Light in, sugar out
Cycle·12:10 to 12:41
Explain on screenQuiz
Understand it while it’s happening.
Lost a step? Press one key and Lectavi turns the last thirty seconds into a picture, then talks you through it.
Get it for your laptop
Lectavi runs on your laptop, beside whatever you are watching, not on a phone. Open lectavi.com there, or copy the link.
Free to start
Lectavi, said lek TEH veethat’s how you say it
Lectavi explaining the last thirty seconds
that’s lectavi. it waits at the top of your screen.
Cycle
Light in, sugar out
Carbon dioxide comes in from the air.3 / 4
12:04
Explaining0:12
CtrlShiftEExplain that
Works with anything you can hear
- A class in the room
- An online class
- A video
- A podcast
- A call
Windows, and a Mac beta on macOS 12 or later.
Listen. Ask. Keep it.
-
Start listening
Press Start before a class. Lectavi keeps no audio, only the last two minutes in memory.
-
Ask about the moment
Press one key (Ctrl Shift E) and the last thirty seconds come back as a picture, and Lectavi talks you through it. Then ask about it out loud.
-
Find it in History
Every picture waits in History. Turn on recording and Lectavi writes notes and flashcards too, every line the speaker said tied to its second.
Every line shows who said it.
So you always know which is which.
The student asks: what did the batteries part mean? look it up online too
Lectavi
so the light reactions are just the leaf charging its batteries before the Calvin cycle spends them.
Think of it as a solar panel feeding a factory: no sun, no power, no sugar.
Photosynthesis stores the energy of light in the bonds of sugar.
OpenStax, checked Nov 1An example of the three kinds of line.
Just ask out loud.
Press Ctrl Shift Space and ask. Lectavi answers in your ear and in a bubble by the orb, and can point at what it means on your screen.
- SiennaPlayful
- AshleyNatural
- DennisSmooth, calm
- CliveBritish
12:04
Explaining
A picture for every idea.
A cycle for biology, a timeline for history, a graph for economics. Lectavi picks the picture that fits, and lays it out itself.
Cycle
Light in, sugar out
Biology, laid out by the app from what was said.1 / 5
Everything lives in one small orb.
It waits at the top of your screen. Click it and it opens; History, Chat and Settings drop down from it.
12:04
TalkStart session
ChatHistory
Search sessions and recordings
AllSaved 3
Today
Session, Nov 1, 9:05 AM3 topics · 41 min
Yesterday
Session, Oct 31, 2:10 PM2 topics · 18 min
Earlier
Intro to economics, week 3Recording · 48 min · notes12 due
Chemistry 110, week 6Recording · 50 min · notes
World history, lecture 9Recording · 52 min · notes31 due
Session, Nov 1, 9:05 AM
Quiz me on theseAsk about this session
Topics3, in the order they came up
Why leaves are green
Graph·18:02 to 18:30
Explain on screenQuiz
The Calvin cycle in three steps
Steps·24:15 to 24:44
Explain on screenQuiz
Private by default.
It listens only when you ask.
A session’s sound is transcribed as it runs, and your question’s audio is streamed to Deepgram to be transcribed and is not kept.
Recordings stay on your disk.
The file never uploads. Its sound is streamed to Deepgram to become text.
Your screen is yours.
Your screen is sent only with Live visuals or Screen sight on; the welcome suggests both, off until its Continue. With Screen sight on, asking Lectavi to show you something sends one picture of the screen your pointer is on, at that moment and only then.
Nothing is sold or tracked.
When you sign in, notes, flashcards, every topic Lectavi explained with its drawings, saved or not, and your conversations sync to your account, without the speaker’s words, and Settings can switch that off. Recordings and transcripts never sync. No analytics, ads or tracking.
Lectavi never sends audio by itself: audio leaves this computer only while a session you started is running, on a press of Explain that, a question you ask, or a recording you chose to make, and the orb on your screen shows which is happening.
Free to start. No card.
Both plans include pictures, spoken replies, notes and flashcards.
Monthly
Yearly
save 17%
Free
$0
forever
Try the whole thing.
- 3 recordings, ever
- 4 hours of listening a month, transcribed and explained
- Up to 3,000 characters of spoken replies a month
- Pictures, notes, flashcards and History
- Every quote linked to its moment
For every day
Pro
$29.99
/ month
$25
/ month, billed yearly
Billed monthly. Cancel any time.
$299.99 once a year. 17% less than paying monthly.
Everything in Free, plus
- 20 hours of listening a month, transcribed and explained
- Up to 20,000 characters of spoken replies a month
- Record as often as you like, inside your monthly hours
- Cancel from inside the app, any time
How billing and hours work
Prices in US dollars. Stripe bills a plan you choose in the app, and Settings cancels it. Hours reset each calendar month and cover recordings, the moments you ask about and your spoken questions. A recording is never cut off part way. When the month’s spoken replies run out, Lectavi answers in words.
Questions
Is it listening all the time?
Only while a session runs. It keeps no audio, and transcribes it as it goes unless you turn that off. Turn on “Hey Lectavi” and it also listens for its name, on your computer, sending nothing until it hears it.
Do I have to press anything?
During a session, press Ctrl Shift E to explain the last thirty seconds. Any time, press Ctrl Shift Space to ask. Or turn on “Hey Lectavi” (said lek TEH vee) in Settings and ask it out loud instead of pressing.
Am I allowed to use it in class?
Rules differ, and some places need everyone’s consent before anything is recorded. Ask your lecturer first, and read our academic integrity guidance.
What happens when the free recordings run out?
Free covers 3 recordings in total. After that, recording needs Pro; what you have stays, and a session that only listens is never counted.
How accurate is it?
Transcription can mishear, and we have not measured it in real rooms yet. That is why every quote keeps its second, and in a recording you can press it to hear the original.
Catch it the first time.
Free to start, no card. Bring it to your next class, video or call.
Get it for your laptop
Lectavi is a desktop app for Windows, with a Mac beta. Open lectavi.com on your laptop to download it, or copy the link and send it to yourself.
Windows
Download for Windows
The app is not code signed yet, so the first time it runs Windows shows a SmartScreen warning. Choose More info, then Run anyway. It updates itself after that.
Open lectavi.com on your Windows laptop to download it.
MacBeta
Not sure which? Open the Apple menu, then About This Mac. A Chip line naming Apple M1 or later is Apple silicon; a Processor line naming Intel is Intel. It needs macOS 12 or later.
Open lectavi.com on your Mac to choose Apple silicon or Intel. It needs macOS 12 or later.
Mac installation and audio setup
The first time you open it
- Open the disk image and drag Lectavi into Applications.
- Open Lectavi. macOS will not open it yet, because the beta is not notarised by Apple.
- Open System Settings, then Privacy & Security, and press Open Anyway near the bottom. On macOS 14 or earlier you can instead Control click Lectavi in Applications and choose Open.
You do this once for each new version, and macOS asks for its permissions again. Updates arrive as a download: the app says when one is out and opens its disk image, because it cannot install itself without an Apple Developer ID.
What works on a Mac
- In person, with the Mac’s microphone
- Explaining the last thirty seconds, asking out loud, “Hey Lectavi” and the pictures on your screen
- The sound the Mac itself plays, for an online class: in beta, on macOS 14.2 or later, once you let Lectavi record the screen and system audio in Privacy & Security. If macOS refuses the sound, the app records through the microphone instead and says so. If it passes on only silence, the app says no sound is reaching it and which setting to turn on.