Comparison

ScarfGo vs Hermes Conduit

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

Head to head
About

ScarfGo

Features
Read full description

ScarfGo is the iPhone companion to Scarf, the open-source macOS GUI for the Hermes AI agent. It connects from your phone to a Hermes server you operate — your Mac, a home Linux box, a cloud VM, anything reachable over SSH — and lets you run sessions, browse memory, manage cron jobs, and resume conversations on the go. A fully native iOS app, not a web view or a remote desktop. ScarfGo speaks SSH directly using a pure-Swift implementation, reads Hermes state via SFTP and SQLite snapshots, and streams real-time agent output over the Agent Client Protocol on a long-lived SSH exec channel. Every byte stays between your device and the Hermes host you configured. What you can do: • Multi-server. Configure as many Hermes hosts as you like and switch between them with a tap. Soft Disconnect keeps your credentials cached; Forget wipes a server end-to-end. • Dashboard. Stats and the 25 most recent sessions, with project badges so you can tell at a glance which work is which. • Project-scoped chat. Pick a project from your registry and ScarfGo writes the same Scarf-managed AGENTS.md context block the Mac app does, so the agent boots with the right project context. The resulting session is attributed correctly across both clients. • Session resume. Tap any row on the Dashboard to open that session's transcript in Chat. CLI-started sessions hydrate from the Hermes state database; ACP sessions show an empty-state because Hermes does not persist ACP transcripts to the database. • Memory editor. Read and edit MEMORY.md and USER.md with a Saved indicator that survives keyboard dismissal and a one-tap Revert. • Cron list. Human-readable schedules ("Every 6 hours", "Weekdays at 09:00") instead of raw cron expressions, plus a relative next-run estimate. Read-only in this release; editing comes in a future update. • Skills browser. Read-only category tree with the SKILL.md frontmatter chips (allowed tools, related skills, dependencies) the Mac app shows. • Settings viewer. Read-only inspection of your config.yaml. Edit values from the Mac app or a remote shell. Privacy. ScarfGo does not collect, transmit, or store your data on any server controlled by the developer. There are no analytics, no telemetry, no ad identifiers. SSH keys are generated on-device and stored in the iOS Keychain with the ThisDeviceOnly attribute, so they are unreachable while the device is locked and never sync to iCloud. The complete privacy policy lives at awizemann.github.io/scarf/privacy. Open-source under the MIT license. Source, issue tracker, and contributor docs at github.com/awizemann/scarf. Bug reports tagged component:scarfgo go straight to the developer. Requirements. iOS 18.0 or later. An SSH-reachable Hermes server (Hermes v0.10.0 or later recommended; full v0.11.0 features supported). Your phone needs to be able to reach that server over the network, for example on the same Wi-Fi or at a public address that accepts SSH connections. ScarfGo itself does not provide any network or VPN service.

About

Hermes Conduit

This mobile client provides access to your personal AI agent, allowing you to chat, talk, and manage tasks from your devices. It offers real-time voice calls, context-aware chat, and control over your agent's bots and jobs.

Highlights
  • Real-time voice calls with AI models
  • Context-aware chat with rich media support
  • Task management and bot interaction
  • Voice control for jobs and calls
  • Cross-device session synchronization
  • Customizable AI agent skills and tools
Features
Read full description

Hermes Conduit is an independent client for your own Hermes agent, on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. Your sessions, profiles, bots and tools are the same ones you use on desktop, in a touch-first app built for chatting, talking, and keeping an eye on your agent while you're away from your desk. TALK TO HERMES • Real-time voice calls with Gemini Live, Qwen Live, GPT-Live and Grok Live, or Local Live on your own speech server, with echo cancellation and interruption • Start, check and cancel Hermes jobs by voice, with results folded back into the call • Calls stay with the chat you started them from, keep going with the screen locked, shrink to a bar while you read, and are saved as chats • Hermes can call you when a job is done or it needs your answer; pick up like a normal call, even on your Watch • Talk from Apple Watch on its own, from CarPlay, from Siri, or with a wake phrase • Classic voice and dictation with spoken Stop and End, plus Read Aloud for any reply CHAT WITHOUT LOSING CONTEXT • Pick up desktop sessions and project chats where you left them, with replies streaming in live • Markdown, highlighted code, math, Mermaid diagrams and task lists • Map, place, travel, media, contact and info cards that Hermes draws right in the chat • Follow thinking, tool calls and each turn's steps, or keep them folded away • Answer Hermes' questions with a tap or a short form • Attach photos, camera shots and any file, or drag them in; long pastes become attachments • Swipe through pictures full screen; quote, react to, edit and resend messages • Browse every file and artifact Hermes made, and your project folders • On iPad and Mac, resize the chat list and chat columns; text grows with the window TASKS, BOTS AND PULSE • Tasks board: follow Hermes' Kanban tasks and add new ones • Open your Hermes bots and their Bot Chats; set each bot's model, skills and tools • Group chats with your bots and @mentions • Review, run and edit scheduled jobs • Pulse (beta): turn it on and Hermes brings things up on its own, from a morning brief to follow-ups on your plans YOUR PHONE, IF YOU ALLOW IT Every one is off until you turn it on, and goes only to your own Hermes host: • Location and place rules, travel times and directions • Calendar and reminders, with each change asked first • Apple Health data • Focus, alarms and timers, and contacts you pick • Ask Hermes about what's on your screen, or send anything to it from Shortcuts or the share sheet STAY IN CONTROL • Approve tools and answer questions straight from a notification, end-to-end encrypted between your host and your phone • Live Activities for a running reply on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island • Home Screen widgets to start a chat or talk in one tap • Switch providers, models and reasoning effort mid-conversation; watch context use; steer, queue or stop a turn • Branch, pin, archive and delete sessions; switch profiles and Hermes servers • Turn skills, tools, connectors and plugins on or off • Face ID or Touch ID lock, credentials kept in the Keychain EASY TO SET UP Sign in with your dashboard address, a QR code or a setup link from your agent. Install the free Hermes Conduit Notifier plugin on your host for notifications, voice calls, cards and phone features. BUILT FOR SELF-HOSTED HERMES Conduit connects to the Hermes dashboard you run, and in live voice calls to the voice provider you choose. It is not a hosted AI service, and a working Hermes installation is required. Free, with no ads, no analytics and no tracking. If Conduit crashes or freezes, it asks once whether to send that report (call stacks, app and iOS version, device model) to its developer, and sends nothing unless you tap Send. Available in English, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish and Turkish. Hermes Conduit is an independent client and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nous Research.

Screenshots

ScarfGo4 screens
Hermes Conduit4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is chart position: Hermes Conduit at #49 against ScarfGo's unranked. Hermes Conduit also leads on device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement 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.

Scorecard2 real differences · 9 level
ScarfGo versus Hermes Conduit: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterScarfGoHermes Conduit
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.7 (42 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—80.6% of reviews
Number of ratings—42 — better
Update frequency—Weekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
Best chart rank—#49 — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS18.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB90 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperAlan WizemannLong Cheung Ho

In-app purchases

None

ScarfGo

No in-app purchases

None

Hermes Conduit

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ScarfGo free?
ScarfGo is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Hermes Conduit free?
Hermes Conduit is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do ScarfGo or Hermes Conduit have ads?
Neither ScarfGo nor Hermes Conduit shows ads.

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