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6 Free Recording Apps for Audio Journaling

The 6 free recording apps for audio journaling that made our list include apps already on your phone, free recording apps, and some new audio journaling apps.

Looking for a free recording app for audio journaling?

Criteria for Audio Journaling Apps

We have assembled a list of 6 free recording apps for audio journaling. These apps have been ranked with these criteria;

• Free or freemium option – are they free or have a free option to get started?
• Easy to use  – how easily is it to start and record an audio journal?
• Cross-platform compatibility – are they available on any device?

1. Built-in Audio Recording Apps

(Free, All devices)

Amongst the best free option for audio journaling are the apps already on your devices;

• For Apple Devices (iPhone, Mac, iPad, & iPod), use the “Voice Memos” app allows you to record your audio from any apple device.
• For Android (Phone or Tablets), use the default “Audio Recorder” app. Depending on your device, you may be able to install Google’s “Recorder” app – which records audio and transcribes .

These built-in apps are integrated with voice assistant (Siri or Google Assistant). So, next time you can quickly get to audio journaling by asking Siri or Google Assistant!

2. Google Keep

After the built-in apps, Google Keep is the next best option for audio journaling. This is because it is available on all devices, offers audio transcription, and saves your audio.

Simply launch Google Keep from your mobile device (android or apple), and follow the screenshots below to save your audio alongside with its transcription.

Pro tip, use the Google Keep’s widget on your home screen to be able to audio journal faster!

Microsoft’s OneNote  allows you to record audio on all devices . Unfortunately, OneNote’s audio recording features are more advanced on Microsoft devices (duh!) while lacking some features on Apple devices. Here is what features you get on each device;

• OneNote for Apple Devices  – You are able to record audio, dictate via audio, and keep an index of the audio if you type while recording (Mac Only).
• OneNote for Windows Devices  – You are able to record audio, dictate via audio, keep an index of audio, and search inside the audio file .

Got any other tips for audio journaling with OneNote? Please do share in the comments.

4. Evernote

(Free and paid, All devices)

Evernote is still amongst the best and oldest note taking application. It allows you to record audio – perfect for audio journaling .

Also, the widgets can be added to your mobile phone’s home screen. This will allow you to start audio journaling faster. To learn more about how to record or audio journal with evernote, give this helpful article a read .

Otter is a new app as compared to other apps on this list. It is has impressive features (for free and paid versions) that can supercharge your audio journaling. The free plan offers 600 minutes (that is 10 hours!) of transcription per month – which is more than enough for most journal keepers.

6. Apple Pages

(Free, Apple Devices only)

Apple Pages allows you to record audio directly into the page document . Simply open the document from your iPhone, iPod, iPad or Mac and start audio journaling!

This option is limited in its features and usability. This option may be best suited for people who are heavy users of Apple Pages (or don’t like to have too many apps on their phone).

Is there another audio journaling app that I didn’t include? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll update the post with the best ideas (and a link crediting you)!

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6 Audio Journaling Apps to Make Your Welfare Journaling Easier

If you often feel overwhelmed or out of touch with your emotions, try these audio-journaling apps to help get your thoughts in order.

Journaling is the act of keeping a record of your personal thoughts, feelings, and emotions via handwritten or virtual notebooks and diaries.

Many people keep journals for their mental health benefits. Journaling about your feelings may be able to reduce mental distress and is encouraged for people dealing with anxiety.

Audio journaling is one of the recently introduced forms of journaling, so let's take a look at the best audio journaling apps available.

1. Journify

Journify lets you make simple audio recordings. It recommends daily 5-minute recordings that help you capture the essence of your emotions before your thoughts begin to stray.

The app's simple interface allows you to incorporate journaling into your day easily. You choose what happens to your recordings; you can share them on various platforms as a written text or audio transcript. All your journal entries are encrypted automatically, so no third-party can access them without your consent.

Journify also has a burnout tracker feature that monitors and breaks down your mood and mental state over time. It helps you check in on your daily sleep, energy, and motivation to know when there’s a decline or improvement in your wellbeing. Upgrade to Journify Unlimited to access a mood analyzer and unlimited audio journal entries per month.

Download : Journify for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

Murmur is another audio-journaling app with easy-to-use features. Murmur serves as your online voice diary, tracking your daily inputs on your voice calendar. It allows you to tell the story about your day in your own words, putting down your emotions as they come.

Murmur focuses on capturing the emotions and different ways you feel during the day with your voice. At the end of the day, you can listen to your recordings to understand your victories and areas to focus on.

Murmur has notification features that remind you to log your feelings and thoughts as frequently as you want to. It also has five levels of emotions to choose from before you begin each recording. This way, you can track your emotions to see your progress. There are several alternative mood tracker apps that could also help you.

Download : Murmur for Android (Free, in-app purchases available) | iOS ($0.99, in-app purchases available)

Stoic is a comprehensive mental tracking app, including breathing exercises, meditations, and guided visualizations.

You can use it for journaling either by recording and typing out your thoughts or by tapping the microphone on the Empty Page screen to record a voice note. Add images or videos, or even sketches, to help you express yourself.

If you have that "blank page terror" then Stoic has the perfect solution, with numerous collections of guided prompts on topics such as happiness, stress/anxiety, and relationships to help you to get started.

Easy to use and beautifully designed, you can easily track your mental health with the Stoic app .

Download: Stoic for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

4. Success Voice Journal

Anxiety often comes with debilitating mental challenges like low self-confidence and motivation. This daily voice journal could you improve your self-confidence and bring back your motivation for the day.

Success Voice Journal allows you to record a brief audio entry of 30 seconds (so that you focus purely on that specific moment), where you get to vent, release your emotions, record your wins, or document your losses.

As you frequently update your journal, you get a portfolio of achievements and emotional progress. You can also track improvements as the day goes by.

Download: Success Voice Journal for Android (Free, in-app purchases available)

5. Day One Journal

Award-winning journaling app Day One Journal not only looks stylish, it's extremely simple to use. The basic app is free, but to get access to audio journaling you'll need to subscribe to Day One Premium. Then you'll find that your voice recordings are transcribed accurately so that you can review and revisit your memories. Add photos, video clips, and even PDFs to enhance your journal entries.

Day One provides optional prompts if you need a little help getting started. It's easy to build unlimited journals, so you can keep your thoughts about different topics separate.

Over time Day One becomes a fully secure record of your life and thoughts. The On This Day feature allows you to revisit moments from your past.

If you use Apple devices, Day One also syncs across iOS, watchOS, and macOS to allow you to seamlessly switch and record your thoughts, wherever you are.

Download: Day One Journal for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

6. Sound Off: Voice Memo Journal

Sound Off makes the process of audio-journaling into a quick mindfulness exercise. In its basic form, it's a simple voice recorder. But it takes a unique approach to guided prompts.

Before speaking, you can listen to a one-minute audio clip with a suggested exercise, presented by a friendly and reassuring voice. It encourages you to respond more readily than if you just read the prompt on-screen, because you feel as though you're having a conversation.

Unlike Day One, the emphasis in Sound Off is not on reliving memories, but the process of thinking out loud. So although you can listen back, there's no pressure to do so. The act of speaking your thoughts is sufficient self-care.

Download: Sound Off: Voice Memo Journal for iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

Why Audio-Journaling May Help Control Anxiety

You may wonder what makes audio-journaling different from other types of journaling, or what makes speaking your thoughts more effective than writing them out. One of the top answers is the in-the-moment spontaneity that it offers to help you potentially relieve your anxiety .

1. Spontaneity Captures Raw Emotions

Audio-journaling allows you to record your thoughts in their purest form, exactly how you’re thinking them. Because you’re recording at the moment when you feel triggered or anxious, you can capture your raw emotions and thoughts.

Since you often have your phone with you, you can hit the record button whenever you feel overwhelmed or out of control. As you speak, you record exactly how you feel. It can help you process these thoughts and emotions better when you hear them out loud.

2. Talking Helps to Release Inner Tension

Many studies show that talking to yourself about your problems can help you release your pent-up emotions. When you talk about what you feel and the way you feel it, it helps you lose the stress of holding your emotions in.

Through audio-journaling, you can talk to help overcome worries, instead of struggling alone in your head. There are numerous effective techniques you can use in your digital gratitude journaling .

3. You Capture Speech Faster Than Writing

It’s well-known that many people talk faster than they write. When you’re feeling overwhelmed, you may find it difficult to put down your thoughts in writing fast enough.

Audio journaling solves this problem. With audio-journaling apps, you can record your thoughts on the go, without having to type a single word of it. Some of these journals transcribe your spoken thoughts to text if you still like to have your thoughts in the written word. Alternatively, you could use one of these guided journaling apps to help you create a self-care diary .

Audio Journaling Provides a Listening Ear

Managing your anxiety becomes easier when you have a listening ear. This is what these audio journaling apps offer you. To enjoy the true benefits of audio journaling for anxiety, be sure to engage with it throughout the day.

Start with a few thoughts and build up as you get comfortable. It may not always start out easy, but consistency pays off in the end.

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12 best diary and journal apps for Android and iOS in 2024

Published on March 15, 2024

Diaries and journals have been around for centuries. They are great spots to express your innermost feelings. Frankly, people should do that more often. It would probably help people deal with stuff that people aren’t so good at dealing with. Existential crises aside, journal apps and diary apps can be quite cathartic, as you journal all of your daily activities so you can think about them in different ways. Many even have extra features like mood tracking that your old paper journals and diaries couldn’t do. Here are the best diary apps and journal apps for Android!

