Kaseta

How to transcribe a voice memo on iPhone

A voice memo is just an audio file on your phone. Transcribing it means running speech recognition over that audio to get text you can search, paste and edit. On an iPhone this can happen entirely on the device: Kaseta transcribes in 99 languages without an account, without a server, and with the network switched off.

One thing to clear up first, because the search results are full of it: this is an app, not a gadget. A lot of what sells as a “voice recorder with transcription” is hardware — a pocket dictaphone with a subscription bolted on. Kaseta is software on the phone already in your pocket. Nothing to buy, nothing to charge, nothing to pair.

What you already have

Voice Memos saves every recording as an .m4a file on the phone, which is why it can be handed to another app instantly instead of being uploaded first. If the file came from somewhere else — an email attachment, a message, a download — the route is the same, and the .m4a guide walks through it.

What it costs

The free plan records without limits and transcribes up to 5 minutes of each recording. Audio keeps recording past that point and waits; the cap is on transcription, never on the recording. Pro — €19.99 a year, or €39.99 once and never again — lifts the cap to 3 hours per recording, adds a higher-accuracy mode, and turns on file export with timestamps.

When something else is the better tool

Kaseta earns its place in one specific case: the audio should stay on the device, and you would rather not rent access to your own recordings by the minute. If that is you, start from the homepage or open a memo in the app.

Steps

  1. 01

    Open the memo you already have

    In Voice Memos, tap the recording and then the share button. Every memo is an .m4a file sitting on the phone, so moving it into another app is a local hand-off, not an upload.

  2. 02

    Send it to Kaseta

    Pick Kaseta in the share sheet. If the conversation has not happened yet, skip the export and record straight into the app instead.

  3. 03

    Watch the text appear

    Speech recognition runs on the phone. There is no queue, no progress bar waiting on a server, and it keeps working in airplane mode.

  4. 04

    Copy it or export it

    Copying the transcript works on every plan. Pro also writes .md or .txt files with timestamps, which is what you want for a lecture or a long meeting.

Frequently asked questions

How to transcribe a voice memo on an iPhone?

Share the memo from the Voice Memos app into an app that transcribes, or record inside that app in the first place. With Kaseta the recognition happens on the iPhone itself, so the memo is never uploaded and the transcript appears whether or not you have signal.

Is there a way to transcribe iPhone voice memos?

Yes, and there are two. Since iOS 18 the built-in Voice Memos app produces its own transcript for the languages Apple covers. For a language outside that list, for recordings longer than a few minutes, or for exporting the text as a file, a dedicated app reads the same .m4a and transcribes it on the device.

What is the best transcription app for iPhone?

It depends on where you want the audio to end up. Otter and Notta are stronger if you need speaker labels, a shared team workspace and a bot that joins your calls, and they charge a subscription for it. Kaseta is the better fit when the audio should not leave the phone, or when you would rather pay once than rent minutes.

What is the best free voice recorder with transcription?

Voice Memos is free and already installed, and its transcripts are enough for short notes in the languages Apple supports. Kaseta's free plan records with no limit at all and transcribes the first five minutes of each recording; the five-minute ceiling is on transcription only, the recording itself is never cut off.

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