Pocket is a 52-gram card that sticks to your phone with MagSafe, with two microphones for the room and a contact microphone for phone calls. It costs $129 on sale in the US store, and €139 in the Dutch store. The free plan transcribes without a minute cap but keeps summaries for 30 days; Pocket Pro is $239.88 a year. On Trustpilot it scores 4.8 from 6,348 reviews. For a phone call the card has to sit on your phone and you start every recording yourself. If you are mostly on the phone, an app that joins the call on the line fits better, such as Ajora.
What is Pocket AI?
Pocket AI is a recording card made by Open Vision Engineering, a US company, and sold at heypocket.com. It snaps magnetically onto the back of your phone, records with three microphones, and the Pocket app turns each recording into a transcript, a summary and action items.
Pocket has been on sale since 2025, and the company raised $11 million in June 2026, according to TechCrunch. The card weighs 52 grams, holds 64 GB, and Pocket quotes four days of battery. You press the side button and it records, with or without a connection. The iPhone or Android app pulls the recording in later and writes the summary. There are apps for the web, Mac and Windows too.
In the App Store the app is listed as ‘Pocket - AI Personal Assistant’. Because ‘pocket’ is such an everyday word, people often search for the device as heypocket or hey pocket, after the web address.
How much does Pocket AI cost, and where do you buy it?
Pocket AI is sold at heypocket.com. On 17-10-2026 it cost $129 on sale in the US store, down from $199, and €139 in the Dutch store, down from €213. The free plan is included. Pocket Pro costs $239.88 a year, which is $19.99 a month billed yearly; the Dutch store charges €255 for twelve months.
| US store | Dutch store | |
|---|---|---|
| Pocket, the card | $129 on sale, normally $199 | €139 on sale, normally €213 |
| Free plan | $0 | €0 |
| Pocket Pro, per year | $239.88, or $19.99 a month billed yearly | €255 |
| Card plus a year of Pro | $368.88 | €394 |
| Enterprise | Price on request | Price on request |
According to the product page, the first 30 days of the subscription are free, counted from delivery. Pocket changes its offers often, on the subscription as well, so you may find a lower price at checkout. Returns are accepted within 30 days, and the card has a one-year warranty.
Do you need a Pocket subscription?
No. Pocket works on the free plan, which transcribes without a cap at standard accuracy. The difference is what you keep: free summaries disappear after 30 days, while Pocket Pro keeps them and adds the most accurate transcription.
| Free | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Transcription | Unlimited, standard accuracy | Unlimited, highest accuracy |
| Summaries | Unlimited, kept for 30 days | Unlimited, kept |
| Ask Pocket, questions about your recordings | 3 chats a day, 3 messages per chat | Unlimited |
| Speaker names detected | No | Yes |
| Live transcript while recording | No | Yes |
| Export | Text, plus audio download | Also PDF, DOCX and Markdown, in bulk too |
| Integrations | Task apps such as Todoist, Google Tasks and Apple Reminders | Also Notion, Google Drive, OneDrive, Linear, Asana and ClickUp |
API keys and webhooks are Enterprise only. The 30-day limit is also the complaint that comes up most in the negative reviews. A buyer in Germany wrote on Trustpilot on 06-10-2026 that they only found out after the return window that older summaries need a subscription.
What does Pocket do well?
Pocket costs $129 in the US store, less than the cheapest Plaud ($159) and TicNote ($139.99) on 17-10-2026, and its free plan has no minute cap. Users on Trustpilot mostly praise the convenience: the card lives on your phone and recording is one press of a button.
Always with you
The card holds on with MagSafe, so there is nothing extra to remember to bring. Phones without MagSafe get an adhesive mount in the box. Recording is one press of the button, and it works with your phone locked or offline.
A free plan without a minute cap
Plaud’s free plan gives 300 transcription minutes a month and TicNote’s 600. Pocket puts no limit on transcription, only on how long summaries are kept and how accurate the transcript is.
Support that answers fast
Several Trustpilot reviewers praise how fast support replies. A US lawyer wrote on 17-10-2026 that they got an answer within about a minute, the night before a trial. There are complaints about support too, further down with the reviews.
Links to Claude and ChatGPT
Pocket lists ChatGPT, Claude and Cursor through MCP on its product page, so an AI assistant can search your recordings. Action items already go to task apps such as Todoist on the free plan.
