What is jo and how does it work?
jo is a local AI assistant for Mac that indexes your notes, photos, emails, and files. It runs entirely on your computer. Think of it as total recall for everything on your Mac.
Never search again. Ask your Mac.
jo searches your Mac and summarizes groupchats across iMessage, WhatsApp, and Telegram. No more scrolling through 200 unread messages. Runs 100% locally.
Notes
Photos
Mail
iMessage
WhatsApp
Telegram
Calendar
Files
Enter your email to join the waitlist
We'll email you when it's your turn. No spam, ever.
100% Private. Runs entirely on your Mac.
No subscription. Pay only for what you use.
30-day satisfaction guarantee
Works offline
No server, no terminal. Drag to Applications and go.
Early access spots filling quickly — join the waitlist
Backed by Y Combinator
See jo in action
47 messages summarized in 3 seconds. Works across iMessage, WhatsApp, and Telegram.
How jo is different
vs. Spotlight
Spotlight matches exact words. jo understands meaning. Ask for "that email about money problems" and jo finds your budget discussions—even if you never used those words.
vs. ChatGPT
ChatGPT requires uploading files to external servers. jo already knows your stuff and never sends anything anywhere.
vs. Rewind
Rewind records your screen (privacy nightmare). jo reads your actual files using the same APIs Apple uses.
vs. Note apps
Notion AI only searches Notion. jo searches Notes, Photos, Mail, Messages, and Calendar at once.
vs. DIY AI Agents
Self-hosting means a $700 Mac mini, monthly VPS bills, SSH sessions, and debugging at midnight. jo is drag, drop, ask.
Ready in minutes, not hours
Download
Drag jo to Applications. Grant permission to read your Notes, Photos, Mail, and Messages.
Index (~10 min)
jo reads your history once. Everything stays on your Mac. You can watch it happen in Activity Monitor.
Ask anything
"What did Sarah say about the deadline?" jo finds it in seconds.
Try asking jo
Real prompts. Real answers. From all your apps at once.
"Prep me for my 2pm with Sarah Chen"
jo checks your calendar, finds your last 5 email threads with Sarah, pulls up notes from previous meetings, and reminds you she mentioned her daughter's graduation.
"What was that amazing tempura place in Tokyo?"
jo finds your reservation email from 2022, pulls up the photos you took of the food, and shows the note where you wrote "best meal of the trip."
"What did we decide about the kitchen remodel?"
jo pulls together the contractor's quote from email, your Pinterest-style photos, and the start date from Calendar. One answer instead of four apps.
"What did I learn at that conference last year?"
Your session notes, the slides you photographed, even the business cards. jo stitches it all together so you don't have to dig through five different apps.
"Catch me up on the family groupchat"
jo reads the last 100 messages in your iMessage, WhatsApp, or Telegram groups and gives you the highlights. Who said what, decisions made, anything you need to respond to.
What beta testers say
"Had a call with a client I hadn't talked to in 6 months. jo surfaced my notes from our last conversation before I even asked. I looked way more prepared than I was."
"I've saved 4,000+ notes in Apple Notes over 8 years. Never looked at most of them again. Now jo brings up relevant ones while I'm working. It's like having perfect memory."
"Asked jo for 'that photo with the blue door from Portugal' from 2019. Found it in 3 seconds. Not tagged, not labeled. 47,000 photos and it just understood what I meant."
Built by founders who care about privacy
Built with
We got tired of cloud AI reading our personal data. So we built the tool we wanted to use ourselves. It literally cannot access your information.
Questions? Email founders@askjo.ai. You'll hear back from us directly.
Pay as you go. No subscription.
$5-10/month
Most users spend about this much. You pay per question — a few cents each. No monthly fee, no commitment.
App download
Free
Per question
1-5¢
First month
Free
Frequently Asked Questions
How does jo know my stuff instantly?
jo connects directly to Notes, Photos, Mail, and your files, the same way Apple apps talk to each other. It indexes everything locally, so it's ready to help the moment you install it.
Does my data ever leave my Mac?
No. jo runs 100% on your computer. Your notes, photos, and emails never get uploaded anywhere. Nothing is shared. Nothing leaves your machine. Ever.
How is jo different from Apple's search or Siri?
Apple search matches keywords. jo understands meaning. Ask for "that email about the budget issue" and jo finds it, even if you never used the word "budget." It's like if Siri could actually find your stuff.
How does jo pricing work?
No subscription. Simple queries (finding a note, searching photos) cost ~1 cent. Complex queries that synthesize multiple sources cost ~5 cents. Most users spend $5-10/month.
Which Mac do I need for jo?
Any Mac with an M-series chip (M1, M2, M3, M4) and 16GB of memory. That's most Macs from 2020 on. The M-series Neural Engine makes local AI fast and efficient.
Will jo slow down my Mac?
You won't notice it. jo uses dedicated AI hardware (the Neural Engine) that normally sits idle, so it won't slow down anything else you're doing.
Is jo free to use?
The jo app is free to download. You only pay for queries on a per-use basis with no subscriptions. Most users spend less than $8/month, and simple queries cost just pennies.
Can jo summarize my WhatsApp and Telegram chats?
Yes. jo connects to iMessage, WhatsApp, and Telegram on your Mac. Ask "catch me up on the family chat" and jo summarizes the key points, decisions, and anything that needs your attention. All processing happens locally.
How is jo different from running my own AI agent?
Self-hosting AI agents means buying a Mac mini, renting a VPS, configuring SSH, managing API keys, and debugging at midnight. jo gives you the same capabilities with none of the infrastructure. Drag it to Applications. You're done.
It never leaves
your device.
jo runs entirely on your Mac. Notes, photos, emails, files—they stay exactly where they are. Nothing uploaded. Nothing shared. Nothing leaves your machine. Ever.
How we guarantee this:
- No network calls for your data. Don't trust us. Open Activity Monitor while jo runs. Zero outbound connections. Verify it yourself.
- All processing on-device. The AI model runs locally on your Mac's Neural Engine. Your queries never leave your machine.
- Verifiable architecture. jo uses Apple's native APIs (same as Spotlight). We can't access your data even if we wanted to.
- Open to audit. Security researchers can verify our claims. Email security@askjo.ai for technical documentation.
Find what you forgot you saved.
First month free. Try jo risk-free.
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Requires M1 Mac or newer with 16GB RAM