Documentation

Using ADVCT

Everything you need to record the first appointment, get the family set up, and share — on iPhone, Mac, and Android. Short steps, written for the person doing them, including a parent setting up their own phone.

Getting started iPhone & Mac

Install ADVCT from the App Store. One purchase covers iPhone and Mac.
Open the app — there's no account to create and nothing to set up.
Grant microphone and speech-recognition access when asked, so ADVCT can record and write down conversations.

ADVCT opens straight to the Conversations screen with the big red Record button. Before your very first recording it asks once — not every time — that everyone in the room knows they're being recorded.

On the Mac

The Mac app is the same purchase and the same record: everything written — summaries, transcripts, to-dos — syncs between your iPhone and Mac through your own iCloud, with no separate sign-in. The Mac is built for the desk side of the work: reading months of visits on a big screen, working the to-do board, and preparing for the next appointment.

Recording: the Conversations screen has a record bar at the top — choose the appointment type and click Record, or press ⌘R. The first time, macOS asks to use the microphone and speech recognition; allow both.
Locking it: Settings (⌘,) → Security → "Require Touch ID to open ADVCT". It locks when the Mac sleeps or you switch apps; ⌘L locks it now.
Where audio lives: a recording made on the Mac stays on the Mac, encrypted with a key in the Mac's Keychain. Only the written parts sync. Audio never travels.

Getting started Android

The Android edition does the same job — record, transcribe, and summarize entirely on the device — and you buy it directly from us. No Google account is involved at any step.

Buy a license. Your receipt email contains the download link and your license key.
On the Android phone, open the download page and tap the download button. When the file finishes, open it and tap Install. Android asks once whether to allow installing apps from your browser — say yes; that's the step that lets an app arrive from somewhere other than the Play Store.
Open ADVCT — no account, no sign-up.
Go to Settings, paste the license key from your purchase email, and tap Activate.
In the same screen, tap Download the model. ADVCT transcribes on the phone itself, so the speech model (about 250 MB) is fetched once — best on Wi-Fi. It resumes if it's interrupted.

Settings shows "This device is licensed", and from then on the app works with no connection at all — recording, transcription, and summaries all run on the phone.

Devices, moving, and updates

One license, seven devices. Activate each phone with the same key. Replacing a phone? Open Settings on the old one and tap Deactivate this device to free the slot, then activate the new one.
Online only for setup. You need a connection to buy, to activate, and to fetch the speech model — each once, briefly. After that ADVCT checks your license entirely on your own device and keeps working offline forever.
Updates take care of themselves. ADVCT checks for a newer version at most once a day and tells you in Settings when one is ready. Nothing about you or your device is sent with that check, you can switch it off in Settings, and every update is checksum-verified before it installs. New releases are also always on the download page.

Recording an appointment Both platforms

Recording happens where the appointment happens — usually on the phone of the person whose appointment it is. That's the design: family can't be in every exam room, but the phone is.

Open ADVCT and pick the kind of conversation — medical, legal, or financial.
Tap the big red circle. Set the phone down; talking near it is enough.
Tap again when you're finished. That's the whole job.

On iPhone, a recording keeps going through a screen lock, an incoming call, or a Siri interruption. If your Mac sleeps mid-recording, ADVCT stitches the pieces into one continuous recording — nothing is lost or split.

Asking permission

Before recording someone else, let them know. "Is it okay if I record this so my family can help me?" is all it takes — and in some places it's required by law.

Know your rule iPhone & Mac — Settings → Recording consent shows the rule where you are in one sentence. In the UK, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand you can record a conversation you're part of; most US states allow it, though eleven need everyone's agreement. ADVCT never uses your location — you pick the place.
Show the card iPhone & Mac — a full-screen (or printable) card explaining why you record and that it stays on your phone.
Capture the yes iPhone & Mac — turn it on and ask out loud; the answer sits at the top of the audio in the person's own voice.
Remember who declined — mark it on a person and their conversations stay private and are never shared automatically.

After the visit Both platforms

Open a conversation to see what ADVCT made of it:

Summary — a short, plain-language recap, the key points, and the follow-ups it heard.
Transcript — the full written version of what was said.
Audio — play the recording back any time.

On iPhone, if a summary looks wrong, tap "Try again" — it redoes it from the original audio. On Android, a recording made before the speech model was installed offers "Transcribe now" once the model is there.

A note on style, honestly stated: iPhone summaries are written by Apple's on-device language model on supported iPhones; Android builds its summary by pulling out the key sentences of what was actually said. Android summaries read more like highlights and less like prose — both come entirely from your recording, on your device.

The to-do list

The To-Dos tab collects follow-ups from every conversation. Claim one in a tap and the family sees it's handled; mark it done and everyone knows. On iPhone you can also add an item to your own Reminders, tap any item to hear the moment it came from, and — if the same job shows up at two visits — ADVCT offers to merge them. It always asks first.