The best diary apps and journal apps for Android

Daily diary, day one journal, five minute journal.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($1.99 – $34.99 per item)

Daily Diary hit the ground running in 2022, and it’s already one of the best diary apps. It features a colorful design with muted colors and well-labeled buttons. Some features include image support, a mood tracker function, a calendar so you can find previous entries, a daily reminder, and more. You can also lock it with a password or biometrics. We like this one a lot because it doesn’t require a subscription, which is increasingly rare in this space. The developers are attentive to bug reports, and even people with complaints still rate this thing highly. It’s easily one of the best, despite its bland name.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($4.99 – 34.99 per item)

The Day One Journal app is one of the best apps available for journaling, exclusively on the Apple App Store. The app has a beautiful interface and neat organizing capabilities; it lets you sort your written logs by categories and even color-coded menus. Additionally, it even allows you to add pictures, videos, locations, and even weather to your diary. The newer updates introduced a dark mode, voice recording, and a few other helpful features. You can rest assured about your privacy as the app claims to provide end-to-end encryption, touch ID and face ID lock, syncing, and an array of export options. It is free to use, but there are some limitations pertaining to the number of pictures, videos, and other stuff you can add to your journals.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($1.99 – $94.99 per item)

Daybook is a fairly decent journal app. It has a bunch of functionality. The features include password protection, to-do list features, voice recording (with speech to text), and more. It also has features for expense tracking, a class notebook, a trip diary, and other similar uses. The UI is a simple Material Design. You get a calendar view, and the editing view is free from too many distractions. This one is available for both Android and iOS.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($9.99 – 39.99 per item)

Moodnotes is another app available only to users with an Apple iPad, iPhone, or Apple Watch. It works as both a journaling app and a mood tracker app. The theme is warm and colorful; the UI isn’t cluttered; it’s neat and easy-to-use. You can even choose to change the color according to your mood, choose an emoji for the day, and track on the calendar how you feel each day. The app also helps you discover why you feel this way and shows you articles based on your mood, so you can feel better and find solutions to your dilemma.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($0.99 – $59.99 per item)

Daylio is a flashy and popular diary app. It has all of the basic features, like daily entries, backup and restore with Google Drive, a PIN lock, and CSV document exporting. This one also tracks your mood. Each entry has a mood that you choose. There are dozens of them to choose from. Over time, you can see a graph and other stats about your moods. This is great for stuff like depression, where tracking your bad days matters. Some features are free, but the rest you will have to unlock with in-app purchases. This one is also free if you use Google Play Pass. You can also get this one on the Apple App Store.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($9.99 per item)

Diarium is a good all-around diary app for Android and iOS. It has neat features like attaching pictures, videos, audio recordings, files, tags, people, ratings, or locations to your journal entries. It also displays calendar events, weather, and fitness information. You can also integrate your social media content into your daily logs. The app works cross-platform on PC, iOS, and macOS. Cloud syncing to Google Drive is also available. A useful feature that we liked is that this allows you to migrate your existing journals from other apps like Diaro, Journey, Day One, Daylio, and many more. The customization options are good with themeing, font changes, and color-changing stuff. You can purchase the pro version for $9.99, which is a single-buy with no subscription.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($2.99 – $9.99 per item)

Diaro is an above-average diary app. You get a lot of the good stuff, including a privacy lock, various themes, support for over 30 languages, geotagging, simple navigation, and more. Those who go pro also get syncing with Dropbox, an ad-free experience, and exporting to PDF. This is also one of the few diary apps with fingerprint scanner support. It’s easy to use and has very few unnecessary distractions. This one is also free if you use Google Play Pass. It’s also available for the Apple devices.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($4.99 – $99.99 per item)

Five Minute Journal is a unique journal app. This one focuses on getting your feelings on paper in about five minutes. It uses the five-minute journal method. You can actually find the book about it on Amazon. Anyway, this app features a simple interface, a decent timeline view, daily quotes, challenges, reminders, and password protection, as well as backup and export functions. It’s not as flashy as other diary apps or journal apps. However, sometimes it just doesn’t need to be. It comes with a price up front, and that’s also a little unique in this space. Be sure to try it within the refund period to make sure you really like it. This one is available for both Android and iOS.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($0.99 – $169.99 per item)

Journey is a flashy and popular journal app jam-packed with features available for both Android and iOS. It also includes a subscription, and we don’t like that at all. The basic features include mood tracking, rich text, a PIN lock, integration with Google Fit, and some other neat stuff. You also get syncing to the cloud via Google Drive and iCloud, as well as some other good features. The subscription unlocks the premium version, which lets you add things like images and shows you old journal entries as throwbacks, along with some other features. This is one of the best journal apps in this space.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($3.99 – $59.99 per item)

Gratitude is a self-care journal. It helps you build a sense of security, boosts your self-esteem, and helps you find the strength to love yourself again. The app gives you daily affirmations and motivational content, as well as a vision board, to help you develop a healthy self-love routine. This also has a challenge system to help you build consistency with your mood. This one is a bit expensive, though; the free version is okay.

My Diary is one of the most popular diary and journaling apps available on the Play Store. It has a pretty user interface, with many themes and customization options. There are tabs and tags, so you can easily categorize your stuff and search your journals. The app lets you set up a password or, using your biometrics, it sets up a lock, prioritizing your privacy. Syncing to Google Drive is another neat feature. It also allows you to add pictures and videos to your diary, which is a feature other apps don’t usually offer. You also have the option to add stickers to make your diary more visually appealing. This can also work as a mood-tracking app.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($0.99 – $4.49 per item)

Universum is an above-average journal app. It comes with all of the basics, including exporting, backup to Google Drive and Dropbox, reminders, mood tracking, various organizational features, and even a dark theme. It’s another one of the few journal apps with fingerprint scanner support as a lock function. This one functions well in a variety of areas. You can use it for travel, diet, or even as a dream journal. You can also add images or draw stuff on the sketchpad. Its name is surprisingly appropriate. It has the features for basically most types of journal writing.

If we missed any great journal apps or diary apps for Android, tell us about them in the comments. You can also click here to check out our latest Android app and game news . Thank you for reading.

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The 8 Best Voice-to-Text Apps of 2024

Dragon Anywhere is the best overall voice-to-text app

Stacey has worn many hats throughout her writing career, working in content marketing, nonprofit communications, and journalism at different points in her life.

We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more .

Getty Images / RapidEye-izabell

Voice-to-text apps can be helpful for accessibility needs and busy professionals alike. If you’re always on the go, transcribing interview notes, or you can think faster than you can write, these special programs can increase your efficiency and store the recordings safely and sound via the cloud. Depending on your needs, you can choose an app with customizable language for commonly used words or industry terms.

The main features to consider when looking at voice-to-text apps include accuracy, shortcuts, and available languages. Accuracy is one of the most critical factors, and some options perform much better than others in this area. These apps are becoming more mainstream, from basic software to advanced technology. Whether you want to take notes , send quick messages, or translate on the fly, the best voice-to-text apps below are ready to help.

Best Voice-to-Text Apps of 2024

Best overall: dragon anywhere, best assistant: google assistant.

• Best Transcription: Transcribe
• Best for Long Recordings: Speechnotes

Best for Notes: Voice Notes

• Best for Messages: SpeechTexter  

Best for Translation: iTranslate Converse

Best for niche industry terms: braina.

Dragon Anywhere

• Price: $15 per month or $150 per year
• Free Trial: One week
• Accuracy Rate: 99 percent

Why We Chose It

We chose Dragon Anywhere because of its 99 percent accuracy rating and options for voice editing and formatting.

Pros & Cons

No word limits

99 percent accuracy

Multiple ways to share documents

Expensive compared to some other apps

May take time to learn the built-in commands

Available for Android and iOS devices, Dragon Anywhere is a premium professional tool that’s a big deal in the world of dictation apps. It’s 99 percent accurate and comes with voice editing and formatting. You can use the app for as long as you need—there are no word limits.

Dragon Anywhere allows you to customize industry lingo for even more accuracy. After transcription, share your notes by email, Dropbox, Evernote, and more. For supported versions, you can synchronize Dragon Anywhere with your desktop and do voice work on your computer as well. However, to do this, you will need to purchase a desktop version of Dragon as well.

Its accuracy and rich features come with a cost, but the bill could be a worthy business investment if you often think of ideas on the fly or need to record meetings. The application costs $15 per month or $150 per year.

Google Assistant

• Price: Free
• Free Trial: N/A
• Accuracy Rate: Not disclosed

We chose Google Assistant because it can help you accomplish a variety of tasks.

Integrated into services you already use, such as email and messaging

Free to use

Not specifically designed for note-taking

Must use applets to boost note-taking abilities

Google Assistant does a lot, including playing music and opening maps. One of its best features? Voice recognition. You can use voice command to look up information and tell Google Assistant to perform certain functions, but it can also convert speech to text.

The app sends messages, manages tasks, and sets reminders. While it’s not a speech-to-text app in the purest sense, it will still help organize your ideas and notes with voice recognition.

Use IFTTT (If This Then That) to maximize your Google Assistant note-taking abilities. In one applet , Google Assistant can log all of your notes into a spreadsheet. You can also search IFTTT for other productivity-boosting applets or create your own as you see fit.  

Best for Transcription: Transcribe - Speech to Text

Transcribe - Speech to Text

• Price: $5 per hour of transcription, subscription options also available
• Free Trial: 15 minutes of transcription

Transcribe - Speech to Text offers you the opportunity to transcribe any voice or video file using the help of artificial intelligence.

Transcription available for over 120 languages and dialects

Easy-to-use software

Only available for Apple products

Journalists or executive assistants who have a lot of conversations to track may find this app useful. Using A.I., Transcribe can turn any voice or video memo into a transcription in over 120 different languages and dialects. After recording, you can drop your file in this app and export your raw text into another app such as DropBox.

