Help & Support

How do I get started?

Tap Start listening and allow microphone access. Then just talk. When someone says something question-shaped — "I wonder why…", "how long is…", "what do you think…" — it lands on the Questions tab. Tap Stop when you're done.

What is "Catch that" for?

The thing the app is really for. You almost never know a question is interesting until it's already gone, so Catch that reaches backwards through the last 45 seconds and grabs what was just said. No trigger phrase needed. Change how far back it reaches in Settings → Windows → Catch reaches back.

Can I use it without unlocking my phone?

Yes — that's the point. While a session runs there's a Live Activity on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island with a Catch that button on it. It works straight from there.

How do I set up the double-tap on the back of my phone?

Open the iPhone Settings app → Accessibility → Touch → Back Tap → Double Tap, scroll to the Shortcuts section and choose Start iWonderWhat. Two taps on the back of your phone now starts a session without taking it out of your pocket.

The same shortcut works on the Action Button (Settings → Action Button → Shortcut), and there's a Control Centre control if you'd rather swipe.

How does the spoken search work?

Turn on Settings → Hands-free → Search when I say the word. Say "GoWonder" out loud during a session and the last question caught gets looked up. Pick a different phrase under Command — two or three words works best, because a single common word will fire constantly.

If the app is open, the search opens straight away. If your phone is in your pocket you'll get a notification to tap instead — iOS doesn't let a backgrounded app open a browser on its own, so that's the closest thing to hands-free that's actually possible.

Can my Apple Watch do the listening?

No — and not for want of trying. watchOS ships no on-device speech model at all, so the Watch physically cannot turn speech into text, and the only way to get audio across to the phone would be to write a recording to disk first, which this app never does.

What the Watch can do is drive the session: start, stop and Catch that, plus a watch face complication so it's one tap from the face. Your iPhone does the hearing. If you want it to pick up more of the room, wear AirPods — the microphone is inches from the conversation instead of in your pocket, and the app tells you which microphone is in use.

How do I put Catch that on my watch face?

Long-press your watch face, tap Edit, swipe to the complications screen, tap a slot and choose iWonderWhat. Tapping it opens the Watch app and catches straight away.

It's catching too much / not enough.

Use Settings → Catching → Sensitivity. Cautious only takes clear, well-formed questions and will miss some. Everything catches almost anything question-shaped and is noisy on purpose. Balanced is the middle.

You can also switch individual trigger phrases off, or add your own, under Trigger phrases. And you can turn automatic catching off entirely and use only Catch that.

Some of the questions come out garbled.

Transcribing a room from a pocket is much harder than dictating into a held phone, and distant or quiet speakers will come out rough. That's why the listening screen shows you what it's hearing as it happens — so you can judge it for yourself rather than trusting it blindly. Wearing AirPods helps a lot: the microphone is closer to the conversation and it's more obvious to everyone what's going on.

Every question can be edited. Your edit is stored alongside the original, which is never overwritten.

Does it drain the battery?

Yes, noticeably — continuous listening plus on-device transcription is real work. Think hours, not a day. That's part of why sessions are something you start deliberately and why they stop themselves at a limit you choose (Settings → Sessions → Stop after).

Can it listen all the time?

No, by design. It listens only during a session you start, and stops at your time limit. That keeps the battery survivable, keeps the app honest with the people around you, and keeps it within what Apple permits.

Where do my questions go? Who can see them?

Only you. Questions are stored on your iPhone and never uploaded. Audio is never saved at all, and the transcript is wiped when the session ends. There's no account and no cloud. See the privacy policy for the full picture.

Is it OK to use around other people?

Tell them. Nothing they say is recorded or sent anywhere, but recording or transcribing people without their knowledge is unlawful in some places and rude everywhere. The app keeps a visible indicator up the whole time precisely so this is an easy thing to say out loud.

What do I need to run it?

An iPhone running iOS 26 or later. The on-device long-form speech model it depends on doesn't exist before then. It's iPhone-only — no iPad or Mac version.

Something else is wrong.

Email owen@strive4.uk. Telling me your iPhone model, your iOS version and the app version from the bottom of Settings will get you a useful answer much faster.