Our picks, in order
Hermes Conduit
Free- Free and open source (MIT), with no ads or tracking
- Real-time voice through Gemini Live, GPT-Live or Grok Live, on the phone, the Watch and in CarPlay
- Approve tools and answer questions straight from a notification
- Signs in to the dashboard you already run, across several servers
- Push, live voice and Watch calls need its notifier plugin on your computer
- Live voice needs a provider such as Gemini Live or GPT-Live
- No Android version
Hermex
Free- Free and open source (MIT), with 4.7 stars from 181 ratings, the most of any Hermes iPhone app we checked
- File diffs, a workspace browser, Kanban, and queue, steer or stop for running tasks
- Live Activities, a share extension and 17 languages
- Built for hermes-webui; connecting straight to Hermes is a Bot Mode beta
- No Apple Watch or Android app
Herald
$12.99 once- Every bot on every computer in one roster, with group chats that mix machines
npx herald-setuppairs with a QR code and sets up Tailscale for you- On-device “Hey Herald” wake word, voice notes and read-aloud
- Hermes Pet on the Dynamic Island, Lock Screen, StandBy, Apple Watch and CarPlay
- Costs $12.99, while several good alternatives are free
- The Apple Watch app shows your roster but can’t reply
- Three languages: English, Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese
Companion for Hermes Agent
Free- Handoff between iPhone, iPad and Mac, plus Spotlight, Siri and Shortcuts
- Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets
- The Apple Watch app reads replies and takes dictated answers
- Needs iOS, iPadOS, macOS or watchOS 26
- Release builds send diagnostics and crash reports to the developer
- English only, and too new to show ratings
Conduit: Open WebUI & AI
$3.99 (free on Android)- One app for Open WebUI, OpenAI-compatible APIs and Hermes
- Hermes mode shows live tools, approvals and scheduled work
- Open source (GPL-3.0), with no ads, analytics or relay server
- Hermes is one of three modes rather than the focus
- Needs Hermes’s API server turned on, with an
API_SERVER_KEY
BotBus
Free- One task list for several coding agents across your computers
- End-to-end encrypted sync to iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Android
- Follow up, start and stop tasks from the phone or watch
- For Hermes, no approvals, images or model switching from the phone, according to its own docs
- Shows the last 7 days of Hermes sessions
- Needs its desktop app and syncs through its relay, free during its testing period
Hermes messaging gateway
Free- Official, built into Hermes Agent
- Works on every device your chat app runs on
- Voice memos, cron results and approvals in the chat
- On Telegram, each profile needs its own bot token
- No combined roster, Live Activity or CarPlay screen
The picks at a glance
| App | Price | Apple Watch | CarPlay | Connects to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hermes Conduit | Free | Yes, with voice | Yes | Hermes dashboard |
| Hermex | Free | No | Not listed | hermes-webui, or Hermes in Bot Mode (beta) |
| Herald | $12.99 once | Roster and Hermes Pet | Yes | hermes serve with dashboard sign-in |
| Companion for Hermes Agent | Free | Read and dictate | Not listed | Hermes dashboard |
| Conduit: Open WebUI & AI | $3.99 | No | Not listed | Hermes API server |
| BotBus | Free | Yes (no Hermes approvals) | Not listed | Its desktop app |
| Hermes messaging gateway | Free | Depends on the chat app | Depends on the chat app | Hermes gateway |
How we chose
We looked for iPhone and iPad apps that connect to the Hermes Agent you run yourself, read each App Store listing, website and source repository on 20 October 2026, and ranked them by how well they fit common needs. Price counts: three good options are free.
Hermes Conduit comes first because it works with the dashboard every Hermes install already has, costs nothing and covers iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and CarPlay. Hermex is a close second, and the better choice if you use hermes-webui or do coding work on the phone. Herald is third: it is the strongest fit for several computers, group chats across them and hands-free voice, but it costs money and its Watch app doesn’t reply.
We left out apps that weren’t in the App Store when we checked, such as Cadu (in TestFlight beta) and Hermes by hermesapp.dev (announced as coming soon). We’ll look at them when they launch. Nous Research hasn’t released an official app yet; see Herald vs the official app.
Not sure where to start?
Try a free app first. If you then want your bots from several computers in one place, an Apple Watch roster with Hermes Pet, or a wake word in the car, compare Herald with Hermes Conduit and Herald with Hermex.
Whichever you pick, the computer side is similar: Hermes has to be reachable from your phone. Tailscale is the simplest private way to do that away from home.
Questions
Is there an official Hermes Agent app for iPhone?
Not yet. Nous Research has started mobile work but hadn’t released an app as of 20 October 2026. See is there an official Hermes Agent app?
Do these apps run Hermes on the iPhone?
No. They connect to Hermes on your computer or server, which does the work. See can Hermes Agent run on an iPhone?
Which free app should I try first?
Hermes Conduit if you use the standard Hermes dashboard, or Hermex if you already run hermes-webui.
Sources
- Hermes Conduit on the App Store
- Hermes Conduit source code on GitHub
- Hermex on the App Store
- Companion for Hermes Agent on the App Store
- Conduit: Open WebUI & AI on the App Store
- BotBus on the App Store
- BotBus: Hermes Agent on your phone (limits for Hermes)
- Cadu website
- Hermes by hermesapp.dev
- Hermes Agent documentation: messaging gateway