Keep in mind that Transcribe is only available for Apple products with Voice Memo and video since there’s no direct in-app dictation. Transcribe can also get pricey. Users receive a free trial for 15 minutes of transcription. Every extra hour costs $5 and 10 hours costs $30, but there are also subscriptions available for frequent users.

Best for Long Recordings: Speechnotes - Speech to Text

Speechnotes - Speech to Text

• Accuracy Rate: 90 percent or better

We chose Speechnotes because it allows for extremely long recordings.

Long recordings allowed

Can add in punctuation where needed

In-app advertisements as a free app

Only available in browser and on Android

Writers who think faster than they can type will appreciate this app. Speechnotes is excellent for organizing long notes thanks to two special features. First of all, it doesn't stop recording—even if you pause to think or breathe—so you can keep the recording open for as long as needed. Second, you can tap a button or use a verbal command to insert punctuation marks into your work so they won't become too unwieldy.

The free app has a small ad banner, but you can upgrade to a premium version to get rid of it. Other perks: It won't clog up your phone space at 4 MB, plus it saves all your recordings as TXT files. Plus, you won’t need to open the app to use it either; you can tap on a widget to access Speechnotes. Keep in mind that Speechnotes is only available on your browser and Android. 

Voice Notes

We chose Voice Notes for its efficient layout to help you store notes.

Recognizes 120 languages

Only available on Android phones

Voice Notes has speech recognition that allows you to create notes efficiently. You can then organize your notes into categories and create reminders by customizing alerts synced with your phone calendar. The interface is intuitive and easy to use; simply press the microphone button and speak to record. You’ll even be able to make your notes with the phone screen turned off.

The app can recognize up to 120 languages, just in case you need to record notes in something other than English. The app is free, though you can subscribe to a premium plan to support the developer.

Of course, there are a few caveats. Voice Notes is a popular app, but the one major limitation is that it's only available on Android phones. Plus, you need to have Google voice search installed to use it.

Best for Messages: SpeechTexter - Speech to Text

SpeechTexter - Speech to Text

• Accuracy Rate: Better than 90 percent

SpeechTexter is a useful tool to help you draft texts, notes, emails, reports, and more with your voice. 

Desktop and android versions available

Over 70 languages supported

Customizable commands

Offline mode is less accurate

Need to send a quick message but find your hands occupied with other tasks? Here’s a quick solution. Using Google’s backend, SpeechTexter allows you to create text notes, emails, and reports with your own voice. The easy-to-use app supports over 70 languages with an accuracy rate higher than 90 percent. You can customize your own commands for punctuation as well.

It's possible to use the app when you're not connected to the Internet, though keep in mind that the accuracy lowers in offline mode and the recognition speed depends on your Internet connectivity. To use the app offline, make sure that you install language packs of your preference.

iTranslate Converse

• Price: $6 per month or $50 per year
• Free Trial: Yes

We chose iTranslate Converse because it is designed to help you translate languages on the go in noisy environments.

Works well in noisy environments

Enables real-time communication with someone in another language

38 languages recognized

Subscription fee

Unknown accuracy rate

Brought to you by the same developers behind the popular iTranslate app, iTranslate Converse is as close to real-time translation as you’ll get, which is convenient if you need to communicate with clients who don’t speak the same language as you or if you’re traveling abroad. All you have to do is set the two languages. Then tap, hold, and speak into your phone.

The app will pick up on the language that you’re speaking, then issue out a translation—yes, even in noisy environments. The app is capable of recognizing 38 languages. After your conversation is done, you can download full transcriptions. It’s not always perfect, of course, but it’s faster than going through a personal assistant app to look up translations for you.

While it has a subscription fee, iTranslate won't stretch your budget significantly. When you download it, you'll receive a free trial. After that runs out, you'll be upgraded to the pro version for $6 per month or $50 per year. You must cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the trial to avoid being put on a paid membership.

• Price: $0-$399
• Free Trial: No
• Accuracy Rate: 99%

Briana can help you utilize voice-to-text in a jargon-filled industry.

Personal A.I. builds to recognize your industry jargon

Over 100 languages recognized

May take some time to customize

Braina is a personal A.I. for Windows P.C.s with companion Android and IOS apps. The program can convert your voice into text for any website or software program, including a word processor. It recognizes most medical, legal, and scientific terms, which makes it ideal if you work in a niche industry with technical jargon. You can also teach Braina uncommon names and vocabulary with ease.

Braina has other helpful voice recognition features besides learning niche industry terms. For example, it can recognize over 100 languages to serve non-English users. The program also includes convenient dictation commands for deleting, tabbing, and casing.

The app has a few price tiers; there is a free version with limited access to features, while the pro version costs $79 per year or $399 for lifetime access (which often goes on sale for $199).

Final Verdict

Dragon Anywhere is our pick for the best overall voice-to-text app thanks to its streamlined tools, high accuracy rating, and accessible computer synchronization. The app costs a bit more than other popular options, but discounts are available on annual subscriptions, and it has no limit on words.

As a bonus, Dragon Anywhere also allows users to customize their experience for specific industry lingo and other terms. This app is also accessible for Android and iOS devices and features simple sharing options to multiple apps or email accounts.

Compare the Best Voice to Text Apps

Guide to choosing a voice-to-text app.

Not sure how to choose a voice-to-text app? Consider the following factors to select the best option for your needs:

• Accuracy rating
• Available languages
• Limits on words or usage
• Platform (Android or iOS)
• Exporting files
• Translation
• Customizable terms or industry language

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best voice to text app.

Dragon Anywhere is the best voice-to-text app on our list. This app is available for both Android and iOS users, has a high accuracy rating, and makes it easy to export files to your computer, email, or other apps.

What Is the Best Free Voice to Text App?

Speechnotes, Voice Notes, Google Assistant, and SpeechTexter are all great choices for free voice-to-text apps. Choose the best option for your specific needs based on maximum length of recording, available languages, and exporting options.

What Is the Best Way to Convert Voice to Text?

Voice-to-text apps and computer programs are both helpful ways to convert your voice to text. If you need to record notes on the go or away from your computer, a mobile app is likely best for you. On the other hand, some people prefer apps downloaded to their computers to take notes during meetings or classes.

What Is the Most Realistic Speech-to-Text?

Dragon Anywhere has the highest accuracy rating of voice-to-text apps compared in this list. Additionally, this app allows users to customize specific industry language and commonly used terms to make their transcriptions more realistic.

Methodology

To find the best voice-to-text apps we compiled a list of the most popular options available. Next, we took a closer look at several factors, including the price, free trial options, accuracy rates, and more. Finally, we decided which providers were best suited for what our readers needed.

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Speech to Text - Voice Typing & Transcription

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Transcribe Recordings

Automatically transcribe (and optionally translate) audios & videos - upload files from your device or link to an online resource (Drive, YouTube, TikTok or other). Export to text, docx, video subtitles and more.

Speechnotes is a reliable and secure web-based speech-to-text tool that enables you to quickly and accurately transcribe your audio and video recordings, as well as dictate your notes instead of typing, saving you time and effort. With features like voice commands for punctuation and formatting, automatic capitalization, and easy import/export options, Speechnotes provides an efficient and user-friendly dictation and transcription experience. Proudly serving millions of users since 2015, Speechnotes is the go-to tool for anyone who needs fast, accurate & private transcription. Our Portfolio of Complementary Speech-To-Text Tools Includes:

Voice typing - Chrome extension

Dictate instead of typing on any form & text-box across the web. Including on Gmail, and more.

Transcription API & webhooks

Speechnotes' API enables you to send us files via standard POST requests, and get the transcription results sent directly to your server.

Zapier integration

Combine the power of automatic transcriptions with Zapier's automatic processes. Serverless & codeless automation! Connect with your CRM, phone calls, Docs, email & more.

Android Speechnotes app

Speechnotes' notepad for Android, for notes taking on your mobile, battle tested with more than 5Million downloads. Rated 4.3+ ⭐

iOS TextHear app

TextHear for iOS, works great on iPhones, iPads & Macs. Designed specifically to help people with hearing impairment participate in conversations. Please note, this is a sister app - so it has its own pricing plan.

Audio & video converting tools

Tools developed for fast - batch conversions of audio files from one type to another and extracting audio only from videos for minimizing uploads.

Our Sister Apps for Text-To-Speech & Live Captioning

Complementary to Speechnotes

Reads out loud texts, files & web pages

Reads out loud texts, PDFs, e-books & websites for free

Speechlogger

Live Captioning & Translation

Live captions & translations for online meetings, webinars, and conferences.

Need Human Transcription? We Can Offer a 10% Discount Coupon

We do not provide human transcription services ourselves, but, we partnered with a UK company that does. Learn more on human transcription and the 10% discount .

Dictation Notepad

Start taking notes with your voice for free

Speech to Text online notepad. Professional, accurate & free speech recognizing text editor. Distraction-free, fast, easy to use web app for dictation & typing.

Speechnotes is a powerful speech-enabled online notepad, designed to empower your ideas by implementing a clean & efficient design, so you can focus on your thoughts. We strive to provide the best online dictation tool by engaging cutting-edge speech-recognition technology for the most accurate results technology can achieve today, together with incorporating built-in tools (automatic or manual) to increase users' efficiency, productivity and comfort. Works entirely online in your Chrome browser. No download, no install and even no registration needed, so you can start working right away.

Speechnotes is especially designed to provide you a distraction-free environment. Every note, starts with a new clear white paper, so to stimulate your mind with a clean fresh start. All other elements but the text itself are out of sight by fading out, so you can concentrate on the most important part - your own creativity. In addition to that, speaking instead of typing, enables you to think and speak it out fluently, uninterrupted, which again encourages creative, clear thinking. Fonts and colors all over the app were designed to be sharp and have excellent legibility characteristics.

