
Hey everyone 👋

Meet Jotley — a native voice notes app for Mac and iOS with real-time AI transcription. This is my first "building in public" post, so let me catch you up on where things stand and why I'm taking the approach I am.

## The One-Liner

**Jotley is what Apple Notes would be if it could transcribe your voice, summarize it with AI, and let you chat with your notes.** Record a thought, get a transcript and summary instantly. Ask questions about what you recorded. Syncs across all your devices.

👉 **[jotley.ai](https://jotley.ai)**

## Why Native SwiftUI (and why this matters)

This is probably the most opinionated decision I made early on, and I want to be honest about the trade-offs.

### Why not Electron/React Native?

I've used plenty of Electron apps. Notion, Slack, Discord — they work, but you *feel* it. The memory usage, the slight input lag, the way they just don't integrate with the OS the way native apps do.

For a notes app that I want people to reach for 20+ times a day, native performance isn't optional. It's the product.

**The honest trade-off:** I'm targeting maybe 30% of the smartphone market (Apple users only). That's a real limitation. But I'd rather build something *excellent* for a smaller market than something mediocre for everyone.

But here's the real reason: **this app simply wouldn't be possible with cross-platform frameworks.**

When you're building a voice-first app that needs to:
- Capture system audio on Mac (requires Apple's ScreenCaptureKit and ProcessTap APIs)
- Handle real-time audio streaming with AVFoundation
- Integrate deeply with iCloud sync via CloudKit
- Feel like a first-class citizen on both platforms

...there's no React Native bridge for that. These are Apple-only SDKs that require native Swift code. I could've built a lesser version with cross-platform tools, but the core features that make Jotley special wouldn't exist.

### The 60/40 code split

Here's something I'm proud of: **~60% of my codebase is shared between iOS and macOS.** Views, models, services, sync logic — all shared. Platform-specific stuff (system audio capture on Mac, voice recording on iOS) lives in separate directories.

This wasn't automatic. It took deliberate architecture work. But now when I add a feature, I usually only write it once.

## The Architecture (High Level)

Native SwiftUI apps talking to a lightweight backend that handles transcription and AI. The apps stream audio, the backend processes it, transcription and summaries come back in real-time.

Why a backend at all? API key security, usage tracking, and the ability to ship new AI features without waiting for App Store review.

## The Development Journey

### What took longer than expected:

1. **CloudKit sync** — Getting conflict resolution right is *hard*. When you delete a note on Mac while your iPhone is offline, what happens when it comes back online? I went through three different sync strategies before landing on one that feels reliable.

2. **System audio capture on Mac** — This requires special entitlements from Apple and involves newer APIs (ScreenCaptureKit, ProcessTap). Getting screen recording permission flow to feel native took iteration.

3. **Real-time transcription feel** — The words need to appear smoothly as you speak. Too chunky feels broken. Too fast feels jittery. Finding the right buffering took trial and error.

### What was easier than expected:

1. **SwiftUI in 2026** — It's actually mature now. Most of the jank from early versions is gone. I'm building features, not fighting the framework.

2. **Transcription quality** — Modern speech-to-text is genuinely excellent. Fast and accurate out of the box.

## Honest Self-Assessment

**What I'm doing right:**
- Building something I actually use daily
- Native performance is a real differentiator
- The core experience (record → transcribe → summarize → chat) is tight

**What I'm doing wrong:**
- Zero marketing execution
- No content, no social presence, no audience
- "Build it and they will come" is not a strategy

## What's Next

I'm treating this month as the start of the real push:

1. **Record a demo video** — 60-90 seconds showing the core flow
2. **Update App Store screenshots** — Current ones don't show transcription
3. **Start posting on Indie Hackers** — You're reading post #1
4. **Ship the payment integration** — Can't be indie hacking at $0 MRR forever

## Questions for the Community

1. **Pricing thoughts?** I've got two tiers: **Essential** ($10/month or $79/year — works out to ~$6.50/month) and **Unlimited** ($20/month or $158/year — ~$13/month). Otter.ai charges $16.99/month. Am I positioned right?

2. **Product Hunt timing?** Do I launch now with what I have, or wait until the demo video and updated assets are ready?

3. **What would make you try it?** Genuinely curious what would get you to download a new notes app in 2026.

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If you want to follow along: I'm **@protomota** on X/Twitter, and I'll be posting updates here regularly.

Sign up for early access at **[jotley.ai](https://jotley.ai/waitlist)** — we're launching soon!

Thanks for reading. Happy to answer any questions about SwiftUI, native dev, or indie dev life in general. 🙏


Building in public - a native voice notes app for Mac and iOS with real-time AI transcription and summaries.

Posts tagged "indie-hacker"

Meet Jotley - Building a Native Apple Notes App with AI Transcription