Pocket AI reviews: what do users say?
Reviews of Pocket are mostly positive: on 17-10-2026 it scored 4.8 from 6,348 reviews on Trustpilot, 4.9 from 6,807 ratings in the US App Store and 4.9 from 219 in the Dutch one. The negative reviews are mostly about the subscription and about syncing with the phone, then about orders that never arrive and transcripts that disappoint.
We have not used Pocket ourselves. What follows comes from reviews on Trustpilot and in the App Store, from a hands-on test by FutureFive and from Pocket’s own pages, each with its date. We make Ajora, a Dutch app that joins your phone calls and writes up a summary with action items. So read this as a competitor’s overview, and check the sources at the bottom.
What a reviewer found
In a review of 08-05-2026 FutureFive called Pocket handy but not revolutionary: good for phone calls, weaker in meetings. Pocket had given the device to the reviewer. Phone calls at a normal volume came through accurately. Names and jargon were hit and miss, and in messy group conversations the summary sometimes credited a point to the wrong speaker. The light is small and dim, there is no battery indicator on the card, and an accidental double press splits a recording into short clips.
The subscription
In the one- and two-star reviews from September and October 2026, money comes up most. People find the free transcription weak and learn later what Pro costs, or are put off by the upgrade prompts, as an Italian user wrote on 13-10-2026. A Dutch App Store reviewer called the subscription push annoying on 10-10-2026.
Syncing with your phone
A US user wrote on 06-10-2026 that the card does not stay reliably connected to the phone. An Australian user could not get the card to pair on 03-10-2026, while the app claimed it was already connected.
Orders that never arrive
A Dutch buyer still had no card after a month, according to a review of 07-10-2026, and after asking for a refund, the buyer says the ticket was closed for not replying. A UK buyer reported nothing after two weeks on 12-10-2026. Views on support are split: one user got mostly bot replies on 27-09-2026.
Names, speakers and the right mode
A Dutch user switched to Plaud, according to a review of 16-10-2026, because Pocket mixed up people’s names in meetings. An Australian user found it a nuisance on 12-10-2026 to keep switching between the meeting mode and the call mode by hand.
Can Pocket record phone calls?
Yes. Pocket has a contact microphone that picks up a phone call through the body of your phone, without speakerphone. For that the card has to sit on the back of your phone, in call mode, and you start every recording yourself.
iOS and Android do not hand call audio to any app, so a recorder has to get the sound another way. Pocket’s contact microphone reads the vibration of the call from your phone, the same principle as the vibration sensor on a Plaud Note. FutureFive describes a switch on the side that puts Pocket in call mode, and a call at normal volume came through well in their test. There are conditions, though.
The card has to be on your phone
Pocket says the contact microphone picks up calls when the card is on the back of your phone. If it is lying next to the phone or in your bag, it will not record the call.
You start every recording
Pocket’s own trust page says nothing starts on its own: a recording begins with a press of the button. On an incoming call you answer, switch to call mode if it was not already set, and press the button. Whatever was said in the meantime is missing from the recording.
With earbuds in
Pocket does not say. Since the contact microphone reads the sound from the phone itself, a call through AirPods or the car is unlikely to be captured. Plaud, which uses the same principle, states plainly in its support pages that headphones are not supported for call recording.
Ajora works differently, because it does not listen in but joins the call. Outgoing, you call from the Ajora app; incoming calls reach Ajora through call forwarding, and there is nothing to press during the call. Because the call runs over the line rather than through a microphone, it is captured with earbuds in too.
Where does Pocket store your recordings?
Pocket keeps recordings on the card itself, with 64 GB of storage, and syncs them to its own encrypted cloud if you turn that on. Transcription and summaries run on US-based cloud servers, according to Pocket.
Pocket says recordings and transcripts are encrypted in transit and at rest, and are not sold or used to train AI models. Its trust page mentions GDPR and SOC 2, but does not say which cloud provider holds your data or for how long, and offers no data processing agreement. A Business Associate Agreement for US healthcare is part of Enterprise. If you plan to record client calls for work in Europe, ask how GDPR is handled before you start.
At Ajora the recording is deleted automatically after transcription, within 24 hours at the latest. Transcripts and summaries are stored encrypted in Germany. A data processing agreement is on the site.
