Why chit
Why not just use your phone?
Fair question. A phone can record, and for a note you play back the same day it is the right answer. This page is about the other kind of moment — the one where what it costs to get the phone out is the reason the note never gets made.
01
The phone test
Recording on a phone is four actions, about eight seconds, done in front of someone. Every one of those seconds is you leaving the conversation. On a roof, in a truck, in gloves, or across a table from a client, those eight seconds are the whole reason the note does not get made.
Then the phone keeps being a phone. A call arrives mid-capture. A notification lands on the screen you were trying not to look at. And in most of the rooms that matter, the phone is the thing you were just asked to put away.
chit is one button. Hold it, talk, let go. No unlock, no app, no filename. It is already in the card slot, and it does nothing else, so nothing interrupts it. The battery runs about a month of normal use, which means it is not competing with your phone for charge at three in the afternoon.
- A phone
- Unlock it. Find the app. Tap record. Hope it took.
- chit
- Hold the button.
02
Nothing joins the call
The software half of this category is built around calls, and it is good at them. Otter and Fireflies send an assistant into the meeting as a participant, and the notes are waiting when you hang up. Granola listens through the laptop you are already sitting at and joins nothing. Each needs the thing it was built around: a join link, or an attended computer. Their phone apps work too, and bring you straight back to the phone test above.
A hallway has none of those. Nor does a truck cab, a site walk, a client's kitchen table, or the thirty seconds in the car park where the real decision got made. chit is a card you hold. There is no participant to explain, no invite, no software on anyone's machine. It records while the button is held, and everyone in the room can see when it starts and when it stops.
How each product captures a meeting was checked 2026-08-28 against its own site — otter.ai · fireflies.ai · granola.ai. If we are out of date, tell us.
03
What comes back
The card captures. The membership does the reading. Every capture comes back as a transcript, then a summary: what happened, what was decided, what needs you next. Once a day the whole day comes back as one brief. Connect your calendar and mail and a next step stops being a line of text — it becomes an event, or a reply drafted for you to send. And when you need the thing the client said six weeks ago, you ask in plain language and it answers across everything you have captured.
chit one is $129, chit one Pro is $179. The membership is $9 a month and starts billing 14 days after checkout. Cancel any time by emailing ahmad@hichit.com.
04
It listens only while the button is held.
There is no wake word and no always-on microphone. Nothing is ambient. A live meter runs across the display while it is capturing, so you can see it, and so can the person across from you. That is a fact about the device, not a statement that any particular recording is lawful.
Recording law varies by state, and several states require every party's consent. Knowing your state's rule before you record another person is on you. We keep a state-by-state reference table with the statute for each, so you can read the text yourself.
This is general information, not legal advice. Recording law varies by state and by situation, it changes, and only a lawyer in your jurisdiction can tell you what applies to you. chit records only while you hold the button — that is a fact about the device, not a statement that any particular recording is lawful.
05
Who it's for
chit was built for the hours you are not at a desk — walking between meetings, driving home, standing in a corridor after the thing that actually mattered was said.
Founders, managers, consultants, field techs, agents, reps, students, journalists — anyone who walks out of a room where something important was just said and has nowhere to put it.
Good questions
Before you decide.
Can't I just use Voice Memos?
Yes, and for the occasional note you play back the same day, you should. The case for chit is friction and retrieval: one held button with no unlock, and an archive you can ask questions of instead of scroll through.
Do I need my phone with me?
No. The card captures on its own. The app is where you read the transcript and the brief.
Is it always listening?
No. There is no wake word and no always-on microphone. It captures only while you are holding the button, and the display shows you when it is.
What happens to the recording?
It comes back as a transcript, a summary and the next steps, and it folds into that day's brief. Your captures are yours: delete any one — audio, transcript and summary — in one tap. Your voice is never sold and never used to sell you anything.
chit
Press chit. The work is done.
Ships free in about three weeks, and if it doesn't earn its keep in thirty days, send it back.
- Built to order · about three weeks
- Free 30-day returns
- One-year limited warranty
- A founder answers your email