FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers to the things people most often ask about Cove. If you don't see your question here, email us at [email protected].
About Cove
What is Cove?
Cove is a family of four offline AI Android apps powered by Google Gemma: Travel (translation), Voice (recording and notes), Photo (image understanding), and Health (private health journal). Each one runs entirely on your phone — no servers, no upload.
Is Cove one app or four apps?
Four separate apps. We chose to keep them separate so each can have a focused UI tailored to its use case (a translator UI is very different from a recorder UI). You can install only what you need.
How is Cove different from Google Translate or DeepL?
Google Translate and DeepL send your text or voice to their servers for processing. Cove runs the AI model locally on your phone — your photos, recordings, and questions never leave the device. The tradeoff: Cove's models are smaller than the cloud giants, so accuracy on long technical text may be slightly lower in exchange for privacy and offline reliability.
What model powers Cove?
Cove runs on Google Gemma 4 — Google DeepMind's open-weight on-device model, executed via LiteRT-LM on the phone's NPU/CPU. Two variants are available: E2B (default, ~2-billion effective parameters / 2.5 GB) covers everyday use; E4B (optional upgrade, ~4-billion effective parameters / 3.6 GB) gives higher accuracy on long technical text and rare languages. Free and Pro share the same model file; Pro only removes the 5-runs-per-day cap.
Pricing & purchase
Is Cove a subscription?
No. Each Pro app is a one-time in-app purchase processed by Google Play. There are no recurring charges, no auto-renewals, no hidden fees. See the full pricing page for per-app and bundle details.
Can I get a refund?
Standard Google Play refund policy applies — typically you can self-serve a refund within 48 hours from the Play Store. After that, contact us at [email protected] and we'll review case by case.
Does my purchase work on multiple devices?
Yes. Pro is tied to your Google account. Sign in to the same account on a new phone and Pro is restored automatically. Use 'Restore purchase' in Settings if needed.
Is the free tier really free forever?
Yes. The free tier has a 5-runs-per-day cap per app, but it never expires and never shows ads. If you only use the apps occasionally, you may never need Pro.
Privacy & data
Does any of my data leave my phone?
No content data — photos, recordings, transcripts, health entries, translations — ever leaves the device. The only outbound network calls are: model download from Hugging Face, Google Play purchase verification, opt-in email signup, and (if enabled) anonymous crash reports. See the network audit page for the full list.
Do I need to sign up or log in?
No. Cove apps work without any account. You only sign in to Google Play if you want to upgrade to Pro — and that's between you and Google.
How can I verify Cove is really offline?
Two ways: (1) put your phone in airplane mode after the model is downloaded — every feature still works; (2) read the network audit page where every outbound call the apps can make is documented and justified.
Is Cove open source?
The apps are not currently open source, but the model (Google Gemma) is open-weight and the network audit fully documents what data is transmitted. We may open more components over time.
Devices & system
What's the minimum Android version and hardware?
Android 12 (API 31) or higher, with at least 4 GB RAM. Phones with NPU/AI accelerators (Pixel 6+, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+, Tensor G2+, Dimensity 9000+) run noticeably faster. See the system requirements page for the detailed table.
Is there an iOS version?
Not yet. Apple's on-device Foundation Models framework is coming in iOS 26 — once it stabilizes we may explore an iOS version. For now Cove is Android only.
How much storage does the model take?
Gemma 4 E2B is ~2.5 GB by default; optional E4B upgrade is ~3.6 GB (both Q4_0 quantized). The model is shared across all four apps via a shared directory, so installing more Cove apps doesn't multiply storage use.
Does running AI on-device drain my battery?
Each AI run takes a few seconds of NPU/CPU time, similar to taking a photo or recording a short voice note. We've optimized for low ambient draw — when the apps aren't actively running inference they consume essentially nothing.
Languages & accuracy
Which languages are supported?
Translation supports 30+ language pairs across English, Chinese, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Italian, and more. Photo and Voice apps work primarily in your phone's primary language. See the translate page for the full pair list.
How accurate is the translation?
On short conversational text, accuracy is comparable to mid-tier cloud translators. On long technical documents or rare domain jargon, large cloud models (DeepL, GPT) still have an edge — that's the tradeoff for staying on-device. Pro's larger model variant closes most of the gap.
Will you add my language?
We add language pairs based on demand. Email [email protected] with your most-needed pair and we'll prioritize accordingly.
Support
How do I contact support?
Email [email protected] for any question — bugs, refunds, feature requests, partnership. We typically respond within 1–2 business days.
I found a bug. How do I report it?
Email [email protected] with: phone model, Android version, the app name, and steps to reproduce. Screenshots or screen recordings help a lot. We don't collect crash logs automatically — privacy first — so your report is the main signal we have.
Still have questions?
Email us anytime at [email protected] — every email is read by an actual human (the founder).