Screen Recording & Async Video
4.0/5.0
VerifiedFreeLast technical review:
Markdown for AI (.md)

Hoy

Walkie-talkie, AirDrop and messaging directly in your macOS menu bar via iCloud.

Pricing

$0/mo

Free
Score

4.0/5

  1. FreeHoy Free
  2. FreeHoy Pro
Certifications
1
Last technical review
2026-11-13
Available plansVisit website (opens in a new tab)

Technical Overview

Hoy integrates communication channels and fast file sharing directly into the macOS menu bar. It leverages personal iCloud infrastructure without requiring user accounts or intermediary servers. It enables dragging files over avatars, push-to-talk voice transmission, and direct screen sharing.

Analyst Evaluation: Pros and Limitations

Verified Advantages

  • Decentralized operation relying entirely on personal iCloud without third-party servers.
  • No account creation or sign-up required to start communicating.
  • Native integration with the macOS menu bar and Finder folders.

Technical Considerations

  • Initially limited to macOS with planned future support for iOS and iPadOS.
  • The free tier restricts hosting to a maximum of three channels.

Technical Capabilities & Features

2/7
Not available:REST & GraphQL API
Not available:SSO / SAML Authentication
Not available:Self-Hosted Option
Included:Full Data Export
Included:Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
Not available:Custom Domains & SSL
Not available:Immutable Audit Logs
Scorecard
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Technical Scorecard: Hoy

76/100
DX & Tech Documentation
Excellent
80/100
Pricing Fairness
Excellent
90/100
Security & Governance
Favorable
70/100
Data Portability & Sovereignty
Favorable
75/100
Performance & Reliability
Favorable
65/100

Time to Value & Fit by Segment: Hoy

Estimated Time-to-Value< 1 hour (Immediate)

Near-instantaneous deployment with minimal technical friction.

Learning CurveLow (Intuitive)

Rapid onboarding for developers without prior training required.

Fit Index by Organization Size

Startup & Agile Teams1 to 50 members
80%
Mid-Market & Scaleup50 to 500 members
60%
Corporate Enterprise500+ members
30%
Pricing & TCO
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Pricing

$0.00/mo

Model: FREE.

Available plans:

  • Hoy Free$0/mo
  • Hoy Pro$0/mo

Free Tier Verification:

  • No credit card required
  • Commercial use allowed
  • Unlimited usage with no expiration
  • No mandatory watermarks
Get Hoy (opens in a new tab)

Billing Risks & Hidden Clauses: Hoy

Free Tier Limits:

Permite alojar hasta 3 canales con unión ilimitada.

Audited Billing Critical Points:
  • La versión gratuita limita la creación de canales a un máximo de tres.
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Projection: Hoy$0.00/mo
Deterministic cost estimation at 12 and 36 months based on team size, including SSO tax premiums and annual prepay discounts.
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Licensing Cost (1 to 100+ seats)
$0/forever
Unlimited team members with zero penalties
SSO Tax (SAML Enterprise)
$0no surcharge
No artificial security barriers
3-Year Investment (Software TCO)
$0total
operates under a zero-cost or open-source model. Licensing TCO is identical:
Usage Surcharges & Bill Shock Simulator: HoyWhat usage costs as you scale
Detect overage penalties before they impact engineering budget.
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Prototype / MVP (10 GB)

Included base quota in plan: 10 GB.
Low Risk / Predictable Bill
Base Monthly Rate
$0/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
$0/month extra
Usage covered within plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$0/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Suitable for development; verify concurrent connection limits.

Base Production (50 GB)

Included base quota in plan: 50 GB.
Low Risk / Predictable Bill
Base Monthly Rate
$0/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
$0/month extra
Usage covered within plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$0/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Implement table compression policies and temporal partitioning.

Active Growth (250 GB)

Included base quota in plan: 250 GB.
Low Risk / Predictable Bill
Base Monthly Rate
$0/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
$0/month extra
Usage covered within plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$0/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Offload cold backups to standard object storage (S3).

Large Scale (1.000 GB (1 TB))

Included base quota in plan: 1,000 GB.
Low Risk / Predictable Bill
Base Monthly Rate
$0/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
$0/month extra
Usage covered within plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$0/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Migrate to dedicated instance or self-hosted cluster to curtail I/O fees.

Security & Data Exit
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Compliance & Security Standards: Hoy

SOC 2 Type IINot reported
ISO 27001Not reported
GDPR / RGPDAudited
HIPAANot reported
PCI-DSSNot reported
Jurisdiction & Legal Sovereignty
🇺🇸United States [US]Subject to US CLOUD ActDPA On Request
SSO Availability (SAML Enterprise)
No SSO Documented
Data Residency
GLOBALApple iCloud
AI Privacy Policy
Zero customer data retention
Data Liberation & Migration Runbook: HoyFOLDER · FILE
Actionable escape runbook and credential export guarantees to mitigate vendor lock-in.
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Supported Structured Export Formats
FOLDERFILE
Password Hash Portability
Locked: Proprietary Algorithm / No Export

Credential hashes are guarded under proprietary algorithms and cannot be exported.

CLI Command / Rescue Endpoint
Finder file export
Exit Protocol & Migration Notes

Los canales se almacenan como carpetas estándar en Finder, permitiendo respaldo y exportación manual directa.

Deployment & Infrastructure Requirements: HoyOther
Hardware specs and Docker directives to run on local servers, dedicated VPS, or Kubernetes without telemetry leak to the cloud.
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Minimum Memory1 GB RAM (Recommended)
Compute CPU1 vCPU
Runtime / LanguageObjective-C
Code LicenseOther
Docker CLI Directive
docker run -d --name hoy -p 8080:8080 hoy:latest
Companion Services & Dependencies:
PostgreSQL 15+Redis 7+
Community & Repository
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Technical Reputation of Hoy

74/100 Technical Trust

Frequent Praises in Production

  • Decentralized operation relying entirely on personal iCloud without third-party servers.
  • No account creation or sign-up required to start communicating.
  • Native integration with the macOS menu bar and Finder folders.

Reported Production Frictions

  • Initially limited to macOS with planned future support for iOS and iPadOS.
  • The free tier restricts hosting to a maximum of three channels.
Commercial Treatment & Vendor Lock-in:Self-Service in Dashboard

Cancellation flow is autonomous via billing portal or subscription settings.

Open source repository activity: Hoy9,916
Stars, forks and release cadence
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Stars9.9k
Forks1.2k
Open Issues11
SPDX LicenseOther
Latest Commit DetectedNov 12, 2026

Frequently Asked Technical Questions (Hoy)

How does Hoy protect the privacy of transferred data?

Hoy relies exclusively on the user's personal iCloud infrastructure to synchronize channels and files, avoiding external servers or intermediaries.

Is an account or sign-up required to use the application?

No registration or user account is needed. Authentication and connectivity are handled transparently through the active iCloud session on the device.

What are the differences between the free tier and Hoy Pro?

The free edition allows hosting up to three simultaneous channels, while the Pro version enables unlimited channel hosting and joining through a one-time purchase.

Direct Alternatives

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