How to transcribe audio to text on iPhone

Your iPhone is already the best recorder you own. With the right app it is also a fast, accurate transcription machine. Here is the quickest way to turn any audio into text you can edit, search and share.

What you need

• An iPhone with iOS 17 or later
• Transcription – speech to text from the App Store (free download, 30 free minutes included)
• A recording: a voice memo, a meeting, an interview, a lecture, or any audio or video file

Step 1. Get the audio into the app

There are four ways, pick whichever matches where your recording lives:

1. Record right in the app. Tap Record and Transcribe. Recording keeps going when you lock the screen.
2. Import a file. Tap Import File & Transcribe and pick any audio or video from the Files app: MP3, M4A, WAV, AAC, MP4, MOV and more.
3. Share from another app. In Voice Memos, WhatsApp, Telegram, Mail or Files, tap Share and choose Transcription. See how to transcribe Voice Memos.
4. Paste a link. Paste a Google Drive, Dropbox or direct file link, or a YouTube URL, and the app downloads the audio for you.

Step 2. Choose the language and the engine

Pick the language spoken in the recording. Transcription supports more than 120 languages and regional dialects, so choose the closest variant (for example English (UK) or Spanish (Mexico)) for the best accuracy.

Then choose how to transcribe:

• Online (server). The most accurate option and the fastest for long files. Punctuation and word-level timestamps are added automatically.
• On-device. Runs entirely on your iPhone, works without internet and the audio never leaves the phone. Ideal for confidential recordings. More about on-device transcription.

Step 3. Review and edit

When the transcript is ready, tap any word to jump to that moment in the audio. This makes checking names, numbers and quotes quick: listen, fix the word, move on. Use search to find every mention of a topic in this recording or across all of them.

Step 4. Export or share

Export the text as PDF, DOCX or RTF, generate SRT subtitles for a video, or download everything as a Zip. The original audio can be exported as MP3, M4A or WAV. To work on a big screen, open the same transcript in the Mac app or the web editor, or send an editable link to a colleague.

Tips for better accuracy

• Keep the iPhone close to the person speaking; distance matters more than microphone quality.
• Avoid recording next to music, fans or a busy street.
• For phone calls and video meetings, record the original audio rather than a recording of a loudspeaker.
• Choose the exact language and region before you start.

FAQ