Setting up the family

Adding family does one simple thing: it lets conversations be shared by name in one tap, and lets the family help with the shared to-do list. Nothing is shared until the owner of the record says so. The steps below are written from both points of view.

If this is your phone (the parent) iPhone

You record your own appointments and want your grown children to be able to help.

Open ADVCT and tap the gear to open Settings.
Under "This iPhone belongs to", type your own name — for example, "Mom". It helps everyone see who is who.
Tap Family members, then Add — pick from Contacts or type their details. Use the email or phone tied to their Apple Account; that's how ADVCT reaches them.
Choose what each person can do: Can view, Can comment, or Care coordinator. Tap Save.
To share everything ahead: Settings → Sharing → pick your record → invite them. They accept once and see every conversation, including new ones. Or share a single conversation from its Share with family button.

If you're the adult child, helping iPhone & Mac

Your parent records; you keep an eye on things from your own phone.

Install ADVCT and make sure you're signed in to iCloud.
When your parent shares, an invitation arrives — usually by Messages. Tap the link and accept once.
Their summaries and to-dos appear in your app. Switch between their record and your own using the name at the top of the screen.
Tap a to-do to claim it, so the rest of the family sees it's handled.

Family members see summaries, transcripts, and to-dos. They never get the audio.

On Android Android

Family sharing on Android lives on the People tab, under Family sharing. The owner shares the record, then creates an invite for each member — passed along as a QR code to scan or a short blob of text to paste, with a role for each person: coordinate, comment, or view. You choose where the shared copy is stored: on the device, or in a folder you control such as your own Google Drive. Either way it only ever holds encrypted files.

A mixed iPhone-and-Android family

Shared records travel between ecosystems end-to-end encrypted, carried by a folder your family already shares — Google Drive, iCloud Drive, or any synced folder both sides can reach. Owner and member each point ADVCT at their own view of the same folder; the keys never leave your devices, so the folder's provider sees only ciphertext. One thing to plan around: an iPhone and an Android phone can't share a purchase, and a personal library doesn't migrate between them — sharing is what bridges the two.

The week's update iPhone & Mac

Timeline → "This week's update": what happened, what got done and by whom, what nobody's picked up, what's due next week. Send it as a text or a one-page PDF — no app needed to read it. An optional Sunday reminder lives in Settings → Sharing, off by default.

The timeline and visit prep iPhone & Mac

Tap the clock icon on the recordings screen for the Timeline — one person's whole story in order, including what actually got done. Then "Prepare for a visit" builds a one-page brief: what's still open (even from months back), what's been recorded since, and questions to ask.

Print the brief in large type and hand it to the person whose appointment it is. It works just as well on paper — that's the point.

Records for more than one person iPhone & Mac

Settings → Records: one record per person — yours, your mother's, your father's — kept entirely separate. A switcher appears at the top once you have more than one. If you attend some visits yourself, add a record marked "Someone I help" and record those appointments from your own phone into their record.

Glance at the switcher before you record — it decides whose record the conversation lands in.

Privacy & storage Both platforms

Audio — your device only. Never uploaded, never shared, even with family.
Transcripts and summaries — on your device; on Apple platforms they sync through your own private iCloud to your other devices. On Android they live in an encrypted database on the phone.
Shared items — visible only to the people you invited, through your own iCloud or your family's own shared folder.
Us — nothing. There is no ADVCT server and no account.

Audio auto-deletes after 90 days by default to save space; the transcript, summary, and to-dos are kept forever. Change it in Settings (30/90/180/365 days or keep forever), or keep any single recording's audio from its own screen.

The full policy is short enough to actually read: Privacy Policy →

If something's wrong

A family member isn't seeing what I shared iPhone & Mac

In the order it's usually true: they haven't accepted the invitation; they're not signed in to iCloud; they haven't opened ADVCT since; one of you is on an old version. The banner at the top of a shared conversation shows exactly who has access and who's still pending, and Settings → Sharing diagnostics produces a copyable report.

No signal at the appointment

Everything that matters works offline on both platforms. A recording made with no signal is processed on the device as usual; anything you share goes out the next time the phone has a connection.

Moving to a new Android phone Android

Settings → Deactivate this device on the old phone frees the license slot; activate the new phone with the same key from your purchase email. The speech model downloads again on the new phone (about 250 MB) — the download resumes if it's interrupted.

Sharing ended

If an owner stops sharing a record with you, you'll see a banner saying so, and you choose whether to keep your copy or remove it. Your copy stops updating either way. Nothing on the owner's side is deleted.

Stuck on any step? Use the support form — a real person reads it, and we're glad to walk you through it. Your recordings and transcripts are never part of a support request.