Hands-on with Petey AI for iPhone with Live Activities, Siri Shortcuts support, GPT-4

In March, watchGPT arrived to seamlessly access OpenAI’s smarts on Apple Watch. Shortly after, it was renamed to “Petey” as Apple cracked down on apps using GPT in their names. Now the top requested feature has arrived – Petey for iPhone with features like Live Activities, Siri Shortcuts support, and more.

When Petey AI launched, it jumped to the top of the paid App Store chart. A couple of weeks later, it was updated with the GPT-4 large language model AI, quick prompts (plus the rebrand to Petey).

At the end of March developer Hidde van der Ploeg shared on Twitter that the most requested feature was an iOS version of the app and that it was in the works. A beta launched shortly after.

Petey AI for iOS + Apple Watch update

Now Petey AI for iPhone has officially arrived, here are the key features with the new update:

• Talk to Petey on your phone and enjoy the faster speed compared to watchOS
• Shortcuts support: Open or Ask Petey with a shortcut. This also lets you replace Siri with Petey.
• Add API Key: Now it’s possible to add your own API key, this will give you more control and let you use GPT-4 at your own cost (if your API key allows it) it also lets you opt out of the Petey for iOS subscriptions.
• Live Activity (iOS Only): Every time you start talking with Petey, we will start a Live Activity so you can do other things while waiting for a response.
• Send to Phone (watchOS Only): Send an answer from Petey on watchOS to your phone to use in other apps.
• Share full conversation (iOS Only): Share the full conversation with the press of a button to use in any app that accepts text
• Rich Answers (iOS Only): When a link is detected, a separate view is presented to open up the mentioned website easily

Using Petey AI on iPhone

I’ve been trying out the new Petey AI for iOS and have found it offers a slick experience. It features a clean and simple dark and blue theme with the ability to type or dictate.

The Live Activities support is a great touch that works on both the Home and Lock Screen. For the Home Screen, you’ll see the Petey icon with a … on the right side as your query is processing and a green checkmark when it’s complete.

Shown in the middle below, you can long-press on the Dynamic Island to preview your response.

Another neat aspect is the Siri Shortcuts support that allows you to use Petey hands-free. In my experience, Petey has been quite fast with most requests answered in less than a minute.

Petey runs $4.99 for iPhone and Apple Watch. That includes unlimited requests on Apple Watch while a subscription for Petey Basic or the upcoming Petey Premium is required for the iPhone app. But you can try out the iPhone experience free for two weeks before signing up for the $6.99/month subscription.

Alternatively, you can use your own API Key to access Petey on your iPhone. Because of the cost of GPT-4, that’s an optional upgrade for $3.99.

More pricing details

Petey Basic – $6.99 / month

• 2 Weeks free trial
• 1 Month free trial when GPT-4 IAP has been purchased
• Unlocks Petey on iOS for the cheapest model (Currently: GPT-3.5)

Petey Premium – $??? / month (COMING SOON)

• 2 Weeks free trial when GPT-4 IAP has been purchased
• Unlocks Petey on iOS for the most advanced model (Currently: GPT-4)

Planned updates

• History: Save your Petey conversations to read back later!
• Improved Voice: Currently exploring other AI voice options
• Syntax Highlighting & more rich answers
• More widgets