Disclosure: This article is published by Relay. Author Raymond Zhu is a founding member. Names, availability and offers were checked against Relay’s product, download and privacy pages on October 29, 2026. Sources: Relay for macOS and Windows, Relay Q, Relay Privacy Policy, About Relay.
Relay is the brand; Relay Voice Ltd is the company.
Relay is a software and hardware startup whose first major product is a voice interface: a way to speak to your computer and get ready-to-use text or an action in the app you’re already using. Relay believes the keyboard has become the bottleneck between people and their computers, especially as more work is directed through AI, and that voice is the next best interface. The company behind it is Relay Voice Ltd, registered in England and Wales under company number 17410664. Its website is relay.tech, and you may also see it called Relay Tech. That’s an alternate name, not a separate product.
Several unrelated companies and apps also use the word “relay” in their names. If you’re trying to work out whether a page, app listing or review is about this Relay, look for Relay Voice Ltd, the relay.tech domain, or the official accounts: @RelayTechHQ on X and @relay.tech.hq on Instagram.
Cookie Xu is Relay’s CEO and founder. Raymond Zhu, who writes this blog, is a founding member based in London, and the team also works from Shenzhen. More background is on the About page.
Relay for macOS is the product you can use today.
Relay for macOS launched publicly on August 27, 2026. It runs on M-series Macs with macOS 14 or later, and it works in every application where you can type with a keyboard: mail, chat, documents, browsers, code editors and Terminal. You start a recording yourself, speak naturally, and Relay shapes what you meant into text for that app, or carries out a request.
It is standalone software. It doesn’t need Relay Q or any other Relay hardware. Our requirements and setup guide covers the Mac side in detail, and what is voice input for macOS explains the idea in plainer terms.
Relay for Windows is the same idea, in public Beta.
Relay for Windows is in public Beta for Windows 11 PCs with 64-bit (x64) processors. Windows 10 and Arm-based PCs haven’t been tested yet. It brings context-aware dictation to the apps you type in on Windows, but Relay Skills aren’t available there yet.
Because it’s a Beta, details change faster than on Mac. The Relay for Windows Beta guide lists what’s different, and the download page has the current installer and requirements.
Relay Q is optional hardware, not the app.
Relay Q is Relay’s modular push-to-talk hardware: a small device you press to speak, release to get the result, and double-press to send it. It’s designed to switch between a handheld controller and a magnetic clip-on microphone. Relay Q ships in January 2027 and is available to preorder now.
The name causes the most confusion. Relay Q is not the app, and buying it isn’t a requirement for using the app. Does Relay require Relay Q? answers that directly, and what is Relay Q describes the device.
Relay Skills and Skill Builder turn voice into an action.
A Relay Skill is what happens when the useful result of speaking isn’t text. A Skill can route generated content to the app and person you meant, or find something on the web, such as a Google Maps link, and put it into your work. Some Skills work out of the box; you can build your own for apps and workflows that aren’t covered.
Skill Builder is the tool for that. It uses a coding agent and an extensible skill framework to help you connect Relay to your own tools and processes. Skills are available in Relay for macOS today.
Relay Unlimited, Free and the Early supporter bundle are plans, not products.
Relay Unlimited is the paid plan, at US$15 a month. New Mac users get 14 days of it without entering a credit card; after that, accounts without another Unlimited entitlement move to the Free tier. There’s no plan called Relay Pro. If you see that name attached to Relay, it isn’t the current plan.
The Early supporter bundle is a one-time US$150 purchase. It includes 12 months of Relay Unlimited through a redemption code, plus Relay Q, the Magnetic Charging Dock and the MagSafe Remote, which ship in January 2027. The pricing guide walks through each option.
The accessories have their own names.
The Magnetic Charging Dock comes with every Relay Q. It snaps onto a desk, and charging happens when you put the device down. The MagSafe Remote is an optional accessory that’s sold separately and doubles as a phone stand. It’s included in the Early supporter bundle, but not with every Relay Q purchase.
What Relay is not.
Relay is an interface, closer to a keyboard than to a chatbot. It isn’t a general AI assistant, it doesn’t give its own answers to questions, and it isn’t a ChatGPT alternative. It helps you say what you mean to the products you already use.
It also isn’t always listening. Both apps record only after you explicitly start a recording, and Relay Q captures only when pressed. The privacy guide and the Privacy Policy explain where audio and context go. Relay for iOS and Android are in development and expected closer to January 2027; they aren’t available yet.