Launch HN: Martin (YC S23) – Using LLMs to Make a Better Siri

Hacker News Discussion ↗

Product concept & capabilities

  • iOS app aiming to be a “better Siri”: voice-first personal assistant that integrates with calendar, reminders, email, SMS, and (planned) docs.
  • Can text contacts from its own number and will auto-continue the conversation; opens messages with a clear indication it is an assistant.
  • Core use cases: daily schedule syncs, reminders, meeting planning, dictation/transcription, brainstorming, and task capture.
  • Uses GPT and Claude under the hood, plus RAG and reflection-based “memory” over time.

User experience reports

  • Some users are impressed: it correctly handles fairly complex multi-step scheduling tasks in one shot and feels more useful than generic chatbots.
  • Others report serious reliability issues: app crashes, SMS not responding, emails not actually sent despite confirmations, weak web research, hallucinated company descriptions, and long delays or no responses.
  • Onboarding is criticized as confusing, especially around required calendar connection and unclear current limitations (e.g., email sending not yet live).

Integrations, roadmap & technical approach

  • Most-used integrations: calendar and reminders; morning sync is common.
  • Team targets one major new integration per month; Outlook/Exchange and document editing via Google/Word are on the roadmap.
  • Long‑term memory: combination of embeddings plus periodic LLM “reflection” at conversation, daily, and multi‑day goal levels.
  • Users strongly request “bring your own LLM/API key” and a clearer integrations list.

Pricing, trial, and business model

  • $30/month subscription viewed by some as steep for an early-stage product; others note token costs and development effort justify it.
  • 7‑day trial feels too short to many for habit‑changing workflows; credit-card requirement is a deterrent.

Competition with Apple/Google & “Sherlocking” risk

  • Large debate over whether Apple’s upcoming “Apple Intelligence” and LLM-powered Siri will effectively obsolete such products.
  • Some argue Apple will win via distribution and deep on-device context; others think Apple moves slowly, leaves many niches, and not all users fit Apple’s rigid patterns.
  • Several commenters question YC funding so many assistants that are “thin wrappers” over third‑party LLMs.

Privacy, security & trust

  • Strong concerns about granting deep access to email, calendar, messages, and calls.
  • Product cites CASA Tier‑2 and Google OAuth reviews; SOC 2 is “planned.”
  • Users ask for explicit answers on: data sent to OpenAI/Anthropic, training usage, deletion rights, encryption practices, and clear guarantees against data sale or ad targeting.
  • Some plan to wait for Apple’s solution, perceiving its privacy posture as stronger; others distrust all large providers equally.