signals actually scanned. A barcode that passes its check digit scores differently from a guess made off a blurry photo, so a low score is a genuine prompt to check the field rather than decoration. Every field stays editable at review. Cameras, packaging, and models are all imperfect, and a serial number is exactly the field where a single wrong character matters. You can attach several photos per item, and add a receipt in one tap straight from the item without going through the editor. #### Receipts and proof of purchase - **Topic**: Capturing what you own - **Summary**: Photograph the receipt now, because the thermal paper will not survive. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/trove/receipts Photograph a receipt and Trove reads it on the device, using its structure to prefill merchant, date, and price rather than making you type them. > **Do it the day the thing arrives** Thermal receipts fade to blank within a couple of years. The receipt you photograph today is the one that will still exist when you need it. Receipts attach to items, so a claim, a warranty request, or a resale listing has its evidence in the same place as the record. #### Duplicate warnings - **Topic**: Capturing what you own - **Summary**: Trove asks before it lets you record the same television twice. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/trove/duplicate-warnings If a matching serial number, barcode, or name is already in your Trove, you get an Already in your Trove question with two clear options: Add Anyway, or View Existing. This runs in single capture and in Room Scan alike, which matters because scanning the same room twice from different angles is a completely reasonable thing to do. > **Add Anyway is a real answer** You might own two identical monitors. Trove asks rather than deciding, and identical objects can also be recorded as one entry with a quantity. #### Recorded value and insights - **Topic**: Rooms, values and insights - **Summary**: Value by room and category, quantity-aware totals, and what the numbers are not. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/trove/value-and-insights Insights shows your total recorded value, a value-by-category breakdown you can filter to all time, the last twelve months, or this year, and value-by-room rows that tap through into a filtered item list. Totals are quantity-aware, so three chairs at $120 each count as $360 rather than $120. > **These are your numbers, not an appraisal** Trove records values you enter or confirm. It is not an appraiser, and it does not determine what an insurer will pay. Treat every figure as your own estimate. #### Documentation rings, streaks and the weekly recap - **Topic**: Rooms, values and insights - **Summary**: Progress rings, streaks, and the weekly recap that make finishing a house feel achievable. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/trove/documentation-rings Every room shows how documented it is as a ring. The dashboard adds documentation, protection, and insurance rings across the whole home. There is also a documenting streak, full-screen milestone moments, and an optional Sunday recap of what you protected that week. > **It is a progress bar, not a guilt trip** The recap notification is optional. Cataloguing a house is a chore, and the rings exist to make finishing it feel achievable rather than to nag you about it. #### Warranty tracking and reminders - **Topic**: Warranties and insurance - **Summary**: A local notification thirty days before coverage lapses. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/trove/warranty-reminders Record a warranty against an item and Trove schedules a local notification roughly thirty days before it expires, deep-linking straight to the item. That is enough time to actually book a repair, which is the entire point. The warranty view is an expiration timeline with search and an expiring-soon filter, so you can see what is running out without hunting through rooms. > **Scheduled on your phone** Reminders are local notifications built from data already on the device. No push server is involved, so nobody learns what you own from your reminder schedule. > **The paperwork is still the authority** Trove tracks the dates you enter. What a warranty actually covers is determined by the manufacturer or seller terms, not by this app. #### The coverage gap check - **Topic**: Warranties and insurance - **Summary**: Compare recorded item values with a policy limit; the app does not determine coverage. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/trove/coverage-gap Enter your policy's personal-property limit and Trove compares it against your recorded value, then tells you whether you are covered or roughly by how much you are short. Underinsurance is the most common unpleasant surprise in a claim, and it is invisible until the claim happens. This is a two-minute check against a number you already have on your policy documents. > **Not insurance advice** This is arithmetic on the numbers you provided. Policy language, sub-limits, depreciation, and exclusions all affect real coverage. Talk to your insurer or broker about the actual policy. #### The Claim Kit and insurance exports - **Topic**: Warranties and insurance - **Summary**: An incident-specific report you can send, plus PDF and CSV of the whole catalogue. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/trove/claim-kit After something happens, the Claim Kit builds a report scoped to that incident: what happened, when, and the affected items with their photos, serials, values, and receipts. 1. **Describe the incident**: The type of loss and the date, plus an optional police or claim reference. 2. **Select the affected items**: Pick from your catalogue. Values and evidence come along automatically. 3. **Generate the report**: Trove produces a photo-illustrated PDF you can send to your insurer. You can also export the entire catalogue as a photo-illustrated PDF report or a CSV, and Trove can write inventory summaries for you. > **A good report is not an approved claim** These exports make your case easy to read. They do not guarantee that an insurer accepts a valuation or approves a claim. The Claim Kit, PDF, and CSV exports are Trove Plus features. #### Asking Trove about your belongings - **Topic**: Ask Trove - **Summary**: Conversational questions answered with actual arithmetic, not a guess. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/trove/ask-trove Ask Trove things like which room is worth the most, what electronics do I own, or what did I buy last year. Answers stream in as they are written, and the conversation persists between visits. #### Why the numbers are right The model has two tools: item lookup, and deterministic aggregation. When you ask which room is worth the most, the totalling is done by real arithmetic rather than by a language model adding numbers in its head, which is the usual way these answers go quietly wrong. > **Answers say which engine produced them** A badge tells you whether an answer came from the on-device model or from the deterministic assist that covers a call the model could not complete. If something fails, you get a Retry rather than a spinner that never ends. Questions can be scoped to a single room, and the suggestion chips reflect your actual rooms and categories rather than generic examples. #### Why Trove requires Apple Intelligence - **Topic**: Ask Trove - **Summary**: Check device requirements and what to do when Apple Intelligence is unavailable. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/trove/apple-intelligence-requirement Trove checks for Apple Intelligence when it launches. On-device AI is the product here rather than a garnish, so a half-working Trove would be worse than an honest explanation. #### What you need iPhone 15 Pro or later, or an iPad with M1 or later, running iOS 26 or later, with Apple Intelligence turned on in Settings and the on-device model finished downloading. #### What you might see - Hardware that cannot run Apple Intelligence: a full-screen explanation instead of the app. This one is an honest dead end. - Apple Intelligence turned off: a screen with a direct path into iOS Settings, which clears itself when you come back. - The model still downloading: an explanation that resolves on its own the next time you open Trove. > **Why the check happens at launch** There is no App Store setting that prevents installation on a device without Apple Intelligence, so the check has to run when the app does. That is why Trove can be downloaded and then tell you it cannot help. #### Why not a lesser version instead Vision still does the looking. OCR, barcode reading, and receipt structure are separate frameworks, and questions about totals are answered by deterministic arithmetic rather than by a model adding numbers in its head. The reasoning layer on top is the part that needs Apple Intelligence. #### Widgets, Siri, Spotlight and quick capture - **Topic**: Widgets, Siri and sync - **Summary**: Adding an item in one tap, and finding one from the Home Screen. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/trove/widgets-and-siri - Home Screen, Lock Screen, and StandBy widgets showing inventory value and warranties expiring, plus a configurable per-room widget with a documentation ring. - A one-tap quick-capture button on the Home Screen widget, and a Control Center control that does the same. - Siri and Shortcuts: add an item, ask what your Trove is worth, check expiring warranties, or ask Trove a question. - Spotlight: every item is searchable system-wide, and a result deep-links into the app. - A documentation-session Live Activity that keeps progress on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island while you photograph a whole room. > **No Apple Watch app, on purpose** You photograph belongings with a phone, and an inventory has no useful glanceable wrist view. Building one would have added surface without adding value. #### Multiple homes and iCloud sync - **Topic**: Widgets, Siri and sync - **Summary**: A separate catalogue per property, and sync through your own iCloud. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/trove/multiple-homes Trove Plus supports multiple homes. Each property gets its own scoped inventory, warranties, and insights, which is what you want for a rental, a second home, or a parent's house you are helping document. #### How sync works Trove stores its catalog locally. Plus can enable private iCloud record sync through your Apple account. Photos and receipt images are separate local files; record sync is not a complete photo backup. Use the portable archive to keep an independent copy that includes available images. > **Private means private** A private iCloud database is not readable by us. Sync is a Plus feature and is off until you turn it on. #### Where your catalogue lives - **Topic**: Privacy and backups - **Summary**: On your device, and why that matters more here than in most apps. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/trove/where-the-catalogue-lives Items, photos, receipts, serial numbers, values, rooms, and warranties are stored on your device. Recognition and reasoning run on the device too. There is no Trove account, no developer AI server, no ad network, and no analytics SDK. > **Consider what this data would be worth to someone else** A complete list of your valuables, with photographs, serial numbers, and prices, is uniquely attractive to a thief and uniquely useful for identity fraud. Every cloud home inventory asks you to upload exactly that. Trove's answer is not to hold it at all. The exceptions are the ordinary ones: App Store purchase verification, private iCloud sync if you enable it, and anything you deliberately export or send. #### Backup and restore - **Topic**: Privacy and backups - **Summary**: The whole library, photos included, as one file you keep. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/trove/backup-and-restore Trove can export a .trovearchive file containing the inventory graph and available local photos, including receipt images. Archive export and restore are free. Keep a copy in Files or another destination you choose, and check it before erasing the original library. > **Local-first means you own the backup problem** Keep an archive somewhere other than the phone it was made on. Private iCloud record sync does not establish a second copy of the image files; the archive includes the local images that are still present at export. Backup and restore is free. It is not a premium feature, because losing a catalogue you spent a weekend building should not be a paid problem to avoid. #### What is free and what Trove Plus adds - **Topic**: Plans and billing - **Summary**: Compare free inventory and backup features with Plus reports and other tools. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/trove/compare-free-and-plus #### Free - Up to 25 items with photos, brand, model, serial, room, price, and value. - Room Scan, with the whole review-and-commit flow. One room scan counts as one scan. - Ten AI capture scans a month, with barcode validation and duplicate warnings. - Warranty tracking with real expiration reminders and the coverage timeline. - The coverage gap check. - Insights, the home dashboard, documentation rings, streaks, and the weekly recap. - Ask Trove. - Backup and restore, Spotlight, widgets, Siri shortcuts, and Control Center capture. #### Trove Plus - Unlimited items and unlimited AI scans. - Insurance-ready exports: the photo-illustrated PDF report, CSV, the Claim Kit, and written inventory summaries. - Multiple homes. - Themes and alternate app icons that restyle the app and its widgets. - Private iCloud sync through your own Apple account. > **Pricing** Trove Plus is $2.99 per month, $19.99 per year, or $39.99 once for lifetime access, with a seven-day free trial. Apple shows your local price and the terms before you confirm. #### Restoring a purchase - **Topic**: Plans and billing - **Summary**: Restore access to a purchase after reinstalling or moving to a new phone. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/trove/restore-purchase There is no Trove account, so purchases live with your Apple Account. 1. **Check the Apple Account**: The device must be signed in with the account used for the purchase. 2. **Open Settings in Trove**: Tap Restore Purchases. 3. **Wait a moment**: The App Store checks your purchase and restores Plus access. > **Your catalogue is separate** Restoring a purchase restores the paid entitlement, not the inventory. Use an archive to restore records and included photos. If you enabled iCloud record sync, check what is present on the new device before deleting the original. --- ### Kith: Help Guides Learn to set reminder cadences, save context about people, prepare a message, and manage your records. > **Preview documentation:** This product is in development. Features, compatibility, and exact steps may change before release. #### Welcome to Kith - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: An introduction to people, saved context, reminders, and preparing to reach out. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/welcome-to-kith Kith helps you stay close to the people who matter, and gently tells you before someone drifts. It is not a personal CRM in the sales sense. There are no deal stages, no engagement scores, and no leaderboard of your friendships. The relationship is the thing being tended, not a funnel being optimised. #### The tabs - Today: who might appreciate hearing from you, plus Coming Up for birthdays and dates. - People: everyone you have added, as a list or as the Orbit. - Settings: the app lock, notifications, your plan, and privacy. > **This is the most sensitive data you own** Private notes about your friends and family, their health, their struggles, and what to buy them. Kith keeps all of it, and all of its intelligence, on your iPhone. There is no account and no server. #### Adding your first people - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: Start with ten people rather than two hundred, and why the Contacts picker only sees who you pick. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/add-your-first-people Resist the urge to import your entire address book. Kith works best with the people you would genuinely be sad to lose touch with, which for most of us is somewhere between ten and forty. 1. **Pick from Contacts**: The system multi-select picker brings people over with their birthdays and phone numbers. Kith never asks for broad access to your whole address book. 2. **Or add someone manually**: A name is enough to start. Everything else can come later. 3. **Choose a circle**: Inner, Close, or Wider. This sets a sensible default reach-out rhythm you can override. 4. **Log one past interaction**: It gives the Warmth Ring somewhere to start from, so Today is useful on day one rather than in a month. > **Add more from People any time** The Contacts picker is available from the People tab, not only during onboarding, and it skips anyone already in your Kith. #### Circles and reach-out cadence - **Topic**: Circles, warmth and cadence - **Summary**: Three circles, a sensible default rhythm, and how to override it per person. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/circles-and-cadence Every person sits in a circle, and each circle carries a default cadence: how often it feels right to be in touch. - Inner: the handful of people you would call at 2am. - Close: good friends and close family you want to hear from regularly. - Wider: people you like and would happily see, but not every month. You can override the cadence for any individual, because a sibling you text daily and a sibling you speak to at Christmas can both be Inner. > **Or let Kith learn the real rhythm** Kith can suggest the cadence you two actually keep, inferred from your logged history. It is usually more honest than the one you would pick aspirationally. #### The Warmth Ring - **Topic**: Circles, warmth and cadence - **Summary**: A ring that cools gently instead of a red badge that tells you that you failed someone. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/the-warmth-ring Each person has a ring around their avatar. It is full and warm just after you have been in touch, and it cools gradually as time passes relative to their cadence. That is the whole mechanic, and the choices in it are deliberate. There is no red overdue state, no number of days you are late, and no completion percentage for a friendship. > **Cooling is an invitation** A cool ring says this person has been quiet for a while. It does not say you failed. Relationships that ebb and return are normal, and an app that treats a quiet month as a violation just makes people delete the app. #### The Orbit - **Topic**: Circles, warmth and cadence - **Summary**: Your whole circle as a living map: closeness, warmth, and who is drifting, in one glance. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/the-orbit Flip the People list into the Orbit and you sit at the centre with your people arranged around you by closeness. They glow when you are freshly in touch and drift visibly outward as they cool. It is the entire idea of the app in one image, and it is much faster to read than a list. You see who has drifted before you have finished looking at it. > **Tap anyone to act** Tap a person in the Orbit to open them, log a connection, or start a draft. It is a map you can work from, not a decoration. #### Today and Today's Spark - **Topic**: Circles, warmth and cadence - **Summary**: Who might appreciate hearing from you, and a free daily opener for whoever is most due. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/today-and-spark Today is a short list rather than an inbox. It considers cadence, warmth, anyone you have pinned, and anything you have snoozed, then suggests a few people who might appreciate a hello. Birthdays and important dates live separately in Coming Up, so a birthday never gets lost among reach-out suggestions. #### Today's Spark Once a day, free, Kith writes a personal opener for whoever is most due. It is occasion-aware, written on the device, and one tap from a full draft. The hardest part of reaching out is the first sentence, so Kith writes that one for you. > **Snoozing is not failing** Snooze anyone and they step quietly aside. Nothing accumulates, and nothing turns red. #### Notes, facts and brain dumps - **Topic**: Notes, facts and dates - **Summary**: Keeping the details that make you a good friend, without keeping a diary. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/notes-and-facts Kith attaches what you know to the person rather than burying it in a general notes app: their partner's name, the job they are anxious about, the whisky they liked, the surgery coming up. #### The brain dump Paste or dictate a messy note after a catch-up. On supported iPhones, Kith turns it into discrete structured facts you can keep, edit, or discard, so you do not have to write neat notes while remembering a conversation. > **Dictation is on-device** The microphone only appears when speech recognition can run locally. What you say about your friends is not sent to a transcription service. Siri can also remember things for you: ask it to remember something about a person and the note lands in the right place. #### Birthdays and important dates - **Topic**: Notes, facts and dates - **Summary**: Warm, skippable reminders that arrive with something to do. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/important-dates Birthdays imported from Contacts come across automatically, and you can add anniversaries, memorials, or anything else that matters. Recurring dates roll forward on their own. A birthday reminder arrives with a Draft a message action, so the notification opens a draft already aimed at the occasion rather than dumping you on a blank screen at 8am. > **Coming Up is deliberately separate** Dates are not reach-out suggestions. Mixing them would mean a birthday competes with a generic nudge, and birthdays should always win. #### Logging a connection - **Topic**: Notes, facts and dates - **Summary**: Six ways to record that you were actually in touch. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/log-a-connection Logging is what keeps the Warmth Ring honest, so Kith makes it almost frictionless. - Quick log inside the app, with the interaction type and an optional note. - A one-tap tick on the Reach Out widget, without opening the app. - Straight from a notification banner. - Siri and Shortcuts, such as logging that you called someone. - A Control Center tile. - Automatically prompted: come back from actually messaging or calling and Kith gently asks how it went. > **It knows when not to ask** Bounce-backs and stale returns are ignored, so Kith does not ask how it went when you clearly did not send anything. #### Drafting a message - **Topic**: Reaching out - **Summary**: A draft based on saved context, with tone adjustments and a handoff to Messages. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/draft-a-message Open someone and ask for a draft. Kith writes a personal message using what you have saved about them, streamed live so you can watch it take shape. Then adjust it. Shorter, warmer, more casual, or add a detail, each in one tap. Or just edit it by hand, which is what most people end up doing and is completely fine. > **It opens straight into Messages** The draft goes into Messages with the text prefilled. The loop does not dead-end at a clipboard, which is the single most common way apps like this waste your time. Your draft is kept per person, so if you get interrupted the words are still there next time, and they accumulate rather than resetting. #### What to ask about - **Topic**: Reaching out - **Summary**: Specific, caring questions instead of how are you. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/talking-points Kith can suggest specific things to ask based on what you have saved: how the interview went, whether the dog recovered, how the move is going. Save the good ones to the person as To ask about, and they are waiting on their page when you next speak. > **There is also Where things stand** A brief recap of your recent history with someone, which is genuinely useful before a call with a person you have not spoken to in five months. #### Gift ideas - **Topic**: Reaching out - **Summary**: Directions tied to what someone actually loves, savable to their page. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/gift-ideas Ask for gift ideas and Kith proposes directions grounded in the facts you have saved about someone, rather than generic best-seller lists. Save the ones worth keeping to their page, so next December you are not starting from nothing. > **Directions, not products** Kith is offline and has no shopping catalogue. It suggests what kind of thing might land, and the buying is up to you. #### What the AI helpers do, and never see - **Topic**: The on-device AI - **Summary**: Six on-device helpers, what each one does, and what none of them ever send anywhere. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/on-device-helpers Kith’s AI helpers run on your iPhone. Saved relationship context is not sent to a remote AI service. A message you choose to send or an exported file follows the destination you select. - Today's Spark: a daily opener for whoever is most due. - Brain dump to memory: turn a messy note into structured facts. - Draft a message: proposed wording based on the saved context, with tone adjustments you can choose. - Gift ideas: directions tied to what you know about someone. - What to ask: specific, caring conversation starters. - Where things stand: a brief recap of a relationship. > **The reason this matters** Every cloud personal CRM either uploads your contacts to enrich them or requires a hosted account. Notes about a friend's health or a family conflict are exactly the wrong thing to put on someone else's server. #### Why Kith requires Apple Intelligence - **Topic**: The on-device AI - **Summary**: Check device requirements and what to do when Apple Intelligence is unavailable. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/apple-intelligence-requirement Kith checks for Apple Intelligence when it launches. On-device AI is the product here rather than a garnish, so a half-working Kith would be worse than an honest explanation. #### What you need An Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone running the required iOS version, with Apple Intelligence enabled and its model ready. See the product page for the operating-system requirement. #### What you might see - Hardware that cannot run Apple Intelligence: a full-screen explanation instead of the app. This one is an honest dead end. - Apple Intelligence turned off: a screen with a direct path into iOS Settings, which clears itself when you come back. - The model still downloading: an explanation that resolves on its own the next time you open Kith. > **Why the check happens at launch** There is no App Store setting that prevents installation on a device without Apple Intelligence, so the check has to run when the app does. That is why Kith can be downloaded and then tell you it cannot help. #### Why not a lesser version instead Circles, cadences, the Warmth Ring, the Orbit, logging, notes, important dates, reminders, widgets, and Spotlight are not AI features. The helpers that make Kith worth opening every day are, so the app gates rather than quietly hiding half of itself. #### Notifications that do the work - **Topic**: Widgets, Siri and notifications - **Summary**: Log or draft straight from the banner, and turn any of it off. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/notifications When someone's cadence elapses, Kith sends one warm pre-scheduled notification. One, not a series. It is never repeated and never framed as overdue. The banner carries actions. Connect logs the interaction without opening the app. In a week snoozes them. A birthday reminder offers Draft a message, which opens a draft already aimed at the occasion. - Drift nudges: on by default, one per person, never repeated. - Birthday and important-date reminders: warm and skippable. - A daily nudge: opt-in, off unless you want it. > **All local** Every notification is scheduled on your device from your own data. There is no push server, so nobody else knows who you are drifting from. #### Widgets, Siri and Spotlight - **Topic**: Widgets, Siri and notifications - **Summary**: Logging and looking someone up without opening Kith. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/widgets-and-siri - Reach Out and Coming Up widgets on the Home Screen, Lock Screen, and StandBy. - A one-tap tick on the Reach Out widget rows that logs a connection in place. - Siri and Shortcuts: log that you called someone, ask who you should reach out to, draft a message, or remember something about a person. - A Control Center control for logging a connection. - Spotlight: people and their interests are searchable system-wide. > **The Reach Out widget is the whole app for some people** Put it on your Lock Screen. Seeing two names and tapping a tick when you have messaged them is most of the value with none of the effort. #### Where your relationship notes live - **Topic**: Privacy and your data - **Summary**: On your phone, in a local store, with no account and no server. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/where-notes-live People, interactions, facts, and important dates are stored in a local database on your iPhone. The AI helpers run on the device. There is no Kith account, no Obsidian Ridge Labs server, no analytics SDK, and no advertising network. #### Contacts People are seeded through Apple's system multi-select picker. Kith receives only the contacts you explicitly pick, and never requests broad access to your address book. It does not upload your contacts anywhere to enrich them. > **About iCloud** Kith stores your people locally on your iPhone and does not sync them to other devices. Use Export my data in Settings if you want a copy you control. #### Locking Kith with Face ID - **Topic**: Privacy and your data - **Summary**: An optional lock for the most sensitive notes in your life. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/app-lock Turn on the app lock in Settings and Kith requires Face ID, Touch ID, or your device passcode to open. It is worth doing here more than in most apps. Notes about a friend's illness or a family situation are not things you want visible to someone who picks up your unlocked phone. > **Passcode fallback** If Face ID fails, you can fall back to your device passcode, exactly as elsewhere on iOS. #### Your year in touch - **Topic**: Privacy and your data - **Summary**: A private yearly recap, rendered entirely on your phone. