Cross-device · all tiers
Stop on iPhone. Read on Mac. Mid-sentence.
Bonfiyah is iPhone-led. But every recording, transcript, and Pro AI output syncs in real time to your iPad and your Mac. Same data, every device — one subscription, plus $1.99/mo per extra device.
Why this matters more than the spec sheet suggests
Most "multi-device" apps in the recording category mean you can install on multiple devices but each device is its own island. Otter's seats are separate. Plaud requires another piece of hardware. Notta's mobile app is a downsampled companion to the web product.
Bonfiyah is built to behave like one app that lives on every device you sign in on. You start a recording on your iPhone in a doctor's appointment. By the time you sit down at your Mac, the transcript is finished, Promise Tracker has flagged the medications, and the Story Mode recap is ready to read on a real screen with a real keyboard.
How real-time sync actually works
- 1
Audio chunked at the source
The iPhone records in 30-second chunks rather than one giant file. Each chunk gets a SHA-256 hash, a timestamp, and a sequence number, then writes to local SQLite + iCloud's CKDatabase concurrently.
- 2
Other devices subscribe to changes
Your iPad and Mac (when signed in to the same iCloud) hold an open CloudKit subscription. The moment a new chunk lands in your private CKDatabase, every other device gets a push and starts streaming.
- 3
Transcription runs wherever you're watching
If you're watching the recording on your Mac, transcription happens on the Mac (faster CPU, faster results). If you're back on your iPhone, transcription continues there. Wherever the user's eyes are, the work happens — same data, surfaced where it's needed.
- 4
Pro AI re-uses outputs
If your iPhone already produced the Promise Tracker output, the Mac doesn't recompute — it pulls the result from the same cross-device store. Pro AI inference is expensive enough that we cache aggressively. The end result: extracting commitments from a 30-minute call costs ~3 seconds the first time, near-instant on every other device.
- 5
Conflicts resolved by last-write-wins, with audit trail
If you edit a transcript on iPad while the iPhone is also editing the same passage offline, the merge logic resolves to the most recent edit while preserving the older version in the recording's history (Pro). For high-stakes use (legal, medical), Settings → Diagnostics → Edit History gives you the full chain of who-changed-what-when.
What it costs
- Your Pro or Pro AI subscription covers your primary device.
- Each additional device beyond the primary: $1.99/month or $19.99/year (two months free).
- Add and remove devices any time. Removed devices keep working through the current period.
- Family Sharing: not currently enabled. The intent is one user, multiple devices — not multiple users sharing one subscription.
Why we charge for extra devices at all
CloudKit isn't free for us — every additional device on your account adds inference load (the iPad recomputes the same Pro AI passes the iPhone did, and we pay for that), sync bandwidth, and storage in your private CKDatabase that we operationally support. $1.99/mo per extra device covers cost-of-goods and lets the primary subscription stay competitive.
If you're a one-device user, you pay nothing extra. If you want every Apple device you own to have the full app: that's what the add-on is for, and the math works out to less than the price of one coffee per month.
How this compares
| Approach | Per extra device | Sync experience |
|---|---|---|
| Bonfiyah | $1.99/mo or $19.99/yr | Real-time, same data, full app on every device |
| Otter Pro | +$20/mo per seat | Per-seat license; manual link-sharing |
| Plaud NotePin | +$169 hardware per device | Sync to one phone via Bluetooth |
| Notta Pro | +$13.99/mo per seat | Web-first; mobile companion |
| Just Press Record | Free across devices | iCloud Drive sync — file-based, no live sync |
For two devices, Bonfiyah's effective monthly cost is $11.98 (Pro) or $21.98 (Pro AI). Otter Pro for two seats is $36.99/mo. Plaud is one-time $169 + $7.99-24/mo per device. The math compounds quickly the more devices you actually use.
FAQ
What counts as my "primary device"?
The device where you completed the original Pro or Pro AI subscription purchase. You can change which device is primary anytime in Settings → Subscription → Manage Devices. Changing the primary doesn't cost anything; it just dictates which device is paid for by the base subscription.
Does the Free tier sync across devices?
Yes — basic iCloud sync (recordings, transcripts) works on Free across all your Apple devices, no extra charge. Pro AI features only run on the paid primary device unless you've added a device slot.
What if I lose internet mid-recording?
The recording continues — local SQLite is the source of truth. As soon as the device gets back online, sync picks up where it left off. The 30-second chunking model means even a phone running out of battery mid-call only loses up to 30 seconds of un-synced audio (which is also still on local disk and recovered next launch).
Can I share a recording without paying for an extra device?
Yes. Sharing is one-way export (PDF, audio file, transcript) and works in every tier. Device add-ons are about live multi-device-of-yours use, not sharing.
Want a real demo?
We'll send a 60-second screencap of a recording started on iPhone, transcribed on iPad, reviewed on Mac — all in real time.
Send the demoOpens your email app. We respond manually until our newsletter system is fully set up. See our privacy policy.