About us
About Rakou
Rakou Inc. is a golf app company that makes iPhone apps for practicing and keeping a record of your golf swing away from the course, for amateur golfers who want golf in the days between tee times.
We build two things, both small and both for the same problem: golf stops when you leave the course, and most golfers only get there a handful of times a month. Rakou turns the days in between into practice. Swingmory keeps the swings you film in one place instead of buried in your camera roll.
What Rakou does
Rakou: golf swing practice
A free iPhone app that turns ten minutes and a bit of floor space into golf practice. Your phone camera reads your rotation, tempo and position, and those swings play a hole, with missions to clear and an eighteen hole ladder to climb.
The outcome: a golfer who practices on a Tuesday night in a living room, and arrives at the next range day having already swung a hundred times. See the Rakou app.
Swingmory: golf swing log
A video calendar for your golf swing. Record or import a swing, add the club, the camera angle and a note, and it is filed on the day you hit it.
The outcome: a year of practice you can scroll through, instead of forty unlabelled clips you will never find again. More about Swingmory.
Writing on practising away from the course
We publish free guides on practising at home, off season work, tempo, rotation and the basics of getting started in golf. No sign up and no email gate.
The outcome: a golfer can act on any of it tonight, with or without our apps. Read the blog.
What makes Rakou different
No equipment beyond the phone in your pocket
Most swing tools in this category need something else in the room: a ball and a net, a launch monitor, a mat, or a sensor strapped to your glove or your wrist. Rakou needs an iPhone propped where it can see you.
That difference is the whole product. It is why practice can happen in a hotel room at 11pm, and why the cost of starting is zero.
Your camera video does not leave your phone
The Rakou app processes camera and movement data on your device, and does not upload or transmit your camera video. In Swingmory, on device storage is the default and cloud backup is a plan you have to choose.
Swing apps that run their analysis on a server have to send your video to one. Ours do not, and our privacy policy says so in plain words rather than in an exceptions clause.
Practice is a game, not a lesson library
The common shape in golf apps is a video course: modules, drills, a coach talking. Rakou is built as a game with missions, a score, and eighteen holes to work through.
The reason is retention rather than novelty. People finish a hole. Far fewer people finish module four of twelve.
Free to start, and the prices are on this page
Rakou is free, with no trial that turns into a charge. Swingmory is free to use, and its paid plans are $9.99 per month or $69.99 per year for Pro, and $12.99 per month or $99.99 per year for Cloud, billed by Apple.
There is no contract, no minimum term and no sales call. You cancel in your Apple ID settings, and we never see a card number.
Two small apps instead of one crowded one
Practising and record keeping are different jobs, done at different moments, so they are different apps. Rakou is for the ten minutes you have tonight. Swingmory is for the clip you just filmed at the range.
Neither one requires the other, and neither requires an account to start.
Who uses Rakou
- Amateur golfers who play a few rounds a month and want something to do with golf on the other days.
- New golfers learning the shape of a swing before a first round or a first lesson.
- Golfers practising at home in apartments, hotel rooms, garages and offices, with no room for a net.
- Off season and winter golfers in climates where the course closes for months.
- Golfers who already film their swing on a phone and want the clips dated and findable.
- Mid handicappers working on rotation and tempo between range sessions.
The team behind Rakou
Rakou Inc. is an early stage, fully remote company incorporated in Delaware, building for a primarily United States audience. The team is small enough that the people who write the code are the people who answer your email.
The company started from an ordinary complaint: golf asks for four or five hours and a drive, so most people who love it only touch it a few times a month, and the ones who are new to it quit before it gets good. We wanted golf to be something you could do on a Tuesday. That is the idea both apps come from.
We are hiring, and the open roles say more about how we work than any paragraph here can. See open roles. You can also find us on X, Instagram and Discord.
How Rakou works
Getting started
Download either app free from the App Store. There is no account, no onboarding call and no credit card. Rakou asks for camera access the first time you play a hole. Swingmory asks only when you tap Record.
Who you deal with
The same small team that builds the apps. Support is not outsourced, and there is no ticket queue between you and the person who can change the thing you are writing about.
How to reach us
Email hello@rakou.app for anything, including press, partnerships and account questions. You can send feedback from inside the Rakou app without leaving your email address at all. Day to day conversation happens in our Discord.
Refunds and cancellation
Subscriptions are sold and billed by Apple, so cancellation happens in your Apple ID settings and refunds are handled by Apple under its own policies. Deleting an app does not cancel a subscription.
Frequently asked questions
What is Rakou?
Rakou is a golf app company, and Rakou is also the name of our golf swing practice app. Rakou Inc. makes two iPhone apps: Rakou for practicing your swing away from the course, and Swingmory for keeping a record of the swings you film.
Is Rakou free?
The Rakou app is free to download and free to play. Swingmory is free to use on your phone, with optional paid plans for extra storage and for cloud backup.
Do I need golf clubs or a net to use Rakou?
No. Rakou uses your iPhone camera to read your body, so a room with space to turn is enough. There is no club, ball, net, launch monitor or wearable sensor involved.
Is Rakou on Android?
Not yet. Both apps are iPhone only today, and we have not announced an Android or web version.
Does Rakou upload video of me?
The Rakou app does not upload or transmit your camera video off your device. In Swingmory your swings stay on your phone unless you choose the cloud backup plan, which uploads your clips so they survive a lost phone.
Who owns Rakou?
Rakou Inc., a privately held Delaware C-Corp. The team is fully remote and our primary market is the United States.
How do I contact Rakou?
Email hello@rakou.app. You can also send feedback from inside the Rakou app, or find us on Discord, X and Instagram.