Bring your own key: set up in about 5 minutes.

Why use your own key?

• Privacy you control. Your audio goes from your iPhone to your provider account, under your own data settings. Larken's servers never receive it.
• Models you prefer. Choose the transcription model that suits you.
• Real savings. Larken is 99¢ a month, and you pay your provider only for what you use, usually a few dollars a month.

What you'll need

• An OpenAI account (recommended) or an ElevenLabs account
• A payment method added to that account
• About 5 minutes on any computer or phone browser

Note: a ChatGPT Plus or Pro subscription is separate from the OpenAI API and doesn't include API usage. API usage is billed separately on platform.openai.com.

Option A: OpenAI (recommended)

1. Go to platform.openai.com and sign in or create an account.
2. Open Settings › Billing, add a payment method, and add a small amount of credit (for example, $5–$10).
3. (Recommended) Create a project named Larken under Settings › Projects, so its usage is easy to track.
4. Open API keys › Create new secret key. Choose the Larken project and name the key “Larken iPhone.” To keep it tightly scoped, choose Restricted, then set Models to Read and Model capabilities to Write, and leave everything else at None. (Larken lists models to check the key, sends audio for transcription, and sends the transcript for formatting.)
5. Copy the key (it starts with sk-). OpenAI shows it only once.
6. Paste it into Larken (see Connect your key to Larken below).

Set a spending limit

• Simplest hard limit: keep auto-recharge off in Billing. Larken can never spend more than the credit you've added.
• Budget alerts: in Settings › Limits (or your project's Limits), set a monthly budget and an email alert threshold.
• ElevenLabs: when you create your key, you can set a credit limit for that key.

Dashboard menus change from time to time. If a label doesn't match, look for “Billing,” “Limits,” or “API keys” in your provider's settings.

Option B: ElevenLabs

1. Go to elevenlabs.io and sign in or create an account.
2. Open your profile menu › API Keys › Create API Key. Name it “Larken,” limit it to Speech to Text, and optionally set a credit limit.
3. Copy the key and paste it into Larken.
4. Want full formatting? With ElevenLabs alone, Larken provides transcription with basic cleanup. Add an OpenAI key as well to unlock full formatting, styles, and templates.

ElevenLabs data retention. ElevenLabs retains audio and transcripts by default on standard accounts. Its Zero Retention Mode is currently available to Enterprise customers. If you want the least retention, we recommend OpenAI. ElevenLabs Zero Retention Mode →

Connect your key to Larken

1. Open Larken › Settings › Provider keys.
2. Choose OpenAI or ElevenLabs.
3. Paste your key. Larken checks it and tells you if anything's wrong. The check only lists your account's models, so it doesn't use any credit.
4. Pick your transcription model and your default style. That's it. Try a dictation in Notes.

During setup, Larken's own “Connect your key” screen has a Paste button and a link straight to your provider's key page.

Which model should I pick?

Formatting with a small OpenAI text model adds roughly $0.0007 per minute of speech (estimate). Prices are provider list prices; check the provider's pricing page.

How we protect your key

• Your key is stored in your iPhone's Keychain, on this device only.
• It's never sent to Larken's servers and never placed in the keyboard's shared storage.
• Your audio goes directly from your iPhone to your provider over an encrypted connection.
• You can view, replace, or delete your key anytime in Settings. Deleting it from Larken doesn't revoke it with your provider, so revoke it in your provider's dashboard too.
• Settings › Privacy & security › Request log shows every request Larken has made and where it went.

Troubleshooting

Messages name your provider; OpenAI is shown here.