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/year-in-touch Once a year, Kith puts together a recap of your connections: how many times you were in touch, the reconnections that almost slipped away, and your steadiest thread. > **Rendered locally, shared only if you choose** The share card is drawn on your phone. Nothing is uploaded to produce it, and it exists only if you decide to share it. #### What is free and what Kith+ adds - **Topic**: Plans and billing - **Summary**: Compare free features, including the daily Spark, with Kith+ allowances. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/compare-free-and-plus #### Free - Up to 10 people. - Three AI assists a week, plus a free daily Spark that does not count against them. - All the core features: circles, cadences, the Warmth Ring, the Orbit, Today, logging, notes, important dates, and reminders. - Widgets, Siri, Shortcuts, Control Center, Spotlight, and the app lock. #### Kith+ - Unlimited people. - Unlimited AI helpers. > **Pricing** Kith+ is $3.99 per month, $24.99 per year with a seven-day trial, or $49.99 once for lifetime access. Apple shows your local price and the terms before you confirm. #### Restoring a purchase - **Topic**: Plans and billing - **Summary**: Restore access to a purchase after reinstalling or moving to a new phone. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/kith/restore-purchase There is no Kith account, so purchases live with your Apple Account. 1. **Check the Apple Account**: The device must be signed in with the account used for the purchase. 2. **Open Settings in Kith**: Tap Restore Purchases. 3. **Wait a moment**: The App Store checks your purchase and restores Kith+ access. > **Still stuck?** Email support@obsidianridgelabs.com with the Apple Account email and roughly when you purchased. Refunds are handled by Apple. --- ### Mise: Help Guides Guides for saving recipes, planning meals, making a grocery list, and cooking with readable steps and timers. > **Preview documentation:** This product is in development. Features, compatibility, and exact steps may change before release. #### Welcome to Mise - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: A recipe box that cooks with you, and keeps your collection on your device. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/welcome-to-mise Most recipe apps stop at storage. They are a filing cabinet with a nice font. Mise is built around the moments cooking actually goes wrong: the sauce splitting, the missing ingredient, the three things that need timing at once. #### The four tabs - Recipes: everything you have saved, with the sous chef at the top. - Plan: a weekly grid with four slots a day. - Groceries: the list, consolidated and sorted by aisle. - Settings: your dietary profile, sync, reminders, plan, and export. > **No account, no recipe server** Your recipes live on your device. There is no Mise account, no analytics, and no server of ours holding your collection. The only time Mise touches the network is to fetch a page you asked it to import, and to verify a purchase with Apple. #### Why Mise requires Apple Intelligence - **Topic**: Getting started - **Summary**: The gate you may see at launch, and what each state means. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/apple-intelligence-requirement Mise checks for Apple Intelligence when it launches. On-device AI is the product here rather than a garnish, so a half-working Mise would be worse than an honest explanation. #### What you might see - Hardware that cannot run Apple Intelligence: a full-screen explanation instead of the app. - Apple Intelligence turned off: a screen with a direct path into iOS Settings to turn it on. - The model still downloading: this resolves itself the next time you open Mise. > **Why the check is at runtime** There is no App Store setting that prevents installation on devices without Apple Intelligence, so the check has to happen when the app runs. That is why Mise can be downloaded and then tell you it cannot help. Within a supported session, anything transiently unavailable falls back to a deterministic engine so the app does not simply stop working mid-recipe. #### Saving a recipe from anywhere - **Topic**: Saving recipes - **Summary**: Share sheet, paste, photo, or by hand: four ways in, and which one to reach for when. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/save-a-recipe Getting recipes in should take seconds, because a recipe box you have to type into never fills up. - Share sheet: from Safari, Instagram, or any app. Tap share, choose Mise, done. - Paste a link or a messy block of text on the import screen. - Photograph a cookbook page, a handwritten card, or a screenshot. - Write it yourself, for family recipes that never existed on a website. > **The share sheet is the one to learn** It is the fastest path and it keeps the photo. Add Mise to your share sheet favourites and you will actually use it while browsing. Recipes without a photo get generated cover art, so your recipe box does not look like a list of grey rectangles. #### How import actually works - **Topic**: Saving recipes - **Summary**: Published recipe data first, the on-device model second. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/how-import-works Most recipe websites publish machine-readable recipe data alongside the page you read. When it is there, Mise reads it directly. No AI is involved and the result is exact. When it is missing or malformed, which happens with blogs, social posts, and pasted text, Apple's on-device model parses it into ingredients, steps, times, and servings. > **The one network request** Mise fetches the page you asked for, directly from that site, exactly as your browser would. The page contents are not routed through an Obsidian Ridge Labs server, and there is no backend to route them through. Photos come along automatically when the page provides one, downscaled on import so a recipe box does not quietly consume a gigabyte. #### Importing from a photo - **Topic**: Saving recipes - **Summary**: Cookbook pages, index cards, and your grandmother's handwriting. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/photo-import Photograph a page and Vision reads the text on the device, then the on-device model turns it into a structured recipe. 1. **Flatten the page**: Press the book open. Curved text near the spine is the most common reason a scan comes back wrong. 2. **Get even light**: Avoid a hard shadow across the middle of the page. 3. **Fill the frame**: One page at a time, edge to edge. 4. **Check the result**: Read the ingredients before you save. A misread quantity is the failure mode that matters most in a kitchen. > **Always check quantities** Handwriting and fractions are exactly where OCR struggles. Every field is editable, and the two seconds it takes to check a measurement is worth more than any other check you will do in this app. #### Organising your recipe box - **Topic**: Saving recipes - **Summary**: Tags, categories, favourites, and full-text search. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/organise-recipes Recipes carry tags, a category, and a favourite flag, and full-text search covers titles, ingredients, and steps. > **Tag by occasion, not cuisine** Weeknight, guests, freezer, kids will eat this. Those are the questions you actually ask at 6pm. Cuisine is already searchable through the ingredients. Recipes are also indexed into Spotlight, so you can find one from the Home Screen and jump straight to it. #### Asking Mise - **Topic**: The sous chef - **Summary**: A cooking conversation grounded in your recipes, your pantry, and how you eat. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/ask-mise Ask Mise sits at the top of the Recipes tab, and it knows your kitchen. It can see your recipe box, your pantry, and your dietary profile, and when you are viewing a recipe it can see that too. - My sauce broke, can I fix it? - What can I use instead of buttermilk? - Can I make this the night before? - How do I know when this is done? > **It runs offline** The conversation happens on your iPhone, which is why it answers in a kitchen with bad signal and why nothing you ask is sent anywhere. > **Not a food-safety or allergy authority** Mise is a cooking assistant. For allergens, storage times, and safe internal temperatures, trust the packaging and published food-safety guidance rather than a language model. #### Cook with what I have - **Topic**: The sous chef - **Summary**: Tell Mise your pantry once, and get a recipe written for it. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/cook-with-what-i-have List what is actually in the fridge and the cupboard, and the on-device model writes a recipe for it. Your pantry is remembered between sessions, so you are not retyping staples every time. > **Include the boring things** Eggs, rice, tinned tomatoes, whatever oil you own. The staples are what turn three leftovers into an actual dinner. The result respects your dietary profile, and you can save it into your recipe box like anything else. #### Your dietary profile - **Topic**: The sous chef - **Summary**: Save dietary preferences for cooking assistance and recipe suggestions. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/dietary-profile Save dietary preferences during onboarding or in Settings. They inform model prompts and the tags used to rank suggested dinners. The app does not verify every ingredient against an allergy or dietary restriction; check the recipe and substitutions before cooking. > **Free, deliberately** The dietary profile is free. Optional Plus iCloud sync is a separate setting; cooking assistance uses the context available on your device. > **It is a preference, not a safety system** Mise filters and suggests based on what you told it. It does not verify ingredients or detect hidden allergens. If an allergy is serious, read the label. Every time. #### Planning the week - **Topic**: Planning and groceries - **Summary**: A weekly grid, four slots a day, and a button that fills it for you. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/plan-your-week The Plan tab is a weekly grid with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack slot each day. Tap a slot to assign a recipe. Or tap Suggest dinners and Mise fills the week for you. It favours your favourites, rotates so you are not eating the same thing twice in five days, and varies the categories. > **Plan dinners only** Most people who successfully meal-plan only plan dinner. Four empty slots a day is a good way to feel like you have failed by Tuesday. #### The grocery list - **Topic**: Planning and groceries - **Summary**: Generated from your week, consolidated, and sorted the way a supermarket is. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/grocery-list Generate the list from your planned week or from any single recipe. Duplicate ingredients are consolidated with their quantities added together, and the list is sorted by supermarket aisle so you walk the shop once. > **Regenerating never doubles anything** Generating the same week again is safe. Quantities do not stack up, so you can add a recipe on Wednesday and regenerate without ending up with four kilograms of onions. - Check items off with haptic feedback, in the app or from the interactive Home Screen widget. - Edit names and quantities in place. - Undo a deletion. - Add anything by hand. - Share the whole list as plain text to whoever is going to the shop. #### Cook mode - **Topic**: Cooking - **Summary**: Dark, large type, one step at a time, and the screen stays awake. