I built this because I kept
missing things in meetings
By the fifth meeting of the day, I couldn't remember which deadline belonged to which project. I needed someone I could ask in the moment without disrupting the room. So I built Shoulder Surf. If that sounds familiar, it might help you too.
Shoulder Surf is available now on the App Store. Questions or feedback, reach us at support@shouldersurf.com.
The fastest way to look like you're not paying attention is to actually be paying attention.
The people writing everything down are the ones who care. They're also the ones who look like they don't. So the notes happen on your phone, and your eyes stay where they belong.
Here's how it works.
One device, two channels. Your phone listens while you stay engaged. The answer waits in your AirPod until you're ready to hear it.
Captures what's being said in real time with speaker identification.
Tap a question or type one freeform, the AI has the full context of your conversation.
Read it on screen or hear it through your AirPods or Bluetooth headphones, whatever keeps you in the flow.
For online meetings, read the captions, not the room.
Most meetings happen online now, with everyone coming through one speaker. That makes telling similar voices apart genuinely hard. Captions mode skips the problem. Point your phone's rear camera at your screen, frame the caption area once, and Shoulder Surf reads the meeting's own live captions, the ones Teams, Zoom, and Meet already show, straight into your transcript.
Reads on-screen captions
If the meeting shows captions, Shoulder Surf can read them. Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, and more.
Knows who's speaking
The captions already carry speaker names and the right spelling, so you get clean attribution without fighting voices that sound alike.
Switch when it suits you
A labeled Voice and Captions pill sits on the recording screen. Tap to flip, and set it to match the way you usually meet.
A clean option for the meetings where the audio was never going to be good enough. Chosen per session, not a replacement for voice.
Your prompts, not mine.
I started with prompts that helped me. Then I realized everyone needs something different. So I made them yours to write.
Browse prompt ideas
What Rory Would Notice
The team is celebrating constraint as a feature while accidentally destroying it. The scarcity,selling out in 2 hours,is the entire business model's strength. Adding Grubhub breaks the signaling power of "we're exclusive, we're gone by 1:30pm." The real insight isn't "add sides",it's that the business thrives on FOMO and scarcity, not menu breadth.
5 Insights
Why it matters: Selling out creates urgency and prestige. Expanding capacity trains customers to believe supply will always exist.
Test: Cap daily orders and advertise "Limited daily sandwiches,gone by 1:30pm." Does demand increase despite lower availability?
Why it matters: "You have to come pick it up" removes the mystique of the pilgrimage. Convenience kills the story people tell.
Test: Measure repeat customer % and brand mention frequency before/after Grubhub launch.
Why it matters: Hank Sandwich doesn't need to win comparisons,it already won by being unavailable. Rankings only matter for forgettable, abundant options.
Why it matters: Menu expansion increases complexity, dilutes the narrative, and trains staff to manage choice rather than execute excellence. Constraints breed mastery and cult status.
Why it matters: Someone believed volume growth = success. They optimized for convenience instead of brand strength.
Test: Are Grubhub orders actually more profitable per unit than in-person walk-ups?
Stop measuring success by revenue. Measure it by daily sellout time. If selling out by 1:30pm now, the goal should be selling out by 12:15pm,not expanding to 2:00pm.
Remove Grubhub for one week and explicitly advertise it: "We're pulling Grubhub,we can only serve customers who visit us in person." Track foot traffic, order volume, and social sentiment.
"You're not running a restaurant; you're running a permission structure for status." The sandwich is incidental. Every expansion decision should ask: Does this make it easier or harder to get? If easier, don't do it.
Open Settings
Speaks your language
Shoulder Surf transcribes and responds in multiple languages, with more on the way.
The four things it does for you in every meeting.
Everything else is built around these.
Never miss a word
Real-time speech-to-text with speaker identification. Know who said what, as it happens.
Stay in the loop
Automatic summaries that update throughout your meeting so you never lose the thread.
Ask in the moment
Tap to ask questions about your meeting in real time. Get answers powered by the full transcript.
Hear it privately
Responses appear on screen first. Tap play to hear them through your AirPods or Bluetooth headphones when you're ready.
A full report, the moment you wrap.
When the meeting ends, Shoulder Surf turns the whole conversation into a clean, shareable report. Not just a transcript, but the decisions, the action items, the open questions, and how the room actually felt.
Sentiment and a stoplight read
A quick gauge of how the meeting went, plus a sentiment arc across the whole conversation.
Action items, with owners
Who agreed to do what, pulled out and assigned, ready to hand off.
Decisions and open questions
What got settled, what's still hanging, and who owns the answer.
Risks and critical issues
The blockers and gaps that surfaced, captured so nothing slips.
Meeting reports come with Plus. On Pro, they're written with Advanced AI for deeper analysis.
It remembers so you don't have to
Over time, your AI assembles a knowledge graph from every meeting, recalling past decisions, commitments, and context exactly when you need it. Plus keeps your last 30 days. Pro keeps everything you have ever recorded.
Now on your wrist
The hardest moment to grab your phone is the one when you most need it. So we put Shoulder Surf on your wrist too. A glance, a tap, and you're back in the conversation.
Tap to capture
One tap on your wrist snaps a photo with your phone's rear camera. No reaching, no fumbling.
Scroll your prompts
Flick through your Quick Prompts on the watch face and tap one to send it to the AI.
Listen on the go
When the answer's ready on your phone, tap play on the watch and hear it through your AirPods.
And a whole lot more in every meeting.
A few of the other things Shoulder Surf quietly handles for you.
Ask for a file, get a file
Ask in chat and Shoulder Surf builds you a real spreadsheet, Gantt chart, or Word doc from the meeting, saved and ready to send.
Walk in prepared
A prep card before your next meeting with the warm context from the last one, so you pick up right where you left off.
Projects that connect
Group related meetings into a project and ask questions across all of them at once.
Live on your Lock Screen
Recording status and quick actions in the Dynamic Island and on your Lock Screen, no need to open the app.
Ask with a photo
Snap a slide or a whiteboard and ask about it in the moment, right alongside the conversation.
Find it later
Search past meetings from Spotlight, or just ask Siri to start a new one.
Built for everyone
VoiceOver, haptics, Dynamic Type, and high-contrast support throughout the app.
Built to flex around you
Use the AI you trust, in the language you meet in.
Try it free, no commitment
Sign in with your Apple ID and get started free. No credit card, no subscription. Just try it.
Prefer to use your own AI provider? Bring your own API key or use the built-in Apple Intelligence models on supported devices, completely free, forever.
See how we protect your keys.
Works with Claude, GPT-5.6, Gemini, and 7 more providers
10 providers, 48 models. Switch per session or globally.