Pre-release. Details can change.
A pocket assistant for screens

Every screen you meet, one assistant in your pocket.

Prop your phone in front of a computer, a TV or a tablet and tell it what you need. It takes over that screen's keyboard and mouse and gets on with the job, and you can take back over any time. Nothing to install on the other side.

Android today; the iPhone app is coming. Driving a TV or tablet with no extra hardware stays Android-only.

What it is

An assistant that sits beside you and works your screen.

Put the phone in a holder facing the screen and talk to it. It sees what is there, does what you ask, and hands back the moment you touch anything. An assistant you carry, with no account and no tracking, and one that will be able to think with a model you run yourself.

The assistant is on Android today

How it works

Point. Type. Ask.

01 · POINT

The camera is your view

The live camera picture is your monitor. No cable, no capture box, no drivers.

02 · TYPE

The phone is the keyboard and mouse

The whole screen is a trackpad. A key bar holds Esc, Tab, Enter, Delete, the arrows, and modifiers that stay pressed until you tap them again.

03 · ASK

The assistant does it for you

Show it the screen and say what you want. It writes a short plan, you approve it, it types. More →

On Android today
PHONE CAMERA VIEW BLUETOOTH TENTACLE
A computer, with a tentacle in its USB port. Works before anyone logs in. Android today, iPhone coming.
PHONE CAMERA VIEW BLUETOOTH KEYBOARD
A TV or a tablet that takes a Bluetooth keyboard, with no extra hardware at all. Android.
YOUR PHONE RESONATOR ANDROID PHONE AS TENTACLE BLUETOOTH TV
where we are going
An Android phone you already own can be the tentacle. Leave it in a holder beside the TV and drive it from your phone, including an iPhone that could not drive the TV by itself.
THE MACHINE YOU DRIVE TENTACLE BLUETOOTH PHONE CAMERA VIEW ASKS OVER RESONATOR YOUR MACHINE, YOUR MODEL
where we are going
The assistant does not have to be ours. Point it at a machine you own, running the model you choose, and the screen never has to leave your hands.
The assistant

Say what you want done. Watch it happen.

Available on Android today

Photograph the screen, say what you want, and it answers with a numbered plan of keystrokes and clicks. Review it, tap Run.

  • Snap mode. Photo, instruction, review, run. Cancel at any point.
  • Hands-free mode. It keeps listening and answers out loud; risky steps wait for your "yes".
  • Short, checkable plans. For longer tasks it looks again after each step, and stops after a fixed number.
  • Works over every tentacle, on the same path as the trackpad.
Example
you
"open the settings and turn on Bluetooth"
assistant · plan
  1. press Cmd+Space
  2. type Bluetooth
  3. press Enter
  4. wait 2 s
  5. click the Bluetooth switch
  6. say "Bluetooth is on."
▶ Run ✕ Cancel
Works with what you already own

If you can type or point at it, kontrolator can drive it.

Computers, laptops, single-board computers, and the smart TVs, tablets and iPads that take a Bluetooth keyboard.

LaptopsTentacle, or Bluetooth on Android
DesktopsTentacle, or Bluetooth on Android
Single-board computersTentacle, or Bluetooth on Android
Servers and NAS boxesTentaclenot yet tested
Smart TVsBluetooth, Android onlynot yet tested
Tablets and iPadsBluetooth on Android, or a Flipper as keyboard

A screen that accepts no keyboard or mouse at all can be seen but not driven.

Tentacles

A tentacle is whatever carries your touch to the device.

A small device, or your phone itself, that shows up to the machine as an ordinary keyboard and mouse.

A Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W board USB · Android today, iPhone coming

Pi Zero USB Tentacle

A Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, once our image is published. If the phone goes quiet, it lets go of every key by itself.

A Flipper Zero USB · Android today, iPhone coming

Flipper USB Tentacle

Our app turns a Flipper Zero you already own into a keyboard for the device. Keyboard only for now.

Phone support in progress

Bluetooth · Android

Android Bluetooth Tentacle

No extra hardware. The phone itself becomes a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Built into the Android app.

Anything that can be driven can grow a tentacle: an old CNC machine, a printer on a parallel port, an instrument with a serial console. The protocol will be published with the launch.

Under the hood

Built on Resonator.

An open-source peer-to-peer network where every node is a small database with its own identity, sharing only what its owner allows.

Both apps carry a node. On Android it wakes when you use the assistant. On iPhone it will let an Android phone you already own be the tentacle, so an iPhone can reach screens it could not drive by itself. A Pi tentacle will be able to join too, so other services you pair can use it.

one node per device
phone ─── assistant
  │
  └── tentacle ─── the device
every link: an identity on each end, a policy row that allows it, nothing else. Tentacles join later.
Built to be trusted with your keyboard

It checks before it acts, and it lets go.

Identifies before it types

The app identifies the tentacle before it sends a single input. Until it answers, there is no control screen.

Your keystrokes are never stored on the phone

What you type goes only to the device. The keyboard never autocorrects, suggests or learns from it.

Lets go in seconds

If the connection drops while a key is held, the tentacle releases it within about three seconds. A panic button, and leaving the app, release everything at once.

No account, no analytics

No login, no tracking: your phone has its own cryptographic identity rather than an account. On Android the assistant reaches our service over the Resonator network, relayed through public servers we do not run and which cannot read what passes through them.

The assistant's photos are transient

A downscaled picture goes out for one plan, never to disk. The iPhone app sends no pictures at all. Privacy →

FAQ

Questions people ask first.

Will it work with my TV?

If it takes a Bluetooth keyboard, your Android phone becomes one. iPhone cannot act as a keyboard, so direct TV control stays Android-only.

Do I have to install anything on the other device? Does it work before login?

Nothing to install: it sees an ordinary keyboard and mouse. With a tentacle it works on the login screen, as a wired keyboard does.

Is this a KVM?

Under the hood, yes: a software KVM whose video is your camera. We just don't lead with that.