Example use cases

• Voice typing
• Writing notes, thoughts
• Medical forms - dictate
• Transcribers (listen and dictate)

Transcription Service

Start transcribing

Fast turnaround - results within minutes. Includes timestamps, auto punctuation and subtitles at unbeatable price. Protects your privacy: no human in the loop, and (unlike many other vendors) we do NOT keep your audio. Pay per use, no recurring payments. Upload your files or transcribe directly from Google Drive, YouTube or any other online source. Simple. No download or install. Just send us the file and get the results in minutes.

• Transcribe interviews
• Captions for Youtubes & movies
• Auto-transcribe phone calls or voice messages
• Students - transcribe lectures
• Podcasters - enlarge your audience by turning your podcasts into textual content
• Text-index entire audio archives

Key Advantages

Speechnotes is powered by the leading most accurate speech recognition AI engines by Google & Microsoft. We always check - and make sure we still use the best. Accuracy in English is very good and can easily reach 95% accuracy for good quality dictation or recording.

Lightweight & fast

Both Speechnotes dictation & transcription are lightweight-online no install, work out of the box anywhere you are. Dictation works in real time. Transcription will get you results in a matter of minutes.

Super Private & Secure!

Super private - no human handles, sees or listens to your recordings! In addition, we take great measures to protect your privacy. For example, for transcribing your recordings - we pay Google's speech to text engines extra - just so they do not keep your audio for their own research purposes.

Health advantages

Typing may result in different types of Computer Related Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI). Voice typing is one of the main recommended ways to minimize these risks, as it enables you to sit back comfortably, freeing your arms, hands, shoulders and back altogether.

Saves you time

Need to transcribe a recording? If it's an hour long, transcribing it yourself will take you about 6! hours of work. If you send it to a transcriber - you will get it back in days! Upload it to Speechnotes - it will take you less than a minute, and you will get the results in about 20 minutes to your email.

Saves you money

Speechnotes dictation notepad is completely free - with ads - or a small fee to get it ad-free. Speechnotes transcription is only $0.1/minute, which is X10 times cheaper than a human transcriber! We offer the best deal on the market - whether it's the free dictation notepad ot the pay-as-you-go transcription service.

Dictation - Free

• Online dictation notepad
• Voice typing Chrome extension

Dictation - Premium

• Premium online dictation notepad
• Premium voice typing Chrome extension
• Support from the development team

Transcription

$0.1 /minute.

• Pay as you go - no subscription
• Audio & video recordings
• Speaker diarization in English
• Generate captions .srt files
• REST API, webhooks & Zapier integration

Compare plans

Privacy policy.

We at Speechnotes, Speechlogger, TextHear, Speechkeys value your privacy, and that's why we do not store anything you say or type or in fact any other data about you - unless it is solely needed for the purpose of your operation. We don't share it with 3rd parties, other than Google / Microsoft for the speech-to-text engine.

Privacy - how are the recordings and results handled?

- transcription service.

Our transcription service is probably the most private and secure transcription service available.

• HIPAA compliant.
• No human in the loop. No passing your recording between PCs, emails, employees, etc.
• Secure encrypted communications (https) with and between our servers.
• Recordings are automatically deleted from our servers as soon as the transcription is done.
• Our contract with Google / Microsoft (our speech engines providers) prohibits them from keeping any audio or results.
• Transcription results are securely kept on our secure database. Only you have access to them - only if you sign in (or provide your secret credentials through the API)
• You may choose to delete the transcription results - once you do - no copy remains on our servers.

- Dictation notepad & extension

For dictation, the recording & recognition - is delegated to and done by the browser (Chrome / Edge) or operating system (Android). So, we never even have access to the recorded audio, and Edge's / Chrome's / Android's (depending the one you use) privacy policy apply here.

The results of the dictation are saved locally on your machine - via the browser's / app's local storage. It never gets to our servers. So, as long as your device is private - your notes are private.

Payments method privacy

The whole payments process is delegated to PayPal / Stripe / Google Pay / Play Store / App Store and secured by these providers. We never receive any of your credit card information.

More generic notes regarding our site, cookies, analytics, ads, etc.

• We may use Google Analytics on our site - which is a generic tool to track usage statistics.
• We use cookies - which means we save data on your browser to send to our servers when needed. This is used for instance to sign you in, and then keep you signed in.
• For the dictation tool - we use your browser's local storage to store your notes, so you can access them later.
• Non premium dictation tool serves ads by Google. Users may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Ads Settings . Alternatively, users can opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalized advertising by visiting https://youradchoices.com/
• In case you would like to upload files to Google Drive directly from Speechnotes - we'll ask for your permission to do so. We will use that permission for that purpose only - syncing your speech-notes to your Google Drive, per your request.

Best speech-to-text app of 2024

Free, paid and online voice recognition apps and services

Best overall

Best for business, best for mobile, best text service, best speech recognition, best virtual assistant, best for cloud, best for azure, best for batch conversion, best free speech to text apps, best mobile speech to text apps.

• How we test

The best speech-to-text apps make it simple and easy to convert speech into text, for both desktop and mobile devices.

1. Best overall 2. Best for business 3. Best for mobile 4. Best text service 5. Best speech recognition 6. Best virtual assistant 7. Best for cloud 8. Best for Azure 9. Best for batch conversion 10. Best free speech to text apps 11. Best mobile speech to text apps 12. FAQs 13. How we test

Speech-to-text used to be regarded as very niche, specifically serving either people with accessibility needs or for  dictation . However, speech-to-text is moving more and more into the mainstream as office work can now routinely be completed more simply and easily by using voce-recognition software, rather than having to type through members, and speaking aloud for text to be recorded is now quite common.

While the best speech to text software used to be specifically only for desktops, the development of mobile devices and the explosion of easily accessible apps means that transcription can now also be carried out on a  smartphone  or  tablet . 

This has made the best voice to text applications increasingly valuable to users in a range of different environments, from education to business. This is not least because the technology has matured to the level where mistakes in transcriptions are relatively rare, with some services rightly boasting a 99.9% success rate from clear audio.

Even still, this applies mainly to ordinary situations and circumstances, and precludes the use of technical terminology such as required in legal or medical professions. Despite this, digital transcription can still service needs such as basic  note-taking  which can still be easily done using a phone app, simplifying the dictation process.

However, different speech-to-text programs have different levels of ability and complexity, with some using advanced machine learning to constantly correct errors flagged up by users so that they are not repeated. Others are downloadable software which is only as good as its latest update.

Here then are the best in speech-to-text recognition programs, which should be more than capable for most situations and circumstances.

We've also featured the best voice recognition software .

Get in touch

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The best paid for speech to text apps of 2024 in full:

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

1. Dragon Anywhere

Our expert review:

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid.

Dragon Anywhere is the Nuance mobile product for Android and iOS devices, however this is no ‘lite’ app, but rather offers fully-formed dictation capabilities powered via the cloud. 

So essentially you get the same excellent speech recognition as seen on the desktop software – the only meaningful difference we noticed was a very slight delay in our spoken words appearing on the screen (doubtless due to processing in the cloud). However, note that the app was still responsive enough overall.

It also boasts support for boilerplate chunks of text which can be set up and inserted into a document with a simple command, and these, along with custom vocabularies, are synced across the mobile app and desktop Dragon software. Furthermore, you can share documents across devices via Evernote or cloud services (such as Dropbox).

This isn’t as flexible as the desktop application, however, as dictation is limited to within Dragon Anywhere – you can’t dictate directly in another app (although you can copy over text from the Dragon Anywhere dictation pad to a third-party app). The other caveats are the need for an internet connection for the app to work (due to its cloud-powered nature), and the fact that it’s a subscription offering with no one-off purchase option, which might not be to everyone’s tastes.

Even bearing in mind these limitations, though, it’s a definite boon to have fully-fledged, powerful voice recognition of the same sterling quality as the desktop software, nestling on your phone or tablet for when you’re away from the office.

Nuance Communications offers a 7-day free trial to give the app a try before you commit to a subscription. 

Read our full Dragon Anywhere review .

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2. Dragon Professional

Should you be looking for a business-grade dictation application, your best bet is Dragon Professional. Aimed at pro users, the software provides you with the tools to dictate and edit documents, create spreadsheets, and browse the web using your voice.   

According to Nuance, the solution is capable of taking dictation at an equivalent typing speed of 160 words per minute, with a 99% accuracy rate – and that’s out-of-the-box, before any training is done (whereby the app adapts to your voice and words you commonly use).

As well as creating documents using your voice, you can also import custom word lists. There’s also an additional mobile app that lets you transcribe audio files and send them back to your computer.   

This is a powerful, flexible, and hugely useful tool that is especially good for individuals, such as professionals and freelancers, allowing for typing and document management to be done much more flexibly and easily.

Overall, the interface is easy to use, and if you get stuck at all, you can access a series of help tutorials. And while the software can seem expensive, it's just a one-time fee and compares very favorably with paid-for subscription transcription services.

Also note that Nuance are currently offering 12-months' access to Dragon Anywhere at no extra cost with any purchase of Dragon Home or Dragon Professional Individual.

Read our full Dragon Professional review .

Otter is a cloud-based speech to text program especially aimed for mobile use, such as on a laptop or smartphone. The app provides real-time transcription, allowing you to search, edit, play, and organize as required.

Otter is marketed as an app specifically for meetings, interviews, and lectures, to make it easier to take rich notes. However, it is also built to work with collaboration between teams, and different speakers are assigned different speaker IDs to make it easier to understand transcriptions.