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/cook-mode Every recipe has one prominent Start Cooking button. Cook mode is dark, uses big type, and shows one step at a time. Swipe between steps, and the screen stays awake for the whole session. Scaled servings carry over from the recipe page, so the quantities in front of you are the ones you actually decided to cook. > **It is designed for greasy hands** Large type readable at arm's length, big swipe targets, and no small controls. You will be looking at this screen for forty minutes at a slight distance. #### Running several timers at once - **Topic**: Cooking - **Summary**: Concurrent timers on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/timers Real cooking needs more than one timer. Mise runs several at once, each labelled with its step, and they fire local notifications when they finish. While they run they live in a Live Activity, so you can see them on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island without unlocking anything or leaving the app you are in. > **Allow notifications** Timers alert through local notifications. If you declined the permission, they will still count down but will not shout at you when they finish. You can enable it in iOS Settings under Mise. #### Scaling servings and converting units - **Topic**: Cooking - **Summary**: Fraction-aware quantities and a one-tap metric switch. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/scaling-and-units Change the servings with the stepper and every quantity updates. Mise handles fractions properly, so you get three-quarters of a cup rather than 0.75 cups. One tap converts between metric and US units, which is what makes a recipe from another country usable rather than an arithmetic exercise. > **Baking is the exception** Scaling works cleanly for most cooking. Baking is chemistry, and doubling a cake is not always the same as making two. Scale bakes with a little caution. #### Apple Watch, widgets, Siri and share cards - **Topic**: Watch, widgets and Siri - **Summary**: Tonight's dinner on your wrist, and groceries you can tick from the Home Screen. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/widgets-and-siri - Apple Watch: tonight's dinner, live cook timers, and grocery check-off from the wrist. - Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets: tonight's dinner and your grocery count, with check-off built into the widget. - Siri and App Intents: ask what is for dinner, or add milk to your grocery list. - Spotlight: recipes are searchable system-wide and deep-link into the app. - Local dinner reminders that stay accurate to your actual plan. #### Share cards Any recipe can be exported as an image card with its photo, title, meta, and ingredients, straight from the recipe page. It is the easiest way to send a recipe to someone who does not use Mise. #### Where your recipes live - **Topic**: Privacy and your data - **Summary**: Local records and assistance, direct recipe fetches, and optional Plus iCloud sync. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/where-recipes-live Recipes, your pantry, your plan, and your grocery list are stored on your device. Import parsing and the sous chef run on the device. There is no Mise account, no analytics, and no third-party SDKs. #### Connections used by Mise - Fetching a recipe page and its images directly from their hosts; the image host may differ from the page. - App Store purchase verification. > **Recipe fetches and optional sync** Mise fetches recipe pages and recipe images directly from their hosts; an image can come from a different website. Recipe parsing and cooking assistance run locally. Optional Plus iCloud sync uses a private database under your Apple account and is off by default. #### iCloud sync - **Topic**: Privacy and your data - **Summary**: Your own private database, switched on by you, with a local fallback. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/icloud-sync Mise Plus can sync your recipes through your own private iCloud database, so they appear on your other devices. Private means your Apple account. We cannot read it. If iCloud is unavailable, Mise falls back to the same local store rather than refusing to open, so nothing is lost. > **Sync is not the same as a backup you control** Deleting a recipe deletes it everywhere. Use the JSON export in Settings if you want an archive that survives a mistake. #### Exporting your recipes - **Topic**: Privacy and your data - **Summary**: Every recipe out as JSON whenever you want it, plus share cards for sending one to a person. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/export-your-recipes Settings can export every recipe as JSON. It is a structured, readable format, so your collection is portable rather than trapped. > **Export before you switch phones** Especially if you are on the free tier without iCloud sync. A recipe box you built over a year is worth thirty seconds of insurance. Individual recipes can also leave as image share cards, which is the friendliest format for sending one to a person rather than to a machine. #### What is free and what Mise Plus adds - **Topic**: Plans and billing - **Summary**: Compare the free recipe and assistance allowances with Mise Plus features. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/compare-free-and-plus #### Free - Up to 25 recipes. - Three AI assists a day. - Everything else unlimited: the planner, the grocery list, cook mode, timers, serving scaling, unit conversion, widgets, the Watch app, Siri, Spotlight, share cards, and JSON export. - The dietary profile, which is never paywalled. #### Mise Plus - Unlimited recipes. - Unlimited AI assists. - Ingredient substitutions. - Private iCloud sync. > **Pricing** Mise Plus is $2.99 per month, $19.99 per year with a seven-day trial, or $39.99 once for lifetime access. Apple shows your local price and the terms before you confirm. #### Restoring a purchase - **Topic**: Plans and billing - **Summary**: Restore access to a purchase after reinstalling or moving to a new phone. - **URL**: https://obsidianridgelabs.com/help/mise/restore-purchase There is no Mise account, so purchases live with your Apple Account. 1. **Check the Apple Account**: The device must be signed in with the account used for the purchase. 2. **Open Settings in Mise**: Tap Restore Purchases. 3. **Wait a moment**: The App Store checks your purchase and restores Plus access. > **Still stuck?** Email support@obsidianridgelabs.com with the Apple Account email and roughly when you purchased. Refunds are handled by Apple. ---