Frequently Asked Questions

1. Getting Started

What is Littlebird?

Littlebird is a personal AI assistant - or "second brain" - that understands the context of your work. While you can chat with it like a standard AI chatbot, it's designed to be much more: it works quietly in the background to build an understanding of your world by reading the text and elements of your active applications. This means you don't have to constantly copy-paste or explain what you need. It can help you find lost information, draft content in your voice, prepare for meetings, plan projects, and reflect on your work. For more detail, see An intro to Littlebird.

What platforms is Littlebird available on?

Littlebird's full desktop experience is currently Mac-only. We also have companion apps on iOS and Android for asking Littlebird questions when you're away from your desk. Windows support is on the roadmap - you can join the Windows Waitlist to be notified when it's available.

I downloaded the mobile app but can't log in. What's going on?

This is one of the most common issues we see. The mobile app is a companion to the desktop experience, which means you need to create your account on a Mac first. Once your desktop account is set up, you can log into the mobile app with the same credentials. We're actively working on a standalone mobile signup flow, but for now the desktop setup is the first step. Download the desktop app at littlebird.ai/download.

How do I get started for the first time?

After installing the desktop app, follow the onboarding prompts to create your account and grant the necessary macOS accessibility permissions. Then, simply let Littlebird run in the background for 15 minutes to a few hours while you work as usual. It will begin building its understanding of your context. To test it out, try asking: "Tell me what you know about me?" See Basics and navigation for a full walkthrough.

Do I need to connect all my apps for Littlebird to work?

No - and that's what makes Littlebird unique. It works automatically by reading what's visible on your screen, giving you a unified memory across all your apps without any setup. That said, we're introducing optional integrations (like Google Calendar) that provide deeper, more reliable connectivity with specific tools.

2. Context Awareness & How It Works

How does Littlebird understand my work?

Littlebird reads the text and elements of your active applications - the content currently visible on your screen. This includes text from documents, emails, websites, the names of applications you're using, and information from project plans or meeting notes on display. It gathers this information every two seconds to build a private, encrypted index of your activity. It is not a screen recorder or keylogger. See Littlebird's context awareness for full details.

Does Littlebird capture everything on my screen, including other monitors?

Littlebird captures the active/selected application window you're interacting with. It does not capture apps running in the background, minimized windows, or adjacent/secondary monitors you're not actively using. If a window isn't in the foreground, Littlebird likely isn't aware of its content.

Can Littlebird see what I'm doing in Parallels or a virtual machine?

Due to how Littlebird pulls context (reading application text elements rather than taking screenshots), virtual machines like Parallels may not work as expected. Context from apps running inside Parallels may not be captured reliably.

Can I pause or stop context collection?

Absolutely. You have two quick options:

1. Context status button (in the bottom-left corner of the app): Click the green dot to pause; click again to resume.

2. Menu bar icon (at the top of your Mac screen): Click the Littlebird icon for the same pause/resume options.

When paused, the indicator turns gray and a pause icon appears next to the menu bar icon.

Can I exclude specific apps or websites from context collection?

Yes. Go to Settings > Context Collection to exclude specific applications, specific website domains, or entire categories of web content (e.g., adult content is excluded by default). This ensures Littlebird never sees content from apps or sites you want to keep private. Full details at Excluding content from your Context.

Does Littlebird capture passwords?

Littlebird is designed to automatically ignore password fields. However, if a password is displayed in plain text on your screen (e.g., visible in a document or a password manager's unmasked view), it could potentially be captured. We strongly recommend excluding sensitive apps like password managers from context collection in your settings.

I enabled Google Docs accessibility but context still seems off. Any tips?

For Google Docs specifically, enabling screen reader support significantly improves Littlebird's ability to read document content. Open any Google Doc, press Cmd + Option + Z, and screen reader support is activated. This is a one-time setup saved to your Google account.

3. Features

What is Chat?

Chat is Littlebird's core AI interface. You can ask questions, request drafts, brainstorm, search for anything you've seen on your screen, and more. Chat has full access to your context, so it can help with things like: "Find the link David shared on Slack last week," "Summarize my conversations with Jane from Acme Corp," or "Draft a follow-up email to the 2pm meeting attendees." Each new chat starts with a clean slate. For 10 example use cases, see 10 ways to start using Littlebird's Chat.

What is the Chat Library?

