Texting has come a long way in recent years, with our phones packing personal dictionaries, suggestions, auto-correct, emojis, and more. However, typing messages with fingers isn’t always easy or possible due to physical disabilities or other limitations.
Fortunately, we live in an age of powerful iPhone speech-to-text apps, which can drastically help users struggling to type. This voice-to-text technology has become vital for modern communication, allowing users to dictate messages, take school and work meeting notes, and transcribe on the go.
That’s why today’s guide will delve deeper into the best voice-to-text apps for iPhones, helping you find the right one for your needs, so let’s jump right in.
In this article
What Makes the Best Voice-To-Text App for iPhone?
Almost any moderately talented programmer can make a simplified voice typing tool, but a good iPhone voice-to-text app should offer more than just the fundamentals. Furthermore, to qualify as the best speech-to-text app for iPhone, these tools should check all the following boxes:
- Transcription Accuracy – What good is a voice typing tool if it’s messing up the words you’re saying and jotting down something else entirely? Therefore, a good iPhone speech-to-text app must have high transcription accuracy, even in noisy environments.
- High Ease of Use – Most voice-to-text apps for iPhone, or any other device, were created to make life easier and writing more accessible. Thus, the best speech-to-text apps for iPhones should also have an intuitive interface and be easy to use with a minimal learning curve.
- Support for Multiple Languages – While English is one of the most widely used languages in the world, not everyone speaks it or does it well. So, to qualify as one of the best voice-to-text apps for iPhone, a tool must also support additional languages, at least the most widely spoken ones.
- Offline Dictation Capabilities – Since a constant internet connection is typical today, this requirement isn’t as mandatory as the aforementioned ones. A proper iPhone speech-to-text app should still be capable of transcribing without an internet connection.
- Customizable Vocabulary – Whether it’s personal lingo, internet expressions, work terms, or multilingual phrases, a high-quality iPhone voice-to-text app should have the option of adding custom vocabulary items and specialized terms to make your transcriptions more manageable.
By meeting all these requirements, the best speech-to-text apps for iPhone can reach a broad audience, making them useful for school, work, and personal use.
- Superb speech-to-text feature with high accuracy.
- Vast video/audio effects and creative assets.
- Powerful AI for effortless content creation.
- Intuitive, professional yet beginner-friendly.
- Works on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android.
How to Pick the Best Voice-To-Text App for iPhone
With dozens of iPhone voice-to-text apps to choose from nowadays, picking an app that best suits your needs can be challenging. However, considering the following aspects can help you make a better choice:
- The App’s Purpose – Are you looking for an accessibility-focused iPhone speech-to-text app? Do you need a tool for casual dictation or professional transcription? These are just example questions you’ll need to answer to find the right app for your needs.
- Your Budget – Although numerous free iPhone speech-to-text apps exist, paid tools also include many premium features. That’s why picking the best voice-to-text app for iPhone for your needs will significantly depend on whether you’re willing to invest in such features and how much.
- Privacy Features – Giving access to your texting habits, dictionaries, and contact info to an iPhone voice-to-text app might not concern many users. However, if you’re looking for a tool for work purposes, it’s better to look for apps that comply with the latest data security standards.
It’s worth noting that while most modern iPhone voice-to-text apps will work with almost all iPhones and iPads from the last decade, you should still check whether an app is compatible with one or more devices you own before deciding.
Best Speech-To-Text Apps for iPhone
After a thorough testing phase, we singled out seven tools that have made it on our list of the best speech-to-text apps for iPhones. These tools include the following:
Filmora
Despite primarily being a robust and well-known video editing tool, Filmora has also introduced a remarkably effective speech-to-text feature, making it a highly versatile app for iPhone users. It’s aimed at content creators who need automated captions and users who require highly accurate transcriptions.
Filmora’s Speech-to-Text feature (STT) is remarkably straightforward, requiring only a few taps. It supports 27 languages and can directly transcribe bilingual subtitles, allowing users to pick between Timeline-based transcription and SRT files.
Key Features:
- Transcription and Translation Capabilities– Create a simple transcription or let Filmora transcribe and translate your audio/video files in one swoop;
- Robust AI Transcription Engine – Thanks to its state-of-the-art AI algorithm, Filmora can guarantee highly accurate transcriptions of your audio or video speech;
- Dual Export Modes – With Filmora, you can directly convert speech to text on the Timeline or generate an easily-editable SRT file.
Pricing:
The prices will be different based on your location. Check the official product page to see the prices in your location.
Dictation
Operating hand-in-hand with Apple’s built-in speech-to-text recognition engine, Dictation is a powerful iPhone voice-to-text app that can be configured to work with any iOS texting app. This straightforward tool focuses on dictating, recording, translating, and transcribing text instead of typing.
Dictation uses the latest voice recognition technology to help visually impaired users. It supports over 40 transcription and translation languages, making it perfect for recording voice notes, transcribing already-made audio recordings, easy text sharing, and more.
Key Features:
- Audio File Transcription – While you can quickly record new voice memos, Dictation can also transcribe existing audio files from your phone;
- Offline Dictation – This powerful Apple voice-to-text app doesn’t require an internet connection;
- Multi-Device Syncing – Transcriptions made with Dictation are effortless to share and sync to all your connected devices.
Pricing:
- Free version – free forever;
- Pro version – available at $4.99/month, $12.99/year, or $69.99 as a one-time purchase.
Transkriptor
Powered by a state-of-the-art AI algorithm, Transkriptor is a powerful iPhone voice-to-text app with remarkable transcription accuracy. It’s fantastic at taking notes, transcribing meetings, converting voice notes and memos to text, and transforming videos into written notes.
