Live Comments & Personas

Live lets AI personas listen while you record and respond as you talk — a short reaction, or one question that helps you keep going. It’s for thinking out loud with someone listening, not for having your words rewritten: your journal entry is still made from your own speech, and the comments are kept apart from it.

Live is off by default. It runs only when you switch it on before a recording, and it uses Gemini Live with your own Gemini API key.

What you need

Gemini API key	The same key you use for transcription, set under Settings → Transcription → Gemini. See Gemini API Integration.
iPhone or Mac	iOS 26 or macOS 26 or later
Apple Watch (optional)	Live on the watch runs through Ayumi on your iPhone — see On Apple Watch

Starting a Live recording

1. Open the recorder (Record Audio)
2. Under Live Comments, turn on Live comments while recording. The participating personas are listed under the switch
3. Tap Start Recording. Ayumi connects to Gemini Live first (“Connecting Live…”), then starts recording
4. Talk. Comments appear under Live Comments, newest first

The switch is remembered for the next recording. It can only be changed before you start: Live can’t be turned on in the middle of a recording.

Note

Live starts only from the Start Recording button in the recorder. Recordings started from Shortcuts, Siri, or the Action Button don’t use Live.

If Live can’t connect — no key, a wrong model name, no network — the recording starts anyway and the recorder shows why, with “Recording continues without Live comments.”

During the recording

• The selected persona hosts. It listens through Gemini Live and decides when to respond. It’s told to keep comments brief, ask at most one short question, and not respond to every pause.
• Up to two more personas join in writing. They post their own comments when you or the host ask for them by name, or from time to time as the conversation goes on. They never speak aloud.
• Ask Another Persona lets you pick a written persona and get its comment now.
• Interrupt freely. If you start talking while the host is replying, it stops and the comment is marked Interrupted.
• Stop Live Comments ends Live and keeps the recording going. Live can’t be restarted in the same recording.

Stopping or discarding the recording ends Live too. The recording is then transcribed by your profile as usual — Live comments are not part of the entry.

Personas

A persona is a name plus instructions: who it is, what it pays attention to, how it should respond. Ayumi starts you with two:

Persona	What it does
Companion	Listens carefully and helps you reflect in your own words. Doesn’t rush to advice; asks at most one short question at a time.
Explorer	Helps you look at the assumptions behind your words and decisions. Curious, not judging; one concrete question at a time.

Edit them, duplicate them, or add your own under Settings → Agents → Personas.

Writing instructions

The editor has a Name and a System Prompt. Write the instructions in plain language, or in Markdown:

You are a calm running coach who has heard about my training before.
- React to how the session felt, not just the numbers.
- If I mention pain, ask where and how bad — once.
- Keep it to one sentence. Reply in my language.

Instructions can pull in context with the same variables as transcription prompts, from the Insert Variable menu:

Variable	Inserts
{{recent_entries}} / {{recent_entries:N}}	Your latest journal entries (default 3, up to 10)
{{recent_summaries}} / {{recent_summaries:N}}	One-line summaries of your latest entries (default 10, up to 30)
{{file:…}}	The contents of a Markdown file — choose Markdown file… to pick one
{{today}} / {{now}}	Today’s date, or the current date and time

A linked file can live in iCloud Drive or your Obsidian vault and stay editable there. Reload Instructions re-reads it, and the Expanded System Prompt section shows exactly what the persona will receive.

Note

Instructions are read once when a Live session starts and stay fixed for that session. Edits — in Ayumi or in the linked file — apply from the next recording.

Choosing who takes part

Under Settings → Agents:

• Selected Persona is the host. It’s always taking part.
• Participating Personas adds up to two more, for three in total. They join in writing.

Try Persona asks the participating personas a question with Apple Intelligence on your device, so you can check their instructions before you record. Your question and the expanded instructions stay on the device. It needs Apple Intelligence on a supported device.

Settings

Settings → Agents → Live Comments:

Setting	What it does
Live Model	The Gemini Live model the host uses. Default gemini-3.8-live
Written Persona Engine	Gemini, or On-Device AI to keep written personas on your device
Written Persona Model	The Gemini model for written personas. Default gemini-3.8-flash
Allow Live from Apple Watch	Lets the watch start Live through your iPhone (iOS)
Play the selected persona’s voice	Speaks the host’s replies aloud. Off by default — text comments work either way
Comment notifications	Notifies you of new comments while Ayumi is in the background

These are locked while a Live session is running.

Hearing replies

With Play the selected persona’s voice on, the host’s replies play through the speaker, or through your headphones when they’re connected. Headphones are the better choice outdoors, and keep the reply out of your recording. Only the host speaks; written personas stay text.

Notifications

With Comment notifications on, a finished comment shows up as a notification while Ayumi isn’t in front — handy with the phone in your pocket. Each session uses a single notification that updates in place, at most every 15 seconds, without sound.

On Apple Watch

You can get Live comments on your wrist while you record on the watch.

1. On your iPhone, turn on Settings → Agents → Allow Live from Apple Watch
2. Open Ayumi on your iPhone and leave it open
3. On the watch, tap the comment bubble on the recording screen and turn on Live comments
4. Record as usual. Comments appear as a short thread under the timer

The watch sends its audio to your iPhone, and the iPhone talks to Gemini. Your API key and persona instructions never go to the watch; personas and models are set on the iPhone.

Note

Watch Live needs your iPhone nearby with Ayumi open when you start. If the link drops, Live ends and the watch keeps recording. Watch sessions are text only: replies aren’t spoken on the watch or the iPhone.

Where comments are saved

Live comments are not written into your journal. The entry is made from your recording as usual; the comments are kept separately, on the device that ran Live.

Settings → Agents → Live History lists past sessions — persona names, the last comment, and a watch icon for sessions from Apple Watch. Open one to see every comment and Your Speech, Gemini’s transcript of what you said. Share a session as text, or swipe to delete it.

Live history isn’t synced between devices and isn’t stored in your journal folder.

What is sent to Google

While Live is on during a recording, Ayumi sends the following to Google with your API key:

• Your microphone audio, streamed for the whole recording. For a watch session it goes through your iPhone
• The host persona’s instructions, as expanded — including any journal entries or file contents the variables pull in
• With the Gemini written-persona engine: each written persona’s instructions, the recent part of your speech transcript, and recent comments. Choose On-Device AI to keep these on your device

Nothing is sent before you start recording or after you stop, and nothing goes anywhere other than Google. With Live off, none of this happens. See the Privacy Policy.

Cost

Live calls the Gemini API with your own key, so Google bills your project. Ayumi doesn’t show usage. Things that affect cost:

• Audio is streamed for the full length of the recording
• The host always replies with audio, even when voice playback is off
• Written personas make short text requests — up to 40 per session — unless you choose On-Device AI

See Google’s Gemini API pricing for current rates.

Things to know

• Recording quality. With Live on, the recording itself is saved at 16 kHz mono instead of 44.1 kHz — fine for speech and transcription, but noticeably lower quality for music or ambient sound.
• No automatic reconnect. If the connection drops, Live ends with “Live disconnected. Your local recording continues.” The recording is unaffected.
• Comment limits. Up to 40 written comments per session (“Comment limit reached for this session.”). The recorder shows the 30 latest comments; history keeps up to 100.
• One at a time. Only one Live session or recording can run at once, across iPhone and Apple Watch.
• Comments are AI. Personas can misunderstand you or be wrong. They’re there to help you think, not to advise.