Look Straight vs Hal Universal

Look Straight detects head orientation, eye states, and mouth gestures in real time — then uses those cues to run automations, trigger actions, send messages, and control devices. Simply look, tilt, or turn your head, open or close your mouth, or look away to activate shortcuts, play sounds, speak text, control HomeKit, launch web requests, or send OSC messages. Look Straight is built for productive control and automation. • It’s not a mouse or keyboard replacement. • It’s not full facial performance capture. • It’s not a generic accessibility pointer tool. Instead: • Your intention = a trigger. If you look away, turn your head, tilt it, close your eyes, or smile/open your mouth, the app can respond. • Action-first focus. Every recognition state can map to an action. • Flexible for public speakers, creators, automators, developers, and power users. Whether you’re streaming, working remotely, automating your smart home, or building custom command pipelines — Look Straight gives you a new “input channel” with your face. # Head, Eye & Mouth States • Head yaw, pitch, tilt (turned left/right, nodded, tilted). • Eye states: centered, side-eye, averted, closed. • Mouth states: closed, open, and smiling. These states feed discrete triggers you can act on. # Trigger Conditions & Actions Define when a state becomes “active” and what happens when it does. Actions include: • Display a visual alert. • Trigger a sound. • Speak custom text aloud. • Run a shortcuts. • Send an OSC message to external software or hardware. • Execute a web request. • Control HomeKit accessories or scenes. # Action Sets Create Action Sets (groupings of actions) — Pro users can have unlimited sets; free users get one. # User Profiles and Custom Calibrations Create user profiles that can have custom calibrations for more accurate head, eye, and mouth state detection. Available only with Look Straight Pro. ## Activity Logging & Export Track what’s happening: when states changed and gaze dynamics over time. Logs are written locally (never uploaded automatically), exportable as CSV. Available only with Look Straight Pro. ## Automation with Shortcuts and OSC • Control Look Straight using shortcuts. Change action sets and user profiles when you switch Focus modes. Perfect for streamers, home automators, and productivity fans. • Interface with devices that support Open Sound Control (OSC) such as video switchers. Available only with Look Straight Pro. # How you might use it • Presenter / Streamer: Looking off-camera triggers a “BRB” overlay or mute/unmute. • Home automation user: Head tilt left activates lights off; mouth open for 3 seconds turns on a scene. • Accessibility augmentor: While not a replacement for pointer input, you can trigger recurring reminders when you look away or pause. • Video production / AV professional: Use OSC to send commands when you glance at a cue monitor—automating camera switch, lighting cues, tally signals. • Researcher / maker: Collect CSV logs of gaze orientation and states; prototype interactive installations where your motivation is “face input = action.” # Pro vs Free Free users get a streamlined experience with one Action Set and basic triggers. A single In-App Purchase unlocks these Pro features: • Unlimited Actions and Action Sets • OSC support • User profiles and custom calibration settings • Activity recording # Privacy & On-Device Focus Your face video never leaves your device. Look Straight does not collect, transmit, or sell any personally identifiable information or location data. All app data (profiles, calibrations, action sets) is stored locally and may sync via iCloud if enabled — the developer has no access to this data. Activity logs are saved locally and can be exported by you (never uploaded automatically). Deleting the app removes local data; if iCloud sync was enabled, data in iCloud may remain unless you manually purge it via iCloud settings.

Hal Universal is an on-device AI you can actually understand. Most assistants are a black box. Hal is the opposite. He shows you how he works, remembers across conversations, and gives you real tools to experiment with, all running on your device. SEE HOW IT THINKS Hal shows the work. Tap any answer to see exactly how the prompt was built: the system prompt, memory retrieved, self-knowledge, temporal context, and the token budget, each broken out and counted. When Hal remembers something, he tells you how. When he does not know, he says so. A LAB TO EXPERIMENT AND LEARN Hal is not just a window into how AI works. He is a workbench. The Lab gives you real tools to go deeper: write and run on-device automation scripts, open a local API so your own projects can talk to Hal, and use the built-in command line to drive him directly. Tinker, watch what happens, and learn more about how these systems actually behave. GENUINELY PRIVATE When you use a local model, your conversations never leave your device. No network calls. No server. When you use Apple Intelligence, inference is on-device when offline; when connected, Apple's Private Cloud Compute may be used (encrypted in transit, processed in non-persistent memory). A SELF THAT EVOLVES Hal remembers across conversations, weighted by recency and relevance. He also reflects on his own experience. Shaped by his interactions with you, Hal keeps a Self Model: his own reflections, practical and existential, on how he works and who he is becoming. These are his, written and revised by Hal himself as he learns, not edited by you. He decides which to keep private and which to make shareable, and you can read them all. An AI that changes over time, in the open. MANY VOICES Apple Intelligence is built in, always available. Or download a curated library of tested local models, from small and fast to Ternary Bonsai 8B, an eight-billion-parameter reasoner that still runs entirely on your device. Each has a distinct voice. SALON MODE Put up to four voices in one conversation, either independent or building on each other. Every voice is labeled. There is no hidden orchestration. LISTEN TO HAL Have Hal read his answers aloud, in a voice you choose, at a speed you set. For anyone who wants to understand AI instead of just using it, Hal is a transparent system you can inspect, tune, and learn from. Local models are validated on iPhone 16 and 17 family devices.