Three parts, one account, about fifteen minutes. Do them in order and your first recording will land in your DAW folder by itself.
(How it fits together)
Squidbrain is a few parts that work as one system. You capture on your phone (or from audio playing on your computer), and the desktop app is where it all comes together — it delivers every capture into a folder your DAW already watches, and it is where you browse your Library and edit, right on your desktop. The website is where you sign in and manage your account. They only work together because they share one login.
Web, phone, and desktop must be signed in with the same Google, Apple, or email login. If a capture never reaches your folder, this is almost always why. Nothing is lost, it is just waiting for the matching desktop app to sign in.
Start here. Open your invite link and sign in at squidbrain.io with Google, Apple, or a password. This is your account hub — where you sign in, manage your account, and grab the app downloads. Sign in or continue setup here. Note which login you use, because the next two steps have to match it.
Install this before your phone. The desktop app is the heart of Squidbrain: it runs quietly in your Mac's menu bar or your PC's taskbar, delivers every capture into your Squidbrain folder, and opens the Studio — your Library and the full editor — right on your desktop, so you can browse, audition, trim and slice without bouncing to a browser. It is the piece that makes captures actually land, so getting it running now means your very first phone recording drops straight into your folder. Until it is installed and signed in, captures wait in the cloud and never reach your desktop.
On a Mac, the first launch asks for Screen & System Audio Recording permission. That is only used when you press record in the menu bar, to sample what your computer is playing. It never watches your screen.
Prefer the browser? You can still open any capture in the web editor at squidbrain.io — but the desktop app is where your Library and the full editor live.
With the desktop app installed and signed in, your phone is the last piece — and because delivery is already running, your first recording will land in your Squidbrain folder straight away.
The iPhone app ships through TestFlight, Apple's app for trying beta apps. It is two installs, not one, and that trips most people up the first time:
Watch out: installing TestFlight on its own does nothing visible. The Squidbrain app only appears after you open the invite link inside TestFlight and tap Install. If you cannot find the app, that step was missed.
Once the app is installed, put a Record button on your Lock Screen or in Control Center so you can catch a sound without unlocking or even opening the app — one tap opens Squidbrain and starts recording. Swipe into Control Center (or press-and-hold the Lock Screen and tap Customize), choose Add a Control, search Squidbrain, and add Record with Squidbrain. Needs iOS 18 or later. The full steps — plus the Action Button and Siri — are in the User guide.
Android is an experimental beta distributed through Firebase App Distribution. Open the Android invite link, accept the invitation, then follow Firebase's install steps. Once Squidbrain is installed, open it and sign in with the same account as the web app.
Unlike iPhone, Android does not use TestFlight. You may need to allow the install when Android asks, because this beta is not yet installed through Google Play.
(Check it works)
Record something short on your phone. Within a few seconds it should appear in the web app, and a moment later land in your Squidbrain folder on the desktop. Drag it straight into your DAW. That round trip means all three parts are talking.
(If something is stuck)