There are three different payment plans, with the basic one being free to use and aside from the features mentioned above also includes keyword summaries and a wordcloud to make it easier to find specific topic mentions. You can also organize and share, import audio and video for transcription, and provides 600 minutes of free service.

The Premium plan also includes advanced and bulk export options, the ability to sync audio from Dropbox, additional playback speeds including the ability to skip silent pauses. The Premium plan also allows for up to 6,000 minutes of speech to text.

The Teams plan also adds two-factor authentication, user management and centralized billing, as well as user statistics, voiceprints, and live captioning.

Read our full Otter review .

Verbit aims to offer a smarter speech to text service, using AI for transcription and captioning. The service is specifically targeted at enterprise and educational establishments.

Verbit uses a mix of speech models, using neural networks and algorithms to reduce background noise, focus on terms as well as differentiate between speakers regardless of accent, as well as incorporate contextual events such as news and company information into recordings.

Although Verbit does offer a live version for transcription and captioning, aiming for a high degree of accuracy, other plans offer human editors to ensure transcriptions are fully accurate, and advertise a four hour turnaround time.

Altogether, while Verbit does offer a direct speech to text service, it’s possibly better thought of as a transcription service, but the focus on enterprise and education, as well as team use, means it earns a place here as an option to consider.

Read our full Verbit review .

5. Speechmatics

Speechmatics offers a machine learning solution to converting speech to text, with its automatic speech recognition solution available to use on existing audio and video files as well as for live use.

Unlike some automated transcription software which can struggle with accents or charge more for them, Speechmatics advertises itself as being able to support all major British accents, regardless of nationality. That way it aims to cope with not just different American and British English accents, but also South African and Jamaican accents.

Speechmatics offers a wider number of speech to text transcription uses than many other providers. Examples include taking call center phone recordings and converting them into searchable text or Word documents. The software also works with video and other media for captioning as well as using keyword triggers for management.

Overall, Speechmatics aims to offer a more flexible and comprehensive speech to text service than a lot of other providers, and the use of automation should keep them price competitive.

Read our full Speechmatics review .

6. Braina Pro

Braina Pro is speech recognition software which is built not just for dictation, but also as an all-round digital assistant to help you achieve various tasks on your PC. It supports dictation to third-party software in not just English but almost 90 different languages, with impressive voice recognition chops.

Beyond that, it’s a virtual assistant that can be instructed to set alarms, search your PC for a file, or search the internet, play an MP3 file, read an ebook aloud, plus you can implement various custom commands.

The Windows program also has a companion Android app which can remotely control your PC, and use the local Wi-Fi network to deliver commands to your computer, so you can spark up a music playlist, for example, wherever you happen to be in the house. Nifty.

There’s a free version of Braina which comes with limited functionality, but includes all the basic PC commands, along with a 7-day trial of the speech recognition which allows you to test out its powers for yourself before you commit to a subscription. Yes, this is another subscription-only product with no option to purchase for a one-off fee. Also note that you need to be online and have Google ’s Chrome browser installed for speech recognition functionality to work.

Read our full Braina Pro review .

7. Amazon Transcribe

Amazon Transcribe is as big cloud-based automatic speech recognition platform developed specifically to convert audio to text for apps. It especially aims to provide a more accurate and comprehensive service than traditional providers, such as being able to cope with low-fi and noisy recordings, such as you might get in a contact center .

Amazon Transcribe uses a deep learning process that automatically adds punctuation and formatting, as well as process with a secure livestream or otherwise transcribe speech to text with batch processing.

As well as offering time stamping for individual words for easy search, it can also identify different speaks and different channels and annotate documents accordingly to account for this.

There are also some nice features for editing and managing transcribed texts, such as vocabulary filtering and replacement words which can be used to keep product names consistent and therefore any following transcription easier to analyze.

Overall, Amazon Transcribe is one of the most powerful platforms out there, though it’s aimed more for the business and enterprise user rather than the individual.

8. Microsoft Azure Speech to Text

Microsoft 's Azure cloud service offers advanced speech recognition as part of the platform's speech services to deliver the Microsoft Azure Speech to Text functionality. 

This feature allows you to simply and easily create text from a variety of audio sources. There are also customization options available to work better with different speech patterns, registers, and even background sounds. You can also modify settings to handle different specialist vocabularies, such as product names, technical information, and place names.

The Microsoft's Azure Speech to Text feature is powered by deep neural network models and allows for real-time audio transcription that can be set up to handle multiple speakers.

As part of the Azure cloud service, you can run Azure Speech to Text in the cloud, on premises, or in edge computing. In terms of pricing, you can run the feature in a free container with a single concurrent request for up to 5 hours of free audio per month.

Read our full Microsoft Azure Speech to Text review .

9. IBM Watson Speech to Text

IBM's Watson Speech to Text works is the third cloud-native solution on this list, with the feature being powered by AI and machine learning as part of IBM's cloud services.

While there is the option to transcribe speech to text in real-time, there is also the option to batch convert audio files and process them through a range of language, audio frequency, and other output options.

You can also tag transcriptions with speaker labels, smart formatting, and timestamps, as well as apply global editing for technical words or phrases, acronyms, and for number use.

As with other cloud services Watson Speech to Text allows for easy deployment both in the cloud and on-premises behind your own firewall to ensure security is maintained.

Read our full Watson Speech to Text review .

1. Google Gboard

If you already have an Android mobile device, then if it's not already installed then download Google Keyboard from the Google Play store and you'll have an instant text-to-speech app. Although it's primarily designed as a keyboard for physical input, it also has a speech input option which is directly available. And because all the power of Google's hardware is behind it, it's a powerful and responsive tool.

If that's not enough then there are additional features. Aside from physical input ones such as swiping, you can also trigger images in your text using voice commands. Additionally, it can also work with Google Translate, and is advertised as providing support for over 60 languages.

Even though Google Keyboard isn't a dedicated transcription tool, as there are no shortcut commands or text editing directly integrated, it does everything you need from a basic transcription tool. And as it's a keyboard, it means should be able to work with any software you can run on your Android smartphone, so you can text edit, save, and export using that. Even better, it's free and there are no adverts to get in the way of you using it.

2. Just Press Record

If you want a dedicated dictation app, it’s worth checking out Just Press Record. It’s a mobile audio recorder that comes with features such as one tap recording, transcription and iCloud syncing across devices. The great thing is that it’s aimed at pretty much anyone and is extremely easy to use. 

When it comes to recording notes, all you have to do is press one button, and you get unlimited recording time. However, the really great thing about this app is that it also offers a powerful transcription service. 

Through it, you can quickly and easily turn speech into searchable text. Once you’ve transcribed a file, you can then edit it from within the app. There’s support for more than 30 languages as well, making it the perfect app if you’re working abroad or with an international team. Another nice feature is punctuation command recognition, ensuring that your transcriptions are free from typos.   

This app is underpinned by cloud technology, meaning you can access notes from any device (which is online). You’re able to share audio and text files to other iOS apps too, and when it comes to organizing them, you can view recordings in a comprehensive file. 

3. Speechnotes

Speechnotes is yet another easy to use dictation app. A useful touch here is that you don’t need to create an account or anything like that; you just open up the app and press on the microphone icon, and you’re off.   

The app is powered by Google voice recognition tech. When you’re recording a note, you can easily dictate punctuation marks through voice commands, or by using the built-in punctuation keyboard. 

To make things even easier, you can quickly add names, signatures, greetings and other frequently used text by using a set of custom keys on the built-in keyboard. There’s automatic capitalization as well, and every change made to a note is saved to the cloud.

When it comes to customizing notes, you can access a plethora of fonts and text sizes. The app is free to download from the Google Play Store , but you can make in-app purchases to access premium features (there's also a browser version for Chrome).   

Read our full Speechnotes review .

4. Transcribe

Marketed as a personal assistant for turning videos and voice memos into text files, Transcribe is a popular dictation app that’s powered by AI. It lets you make high quality transcriptions by just hitting a button.   

The app can transcribe any video or voice memo automatically, while supporting over 80 languages from across the world. While you can easily create notes with Transcribe, you can also import files from services such as Dropbox.

Once you’ve transcribed a file, you can export the raw text to a word processor to edit. The app is free to download, but you’ll have to make an in-app purchase if you want to make the most of these features in the long-term. There is a trial available, but it’s basically just 15 minutes of free transcription time. Transcribe is only available on iOS, though.   

5. Windows Speech Recognition

If you don’t want to pay for speech recognition software, and you’re running Microsoft’s latest desktop OS, then you might be pleased to hear that speech-to-text is built into Windows.

Windows Speech Recognition, as it’s imaginatively named – and note that this is something different to Cortana, which offers basic commands and assistant capabilities – lets you not only execute commands via voice control, but also offers the ability to dictate into documents.

The sort of accuracy you get isn’t comparable with that offered by the likes of Dragon, but then again, you’re paying nothing to use it. It’s also possible to improve the accuracy by training the system by reading text, and giving it access to your documents to better learn your vocabulary. It’s definitely worth indulging in some training, particularly if you intend to use the voice recognition feature a fair bit.

The company has been busy boasting about its advances in terms of voice recognition powered by deep neural networks, especially since windows 10 and now for Windows 11 , and Microsoft is certainly priming us to expect impressive things in the future. The likely end-goal aim is for Cortana to do everything eventually, from voice commands to taking dictation.

Turn on Windows Speech Recognition by heading to the Control Panel (search for it, or right click the Start button and select it), then click on Ease of Access, and you will see the option to ‘start speech recognition’ (you’ll also spot the option to set up a microphone here, if you haven’t already done that).

