ByoKey

ByoKey is an AI chat for iPhone and iPad that works with your own API key. You choose the AI provider and the model, see what each answer costs and pay the provider directly, only for what you use. ByoKey adds no subscription and no markup, and it runs no server that your chats pass through.

See what you spend

• Tokens and cost under each answer, wherever a price is known
• Totals per chat, per project and per month, plus a monthly budget you set yourself
• Compare before you choose: price per million tokens and context length, where the provider lists them
• Your own prices for models without a listed price – otherwise ByoKey shows “Price unknown” instead of a wrong figure; estimated amounts are marked “approx.”

Keep working on your code

• Attach a ZIP archive, a whole folder or single source and text files
• In a selection sheet with the file tree you decide what goes along and see tokens and estimated cost beforehand
• Dependencies, build folders and binary files stay out automatically; files that may contain credentials are marked and never preselected
• Export files: the newest version of each file from your import and the answers, as a ZIP or as a folder in the Files app
• “View page” shows generated HTML pages right on your device – with HTML, CSS and images; the page's scripts do not run, and nothing is loaded from the internet

Several chats at once

• Up to four answers run in parallel, one per chat; dots in the chat list show what is running, what is done and what needs you
• If you leave the app, a running answer keeps writing for as long as the system allows; if the time is not enough, the text so far stays and “Continue writing” picks it up
• Optional notifications when an answer is ready or needs you – off by default, created on your device, without the message content
• While you wait, ByoKey shows the waiting time and – as far as the provider reports it – whether the request was accepted and the connection is alive

Projects and sub-agents

• Projects with their own instructions and default model – six templates help you get started
• Up to three sub-agents – further models, also from other providers – review the main model's answers, for example as reviewer, critic or tester; if you like, the main model then revises its answer
• Select chats, move them into projects or merge them; costs still count exactly once

Your key, your choice

• 15 AI providers, including providers that process data in the EU according to their own information – or a server of your own with an OpenAI-compatible interface, also on your local network
• Works with API keys from OpenRouter, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Mistral AI and more
• “Connect with OpenRouter”: sign in to OpenRouter instead of copying a key – the key is created in your own OpenRouter account
• Your keys are stored in the keychain on this device only, without iCloud sync, and are sent only to the provider they belong to
• Nothing goes to a provider before you agree – separately for each provider, including those of your sub-agents; you can revoke your consent at any time under Settings › Data sharing with AI providers

Built for real work

• Attach PDFs, images, text and source files
• Models by category – with OpenRouter also music & audio, voice and areas such as programming
• Create images with selected providers, and music and spoken answers with OpenRouter's audio models
• Tables and code blocks in answers
• Dictation: recognized on your device (on Apple's servers only if you allow it), never via your AI provider
• A short tap on the waveform button lets you dictate right in the chat, and your message is sent automatically after a speech pause you set; press and hold it to open voice mode
• Voice mode: talk and have answers read aloud – on your device with any model, or via the provider with its speech models where it offers them; recordings go to the provider only after a separate consent
• Add to your question while an answer is still arriving

On iPad

• A layout made for the large screen: the chat list is a sidebar next to the chat – side by side in landscape, in portrait behind the button at the top left; “New chat” is at the top right
• Portrait and landscape, split screen and a resizable window
• With a keyboard attached: shortcuts for the main commands, for example ⌘N new chat, ⌘F search chats, ⌃⇥ next chat, ⌘L message field and ⌘, Settings
• Drag files, images, PDFs or a ZIP from Files or Photos onto the chat – they go through the same checks as with the paperclip; paste a copied image via the paperclip with “Paste from clipboard”
• Trackpad and mouse: buttons are highlighted under the pointer
• Settings, the model list, import and export open at page size
• Sub-agents, several chats at once, bringing your project and exporting it – everything is there on iPad too

Content filter and reports

• An on-device content filter checks requests, answers and attached documents (rules for English and German)
• Report content and block models right in the chat; a report is prepared as an e-mail to our support address that you send yourself
• No account with us, no tracking, no ads
• In English, German and Polish

ByoKey runs on iPhone and iPad with iOS or iPadOS 18 or later and has no in-app purchases and no subscription. It requires your own API key from a third-party AI provider (for example OpenRouter) or a server of your own; the provider bills you directly for using its models. AI answers can be wrong – please check important information.