The Chat Library (sometimes called the Prompt Library) is a collection of pre-built, goal-oriented prompts that help you get more out of Chat. Think of them as templates for common workflows like weekly reviews, project planning, or meeting prep. You can also create and star your own prompts for quick access.

What are Routines?

Routines are automated, recurring workflows that Littlebird runs on a schedule you set. For example, you can set up a "Daily Summary" routine that runs every evening and emails you a recap of your day, or a "Weekly Review" that summarizes your accomplishments and suggests priorities. You configure the prompt, the schedule, and how you want results delivered.

What is Meeting Notes?

Meeting Notes captures audio and transcription from your meetings so you can stay present in the conversation. There are two ways to start:

1. Automatic prompt: A few minutes before a calendar event, Littlebird displays a pop-up asking if you'd like to record.

2. Manual recording: Open the app, navigate to Meeting Notes, and click "+ New Note."

After the meeting, you'll get an editable summary with key takeaways, action items, and a full transcript. For the automatic prompt to work, your Google Calendar needs to be connected and the meeting needs to appear on your calendar.

What languages does Meeting Notes support?

Currently, Meeting Notes transcription and summarization only supports English. We're actively working on adding additional languages. This is one of our most-requested features.

My meeting recording stopped unexpectedly mid-call. Why?

If Littlebird detects no audio activity for an extended period, it may assume the meeting has ended. This can happen during long meetings or meetings with significant pauses. If this occurs, you can restart recording manually. We're continuing to improve the reliability of long meeting recordings.

Can Littlebird create tasks or push items to my task manager (Todoist, Motion, etc.)?

We don't currently have a two-way integration with external task managers like Todoist, Motion, or Asana. This is on our roadmap and something many users have requested. Today, Littlebird can help you identify and organize your action items in Chat, but you'd need to manually transfer them.

Can Littlebird read images or analyze screenshots I paste in?

You can paste screenshots into Chat, and Littlebird will use them as context for your conversation. However, dedicated image analysis (comparison, evaluation, OCR on pasted images) has limitations and is not a core focus today.

4. Integrations & Calendar

What integrations does Littlebird support?

Currently, the primary live integration is with Google Calendar and Read-only Gmail. More integrations (Outlook Calendar, task managers, etc.) are actively in development.

I use Apple Calendar / iCal. Does Littlebird support it?

Not directly. Littlebird currently integrates with Google Calendar only. If you use Apple Calendar, Littlebird can still see your calendar events if they're displayed on your screen, but the deeper integration (auto-recording prompts, event-aware context) requires Google Calendar to be connected.

I use Outlook/Exchange for email and calendar. When will that be supported?

Outlook integration is actively being developed. We don't have a specific release date to share, but it's a top priority. In the meantime, connecting your Google Calendar (if you have one) is the best workaround.

5. Privacy & Security

Is my data secure?

Yes. Littlebird treats your data with the utmost care:

• SOC 2 certified (independently audited security controls)

• TLS encryption for all data

• GDPR and CCPA compliant

• Regular internal reviews, penetration tests, and backups

For full details, see the Privacy and security article and the Trust Center.

Do you use my data to train AI models?

No. We do not use your personal data to train our AI models or any third-party models. We will never sell your data to advertisers or third parties. Period.

Can Littlebird team members see my data?

Your data is encrypted and access is strictly limited. Access controls are in place as part of our SOC 2 certification.

I work with sensitive data (financial info, HIPAA, PII). Is Littlebird safe to use?

Littlebird automatically ignores password fields and lets you exclude specific apps, websites, and content categories from context collection. We are currently working towards HIPAA compliance.

Can I delete my data?

Yes. You can delete your data at any time:

• Delete all data: Removes everything Littlebird has captured.

• Delete recent data: Remove just the last hour, day, or custom time range.

This is available in your app settings. You retain full ownership and control of your data.

Can I delete my entire account?

Yes. Go to Settings > Danger Zone in the desktop app to delete your account. When you delete your account on a current app version, your subscription is automatically cancelled. If you run into any issues, email support@littlebird.ai.

6. Billing & Pricing

How do I cancel my subscription?

1. Open Littlebird and click your profile icon in the bottom-left corner.

2. Navigate to Settings > Subscription.

3. Click Manage Subscription (opens the Stripe billing portal in your browser).

4. Select Cancel Subscription and confirm.

Full instructions at Managing your Littlebird Subscription.

I'm on a free trial. Do I need to cancel to avoid being charged?

