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Voice Memo to Text — iPhone and Android, Privately

Model

Drop a voice memo here, paste, or click to browse

.m4a,.mp3,.wav

Processed on your device — nothing is uploaded. Verify in your network tab.

You recorded something on your phone — a lecture, an idea, an interview, a meeting — and now you want it as text you can read, search, and paste. This tool transcribes voice memos in your browser, and this page walks through the part people actually get stuck on: getting the recording off your phone and onto a computer where you can drop it in.

The transcription itself runs entirely on your device. A Whisper-class speech model does the work in your browser, so the memo — which is often personal — never leaves your machine and there's no account to create. You can confirm it in the network tab: the audio simply isn't uploaded.

A quick, honest note: recent iPhones (iOS 18 and later) can transcribe new voice memos right inside the Voice Memos app. If that covers you, use it. This tool is for the cases it doesn't — memos you recorded before that feature existed, recordings in a language the built-in transcription doesn't handle well, Android memos, and any time you'd rather work on a computer and export clean TXT or subtitle files.

How it works

  1. 01

    Get the memo off your phone

    On iPhone, open Voice Memos, tap the recording, tap the three-dot (or share) button, and choose Save to Files or AirDrop to a Mac. On Android, open your Recorder app, tap the recording, and use Share to send it to your computer or a cloud folder.

  2. 02

    Drop the file in and transcribe

    Open this page on the computer, then drag the exported file (usually .m4a) onto it. Pick a model tier and start. The model runs on your device and detects the spoken language automatically — the memo is never uploaded.

  3. 03

    Review timestamps and export

    Read the timestamped transcript, fix anything you need to, then download it as TXT for notes or SRT/VTT for subtitles. Everything stays local, so nothing is sent when you save.

Getting a voice memo off an iPhone

iPhone recordings live in the Voice Memos app and save as .m4a files. To move one to a computer:

  • Save to Files: Open Voice Memos, tap the recording to select it, tap the three-dot More button (or the share icon), choose Save to Files, and pick a location like iCloud Drive or On My iPhone. You can then reach it from a computer via iCloud or the Files app.
  • AirDrop to a Mac: With the recording selected, tap the share button and choose your Mac under AirDrop. The .m4a lands in your Downloads folder.
  • Share to anything else: The same share sheet can send the memo to email, a messaging app, or a cloud service like Google Drive or Dropbox, which you then open on your computer.

Once the .m4a is on the computer, come back to this page and drop it in.

Getting a voice memo off an Android phone

Android recordings come from whatever Recorder app your phone uses, and most save as .m4a or .wav. The flow is similar:

  • Open your Recorder (or Voice Recorder) app and tap the recording you want.
  • Tap Share, then pick how to send it: to your computer over a cloud service like Google Drive, to yourself by email, or via a nearby-share option to a laptop.
  • Alternatively, plug the phone into your computer with a USB cable, allow file transfer, and copy the recording out of the Recordings folder directly.

With the file on your computer, open this page and drop it in to transcribe.

About iPhone's built-in transcription (iOS 18+)

Newer iPhones can transcribe voice memos on-device inside the Voice Memos app itself, which is genuinely convenient for new recordings — so it's worth being upfront that you may not need any tool at all for those.

Where this converter still helps: existing memos recorded before that feature or on an older phone; other languages, since the built-in transcription is strongest in a limited set and this model covers around 100; Android, which has no equivalent unified feature; and any desktop workflow where you want a clean transcript on your computer with proper TXT, SRT, or VTT export rather than text trapped in a phone app. Use whichever fits — the goal is your transcript, not loyalty to a tool.

What you get, and why it stays private

Once the file is in, transcription runs on your device with automatic language detection and timestamps. Export TXT for notes, a to-do list dictated on the go, or an interview; export SRT/VTT if the memo is narration for a video.

Voice memos are often the most personal audio people have — half-formed thoughts, private conversations, sensitive notes — so it matters that this never uploads them. The model runs in your browser, the memo stays on your machine, and there's no sign-up creating a record of what you transcribed. You can verify it yourself in the browser's network tab.

Frequently asked questions

How do I transcribe a voice memo on my iPhone?
First export the memo: in Voice Memos, select the recording, tap the three-dot or share button, and choose Save to Files or AirDrop to a Mac. Then open this page on a computer, drop the exported .m4a in, and transcribe it on your device. On iOS 18 and later, the Voice Memos app can also transcribe new recordings itself — use that if it fits.
How do I get a voice memo off my iPhone?
Open Voice Memos, tap the recording to select it, then tap the three-dot More button or the share icon. Choose Save to Files to store it in iCloud Drive or on the phone, or AirDrop it straight to a nearby Mac. You can also share it to email or a cloud service. The file saves as .m4a, which you then open on your computer.
How do I transcribe a voice memo on Android?
Open your Recorder app, tap the recording, and use Share to send it to your computer — via a cloud service, email, or nearby share — or connect the phone by USB and copy the file out of the Recordings folder. Then open this page on the computer, drop the file (usually .m4a or .wav) in, and it transcribes on your device.
Is my voice memo kept private?
Yes. The memo is transcribed entirely inside your browser on your own device and is never uploaded. Only the speech model downloads, once, then caches. Since voice memos are often deeply personal, this is the point: there's no account recording what you transcribed, and you can watch the network tab in developer tools to confirm the audio itself is never sent anywhere.
Do I still need this if my iPhone transcribes voice memos?
Not always — iOS 18 and later can transcribe new memos in the app, and that's great when it works. This tool helps with the gaps: memos recorded before that feature, recordings in languages the built-in transcription handles poorly, Android memos with no equivalent feature, and desktop workflows where you want clean TXT or subtitle files on a computer rather than text inside a phone app.
What file format is an iPhone voice memo?
iPhone Voice Memos save as .m4a, a container holding AAC-compressed audio. You don't need to convert it — this tool decodes M4A directly. Android recorder apps typically save as .m4a or .wav, both of which also work here as-is. Whatever the extension, drop the exported file in exactly as your phone saved it and it transcribes.
Can it transcribe a voice memo in another language?
Yes. The model supports roughly 100 languages and detects the spoken language automatically, so a memo in Spanish, Tagalog, Arabic, or French transcribes without changing a setting. It transcribes in the original language rather than translating. If a short memo is misdetected, you can select the language by hand before starting.
Can I turn a voice memo into subtitles?
Yes. Transcripts include timestamps, so besides plain TXT you can export SRT or VTT subtitle files. That's handy when a memo is narration or voiceover for a video and you want timed captions. Both subtitle formats and the text come from the same timed result, so you can export the notes and the captions from a single transcription.