Quick Info
  • With iOS 18, you can get transcripts for Voice Memos on iPhone.
  • Transcripts can be generated for new as well as existing voice memos.
  • To view the transcript, tap on the 'Transcript' icon in the bottom-left of the recording interface.

Generating a Live Transcript

  1. Open the Voice Memos app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap on the 'Record' button to start a recording.
  3. Swipe up on the recording interface to expand it.
  1. Then, tap on the 'Transcript' icon (the one with quotation marks) in the bottom left to view the live transcript.
  2. The transcript will appear on the screen as you record.

Things to Know:

  • Unlike audio transcriptions in Notes, audio transcriptions in voice memos seem to support more languages. It doesn't need me to change the language to English (US) to get it working.
  • When my iPhone language is set to English (India), Voice Memos can also provide a transcription for Hindi (it wasn't perfect, but it was good enough).

Generating transcripts for existing recordings

Similarly, you can generate the live transcript for an existing recording.

  1. Open the app and go to the recording you want to generate the transcript for.
  2. Tap on it once to expand the options for it.
  3. Then, tap on the 'Waveform' icon to open the recording interface for it.
  1. Tap on the 'Transcript' icon once and the transcript for the recording will be generated.
  2. Depending on the length of the audio, it may take a few seconds.

Viewing a transcript

Any recording that has a transcript will have the transcript icon on the list.

  1. To see the transcript for a recording, tap on the recording.
  2. Then, tap on the three-dot menu icon that appears.
  1. Tap on 'View Transcript' from the options. You can also copy the transcript and paste it elsewhere using the 'Copy transcript' option in the menu.
  2. You can also open the recording directly and tap on the 'Transcript' icon in the bottom-left to view it but this doesn't give you the option to copy it.
  3. Tap on any word in the transcript to skip to it in the recording.
  1. To get the search option, swipe up on the transcript screen. Then, tap on 'Search' to find anything in it.
  2. Users with devices that support Apple Intelligence will also be able to view AI-generated summaries for transcripts.