The best part about Transkriptor is that it learns and becomes more accurate the more you use it. Moreover, it integrates well with collaboration tools, uses AI to distinguish speakers, and lets users customize and edit their transcriptions with a few taps.
Key Features:
- Speaker Identification – Transkriptor uses state-of-the-art voice recognition technology to distinguish between different speakers, making it clear who’s talking;
- Platform Integration – By integrating with collaboration apps like Microsoft Teams and Google Meet, Transkriptor lets users get their transcripts from multiple sources;
- AI Voice Memos – The app automatically transcribes and organizes voice notes and memos.
Pricing:
- Lite – $9.99/month or $59.99/year;
- Premium – $24.99/month or $149.95/year;
- Business – $30/month/seat (2 seat minimum) or $360/year;
- Enterprise – custom pricing.
Notta
Whether you need an iPhone speech-to-text app for personal voice notes, school lectures, podcasts, webinars, video conferences, job interviews, international meetings, business negotiations, live captions, or language learning, Notta is the right tool for your needs.
It was designed for fast and accurate transcriptions and does these well. Editing and reviewing transcripts is also seamless, and you can play your conversations at multiple speeds and export them as all popular text file formats.
Key Features:
- Notta Bot – Even if you’re not around, Notta Bot can join meetings on Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex and record and transcribe these meetings for you;
- Seamless Transcript Edits – With Notta, editing and organizing transcriptions is a breeze, as you can add notes, mark transcript blocks, move files around, etc.;
- Multi-Format Exports – Notta lets you export and share transcripts as TXT, DOCX, SRT, PDF, and XLSX files;
Pricing:
- Free – free forever;
- Pro – $14.99/month or $107.99/year;
- Business – $27.99/month or $199.99/year;
- Enterprise – custom pricing (51 seats or more).
Dragon Anywhere
Often regarded as one of the most accurate and customizable iPhone voice-to-text apps, Nuance’s Dragon is a beast of a speech-to-text tool. It’s frequently used in professional settings, like legal, medical, and financial industries, and it even has dedicated versions for each field. The app can also adapt to the speaker’s voice and become more accurate the more it’s used.
However, it’s not all rainbows and sunshine, as Dragon Anywhere, the mobile version of Dragon, isn’t anywhere near its Dragon Professional brother. The mobile app is poorly optimized, which can lead to app issues on iPhones regardless of model and iOS version.
Key Features:
- Industry-Leading Accuracy – With a starting accuracy of 99%, Dragon Anywhere can only get better the more you train it to your voice;
- Robust Editing Capabilities – With Dragon, you can add specific industry words, select words and sentences for editing, correction, and deletion, and navigate documents with your voice;
- No Limitations – You can dictate documents of any length and edit, format, and share these files seamlessly from the iPhone.
Pricing:
- Monthly Subscription – $14.99;
- Yearly Subscription – $149.99.
Rev
Rev isn’t your typical iPhone speech-to-text app. This transcription tool records high-quality, crystal-clear audio, even in noisy environments. It specializes in transcribing crucial voice notes, business meetings, interviews, and other vital events and allows you to transcribe this audio with AI or human transcribers.
While AI transcription is instant and lets you gain insights and pull information from your transcripts, Rev takes even more pride in its 99%+ accurate human transcription service. With it, users can get most transcripts in less than 12 hours, making Rev perfect for professional speech-to-text conversion needs.
Key Features:
- Human Transcription – Rev’s professionals can quickly transcribe your most vital audio with 99%+ accuracy;
- Insights – Rev not only records but can also summarize your meetings and other recordings;
- Collab Features – This iPhone voice-to-text app lets you seamlessly share transcripts, edit them with a team, and make transcripts accessible on all connected devices.
Pricing:
- Free – free;
- Basic – $14.99/user/month or $9.99/user/month when billed yearly;
- Pro – $34.99/user/month or $20.99/user/month when billed annually;
- Enterprise – custom pricing.
OtterAI
Otter.ai is the final tool on our best iPhone voice-to-text apps list. This transcription app uses artificial intelligence for real-time speech-to-text conversions, automatic speaker recognition, and exceptional transcription accuracy, making it a fantastic choice for meetings and other multi-speaker recordings.
However, with 30 monthly transcription minutes and 30 minutes max per conversation, Otter.ai’s free plan isn’t precisely generous and might not be the best choice for everyone. That is unless you’re willing to pay a subscription, which drastically helps with these limitations.
Key Features:
- AI Meeting Assistant – Otter.ai can record, transcribe, and summarize meetings in real time;
- Collaboration Tools – Paid plans include speaker tagging, shared vocabs, and other collab tools;
- OtherPilot – Otter joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet meetings to take notes for you, even if you’re not there.
Pricing:
- Basic – free;
- Pro – $16.99/user/month or $8.33/user/month when billed annually;
- Business – $30/user/month or $20/user/month when billed yearly;
- Enterprise – custom pricing.
Conclusion
Whether you want to streamline workflows and make multitasking more efficient, or you want a tool for accessibility reasons, you’ll find that iPhone voice-to-text apps have come a long way in recent years. These tools now use state-of-the-art voice recognition and typing technology to offer incredibly fast and accurate transcriptions, even in noisy environments.
From simplified, dictation-focused iPhone speech-to-text apps to video and audio editing tools with AI-powered STT features to collaboration-focused voice typing software, the best voice-to-text apps for iPhone include Filmora, Dictation, Transkriptor, Notta, Dragon Anywhere, Rev, and OtterAI.
With these tools, regardless of which one they choose, users can take transcription and translation of their personal voice notes and memos, school classes, university lectures, business meetings, job interviews, webinars, podcasts, and many other audio and video formats to another level.
