YearlyBest value
$59/ year
$4.92 a month, billed once a year.
38% less than twelve months on the monthly plan ($95.88).
Pricing
Every feature, two ways to pay
Prewatch is a Mac App Store subscription with a 14-day free trial. Both plans unlock the same app; the only difference is how often you pay. No account with us, no credits.
Monthly[02]
$7.99/ month
Billed each month.
For one project or a busy season. Cancel when the edit is done.
Both plans
- 14 days free, then billed by Apple
- Every feature, no tiers
- Cancel any time in your Apple Account
- No account with us, no credits
14 days free, then $59 a year or $7.99 a month. Works with your Claude or ChatGPT plan; timelines need DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1+. Clip descriptions are optional and use your own API key, billed by Anthropic or OpenAI.
Prices in US dollars. The App Store shows the price in your country's currency. Payments, receipts and refunds are handled by Apple; we never see your card.
What's included
Everything is in both plans
There is no Pro tier. Indexing runs on your Mac, your AI app does the asking, and descriptions are there if you add your own key.
On your Mac
Indexing, on your Mac
No key, no upload.
- Shots, keyframes and a contact sheet for every clip
- Camera motion: locked off, steady, handheld or shaky
- Quality flags: black, frozen, static, under- or overexposed, flat log, soft
- Camera metadata from the file
- Transcripts in the detected language, with an English translation
- Speakers told apart, and recognized across clips for you to name
- Image tags from Apple's on-device Vision
- Days and scenes from capture time and place
- Search across everything seen and said
- Plain files in a Prewatch folder next to the footage
Your AI app
Your AI, connected
Uses the plan you already have.
- One-click connection to Claude Desktop or the ChatGPT Mac app
- Claude Code and Codex too
- Answers with the clip, the seconds and the source timecode
- A short read layer, 65 to 68% smaller than the full record
- Timelines in DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1+, through Resolve's own MCP server
Claude or OpenAI
Descriptions, if you want them
Optional. Billed by Anthropic or OpenAI.
- A written description of every clip
- Moments with in and out points, rated 1 to 5
- The role of each shot
- Better translations
- The cost per clip, shown before you turn it on
- Sends still frames and transcript text, never video, audio or locations
Total cost
What you pay, and to whom
Prewatch is the only new subscription. Here is everything else that can be part of the bill, and who sends it.
| What | Needed for | Billed by | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| PrewatchRequired | Everything on this page | Apple, through the App Store | $59 a year or $7.99 a month, after 14 days free. |
| Claude or ChatGPTRequired to chat | Asking about your footage and building the cut | Anthropic or OpenAI | The plan you already have, in Claude Desktop or the ChatGPT Mac app. Prewatch adds nothing to it. |
| DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1+For timelines | Timelines built by chat | Blackmagic Design | A one-time license. With the free Resolve you still index, search and ask, then place the clips yourself; a file handoff it can import is planned. |
| A Claude or OpenAI API keyOptional | Descriptions, moments, shot roles, better translations | Anthropic or OpenAI, per use | A typical clip costs a fraction of a cent, a long take about one cent, on the default models (Claude Haiku 5.5 or GPT-6 Luna, priced the same). Even at a cent a clip, 400 clips come to $4. Prewatch shows the cost per clip first, and the full estimate before describing clips you already have. |
Runs on
A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later), macOS 26 or later. No Intel or Windows version.
Trial and cancelling
Apple runs the subscription
You start, change and cancel Prewatch where you manage every other App Store subscription.
Trial[01]
14 days, every feature
Start the free trial from the App Store. Index a real shoot, connect Claude or ChatGPT, build a timeline. Nothing is charged during the trial.
Cancel[02]
Cancel in your Apple Account
Manage or cancel Prewatch in your Apple Account's subscription settings, on your Mac or iPhone. Cancel before day 14 and you pay nothing.
Renew[03]
Renews until you stop it
After the trial your plan renews each year or each month. Cancelling stops the next renewal, and Prewatch keeps working until the end of the time you paid for.
After[04]
Your index stays yours
The Prewatch folder is plain files on your disk, readable without Prewatch. Indexing new footage and the connection to Claude or ChatGPT need an active subscription.
How does the free trial work?
Prewatch is an App Store subscription with a 14-day free trial: $59 a year or $7.99 a month after it. You manage or cancel it in your Apple Account's subscription settings; cancel before the trial ends and you are not charged.
Can I get a refund?
Apple handles payments and refunds for App Store subscriptions, so a refund is requested from Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com, signed in with the Apple Account you subscribed with. If you cancel instead, Prewatch keeps working until the end of the period you paid for.
Do I need a Prewatch account?
No. There is no Prewatch account and no sign-up. The subscription runs through your Apple Account on the Mac App Store, and the index is written to your own disk.
What do descriptions cost with my own key?
You choose Claude or OpenAI and use your own key. With the default Claude model (Claude Haiku 5.5), describing a typical clip costs a fraction of a cent and a long take about one cent; the moments come back in the same request. OpenAI's default (GPT-6 Luna) is priced the same. Settings shows what a typical clip costs with the provider you chose, and describing clips you already have shows the full estimate before you confirm.
Does my Claude or ChatGPT subscription cover descriptions?
No. Chatting with your footage uses your normal Claude or ChatGPT app and plan. Descriptions use the separate API, billed by Anthropic or OpenAI per use, so you need an API key from their developer console. It is optional: everything else works without it.
What happens to my index if I stop subscribing?
The index stays yours. It is plain Markdown, JSON, TSV, subtitle and JPEG files on your own disk, readable in any text editor or by any AI agent, with or without Prewatch. Indexing new footage and the connection to Claude or ChatGPT need an active subscription.
Index a shoot you already have
14 days free, then $59 a year or $7.99 a month. Works with your Claude or ChatGPT plan; timelines need DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1+. Clip descriptions are optional and use your own API key, billed by Anthropic or OpenAI.