Cumbersome vs Turnscript
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Cumbersome
Connect directly to AI provider APIs for greater control over model selection and parameters. Compare different AI models, pay per use, and customize responses with advanced features. Supports multiple providers and custom endpoints.
- Direct API connections
- Multi-provider support
- Full parameter control
- Face/Off Mode with AI judge
- Concurrent chats
- Edit messages
- Rich content support
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IMPORTANT: Requires your own provider API keys or an OpenAI-compatible endpoint. I built Cumbersome because consumer AI apps kept dumbing things down. Cumbersome is the manual transmission of AI apps: more complex, but with far greater control. WHY I BUILT THIS Consumer AI apps hide the controls I want and lock me into one provider. I wanted direct API access, the freedom to pick and compare models, and to pay providers for what I use. This is the app I use every day, so I pay attention and try to get it right. SUPPORTED PROVIDERS - ChatGPT / OpenAI - Claude / Anthropic - Gemini / Google AI Studio - OpenRouter multi-provider - Vercel AI Gateway multi-provider - Z.ai - OpenAI-compatible custom endpoints, including Ollama, Azure, LM Studio, Groq, Together, and self-hosted backends WHAT YOU GET - A versatile API client. One app, every major provider and model. - Total control. Pick your model, tune the parameters, switch providers mid-conversation. - Compare models head to head. Stream multiple chats in parallel and let an AI judge pick the best. - Bring your own tools. Local browser use, reasoning, web search, image generation. - Rich, editable conversations. Markdown, LaTeX, code blocks, attachments, edit and export anything. - Private by design. iCloud sync across devices. Nothing saved to our servers. - Native and accessible on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. MAJOR FEATURES ADDED IN 2026 Highlights only. New in 1.74.0: Incognito chats. Search Project documents and conversations with Pro. 2026-09-21: Independent iPad chat windows. 2026-09-14: Read replies aloud as they arrive. Save and Restart after editing. 2026-08-29: Select multiple chats. Mac export/import of all chats. 2026-08-21: Background replies on iOS 26. Question Cards for clarification. 2026-08-18: Web Agent: a shared, interactive browser. 2026-08-06: Highlight passages and attach notes for your next reply. 2026-08-03: Local Python analysis, charts, Mermaid, Markdown export. 2026-07-31: Gemini video. Responses API for custom providers. 2026-07-28: Parallel browser and MCP tools. 2026-07-23: Mind/Meld combines three AI responses into one. 2026-07-18: Full Simplified Chinese support. 2026-07-12: Ghost/Write drafts your next turn. 2026-07-09: Remote MCP servers and tools. 2026-07-02: Chat themes and reading fonts (Serif, Rounded, Mono). 2026-06-28: Folder system message presets. 2026-06-24: Prompt caching, with usage across providers. 2026-06-17: Reusable system presets per conversation. 2026-06-16: Offload long system messages to iCloud Drive. 2026-06-15: Toggle custom API parameters. 2026-06-11: Compact chats to lower API costs. 2026-06-07: Run JavaScript and HTML. 2026-06-04: OpenRouter PDF parsing and search engine options. 2026-05-12: Quick Prompt shortcut and App Visibility on Mac. 2026-05-09: Folders to group and organize chats. 2026-05-03: Collapsible sidebar sections, synced across devices. 2026-04-22: Image generation with OpenAI and Gemini. 2026-04-18: Local browser search and browsing. 2026-04-11: Headless browser mode. 2026-04-03: Searchable model picker. 2026-03-15: Extended thinking and reasoning across providers. 2026-03-09: Auto-delete chats after a set number of days. 2026-02-28: Custom OpenAI-compatible providers. 2026-02-25: Only Search When Requested. 2026-02-24: Image paste, attachment previews, PDF thumbnails. 2026-02-21: Siri and Shortcuts. 2026-02-20: Vercel AI Gateway and model filters. 2026-02-06: Voice Control, Larger Text, higher contrast. 2026-01-11: VoiceOver, Dynamic Type, keyboard navigation. 2026-01-06: OpenRouter integration. THE DEAL Core features are free. An optional Cumbersome Pro subscription adds advanced Project tools and supports ongoing development. You pay providers directly for API usage. I'm Peter, an indie developer in Reno, Nevada, out among the high desert tumbleweed. No VC money. No growth hacking. Just a tool I wanted to exist.
Turnscript
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Turnscript turns a meeting recording into a transcript that says who spoke, when, and in the language they actually spoke. It runs on your device. Record in the app or import a file you already have, and the transcription, the speaker separation and the timestamps all happen locally. No audio leaves your Mac, iPhone or iPad. There is no account to make and nothing to sign in to. WHO SAID WHAT Speakers are separated as part of transcription rather than guessed at afterwards, so each passage arrives already attributed. Rename Speaker 1 to a real name and every line updates at once. FIFTEEN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING MIXED ONES German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Thai, Vietnamese, Turkish, Urdu and Tagalog. You do not pick a language beforehand. A meeting where someone answers a German question in English stays exactly that way; nothing is translated or tidied into one language. BUILT AROUND THE RECORDING Tap a timestamp to jump there. The current passage highlights as the audio plays, at speeds from 0.75x to 2x. Search across every transcript you have, in any script. Fix a word without losing what the model originally wrote, and reset it whenever you like. EXPORT Markdown, plain text, JSON, SRT and WebVTT, plus the recording itself. OFFLINE FROM THE FIRST LAUNCH The speech model, about 1 GB of it, ships inside the app. There is nothing to download: recording, transcription, playback, search and export all work with no network at all. SUPPORTED DEVICES iPhone 15 Pro or newer, iPad with M1 or later, iPad mini (A17 Pro), and any Mac with Apple silicon. How much of a meeting fits in one pass depends on how much memory the device has, so the app works it out and tells you the figure in minutes before it starts. Longer recordings are split into parts, and a speaker keeps one name across all of them. The Apple Watch companion needs watchOS 26.4. For a good experience the device needs 8 GB of memory or more. With less, Turnscript works in shorter blocks and says so on launch. ON THE WRIST Record a meeting on Apple Watch for up to 90 minutes, in five-minute parts. Each part goes to the iPhone as it finishes and arrives as one meeting, ready to transcribe. If the watch stops recording, it taps you firmly so you can continue with one tap. SYNC WITHOUT GIVING ANYTHING AWAY Transcripts sync through your own private iCloud database, and recordings through iCloud Drive, so your library follows you between devices without passing through anyone else's server. Turnscript uses MOSS-Transcribe-Diarize 0.9B, an open speech model from the OpenMOSS Team at Fudan University, under the Apache 2.0 license. Requires Apple Silicon.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Cumbersome at Free against Turnscript's $7.99. Cumbersome also leads on iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.4). Turnscript's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2). On ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Cumbersome is free to download; Turnscript costs $7.99 up front. Cumbersome sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Turnscript asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | Cumbersome | Turnscript |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $7.99 |
| Rating | 4.9 (91 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 87.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 91 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 — better | 26.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 78 MB | 1.2 GB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Folding Sky Co | Jonathan Vogelbusch |
In-app purchases
Cumbersome
- Cumbersome Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
- Cumbersome Pro Annual$39.991 Year
Turnscript
No in-app purchases









