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First time only: download a model (see the next question). Then tap Start recording and speak. The blue button becomes a coral dot and a live waveform shows it’s listening. Recording keeps going even if you lock the screen or switch to another app, so a long session isn’t cut off; iOS shows a recording indicator until you tap stop.

Your recording appears in the list. Tap Transcribe on it and the model turns the audio into text, right on your device.

The “model” is the AI that converts speech to text. Just Transcribe uses OpenAI’s Whisper, running entirely on your device. The model files have to live on your phone for that to work offline, so you download one the first time (tap the download icon in the top-right).

Smaller models (from ± 75 MB) are quick; larger ones are more accurate but bigger and slower. You can keep several installed and switch between them anytime.

Once you’ve downloaded a model, yes. Recording and transcription run fully offline, in airplane mode or anywhere with no signal. The internet is only needed the one time you download a model (and when you make the one-time unlock purchase).

No. Transcription runs on-device with Whisper, so your audio and transcripts never leave your phone. There are no servers and no account. The only thing the app ever downloads is the model itself, never your content. Details are in our privacy policy.

Fifty languages, plus Automatic if you want the model to detect it. Picking the exact language gives the sharpest results, and you can change it at any time and re-run a transcript with Again if you picked the wrong one. A finished transcript can also be translated into 55 languages, on the device. The app’s own interface is available in 14 languages. The fact sheet lists them all.

Use Advanced Privacy, the lock in the top left corner of the main screen. It runs one recording all the way through and then wipes it: nothing is written to your library, the audio is erased the moment the transcript has been read out of it, and the transcript and summary go when you close the screen.

Before you start you need Large v3 Turbo and a summary model on the device, and enough battery (stay above 40% or plug in). Downloading those models is the only step that needs a connection, so you can switch on Airplane Mode afterwards and watch the whole session run offline. Export the summary before you leave: once you go, nothing can be recovered. Full explanation on the Advanced Privacy page.

A few things help:

• Use a larger model (Small and up are noticeably better than Tiny).
• Set the exact language instead of Automatic when you know it.
• Record in a quiet spot, close to the speaker, and ask people not to talk over each other.
• For a quiet or noisy recording, run Enhance audio from the Options menu first.

It cleans up the recording before transcribing: soft voices get lifted and low rumble gets cut, which usually gives a noticeably sharper transcript. Run it from the Options menu on a recording. Changed your mind? Undo enhance puts the original back.

Yes. Export gives you SRT subtitles, VTT subtitles, a PDF, or text with speaker labels and timestamps. It sits in the Options menu on any recording that already has a transcript.

Yes, into 55 languages, and still entirely on your device. Translation uses a separate local model that you download once, the same way as a speech model. Whisper can also translate speech straight into English while transcribing, on every model except the Distil ones and Parakeet.

Yes. Tap the import button next to the record button and pick an audio file: wav, mp3, m4a, aiff and more are supported. The app transcribes that single file on your device; it has no access to anything you don’t choose.

The very first time you use a model on a device, iOS optimises it for your specific hardware, which can take a little while. After that it loads quickly. Bigger models also simply take longer per minute of audio, and the app shows an estimate before you start.

Group recordings into folders to keep things tidy (create, rename and move from the folder bar). The search box finds any recording by its title or by the words inside its transcript.

Delete any recording or transcript from inside the app and it’s gone from your device. To reclaim storage, remove models you no longer use from the model manager. Deleting the app clears all of its local data. (If you use iCloud or device backups, those may keep a copy until the backup updates.)

This is almost always a permission issue. Go to Settings → Just Transcribe and make sure Microphone is turned on. (That’s the only permission the app needs.) If it was denied earlier, switching it on here fixes it; restarting the app afterwards helps too.

Just Transcribe is free to download, and the Tiny and Base speech models stay free forever, so recording and transcribing cost nothing at all. A single one-time unlock of EUR 7.99 then opens every other feature, permanently. It’s a one-time purchase, not a subscription: no monthly fees, no ads and no extra charges after that. The App Store shows the exact price for your region. Refund requests go through Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com.

Yes. When you play a recording, the transcript highlights line by line so you can read along, and you can tap a line to jump straight to that moment. You can also edit the text directly to fix a name or a number, and use find & replace to correct the same word everywhere in one go.

Yes. You can start a recording straight from your Apple Watch, or from its widget, without reaching for your phone. The recording is then waiting on your iPhone, where you transcribe it on the bigger screen.

iPhone with iOS 17.0 or later, iPad with iPadOS 17.0 or later, and Apple Watch with watchOS 10.6 or later. Larger models need more free storage and run faster on newer devices, so keep your device updated for the best results.