| Understudio | LockedIn AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on | macOS desktop app, Apple Silicon (arm64 — M1 and later). The download is not open yet. Windows and Linux after that. | Desktop app for macOS and Windows, a mobile app, and mock interviews in the browser. |
| Price | Pro $25/month, Max $65/month (less billed annually). Token packs from $9, no plan needed. | General $109.98/month, Professional $239.98/month (a 60% first-payment offer was running). Credit and lifetime plans too. |
| Free tier or trial | Free to install. No free tier: solves and transcription spend tokens. | “Free to start · No credit card required.” |
| Hears the call | Both sides of the call, live, as separate channels: every line is labelled You or Interviewer. | Captures system audio; transcribed by third-party providers such as AssemblyAI. |
| Reads the screen | Screenshots on a hotkey, queued and solved together with what was said. | Drag to select any part of the screen for analysis. |
| Hidden from screen share | Asks macOS to keep the window out of screen shares and recordings. Best effort: on macOS 15.4+ some capture tools can still see it. | Stealth Mode, on the Professional plan only: “nothing shows up while you share your screen.” |
| Where your sessions are kept | On your Mac. The last 50 sessions are kept; nothing is stored on our servers. | The privacy policy does not say whether sessions stay on the device. It names Azure OpenAI, ElevenLabs, Pinecone and AssemblyAI as processors. |
Where they differ
LockedIn AI sells unlimited sessions, up to two hours each, for a monthly fee; hiding from screen share is on the Professional plan only. On Understudio it is on every plan, and you pay by tokens instead of a flat fee.
LockedIn AI covers more ground: Windows, a phone app, mock interviews in the browser. Understudio is one Mac app for the live call.
Understudio saves every session on your Mac. LockedIn AI's policy does not say where sessions are kept.
Pick LockedIn AI if
- You are on Windows, or want help on your phone.
- You want mock interviews and the live assistant from one company.
- You do many long interviews a month and want a flat price.
Pick Understudio if
- You want your sessions kept on your own Mac.
- You want hiding from screen share without paying for a higher tier.
- You want to pay by use, from a small token pack, rather than a monthly fee.
Sources
Everything in the LockedIn AI column is from LockedIn AI's own pages, read on 19 October 2026. Prices and features change; if one of these has, write to support@understudio.app and we will fix it.
- www.lockedinai.com/desktop-app
- www.lockedinai.com/pricing
- www.lockedinai.com/
- www.lockedinai.com/privacy-policy
Whether help of any kind is allowed in an interview is up to whoever runs it. See the acceptable use policy.