Yes. If you signed up for a trial and don't want to continue, cancel before the trial period ends using the steps above. If the trial expires without cancellation, you'll be billed at the standard rate.

Can I reactivate my subscription after canceling?

Absolutely. You can re-subscribe anytime from the Subscription page in your Settings.

The cancel option isn't showing in my settings. What do I do?

If the subscription page appears blank or the cancel option isn't visible, email support@littlebird.ai with the email address associated with your account and we'll process it for you.

Do you offer educational, nonprofit, or student discounts?

We don't have a formal discount program for education or nonprofits at this time. Reach out to support@littlebird.ai and we'll see what we can do.

I was charged after deleting my account. What happened?

If this happens to you, email support@littlebird.ai and we'll cancel the subscription and process a refund.

7. Troubleshooting

Littlebird is slow, using a lot of RAM, or causing my Mac to freeze.

Performance issues (especially high memory usage) are something we're actively working to improve. A few things to try:

1. Update to the latest version: Go to the app and check for updates, or download the latest from littlebird.ai/download.

2. Restart the app: Quit Littlebird completely and relaunch.

3. Check your system resources: If you're running many apps simultaneously (especially heavy apps like browsers with many tabs), Littlebird's memory footprint may compound the issue.

4. Report the issue: Use the in-app feedback tool or email support@littlebird.ai with your MacOS version and Mac model, and we'll investigate.

I keep getting redirected to the login page (login loop).

This is most commonly caused by trying to log in on the mobile app without first creating an account on the desktop app. If you're experiencing this on the desktop app, try:

1. Downloading the latest version from littlebird.ai/download.

2. Checking your internet connection.

3. Clearing any cached data and trying again.

4. Emailing support@littlebird.ai with the email you're using and the device type.

Littlebird gave me inaccurate information or made something up.

Like all AI systems, Littlebird can occasionally produce inaccurate responses (sometimes called "hallucinations"). This can include fabricated links, incorrect dates, or misattributed information. If this happens:

1. Downvote the response using the thumbs-down icon. This generates an alert for our engineering team to audit.

2. Be specific in your prompts: More detailed questions tend to produce more accurate answers.

3. Cross-reference important information: For critical tasks, verify Littlebird's output against the original source.

We're continuously improving the accuracy and reliability of our AI models.

My context doesn't seem to be capturing correctly.

A few things to check:

1. Is context collection active? Check the green dot in the bottom-left of the app. If it's gray, click to resume.

2. Is the app you want captured in the foreground? Littlebird only reads the active window.

3. Is the app excluded? Check Settings > Context Collection to make sure the app isn't on your exclusion list.

4. For Google Docs: Enable screen reader support with Cmd + Option + Z.

5. Running Parallels or VMs? These may not work with Littlebird's context capture method.

How do I change the email associated with my account?

You can update your account email by following the steps in Changing your account email. If you run into issues, reach out to support.

8. Feature Requests & Roadmap

Is there a public roadmap I can follow?

We don't currently maintain a public-facing roadmap portal. However, we're exploring ways to share more about upcoming features and improvements. In the meantime, you can keep an eye on the Changelog and our Discord community for the latest updates.

Can I export my journals or other data?

Data export (e.g., for journals) is something users have requested and we're evaluating. Currently, you can copy content from individual entries, but a bulk export function is not yet available.

Will Littlebird support other languages for the UI?

The UI is currently English-only. Localization (German, French, Dutch, Portuguese, and others have been requested) is on our radar. Meeting Notes language support is a higher-priority expansion.

Can I capture context from my phone?

Context awareness currently only works on the Mac desktop. The iOS and Android companion apps let you chat with Littlebird on the go, but they don't capture screen context from your phone. We aim to bring context awareness to mobile in the future, starting with Android.

I'd love to see Littlebird integrate with [Obsidian / Notion / GitHub / Todoist / Monday.com / Zapier / etc.]. Is that planned?

We receive a high volume of integration requests and are actively expanding our integration capabilities. Outlook Calendar and task manager integrations are among the top priorities. For specific requests, share them in our Discord #feature-requests channel or email support@littlebird.ai. Your feedback directly influences our roadmap.

How do I submit feedback or report a bug?

You have several options:

1. In-app feedback: Use the feedback button within Littlebird.

2. Email: support@littlebird.ai

3. Discord: Join the Littlebird Discord community for real-time discussions, bug reports, and feature requests.

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