Comparison

Cloudless vs DG Cortex

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

Head to head
About

Cloudless

This app offers private voice dictation with 100% on-device AI. It transcribes speech in real-time, automatically cleans up text with smart punctuation and formatting, and ensures your voice never leaves your phone. It works across all your favorite apps and supports over 25 languages.

Highlights
  • 100% on-device AI
  • Real-time voice transcription
  • Smart text cleanup (punctuation, formatting)
  • Privacy-focused, no data sent
  • Full-featured keyboard
  • 25+ languages supported
  • Transcript history
Features
Read full description

Cloudless is the private alternative to paid voice dictation apps. 100% on-device AI — no subscription, no cloud, no one listening. Paying monthly just to dictate? Cloudless does everything the expensive apps do, without sending your voice to a server or charging you a cent. VOICE TRANSCRIPTION Tap the microphone and speak. Cloudless transcribes in real time using a local AI model that runs entirely on your device — no internet required. SMART CLEANUP Basic dictation just transcribes. Cloudless makes it ready to send. Our on-device AI automatically polishes every transcript: removes filler words (um, uh), fixes punctuation, formats numbers, emails, times, and lists. Fully customizable. PRIVACY FIRST All processing happens on your device. No audio is recorded, stored, or sent anywhere. Your voice never leaves your phone. FULL-FEATURED KEYBOARD • AZERTY & QWERTY layouts • Emoji keyboard with recent emojis • Hold space bar to move cursor • One-hand mode • Accent support with long press 25+ LANGUAGES Dictate in your language. More added on request. TRANSCRIPT HISTORY View and manage all your past transcripts in one place. WORKS EVERYWHERE Use Cloudless in any app — Messages, Notes, Mail, WhatsApp, and more. Switch to Cloudless and start typing or dictating instantly.

About

DG Cortex

Features
Read full description

Most assistants answer your question and stop. Cortex takes the job, goes and does it, and comes back to you when it is finished. Tap once and talk. Cortex answers out loud, keeps working after you hang up, and tells you the moment it has something for you. WHAT PEOPLE ASK IT "What is the weather doing tomorrow?" Conditions and a short forecast, out loud, with a card on screen. "How much are flights to Denver next Friday?" Airline, price and departure time for the top options. Ask it to watch the route and it tells you when the fare drops. "Get me a ride to the airport." Opens Uber or Lyft with the destination already filled in, or opens Waymo for you to confirm the trip there. "Give me the local news every morning at seven." A short brief arrives on its own from then on. Local news for your city, the top tech headlines, or the weather. Daily, weekly, monthly, or one time. "Do deep research on the best mac and cheese recipes" The big ones keep running after you hang up. IT KEEPS WORKING AFTER YOU HANG UP Hand Cortex something that takes real digging and it carries on in the background. Progress shows on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. You get a notification the moment the write up is ready, and the whole thing is waiting in your Recent feed. Open a result to read it, have Cortex read it aloud at the speed you like, share it, or copy it. Anything you asked for directly can be run again with one tap. ARRIVE AND LEAVE ALERTS Save a place on a map, set how close counts, and get a notification when you arrive or leave. Add a cooldown, and the days and hours it should apply. PUT IT ON THE TABLE Start a note session before a meeting and Cortex writes the room down: a live transcript with speaker labels as people talk. When you finish, the session is saved with a summary and the action items pulled out. Say "Hey Cortex" to ask it something without stopping the notes. Every session is searchable and easy to share afterward. TALKING TO IT Tap the button on the home screen and start speaking. Cut it off mid sentence and it stops and listens. In a quiet room, tap the keyboard and type instead: same answers, same actions. Hands full? Say "Hey Siri, talk to Cortex", or put Cortex on the Action Button and hold, on iPhones that have one. A live transcript of both sides runs on screen while you talk. Search covers every past conversation and every note you have. MAKE IT SOUND RIGHT Pick the voice and tap to hear it. Set the language to English, Spanish or German. Choose quick answers or thorough ones. Turn read aloud on and set the playback speed. Teach it the names and words it keeps getting wrong. YOUR CALL, ALWAYS Cortex listens only when you start a conversation or a note session. Turn off conversation transcripts and every conversation already saved is deleted, on your phone and on our servers. Turn off usage data sharing whenever you want. Delete your account and everything stored with it from inside the app. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://dg-cortex.com/privacy

Screenshots

Cloudless4 screens
DG Cortex3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Cloudless at 17.0 against DG Cortex's 26.2. On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Cloudless versus DG Cortex: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCloudlessDG Cortex
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 10 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.2
Further details — not scored
Size35 MB72 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSynth ExplorationTimmy Nguyen

In-app purchases

None

Cloudless

No in-app purchases

None

DG Cortex

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Cloudless free?
Cloudless is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is DG Cortex free?
DG Cortex is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Cloudless or DG Cortex have ads?
Neither Cloudless nor DG Cortex shows ads.

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