What is a Pocket AI alternative for phone calls?
If you are mostly on the phone, Ajora is an alternative to Pocket. Ajora is a Dutch app that joins your phone calls and writes up a summary with action items, on incoming calls and with earbuds in too, with no device on your phone.
Ajora costs €19 a month, or €15 a month on a yearly plan, with 600 calling minutes included and no hardware. There is no free plan. When you hang up, a summary with action items and decisions is waiting, with the transcript underneath. For a conversation across a table you choose In-person recording in the same app.
What you do not get from Ajora is the audio file. If you want to listen back, or you mostly record in a room, a recorder such as Pocket or Plaud is the better choice. More alternatives side by side are in Plaud alternative.
Torn between Pocket and Plaud? The comparison, including what each costs over a year, is in Plaud vs Pocket vs Ajora. Every AI voice recorder side by side, with TicNote and Soundcore added, is in AI voice recorder.
Frequently asked questions
Can you use Pocket for free?
Once you have bought the card, yes. Pocket’s free plan gives unlimited transcription at standard accuracy, and summaries stay for 30 days. To keep them, you need Pro: $239.88 a year in the US store, or €255 in the Dutch store, on 17-10-2026.
Which languages does Pocket support?
Pocket says it supports more than 120 languages, but does not list them on the product page. Reviews outside English are mixed: a Spanish user wrote on 01-10-2026 that the transcript degrades badly in Spanish and with road noise, and a Canadian user found on 14-09-2026 that mind maps were missing in Vietnamese. Test it with a real conversation within the 30-day return window.
Does Pocket work with Android?
Yes. Pocket works with iPhone and Android, and there are apps for the web, Mac and Windows. On a phone without MagSafe you use the adhesive mount that comes in the box.
How long does the Pocket battery last?
Pocket quotes four days of active use, and charging over USB-C takes an hour and a half. FutureFive got several days out of a few hours of recording a day on 08-05-2026, and missed a battery indicator on the card itself.
Can you return Pocket?
Pocket lists a 30-day return window and a one-year warranty. The free month of Pro runs over the same period, so use that time to see whether the free plan is enough for you.
Can you connect Pocket to ChatGPT or Claude?
Yes. Pocket lists ChatGPT, Claude and Cursor through MCP on its product page, so an AI assistant can search your recordings. API keys and webhooks are Enterprise only. Ajora also has an MCP connection for Claude and ChatGPT, and an API with webhooks on every paid plan.
Is it legal to record a call with Pocket?
That depends on where you are, so check the rules where you and the other person live. In the Netherlands you may record a call you take part in, and for business use the GDPR applies. How it works in the Netherlands is in is it legal to record a phone call.
You can try Ajora free for seven days, with 60 calling minutes included. Create an account at debrief.ajora.io/register, install the app and call the way you always do; after your first call the debrief is waiting.
Sources
- Pocket, product page with price, plans, microphones, specifications and integrationsheypocket.com, accessed 17-10-2026, in the US and Dutch store
- Pocket Trust: encryption, processing in the United States, recording only on a button press and no model trainingheypocket.com, accessed 17-10-2026
- Pocket raises $11M in bet on rising demand for AI note-taking devicesTechCrunch, 29-06-2026
- Hands-on review: Pocket AI Notetaker handy, not revolutionaryFutureFive, 08-05-2026
- Pocket on Trustpilot, score and reviewsTrustpilot, accessed 17-10-2026
- Pocket - AI Personal Assistant in the US App Store, ratingApple App Store, accessed 17-10-2026
- Pocket - AI Personal Assistant in the Dutch App Store, rating and reviewsApple App Store, accessed 17-10-2026
- Pocket privacy policyheypocket.com, accessed 17-10-2026
- Plaud Note, product page with price, US storeplaud.ai, accessed 17-10-2026
- TicNote AI Voice Recorder, product page with price, US storeTicNote, accessed 17-10-2026
- Plaud AI plans, with the 300 free Starter minutesPlaud, accessed 17-10-2026
- Can I use headphones or earphones when I record a phone call with Plaud Note?Plaud Support, accessed 17-10-2026
- TicNote plans and minutes per planTicNote, accessed 17-10-2026
One of the three co-founders of Ajora. Jort focuses on user experience and growth.