iPhone app · No server, no account, no internet
You are sitting together and there is one shared thing: the bill that needs splitting, the list that needs writing, the game after dinner. One person shows a QR code, the iPhones at the table connect directly to each other, phone to phone, and for that moment everyone sees and touches the same thing. When you get up, it is over: no accounts, no invite link, and none of it ever travelled through the internet.
How it works
No sign-up, no WhatsApp group, no "I'll send you the link". The whole table is connected before the waiter comes back.
Whoever opens the table shows a QR code on their screen, the others scan it with the camera. Anyone who can see the code can join, and nobody else: the next table over does not exist. Up to eight iPhones, and each person gets their own colour.
The bill, a list, a game. Everyone sees the same thing on their own iPhone and in their own language, and every tap appears on the other screens instantly, over local radio, phone to phone.
No group stays open and no account was ever created, and nothing sits on any server, because there is no server. The games store nothing; the bill and the lists store exactly what you see, on your iPhone, in case you want to look it up later.
What is in the box
From the serious bill to the silly game, with the same connection underneath: what one person does, everyone sees, instantly.
One photo of the receipt, the AI on the iPhone reads the line items, and everyone taps their own. A shared dish is marked by several people, tip and rounding cents are distributed by rule, and the totals add up to the cent. If the paper total does not match, the app says so instead of quietly correcting it.
The shopping list for the weekend, the brainstorm for the trip, a mind map with everyone. Each person writes from their own iPhone at the same time, and it all merges into one list without anyone overwriting anyone.
Tic-tac-toe, "who pays?" with the same result on every screen at the same instant, and the impostor word game: everyone gets the same word except one person, and talking is how you find them.
Two iPhones side by side become a single board, and the snake crosses from one screen to the other. Ultra wideband checks that they are still next to each other; if they drift apart, the game says so and waits.
What you share at a Narby table travels encrypted from one iPhone to the next, over local radio, and nowhere else. There is no server, no account and nothing to register, because we do not need any of it: the table is right there. Switch on airplane mode and the app stays whole: that is the proof, not a marketing line.
No sign-up, no email, no password, and no invite link left lying around in a chat. Whoever sees the QR code at the table joins, and nobody else.
Bill items, list entries and game moves travel over Apple's direct device-to-device connection with encryption required. Never over the internet and never through our servers, because we have none.
The photo of the bill is read by the Apple Intelligence model on the device itself, and once read it is not kept. Only the line items with their amounts travel to the table.
Connecting, splitting the bill, lists and games all work with no coverage, in the basement restaurant or mid-flight. Only Apple's purchases and the list of other Freshlab apps need a network.
Transparency
The photo of the receipt is read by the Apple Intelligence model on the iPhone that took it, and one is enough: at a table of eight, a single compatible iPhone reads for everyone. Every item the model fills in stays marked as an AI suggestion until someone confirms or corrects it, before the bill goes out to the table, because a model reading a crumpled receipt by candlelight gets things wrong. Typing the items in by hand is the complete app, not a fallback, and on an iPhone without Apple Intelligence the photo button simply is not there.
The rest of the box has no AI inside: the cent distribution, the lists and the games are deterministic rules that run on each iPhone. The impostor word game runs on word lists that ship with the app, in English, Spanish and German; Apple Intelligence only adds variety when the host's iPhone has it, and is never a requirement.
What it costs
Splitting the bill, the lists and the games are free, for all eight. No subscription, no paywall and no session limit.
If Narby saves your table from the calculator round, you can buy us a coffee, a tapa or a dinner from the settings. In return you get a supporter badge and an alternative app icon. It is voluntary and unlocks nothing.
There is no monthly plan, no pro version and no feature hidden behind a payment. The three optional purchases are one-time tips and change nothing about what the app does.
Support
Write to support@freshlab.es. We answer in English, Spanish and German, usually within one or two working days. Tell us the iPhone models at the table, the iOS version and what happened, and we can skip a round of questions.
An iPhone with iOS 26 per person. Filling the bill from a photo of the receipt additionally needs an iPhone with Apple Intelligence, and one per table is enough: the phone that takes the photo is the one that reads, everyone else joins in with any compatible iPhone. Without Apple Intelligence you type the items in by hand, and that is the complete app, not a fallback.
Eight iPhones. That is the limit of the direct connection technology Narby uses, and the app says so when the ninth device arrives instead of failing silently. For bigger groups there is solo mode: one person splits the bill alone on their iPhone and sends everyone their share through whatever channel they like.
No. One person shows a QR code, the others scan it, and the iPhones connect to each other over local radio, phone to phone. There is no server, no account and no invite link, and everything works in airplane mode. The app's only network connections are purchases handled by Apple and the download of a small list of the other Freshlab apps, and neither touches anything that happens at the table.
Nowhere. The photo stays on the iPhone that took it, the Apple Intelligence model reads it on that same device, and once read it is not kept. Only the line items with their amounts travel to the other iPhones at the table, encrypted and phone to phone, never over the internet.
Nothing. Your seat, your colour and everything you had already marked stay put, and when you come back the session puts you right back where you were. A Narby session ends when the thing is done, not because a radio signal flickered for a moment.
Each module says it in one sentence before it starts. The games store nothing: a finished round is gone. The bill and the lists store exactly what you see on screen, items, names and amounts, and only on your iPhone. Deleting the app deletes everything, because no copy exists outside your device; if you have an iCloud or computer backup, manage that from iOS Settings.
Narby arrives on the App Store shortly. In the meantime, you can read exactly what it does with what your table shares, which is move it only between your iPhones.
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