Aside from what has already been covered above, there are an increasing number of apps available across all mobile devices for working with speech to text, not least because Google's speech recognition technology is available for use. 

iTranslate Translator  is a speech-to-text app for iOS with a difference, in that it focuses on translating voice languages. Not only does it aim to translate different languages you hear into text for your own language, it also works to translate images such as photos you might take of signs in a foreign country and get a translation for them. In that way, iTranslate is a very different app, that takes the idea of speech-to-text in a novel direction, and by all accounts, does it well. 

ListNote Speech-to-Text Notes  is another speech-to-text app that uses Google's speech recognition software, but this time does a more comprehensive job of integrating it with a note-taking program than many other apps. The text notes you record are searchable, and you can import/export with other text applications. Additionally there is a password protection option, which encrypts notes after the first 20 characters so that the beginning of the notes are searchable by you. There's also an organizer feature for your notes, using category or assigned color. The app is free on Android, but includes ads.

Voice Notes  is a simple app that aims to convert speech to text for making notes. This is refreshing, as it mixes Google's speech recognition technology with a simple note-taking app, so there are more features to play with here. You can categorize notes, set reminders, and import/export text accordingly.

SpeechTexter  is another speech-to-text app that aims to do more than just record your voice to a text file. This app is built specifically to work with social media, so that rather than sending messages, emails, Tweets, and similar, you can record your voice directly to the social media sites and send. There are also a number of language packs you can download for offline working if you want to use more than just English, which is handy.

Also consider reading these related software and app guides:

• Best text-to-speech software
• Best transcription services
• Best Bluetooth headsets

Speech-to-text app FAQs

Which speech-to-text app is best for you.

When deciding which speech-to-text app to use, first consider what your actual needs are, as free and budget  options may only provide basic features, so if you need to use advanced tools you may find a paid-for platform is better suited to you. Additionally, higher-end software can usually cater for every need, so do ensure you have a good idea of which features you think you may require from your speech-to-text app.

How we tested the best speech-to-text apps

To test for the best speech-to-text apps we first set up an account with the relevant platform, then we tested the service to see how the software could be used for different purposes and in different situations. The aim was to push each speech-to-text platform to see how useful its basic tools were and also how easy it was to get to grips with any more advanced tools.

Read more on how we test, rate, and review products on TechRadar .

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Brian has over 30 years publishing experience as a writer and editor across a range of computing, technology, and marketing titles. He has been interviewed multiple times for the BBC and been a speaker at international conferences. His specialty on techradar is Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, covering everything from office suites to IT service tools. He is also a science fiction and fantasy author, published as Brian G Turner.

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7 Best speech to text apps for iPhone in 2024

Some people can type hell for leather, but we have to agree that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. How would it be if you could type as fast as you speak? Well, why think when you can execute! While iPhone’s native Notes app can handle your basic transcribing needs, it lacks added functionality.

So, here’s a list of the best speech-to-text apps for your iPhone!

• dictate2us Record & Transcribe
• Rev Voice Recorder & Memos
• Day One Journal

1. Evernote: Notes organizer – Editor’s choice

Evernote is a widely used application for note-taking. However, it serves multiple purposes like clipping articles, scanning documents, and also allows adding content (pictures, videos, audio, etc.) with notes.  

Open the virtual keyboard and tap the mic below the return key to dictate text. You can now dictate, and it’ll not only be converted but also sync across your devices.

If you’re a student, you can use the app to take notes, track them, and even create separate notebooks. Further, you can also bring people, projects, and ideas together with shared Spaces. This is especially helpful for businesses or if you are working on a group project. Evernote also has multiple other features and is free to use.  

• Scan and convert handwritten notes
• Transcription works flawlessly
• Numerous useful templates
• Note linking
• Excellent organization system
• Cannot save data offline
• Lean cloud storage
• Cannot sync with more than 2 devices with the basic plan

Price : Free (In-App Purchases start at $10.00)

2. dictate2us Record & Transcribe – Fastest transcription service

Dicatate2us is one of the leaders in transcription services, and you can get the audio transcribed within an hour regardless of the time, 365 days a year. You can record letters, reports, case notes, interviews, etc.  

All you need to do is save a recording which will get uploaded to the platform. A person, yes, an actual person, will sit and transcribe the audio, after which an editor will check if there are errors, and then the Google doc file will be sent to you.  

Dicatate2us can be downloaded for free, and you get a $15 free trial credit. After the trial ends, you are charged a minute rate depending on the turnaround time. D2U uses military-grade encryption, so you need not worry about confidential data being hacked.

• Military-grade encryption
• Fast turnaround time
• $15 Trial credit
• Can’t transcribe instantly

Price : Free ($15 trial credit) 

3. Transcribe: Speech to Text – Instant transcription

Some people repeatedly listen to their voice memos as reminders. However, listening to the whole message to get to something you want to hear might be a time-consuming event, and Transcribe comes in. It is among the fastest transcription apps. A tap of a button is all it takes to transcribe your audio or video files. 

It lets you transcribe any voice or video file into text. All is done with the help of AI. You get 15 minutes of the free trial, after which you will need to either upgrade to the Pro version or buy add-on hours. Transcribe Pro offers features like exporting files in TXT, PDF, and DOCX formats. You also get 5 hours of transcription every month and can save up to 50GB of files on its cloud.  

• Instant transcription
• Supports both audio and video files
• Supports multiple file formats
• Not great for longer duration transcriptions
• Users have reported frequent app crashes

Price : Free (In-app purchase starts at $4.99)

4. Rev Voice Recorder & Memos – Simplified design

Rev Voice is yet another transcription service that people have employed to transcribe audio. The company claims a 99% plus accuracy rate alongside fast turnaround times. You can get a 30-minute recording transcribed under 12 hours.  

The Rev Voice app has a clean and minimal user interface. Besides transcribing audio, it also lets you record audio, trim the audio, etc. You can use the recorder in the background, and it will automatically pause when you receive a call.  

While the application is free to download, Rev charges 1 credit for a minute of audio transcribed, and if you avail of their services through their website, it’ll cost you $1.50 for a minute of audio transcribed. You can also view the progress of your order, and once done, you’ll receive it in your email inbox and the app.

• Affordable rates
• Effortless editing
• High accuracy rate
• The subscription model would make the service more appealing
• Turnaround times are longer

Price : Free (1 credit costs $1.99)

5: Dictation: Speech to text – Translate your transcription

Dictation serves one purpose, converting speech to text, and it does the job quite decently. But there are instances where it might miss a few words. You can not only record audio in the app but also import audio files.

Further, translation is a unique feature offered by Dictation. It supports over 40 languages. All you have to do is tap a button to translate the transcribed text.

The app also has iCloud Synchronization. Once turned on, you can dictate text from your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, etc.

Besides, you can also share the text across several social media platforms like Twitter, WhatsApp, etc. However, the app is infested with ads. You will need to upgrade to the pro version to get rid of ads, costing $17.49 per year.

• Translation with support for 40 languages
• Works flawlessly across multiple iOS devices
• Cluttered UI 
• Infested with ads 

Price : Free (Pro version costs $4.99 per month)

6. Day One Journal: Private diary – Journalling made fun

If you want to get into the habit of maintaining a daily journal but have been postponing the idea for a long time because you find writing to be a tedious process, Day One Journal is here to help. You can add notes to your journal at any time of the day as the app provides speech-to-text services.

It’s not just words; you can also add videos and images alongside handwritten entries or drawings to your journal. However, this feature is limited to the premium version. You can also take notes from your Apple watch. If that was not enough, you could also send text messages or emails to your journals.  Pretty impressive, right?

• Easy to use
• Supports and integrates images, videos, etc., in the journal
• Can only be used as a diary

Price : Free (Premium costs $5.99 per month)

7. Otter: Transcribe voice notes – Best for businesses

Otter works flawlessly for transcribing text and is an excellent tool for personal use. But it shines more when put to use in a corporate environment. You can automatically take notes (through speech to text), save these notes, and share them with everyone on the team.

Another great feature of Otter is that it provides live captioning to the deaf or people with special needs. The app also lets users highlight text, and the punctuation is quite accurate.

The integration of Otter with iOS helps you start recording through Siri shortcuts and syncs notes with the iOS calendar, contacts, etc. You can also record with AirPods. The app offers all these features for a limited amount of time as a free trial, after which the Pro subscription offers 6000 transcription minutes per month. A great overall app for businesses!

• Caters to specially-abled users
• Great iOS integration
• The free plan is good for personal use
• Transcription is a hit or miss for longer audio files
• No support for images in notes

Price : Free (Premium Costs $16.99 per month) 

Wrapping up!

Well, this was my list of the best speech-to-text apps for iPhone and iPad, which are beneficial for both students and professionals. If you found the right speech-to-text app that suits your requirements, share your thoughts in the comments below!

• Best translation apps for iPhone and iPad
• Best voice changer for Mac
• Top alarm apps for iPhone and iPad
• Best voice recorder apps for iPhone

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AI Journaling Apps: Traditional Journaling Meets AI Technology

Katie Koschalk is a California-based health and wellness writer, certified holistic nutritionist, and certified personal trainer, with a deep understanding of mindfulness and mind-body practices.

In a world increasingly augmented by artificial intelligence, the introspective practice of journaling has embraced a digital evolution. The rise of AI journaling apps marks a new chapter in personal reflection, combining the timeless benefits of recording your thoughts and feelings with the cutting-edge advantages of AI technology. 

These apps are designed to enhance your self-awareness and provide deeper insights into your thoughts and feelings, all while saving you time and effort.

But as the marketplace blooms with several options, the question arises: How does one choose the right AI journaling app? We’ll answer that question shortly, but first, let’s cover some basics.

