Comparisons

Echo vs Rewind AI: a private media memory that's still here

By the Echo team · 17 June 2026 · 5 min read

Rewind AI shut down in December 2025 after Meta acquired its maker, leaving people who relied on it without a tool. If what you valued was being able to find and return to the things you watched and listened to, Echo is a focused, private, on-device alternative that is built to stay.

Rewind AI made a bold promise: record everything you saw and heard on your Mac, so nothing was ever lost. Then it went away. For anyone who leaned on it to recall what they had been watching or listening to, the question now is simple, where do you go next, without betting on another app that can vanish?

What happened to Rewind AI?

Rewind's parent company, renamed Limitless, was acquired by Meta in December 2025. Later that month the app's screen and audio capture was switched off, making it unusable, and the Mac app is no longer offered. EU and UK users were given a window to export their data before it was deleted. In short: the product is gone, and its users are looking for something dependable.

Is there a Rewind alternative for Mac?

Rewind tried to remember everything on your screen. Most people, though, used a slice of that: getting back to a video, a talk, a podcast or a track they had played. For that slice, Echo is a clean, focused alternative. It records everything you play, across your apps and the browser, and lets you resume any of it at the exact spot, all on your Mac.

Echo vs Rewind AI at a glance

 Rewind AIEcho
Still available in 2026No, shut downYes
What it capturesEverything on screenMedia you play
Resume at the exact spotReplay of recordingYes, reopens it
PricingSubscription$9.99 one-time
Account requiredYesNo
Storage footprintHeavy, records allLight, notes plays

What Echo does, and what it doesn't

It is worth being honest: Echo is not a full screen recorder. It will not let you search a document you read or a Slack message you saw. That is deliberate. By focusing only on the media you play, Echo stays light, simple and genuinely private, and it does that one job completely: every track, episode and video, in one resume list, back with a keystroke.

A smaller scope is the privacy story

Because Echo only watches what you play, not your whole screen, there is far less to hold, and all of it stays on your Mac.

Why on-device and one-time matters now

Rewind's ending is a useful lesson. A venture-funded app with your data in its orbit can be acquired and switched off. Echo is the opposite kind of bet: a one-time $9.99 purchase, on-device with no account, so there is no server holding your history and no remote switch that can turn your memory off. You buy it, it runs on your Mac, and it keeps running.

Frequently asked

Is Rewind AI still available?
No. Rewind's maker (renamed Limitless) was acquired by Meta in December 2025, and the app's screen and audio capture was switched off later that month, leaving it unusable. The Mac app is no longer offered. People who relied on it now need an alternative.
What is a good Rewind AI alternative for Mac?
For the part most people miss, remembering and getting back to what you watched and listened to, Echo is a focused, private alternative. It records everything you play across your apps and the browser, on-device with no account, and resumes any of it at the exact spot.
Is Echo the same as Rewind AI?
No. Rewind recorded everything on your screen. Echo is narrower and deliberately so: it remembers the media you play and lets you resume it. That smaller scope is part of why it is private, light and simple, with your history kept on your Mac.
Is Echo private like Rewind claimed to be?
Echo is on-device with no account and no cloud, and it is a one-time purchase rather than a venture-funded subscription, so there is no server holding your history and no company that can switch it off remotely.
Written by the Echo team

We build Echo, a native macOS app that remembers everything you play across your apps and your browser, and brings any of it back at the exact spot with one keystroke.

A memory that won't be switched off

Echo is a one-time purchase, on-device and account-free, so the things you played stay yours, on your Mac.

One-time purchase, yours forever.
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