How it listens
Not every room lets you turn the speaker on.
Shoulder Surf began by listening through your iPhone's microphone, which works beautifully when the call is coming out of your computer's speakers. Plenty of people cannot do that. You might be on a headset in an open-plan office, or at a shared desk where the conversation next to you should never end up in your transcript. So there is more than one way to get the meeting in.
Four ways to listen
Speakers, headset, in person, or no audio at all.
Pick one each time you start a meeting. The app says what each one needs and won't start one that can't work.
iPhone Mic
Set it on the table and it hears the room. Best when the call is on your speakers or everyone is sitting with you, and in a room it hears all of them, which is the part a bot in the call cannot do. Nothing to buy, nothing to install.
Shoulder Surf on iPhone asking How should I listen, with iPhone Mic checked
Shoulder Surf Companion, on your Mac or PC
The call's already playing on your computer, so let the computer do the listening. Shoulder Surf Companion, free for your Mac or Windows PC, hands that audio straight to Shoulder Surf on your iPhone. Headset on, volume where you like it, and nothing coming out of a speaker.
Free on both. Mac needs macOS 15 or later, with Shoulder Surf 1.18 or later on your iPhone. Windows needs Windows 10 version 2004 or later, or Windows 11.
Shoulder Surf on iPhone asking How should I listen, with Mac Companion checked
The Shoulder Surf Companion panel on a Mac, Relaying to iPhone, with a live audio level between This Mac and the iPhone
The Shoulder Surf Companion panel on Windows, Relaying to iPhone, with a live audio level between This PC and the iPhone
USB-C, a cable from your headset
On a wired headset at a shared desk? A small box, the JK Audio CellTap 4C, sits between your computer and your headset, and one cable runs from it into your iPhone. Nothing goes on the computer, it works the same on a Mac or a PC, and the iPhone mic stays off, so the room around you stays out of it.
Needs a CellTap 4C. A plain cable can't do it.
See what you needShoulder Surf on iPhone asking How should I listen, with USB-C checked
A JK Audio CellTap 4C with cables in its Phone, Headset and Record jacks
Read the screen
No audio at all? Point the rear camera at your screen and it reads the captions Teams, Zoom or Meet already show. No audio is captured.
Shoulder Surf on iPhone asking How should I listen, with Read the screen checked
Shoulder Surf reading a meeting's on-screen captions, with speaker names
Missed the live part? You can always import the recording afterwards.
Which one do you want?
Two questions about the setup in front of you, and you land on the right one.
The hardware for the cable mode
Only the cable mode needs anything bought, and this is the whole chain. An ordinary audio cable cannot do this on its own: the CellTap is the part that splits the call out to your phone while your headset keeps working, so it is the one piece you cannot substitute. The other three modes need no hardware at all.
A wired 3.5mm TRRS headset, the ordinary kind with a microphone on it.
Sits between your headset and your computer and sums your own microphone together with the person on the call into a single output. This is the part that actually solves the problem. A plain Y splitter will not do it, because it has no way to combine the two directions.
Carries that combined output into your iPhone. It has to be a 4-pin cable, UGREEN or similar. A plain cable cannot do it.
Start free.
Free comes with a recurring monthly cloud-AI budget of about 5 hours a month that renews.* Plus is $9.99 a month with a 7 day free trial.
Pro is $14.99 a month.
Or skip the subscription with on-device Apple Intelligence or your own API key.
On a computer? Point your iPhone camera here to get the app.Then add Shoulder Surf Companion, free for Mac, Windows
* Based on a 1 hour meeting with typical queries and context. Actual usage may vary. Compare plans
