Unhappy With Sudden Omi Subscription – Lack of Transparency & Broken Workflow

I’m really unhappy with how things are going with Omi at the moment. When I bought the device, it was sold under the impression of being a one-time purchase. Now, without any warning, the app suddenly has a subscription model.

What makes this worse is that the change wasn’t even communicated transparently—there was nothing in the update notes about it. That feels very concerning for the transparency of the company.

I also noticed the subscription is listed under “listening.” Does this mean the device doesn’t record my day anymore and I only get access to my recordings at the end of the month? If so, that completely limits me—I can’t transcribe or summarise my recordings until the new month, which breaks my workflow.

For context: I rely on my Omi every day to record conversations, summarise my day, and generate to-do lists for tasks people ask me to do. Despite the fact that it doesn’t always transcribe words correctly and completely fails with Afrikaans (which is an issue since a lot of people around me speak Afrikaans), I was willing to tolerate that because I assumed it was a work in progress. But dropping a subscription without notice feels like a big step backward.

Omi has been very helpful for me, but this new approach makes me question whether I can rely on it going forward.