Comparison

Njn vs Orb

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Njn

Features
Read full description

Njn puts Z in your pocket. Talk to it out loud, the way you talk to a person, and it gets things done - on your Mac, in your home and across your day. Talk, don't type Say "Hey Z" or tap the orb and start talking. Interrupt any time. Z answers out loud, with a living visual interface that moves as you speak. Typing is there when you want it. One mind across your devices Pair the app with Njn on your Mac and your phone becomes its voice. The same conversation follows you from desk to pocket. Ask it to open an app on your Mac, pick up a task, or tell you how work running there is going. Your home, by voice Turn lights on and off, set scenes and check your devices through Apple Home, just by asking. Memory that stays yours Njn keeps a private memory of what matters to you - the Library of Awareness - so context carries from one conversation to the next. The more you use it, the better it knows how you work. A crew, not a chatbot Z leads a crew of agents, each with its own voice and strengths. Switch between them on command. The best models in one place Njn works with leading frontier models, and with models running locally on your own Mac, through one interface. Key features - Hands-free voice with a "Hey Z" wake word - Works with Njn on your Mac: shared conversations, apps and tasks - Apple Home control by voice - Private, persistent memory across sessions - Leading AI models plus local models on your Mac - Customizable voices, avatars and appearance - Local-first, built around privacy and speed Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Orb

This proactive AI assistant anticipates your needs, offering timely reminders and updates without being asked. It allows you to control your computer remotely via your phone, handling tasks like file organization and providing voice-first, human-like interactions. Your data remains private as it runs on your own hardware.

Highlights
  • Proactive notifications
  • Remote computer control
  • Voice-first interaction
  • Open-source server
  • Customizable AI engine
  • Private data handling
Features
Read full description

7:02 AM. You haven't said a word yet. "Morning. Rain clears by nine. Your ten o'clock moved to ten thirty — and that form you've been dodging is due today, so I put it at the top of your list." Every assistant until now has waited to be asked. Orb doesn't wait. IT KNOWS WHAT'S UP Orb keeps a running sense of your day and reaches out when something actually matters: "You've got four commits sitting unpushed since Tuesday. Worth protecting before the weekend." "NVDA's up four percent since you asked me to watch it." "You've been at this for twenty hours. I moved tomorrow's first ping to ten so you can sleep in." And when nothing matters? Silence. The bar for interrupting you is high. YOUR COMPUTER, IN YOUR POCKET Run the free, open-source Orb server on your own computer and your phone becomes its remote. Ask for real work from anywhere — "clean up my downloads folder" — and carry on with your day until the receipt lands: "Done. 214 files sorted, three gigs freed." Your machine did the work. Your phone just told you. JUST SAY IT Voice-first, human answers. "Remind me at eight" — "Done, eight tonight." No menus, no forms, no robot voice reading bullet points. IT REMEMBERS What you said last week. What you asked it never to let you skip. Where you left off. One continuous assistant across voice and chat — whichever AI engine you plug in, Orb stays Orb. ACTUALLY YOURS No account. No developer cloud — we couldn't read your data if we wanted to, because there's nothing of ours to read it with. Choose which AI powers it, swap anytime, name it what you like. Self-host and nothing ever leaves hardware you own. You've been promised this assistant for fifteen years. Nobody built it, because it can't be built in someone else's cloud — an assistant this close to your life only works if it's yours.

Screenshots

Njn3 screens
Orb4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Orb at none against Njn's 1. Orb also leads on ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). Njn's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price and update cadence 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Njn sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $14.99 per month. Orb asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Njn ships an update weekly, Orb every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 5 level
Njn versus Orb: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNjnOrb
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 5 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size55 MB7 MB
Age rating17+12+
DeveloperMichael MurphyNATHAN BOYD LANGLEY

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Njn

Subscriptions1
  • Njn Premium3 Days trial$14.991 Month
None

Orb

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Njn free?
Njn is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Orb free?
Orb is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Njn or Orb have ads?
Njn shows ads; Orb does not.
Which is updated more often, Njn or Orb?
Njn ships an update weekly, and Orb every 5 days. Most recently, Njn was updated on October 17, 2026 and Orb on October 5, 2026.

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