Buddy

This app costs nothing extra. Talking to it uses your phone's own voice-to-text, and photos are read by your Mac — both free. The Projects tab runs real Claude Code on your Mac using the Claude plan you already pay for, so a very heavy day there can use up that plan's limits, exactly like sitting at the laptop. The relay and the photo hand-off run on Cloudflare's free tier. The only thing that still costs anything is Twilio, about two cents when you send a picture by text instead of through this app.

Talk mode. Tap the orb and this phone listens the whole time, but it only answers when it hears your name — say “Hey Buddy” and then your question. It stays lit while it is listening and dims when it is off, and it remembers which way you left it: open Buddy tomorrow and it is already listening. After an answer you can just keep talking, no name needed — it only goes back to waiting for your name after about six seconds of quiet. Say “Buddy, hold on” when someone walks up and it goes quiet at once. Say “Buddy, remember that” to save the last minute of what was said, “Buddy, stop” to cut him off, or “Buddy, go quiet” to turn Talk mode off.

What it hears is held on this phone for one minute and then it is gone. Nothing is sent anywhere until you say your name, or say “remember that”. Nothing is recorded and no audio ever leaves the phone.

What an iPhone won’t do. It can only listen while this app is open on the screen. It cannot listen from the lock screen, from behind another app, or with the screen off — that is Apple’s rule, not a setting, and nothing can get around it. Talk mode does keep the screen from going to sleep while it is on, so leave the app up and the phone will keep listening. Plug it in for a long stretch.

Notifications. Your texts are paused, so everything Buddy would have texted you shows up under the bell at the top. To have the phone buzz you when one lands, this app has to be on your Home Screen (not just a Safari tab) and you have to tap Allow once.