AK Cortex is a private business app for iPhone and Android that gives the owner and directors of AK Frames Ltd a live view of the business, from our own systems. Today gives the day at a glance. Money covers money in and out, including inter-company invoices. Operations covers the production floor, orders and couriers, and lets you look up any order to see its progress. People covers our staff, attendance and right-to-work checks. Ask lets you talk to Cortex, the app's assistant, about any of it.

The app mostly reads figures. The one place where it changes our business records is Needs you, where you approve or refuse items that are waiting for your decision.

AK Cortex is a workplace app for adults aged 18 and over. Google's Gemini API terms, which cover the assistant, do not allow it to be used by anyone under 18.

AK Cortex is only for AK Frames' owner, directors and the staff we invite. There is no sign-up in the app: you sign in with your AK Operations account, and the app shows its figures only once we have given that account AK Cortex access. If you should have access, ask the company by emailing info@akframes.co.uk.

If you can sign in but the app says your account does not have access, your account has not been given AK Cortex access yet. Email us and we will sort it out.

Sign in with the email address and password of your AK Operations account. If you have forgotten your password, reset it at operations.akframes.cloud/forgot-password, then sign in to the app with the new password.

The app keeps you signed in until you sign out. To sign out, open the “Can I trust this?” sheet on Today; the Sign out button is at the bottom. The same sheet shows how fresh each figure is, so it is also the place to look if a number seems out of date.

Needs you, on Today and Money, lists the items that are waiting for your decision, such as an expense, a purchase, a pay review, a payroll run, a request for access or an escalated refund. Each item shows what it is, what it is worth and how long it has been waiting.

Deciding takes at least two taps. Tap Approve or Refuse (or Mark paid, or Give access), and the app shows the decision in words, naming the item and its amount. Nothing is sent until you tap the button on that screen. Some decisions ask you to type something first: a role when you give someone access, or a reason when you refuse a refund. Some items cannot be refused from the phone, for example a payroll run; the app tells you when that is the case, and you can deal with them in AK Operations.

When you confirm, the app sends the item, your decision and anything you typed to our servers. The decision is recorded with the item in AK Operations, with your name, email address and the time, just as if you had decided there, and it has the same effect: for example, marking a payroll run as paid emails each person their payslip, and giving someone access lets them use AK Operations with the role you chose. A reason you type can be seen by the colleagues who handle the item. Cortex's voice cannot take these decisions for you.

If the app says “Already decided”, someone else dealt with the item first. If it says “It may have gone through”, the connection dropped before the answer came back, so check the item before trying again.

Open the Ask tab and talk to Cortex. Conversations are hands-free: Cortex listens and answers when you pause. If you prefer, choose hold to talk in the voice settings and hold the button while you speak. You can also tap one of the suggested questions.

Cortex is powered by Google Gemini. The first time you use it, the app explains what will be sent to Google Gemini and asks your permission: your voice, the questions you tap, your first name, a briefing of the figures on Today, Money, Operations and People (which includes staff names, attendance and right-to-work status), and the details Cortex looks up to answer you. If you choose not to allow it, nothing is sent and the rest of the app still works. You can change your mind at any time in the app's settings.

Cortex also needs microphone access, which your phone asks for the first time you start talking. If you said no, turn it back on in your phone's Settings, under Apps, AK Cortex and its microphone permissions. The microphone is only used while a conversation or a voice-led tour you started is running. iOS and supported Android versions show an indicator while it is on. If you switch on “Listen when I open Ask”, opening the Ask tab starts a conversation; it is off unless you turn it on.

AK Frames keeps no recording of your voice and does not store your conversations. The transcript stays on your phone, in the app's memory only, until you tap Clear or close the app, and you can hide it with “Live transcript”. We use Gemini on a paid Google account, so Google does not use your conversations to improve its products; it may keep them for a limited period to detect and prevent abuse. See the AK Cortex Privacy Policy for the details.

If Cortex cannot start, check that you are online and that you have allowed it to use Google Gemini, then try again in a moment. The voice settings also let you choose and preview the voice, how long its answers are, whether it carries on with the screen locked (“Keep talking when locked”, on unless you turn it off), and how long it waits in silence before it ends the conversation.

The guided tour walks you through every page with today's figures. The app offers it when you first use it, and you can start it any time with “Give me the tour” on the Ask tab. You can pause it, skip ahead or stop it at any point.

The tour is narrated by Cortex's voice unless you choose “Captions only”, and you can interrupt to ask a question, because Cortex listens during a voice tour. A voice tour uses Google Gemini and the microphone, and needs the same permission as talking to Cortex. If you would rather not use the microphone or Gemini, or you are somewhere quiet, choose “Captions only”: the tour then runs as text on screen, with nothing sent to Gemini.

Most pages have an Explain button in their header. Tap it for a short tour of just that page: what each figure means and where it comes from. It is narrated the same way as the tour.

Open Ask and Settings to choose Light, Dark or System appearance. System follows your phone's theme. Voice replies follow Android's media volume: use the media volume control to hear them, and set it to zero to mute them.

To flag an offensive, unsafe or incorrect AI reply, tap Report on Ask, or Report an AI response in voice settings. Describe the problem and tap Send report. The disclosure explains what will be saved and reviewed. This works without starting voice or allowing the microphone. A report is confirmed only after the server saves it; if it fails, you can retry. Feature requests saved through Cortex also enter the shared iOS and Android review queue.

AK Cortex has no advertising, no analytics software, no tracking and no push notifications, and we do not sell your data.

To ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you, or to use any of your other data protection rights, email info@akframes.co.uk. To have your AK Cortex access removed, or your AK Operations account closed, email us from the address you sign in with; there is no delete button in the app because there is no sign-up either. We reply within one month. The AK Cortex Privacy Policy explains what the app handles, where it is stored and what we keep.

For help with AK Cortex, access requests, account deletion or anything about your data, email info@akframes.co.uk, or write to AK Frames Ltd, Unit 12, Randolph Place, Randolph Industrial Estate, Kirkcaldy, KY1 2YX, United Kingdom.