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This guide walks through the process of building an iOS Starter App that:
  1. Connects to Plaud devices
  2. Syncs recordings from Plaud device to mobile phone
  3. Uploads recordings from your users’ mobile phone to Plaud’s file storage
  4. Transcribes recordings with the Transcription API
starter-app

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Video Tutorial

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Onboard to the Plaud Developer Platform

If you don’t have access to the Plaud Developer Platform, visit dev.plaud.ai and fill out the contact form. Once your request is reviewed, you’ll receive setup instructions and access to the developer console. Create an Embedded SDK Application to receive your Client ID and Secret Key.
app credentials

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Set Up the Starter App

Try the Plaud Embedded Skill to have your coding agent help you through your Starter App deployment.
npx skills add Plaud-AI/plaud-embedded-skills
Visit our GitHub repo for more details on the skill.

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Prerequisites

  • A Mac running macOS with Xcode 16.0+ (the SDK is built with Swift 6.0.3)
  • iOS 14.0+ as deployment target
  • An Apple ID for code signing onto a physical device. A free Apple ID works for local testing; TestFlight or App Store release (Step 6) requires the paid Apple Developer Program
  • A physical iOS device — the SDK frameworks are arm64-only, so iOS Simulator is not supported
  • A Plaud device for end-to-end testing

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Clone the starter app and generate the Xcode project

git clone https://github.com/plaud-ai/plaud-sdk-public.git
cd plaud-template-app/plaud-template-app/ios
xcodegen generate
Install XcodeGen (brew install xcodegen) to generate an Xcode project from the project.yml file
The xcodegen generate step is required — PlaudTemplateApp.xcodeproj does not exist in source control and is built from project.yml. You can find the GitHub repository for the starter app here.

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Retrieve a user token

The USER_ACCESS_TOKEN is the per-user JWT your backend mints by calling POST /open/partner/users/access-token on platform-<region>.plaud.ai. See the Authorization API reference for the full exchange flow. The Secret Key stays on your backend — never ship it with the app.
client_id, secret_key, and api_key are issued per region (currently us and jp; eu and sg coming soon). Your backend must call the matching platform-<region>.plaud.ai host when minting the per-user access token — credentials issued for one region will not authenticate against another.

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Configure credentials

Open PartnerConfig.xcconfig and set three values:
xcconfig
# Required for SDK initialization
USER_ACCESS_TOKEN = your-user-access-token

# Required for the Transcription API
PLAUD_CLIENT_ID = your-client-id
PLAUD_API_KEY   = your-api-key
For local development, create PartnerConfig.local.xcconfig alongside it with your real values — it’s gitignored and overrides the placeholders. Then open project.yml and change bundleIdPrefix: com.plaud to your own reverse-DNS prefix (e.g., com.acme); Xcode auto-assigns your Development Team on first build.

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(Optional) Apply branding

Four places control the entire visual identity:

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App Name

There are two changes to make to change your app name:
  1. In project.yml, add CFBundleDisplayName to properties
project.yml changes
    #...
    info:
      path: PlaudTemplateApp/Info.plist
      properties:
        CFBundleDisplayName: YourAppName
        UILaunchScreen:
          UIColorName: "systemBackground"
        UserAccessToken: $(USER_ACCESS_TOKEN)
Re-run xcodegen generate after editing
  1. Verify that Info.plist includes CFBundleDisplayName
Info.plist changes
<dict>
	<key>CFBundleDevelopmentRegion</key>
	<string>$(DEVELOPMENT_LANGUAGE)</string>
	<key>CFBundleDisplayName</key>
	<string>YourAppName</string>
	<key>CFBundleExecutable</key>
	<string>$(EXECUTABLE_NAME)</string>

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App icon

Add your PNG icon to PlaudTemplateApp/Resources/Assets.xcassets/AppIcon.appiconset/. Then in the .../Assets.xcassets/AppIcon.appiconset/Contents.json file add your icon filename.
Contents.json
{
  "images" : [
    {
      "filename" : "your-icon-1024x1024.png", 
      "idiom" : "universal",
      "platform" : "ios",
      "size" : "1024x1024"
Your icon image must be a .png file without a transparent background or alpha.

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Theme colors

In PlaudTemplateApp/Common/PlaudTheme.swift, edit the UIColor(hex:) constants. The template ships intentionally monochrome (#1f1f1f labels, #f9f9f9 background)
PlaudTheme.swift changes
    static let backgroundPrimary = UIColor(hex: "#f9f9f9") 
    static let labelPrimary = UIColor(hex: "#1f1f1f") 
    static let backgroundPrimary = UIColor(hex: "#E4DDC8") 
    static let labelPrimary = UIColor(hex: "#1e293b")

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Welcome Screen

In PlaudTemplateApp/UI/Onboarding/WelcomeViewController.swift, replace App Name and the UIImage(systemName: "square.grid.2x2") with your app name and icon.
WelcomeViewController.swift changes
    private let logoIcon: UIImageView = {
        let iv = UIImageView(image: UIImage(systemName: "square.grid.2x2")) 
        iv.tintColor = .label
        let iv = UIImageView(image: UIImage(named: "your-icon"))
        iv.contentMode = .scaleAspectFit
        iv.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        return iv
    }()
    /// App name label (B2B customers replace with their own brand name)
    private let appNameLabel: UILabel = {
        let l = UILabel()
        l.text = "App name"
        l.text = "Your App Name!"
        l.font = PlaudTheme.largeTitle()
You’ll need to create an imageset for your icon asset

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Run & test with a real device

open PlaudTemplateApp.xcodeproj  # then ⌘R in Xcode
Connect a physical iPhone over USB and select it as the run destination. Simulator is not supported — the SDK frameworks are arm64-only. Verify app launches, device pairs, recording syncs, and transcript appears on your iPhone.
Unbind your Plaud device after testing and before uninstalling the Starter App!Plaud devices can only be bound to one application at a time (tied to your Partner Token). You will not be able to bind your Plaud device to another app (or the Plaud App) before unbinding from the Starter App.Device binding is also affected by the unique app installation. If you are uninstalling the Starter App from your phone, be sure to unbind your Plaud device before uninstalling.

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Publishing to Testflight and the App Store

1

Sign up for an Apple Developer account

You will need an Apple Developer Account to sign your app and publish to the app store (current pricing is $99/year)
2

Set your developer team and bundle ID

In the Signing and Capabilities tab, click on Automatically Manage Signing, set your developer team account, and input a unique bundle ID
3

Create an iOS app on App Connect

In Apple App Connect, create an iOS app and tag your bundle ID from Step 2
4

Create an archive that stores your build and bundle

In the XCode topbar, navigate to Product > Archive. After clicking Distribute you should see options to publish to App Connect and Testflight
5

Fill out information for App Connect or Testflight

Navigating back to your Apple App Connect Portal, you can now either:
  1. Fill out the necessary information for App Connect
  2. Choose your users for Testflight invites
Either distribution method, you should be able to select your archived bundle from Step 4.
6

Publish!

For App Connect, the Apple approval process will take some time.If you’re using Testflight, your beta users should download the Testflight app in the App Store, accept their invite, and they can start using your app!