Key Takeaways

• AI journaling apps merge traditional journaling with AI technology, offering convenience and personalized insights for self-awareness and personal growth.
• AI journaling apps use AI processes like Natural Language Understanding (NLU) and adaptive learning to interpret your text and provide personalized prompts.
• AI journaling apps elevate the self-reflection process and offer a seamless blend of convenience and security for a deeply transformative journaling experience.
• When choosing an AI journaling app, consider your goals, privacy, user interface, features, user reviews, and pricing.
• Rosebud is a highly regarded AI journaling app that focuses on mental health and personal growth, with features like personalized prompts, entry reflection, and key insights.

What Is an AI Journaling App? 

An AI journaling app is a digital application that blends traditional journaling with the intuitive features of artificial intelligence. By leveraging AI, these apps can understand and process your written language, offering prompts, suggestions, and insights to enrich your journaling practice.

AI journaling apps are accessible from digital devices like smartphones, laptops, computers, and tablets.

How Does an AI Journaling App Work? 

The mechanics of how an AI journaling app works can be distilled into several key components that use various aspects of artificial intelligence. Here’s a breakdown of the underlying processes:

• Natural Language Understanding (NLU): At the heart of an AI journaling app is its ability to understand human language. This involves analyzing sentences, recognizing the context, and extracting meaning from text. Whether you’re drafting a brief note about your day or delving into a complex reflection on your emotions, the AI uses NLU to interpret your words and respond appropriately.
• Adaptive Learning: AI journaling apps learn from your interactions over time. They notice patterns in your writing, such as frequent topics or mood indicators. This enables the app to tailor prompts and feedback more effectively to your personal journaling needs and preferences.
• Sentiment Analysis: These apps often employ sentiment analysis algorithms to detect and measure the emotional tone behind your words. Understanding whether your entries are positive, negative, or neutral helps the app provide empathetic responses and potentially chart your emotional well-being over time.
• Conversational AI: Many AI journaling apps feature a conversational interface, enabling you to engage in a dialogue with the app. This can make journaling feel like an interactive experience, as the app might ask you questions, challenge you to think deeper about a subject, or offer affirmations and support.

Benefits of Using an AI Journaling App 

The emergence of AI journal apps represents a paradigm shift in the realm of self-reflection. By harnessing artificial intelligence, these sophisticated platforms provide a suite of advantages that go far beyond the capabilities of classic pen-and-paper journaling . 

Here are the top advantages that make AI journal apps an appealing option for those looking to support their personal growth and well-being. 

Personalized Experience

AI journal apps can tailor the journaling experience to the individual user. By analyzing previous entries, the app can suggest personalized prompts, help set goals, and even offer customized advice. This personalized touch can enhance the impact of journaling on personal development.

Convenience

AI journaling apps offer unmatched convenience. With the capability to journal anytime, anywhere, all that’s needed is a device like a smartphone or tablet. Voice-to-text features also allow for hands-free journaling, making it easier for you to capture your thoughts in the moment.

Emotional Insights

Through sentiment analysis, AI journal apps can track the user’s mood and emotional patterns over time. These insights can help you identify triggers for stress or happiness, monitor mental health, and make informed decisions to improve your emotional well-being.

Reflective Prompts

For those who struggle with what to write, AI journal apps can generate thought-provoking prompts . These prompts can guide you through writer’s block and help you dive deeper into your innermost thoughts and feelings. 

Enhanced Privacy and Security

Unlike traditional journals that can be lost or read by others, AI journal apps use encryption to protect privacy, ensuring that intimate thoughts and reflections remain secure from unauthorized access.

Motivation and Engagement

AI journal apps often include elements like streaks or rewards to encourage regular journaling. They can send reminders and motivational messages to help you stay engaged with the practice.

How to Choose the Right AI Journaling App for You 

Choosing the right AI journaling app can be a personal and significant decision, given the intimate nature of journaling itself. When searching for a suitable app, consider the following factors: 

Purpose and Focus

Determine what you want from your journaling experience. Are you seeking mental health support , personal growth, creativity enhancement, or productivity tracking? 

If your primary interest lies in mental health and personal growth, for example, the AI journaling app, Rosebud, could be particularly suitable due to its targeted approach.

Privacy and Security

Given the personal content of journals, the security measures an app uses to protect your data are paramount. With Rosebud, your data is securely encrypted, providing a safe and secure environment for your most personal thoughts and reflections. 

User Interface and Accessibility

An intuitive and easy-to-navigate interface can make a significant difference in your journaling routine. Apps like Rosebud that are user-friendly and accessible across various devices enable you to journal with ease whenever inspiration strikes.

Features and Functionalities

Look at the specific features offered. For example, Rosebud offers several supportive features, including (but not limited to): 

• Entry Reflection: Each journal entry is summarized and reflected back to you with key insights, mirroring your own unique wisdom.
• Key Insights: Rosebud highlights patterns and themes in your writing that you may not have noticed. This can be beneficial for self-discovery and personal growth.
• Auto-tagging: Rosebud auto-tags every entry. This feature organizes your entries by relevant themes and subjects, simplifying retrieval and review.
• Happiness Recipe: After each entry, Rosebud can provide suggestions for you to add to your Happiness Recipe—personalized strategies for improving mood and overall well-being.
• Personalized Prompts: Personalized journaling prompts provide a structured framework that can help unlock new personal insights and dig deeper into your inner thoughts and feelings.
• Voice Dictation: This feature allows you to dictate your journal entries verbally, which the app then transcribes into text.

Reviews and Testimonials

Researching what other users have to say about their experience with an app can provide valuable insights into its effectiveness and reliability.

With over 1,200 reviews and a nearly perfect 5-star rating, Rosebud has garnered praise from a vast user base. Here are just a few of the reviews:

"I love the questions I am asked in response to my journal entries! It’s like having an empathetic, intelligent friend in my pocket. I want to try to journal every afternoon as a way to center my day or every night. I think it really is more powerful than just journaling on my own so while I will continue my stream of conscious journaling in the morning, this is a wonderful and powerful addition." -Anonymous User 

“I love that I can voice journal and that I usually do not need to be concerned about punctuation because AI handles that for me. I also love that Rosebud AI gives me feedback and points out things to me I might not otherwise see.” -Anonymous User

“I have been using Rosebud for a few weeks and it has greatly improved my journaling and my reflections. They got it right in allowing you to write as you want, but providing optional prompts that help you get started or go deeper into your thoughts. The prompts and the reviews help me write more expressively, which will help in all areas of writing.” -Danny Denney

For many people, the monthly cost of an AI journaling app is an important consideration. Rosebud offers a free version that allows you to access many of its unique features. For those who seek the full spectrum of tools and insights that the app provides, Rosebud Premium is available for $4.99 per month.

FAQs About AI Journaling 

Choosing between an AI journaling app and a regular journaling app depends on your needs and preferences. If you’re looking for a journal that can interact with you, provide personalized prompts, analyze your emotions, and offer insights based on your entries, then an AI journaling app is the way to go. AI apps offer a more dynamic and responsive journaling experience than regular apps, which tend to function more as digital notebooks.

Yes, for many people, AI journaling apps are well worth it. They combine the traditional benefits of journaling with the advantages of technology, such as personalized insights, convenience, and enhanced privacy.

For those keen on understanding their patterns of thought and behavior or who appreciate guidance in their reflective practice, AI journaling apps can be particularly valuable.

AI journaling apps offer several benefits over traditional journaling, including personalized writing prompts, sentiment analysis to track your mood and emotional health, auto-tagging for easy organization, and reflective tools that help you gain deeper insights into your personal development. Additionally, features like voice dictation make it easy to record entries on the go.

The “best” AI journal app can be subjective and depends on your needs. However, Rosebud has received high praise from users for its tailored prompts and focus on mental health and personal growth. It’s important to consider factors like the app’s features, user interface, and privacy policy when deciding which is best for you.

Step Into the World of AI-Powered Journaling Today 

Embarking on a journey of self-discovery and personal growth is an exciting prospect, and choosing the right tools can make all the difference. Rosebud isn’t just an app—it’s a companion designed to accompany you on the path toward deeper self-awareness and improved mental health.

Why wait to explore the landscapes of your mind and heart? Get started with Rosebud for free today , and step into a world where your words hold the power to unlock your full potential.

The 7 best journal apps

The trouble is, keeping a journal isn't easy. It takes dedication to this new habit and a willingness to open up when writing on a blank page. What have you done today? Who are you, really? Journaling apps can help you figure this out and help you establish a daily writing routine.

After testing nearly two dozen options, these are the top journaling apps to record your memories this year and in years to come. Click on any app to learn more about why I chose it, or keep reading for more context on journal apps.

The best journaling apps

Day One for Mac and iOS users

Diarium for Windows users

Penzu for secure journaling

Grid Diary for templated journaling

Five Minute Journal for journaling beginners

Dabble Me for journaling over email

Daylio for non-writers

If you don't want a completely new app, you can always use your current note-taking app as your journal. Or, do one better and build your own journal app without any code—just a quick automation.

What makes a great online journal app?

How we evaluate and test apps.

Our best apps roundups are written by humans who've spent much of their careers using, testing, and writing about software. Unless explicitly stated, we spend dozens of hours researching and testing apps, using each app as it's intended to be used and evaluating it against the criteria we set for the category. We're never paid for placement in our articles from any app or for links to any site—we value the trust readers put in us to offer authentic evaluations of the categories and apps we review. For more details on our process, read the full rundown of how we select apps to feature on the Zapier blog .

A paper notebook and pen are fine for journaling, but apps offer more. They give you more context on what you've accomplished and where you might want to go. They also let you include photos from your phone or posts from your social media feeds to make the journaling experience more rewarding. Add in reminders and the ability to search your journal entries, and digital journaling is almost a no-brainer.

