5 Ways to Transcribe Voice Memos on iPhone

With early exposure to Nokia Symbian phones, Subham got hooked on smartphones and consumer tech. He brings 1.5 years of writing experience with great investigative research skills. Subham is drawn to tech with aesthetic appeal and excellent UI; also, he primarily focuses on the Apple ecosystem. In his free time, Subham can be found diving into research and enjoying a good read.

Arshmeet has been a tech tinkerer since childhood, but she realized her love for technology and writing about 5 years ago. Since then, she has been honing her skills and helping people figure out how things work, troubleshoot problems, choose the right app and products, and dig deep into the new and old concepts of technology. She is a self-professed Apple Enthusiast who loves debating what’s good and what’s not. It is her passion for finding techniques, hacks, apps, and products that make everyday life simpler.

Method 1: Use Live Captions to Transcribe Voice Memos on iPhone

Why you should try this: There is no need for the internet or a third-party app.

Note: Live Captions is available on iPhone 11 and later provided the primary language is set to English (U.S.) or English (Canada). To do so, go to Settings > General > Language & Region > Add Language and set the language to English US.

You can use the Live Captions feature on your iPhone to get real-time transcription in any app, including FaceTime, Podcasts, and Voice Memos. The process is straightforward and free to use. Follow these steps.

Set Up Live Captions

Step 1: Open theSettings> scroll down and tap onAccessibility.

Step 2: TapLive Captionsunder the Hearing section.

Step 3: Toggle onLive Captions (Beta).

Note: To customize the text, size, and color of the captions, tap Appearance.

Transcribe Voice Memos

Step 1: Open theVoice Memosapp. You can record a new memo or transcribe an existing one.

Step 2: Tap thevoice memoyou want to transcribe to expand it > hit theplay button.

Step 3: That’s it. The transcription will appear on your screen in a floating window. Tap theexpand buttonto view it in full screen.

Note: Apple doesn’t allow screenshots or screen recording for the Live Captions.

Method 2: Send Yourself a Voice Message on iMessage

Why you should try this: No need for a third-party app.

Note: To use this feature on your iPhone, ensure thatiMessage is enabledand your iPhone runs on iOS 17 and later.

There are manyobscured features on your iPhone, and one of them is the live transcription of the sent/received voice messages in the iMessage. You can use this method to transcribe a quick voice memo by sending yourself a voice message.

Step 1: Launch theMessages app> search yourname> tap theresult.

Step 2: Tap the+ button> selectAudio.

Tip: If Audio is not showing, swipe up in the list.

Step 3: The audio will start recording; tap theSend buttonto send the recording.

Now, you will see the transcription of the sent voice memo along with the audio.

Furthermore, you can also save this voice message to the Voice Memo app on your iPhone. Tap and hold thevoice message→Save to Voice Memos.

Method 3: Use Third-Party Apps to Transcribe Voice Memos

1. Use Rev to Transcribe Voice Memos

Why you should try this: Provides a more accurate transcription (as compared to others in this list).

Many apps on the App Store, likeRev, transcribe and record voice memos natively. Although Rev is free to download, you’ll need its paid version to use transcription.

Step 1: Launch theVoice Memo app> tap the recording you want to transcribe.

Step 2: Tap thethree dots icon.

Step 3: Now, tapShare. Scroll and selectRevfrom the options.

Step 4: In the Rev app, go to theRecordingssection. TapTranscribenext to the Voice Memo you imported. And that’s it.

2. Use YouTube’s Transcript Features

Why you should try this: It provides a time-synced transcription for the voice memos, and you can easily share a link for these voice memos and their time-synced transcription with anyone.

You must have seen YouTube videos with auto-generated transcripts. These transcripts can be generated for your voice memos as well, but you must convert them to video files before uploading them on YouTube.

For convenience, we’re breaking the steps into four parts, i.e.,

Step 1: Open theVoice Memo→ select therecording> tap on thethree dots menu.

Step 2: TapSave to Filesin the share sheet > selectSave.

Step 3: Now, go to theFreeConvertor any other website of your choice.

Step 4:Uploadthe saved voice memo. On the next page, tapConvert.

Step 5: Once the file is converted, tapDownload.

Step 6: Now, go toRecentsin the Files app > open therecently downloaded video.

Step 7: Tap thesharebutton > selectSave Videofrom the options.

Step 8: OpenYouTubeon your iPhone > tap the+ button→ select thevideo.

Step 9: Once the video uploads, tapNext.

Step 10:Titlethe video > ensure the Visibility is set toUnlisted> tapNext.

Note: If you don’t set the Visibility as Unlisted, the video will upload as a public video on YouTube.

Once your video finishes uploading, follow these steps to access your uploaded voice memo.

Step 11: Go to theYou tabon YouTube > tapYour videos.

Step 12: Now, tap thevideoto open it on the full screen.

Step 13: Tap the video title to open thedescription. Scroll up in the description.

Step 14: Here, tapShow transcript.

And YouTube will auto-transcribe the voice memo. The best part is that the transcripts are time-synced, and you can share this video with anyone. However, consider the extra efforts that go into this method.

Method 5: Transcribe Voice Memos Using Microsoft 365

Why you should try this: It will be handy if you use Microsoft Office 365 for academic, productivity, or business purposes.

Did you know that Microsoft 365 has an in-built transcribe feature? If you use Microsoft 365 for productivity, you can also transcribe any audio file you record in English. The process is simple. Import the voice memo from youriPhone to your Mac or PCand follow the below steps.

Note: Although most of Microsoft 365’s features are free to use, the Transcribe feature is paid.

Step 1: OpenMicrosoft 365→Word→Create New(or existing document as per preference).

Step 2: Now, go todictatefrom the Word toolbar. Click the down arrow and selectTranscribe.

Step 3: Click onUpload audioand upload the Voice memo.

That’s it; once the audio is processed, it will be available with the transcripts.

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Last updated on 26 July, 2024

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