I've been testing and writing about software professionally for over a decade. I've also journaled every day for the past four years. It's an important ritual for me, personally, and it's also where a lot of the best ideas in my writing originate. In my experience, the best apps for keeping a journal have a few things in common:

Easy entry: If it takes more than a couple of clicks or taps to add a journal entry, chances are you're not going to do it.

Pleasant interface: A minimalist, uncluttered interface helps you focus on your thoughts and makes journaling a pleasant experience.

Reminders: Perhaps the biggest challenge to online journaling is remembering to do it. Automatic reminders help you keep up the habit.

Exporting: In case the app stops being developed or you want to move to a different journaling platform, you'll want to be able to export your entries in a format other programs can read, such as PDF or RTF.

Syncing: Syncing will make sure your journal's up to date no matter what device you're using.

Affordability: I eliminated some apps because of the high price. Journaling shouldn't be expensive. If you're looking for a free journal app, some of the options on this list will do the trick, just with fewer features than the premium plans.

Other features for a digital journal that might be important to you include password protection, Markdown support, the ability to add more than one photo, location and weather tags, and journaling prompts.

For each diary app, I started by creating a handful of new entries, complete with images. I then spent some time exploring the settings, testing the daily reminders, and ensuring that syncing and exporting worked as described.

Best journal app for Mac and iOS users

Day One (Mac, iOS, watchOS, Android)

Since its release in 2011, Day One has been one of the most highly recommended journaling apps, landing a spot as Apple's Editors Choice in the App Store numerous times.

It's not hard to see why. The app offers a wide array of features—just about everything you might want or need in a digital journal. You can create journal entries in one click on the Mac from the menu bar, use templates to make journaling easier, and automatically add metadata, such as location, weather, motion activity, currently-playing music, and step count. There are optional prompts, if you're not sure what to write about. You can also tag entries with hashtags, insert photos and videos, password-protect your journal, and format entries in Markdown. And all of this is within an elegant, unobtrusive design. There are no gaudy, cluttered toolbars in sight: everything on the screen is useful for journaling.

Perhaps Day One's best feature is the ability to customize multiple reminders. Most other journal apps only send you one reminder during the day. But with Day One, you can get prompted to write, say, when you start the day, at lunchtime, and then at the end of your workday to keep track of your activities and thoughts throughout the day.

The free app offers pretty much all of the core journaling features, but for syncing, unlimited photos, handwritten and audio entries, and multiple journals, you'll need to subscribe to the Day One Premium service.

Day One pricing : Free version available; $2.92/month for premium features when billed annually

Best cross-platform journal app

Diarium (Windows, Android, macOS, iOS)

Diarium offers beautiful native apps for every platform. The Windows application, in particular, is nicer than any other I could find. But there's so much more to recommend here. You can add multiple media types to your journal entries. If you'd rather speak than type, you can dictate your thoughts with accurate speech recognition. You can attach an audio file, inked drawing, or any other type of file to your entries, as well as multiple photos. Heck, you can even rate your journal entries (perhaps most useful as a way to track how happy you are each day).

Diarium works without any sign-in, or you can sync using your choice of cloud apps—OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, or WebDAV. You can also export your entries to DOCX, HTML, RTF, or TXT formats—with separate files for media attachments—so you can rest assured that your data will always be accessible. 

To make journaling even easier, Diarium can automatically pull in feeds from Facebook, Untappd, Trakt, or Instagram; or fitness apps, including Google Fit, Fitbit, and Strava, among others. It can also pull in your calendar appointments and even the day's weather. Combine this with daily reminders and beautiful native apps for every platform, and you've got the best cross-platform journal app on the market.

Diarium pricing : Free version available on Android ($4.99 for Pro), iOS ($4.99 for Pro), and macOS ($8.99 for Pro). Windows version for $9.99.

Best journal app for secure journaling

Penzu (Web, iOS, Android)

Writing a journal entry in Penzu is much like writing a blog post in WordPress, with a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface, complete with a text formatting toolbar. So why not just use Word, WordPress, or a note-taking app like OneNote? For one thing, Penzu keeps your entries together in one journal online, as opposed to several different files. Custom email reminders help you remember to record your journal entry. And Penzu can send you reminders of what you've written in the past so that you can reminisce about the good old days.

More importantly, Penzu will keep your entries 100% private. You can lock your journal with a special password (which is different from your account password), secure your content with 128-bit encryption, and choose to auto-lock your journal at all times. If you're on the Pro plan, Penzu can safeguard your entries with military-strength 256-bit encryption.

If you want to keep a journal the same way you might a personal blog but keep it private, Penzu is an excellent option. You'll need to spring for the paid Pro plan, though, to get core digital journaling features such as tagging.

Penzu pricing : Free version available; paid version from $19.99/year for advanced encryption, reminders, and PDF export.

Best journal app for templated journaling

Grid Diary (macOS, Android, iOS)

Grid Diary bills itself as "the simplest way to get started with keeping a diary." Instead of a blank slate, this diary app gives you a grid of boxes you can give custom headers to. The defaults are things like "Today's wins," "Heath and Fitness," and "Personal growth," though you can customize these to say whatever you want. 

This gives you a detailed and bird's-eye view of what's happening in your life, one day at a time. You can review entries using the built-in calendar, or you can use the Titles view to review all entries for a particular grid. There's also support for attachments, encrypted private journals, and syncing between multiple devices if you're using the paid version. Instead of wondering what you should write about each day, use Grid Diary to write down simple responses that help you reflect on your days. 

Grid Diary pricing : Free version available; paid version from $2.99/month for syncing, encryption, unlimited journals, and exporting to PDF.

Best journal app for beginners

Five Minute Journal (iOS, Android)

If you're new to journaling, writing down your thoughts and feelings each day can feel daunting. It might also be challenging to find time to devote to it. Five Minute Journal makes journaling easy and approachable with timed prompts throughout the day. In the morning, the app asks you three questions designed to instill gratitude and set a purpose for your day. In the evening, two questions ask you to reflect on the positive things that happened and how you could improve for tomorrow.

This is supplemented by daily quotes and meditations, presented in a format similar to Instagram or Snapchat stories. It sounds odd, but ultimately, it's a way to prompt your thinking and take some time to reflect before journaling.

Based on positive psychology research, Five Minute Journal helps support a gratitude habit and self-reflection, and if you pay for a subscription, you can also turn it into a free-form journal after the prompts—or you can add your own prompts.

Five Minute Journal pricing: Free version available; paid version for $4.99/month for customizable questions, home screen widgets, and the ability to add photos and videos to entries.

Best journal app for journaling over email 

Dabble Me (Web)

The main problem with journal apps: you have to remember to open them. Dabble Me doesn't have this problem because it works entirely over email. The paid version ($3/month) will email you once a day, reminding you it's time to journal—respond to that email, and you've journaled. The free version doesn't give you the daily prompts, but journaling is still as easy as writing an email—you can find a custom email address to send entries to in the settings.

You also can see the complete archive of your journals on the website, which also offers search, a calendar view, and even a page for reviewing and listening to any Spotify links you've included in your entries. There's also support for exporting your entries to TXT or JSON files, so you can take your entries with you should you decide to shut down your account. 

One way to journal is to pretend that you're writing letters to a friend. Dabble Me is great for this because it lives where you're already writing emails.

Dabble Me pricing: Pro starts at $3/month. 

Best online journal for non-writers

Daylio (iOS, Android)

Journaling has traditionally focused on longer-form writing, but not everyone has a way with words. If you prefer to communicate in visuals, Daylio is the best journaling app for you.

A journal entry in Daylio captures your mood and activities for each day. Best of all, there is absolutely no typing (unless you really want to add supplementary notes). Pick your mood by selecting one of five smiley face icons. After that, there are a variety of questions about what you did today, depending on which things you ask the app to track. There are options for sleep quality, eating habits, and even activities you participated in. Both the mood options and activities can be customized. While it only takes a few seconds to complete each entry, the details add up to form a well-rounded picture of what your days, weeks, months, and years were like.

Daylio also includes standard journaling features, like reminders, exporting entries, and setting goals. As a bonus, it offers a detailed dashboard that aggregates a monthly mood chart, your mood and activity counts, and average daily mood. It can also surface patterns in the Often together section, showing you how you usually feel when you do certain activities (for example, when your mood is "good," you usually read and spend time with family).

Daylio doesn't offer a traditional journaling experience, but the free plan is an impressive way to track how you feel in only a few seconds each day.

Daylio pricing : Free version available; Premium starts at $2.99/month and offers additional icons, reminders, and color themes. 

Should you use a journaling app?

You don't necessarily need a dedicated diary app for journaling—lots of people, after all, use a simple notebook for the job. Some other categories of apps can also work perfectly well.

The best note-taking apps all work really well for journal entries. Just make a new notebook and create a new entry every day.

You can make your own digital bullet journal using a tool like Trello or Airtable.

If you really want something custom, you can build your own journal app with no code using Zapier.

Zapier is a no-code automation tool that lets you connect your apps into automated workflows, so that every person and every business can move forward at growth speed. Learn more about how it works .

As always, the best tool for the job is the one that works best for you. If something helps you start a journaling habit and stick to it, use that.

This article was originally published in January 2019 by Melanie Pinola and has previously had contributions from Emily Esposito. It was most recently updated in April 2023.

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Justin Pot is a writer and journalist based in Hillsboro, Oregon. He loves technology, people, and nature, not necessarily in that order. Learn more: justinpot.com

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5 AI Features You Didn't Realize Were Already In Your iPhone

I n the last couple of years, we've seen  dramatic growth in the most used AI tools , including OpenAI's ChatGPT. While the AI boom was initially fueled by generative AI technology from companies like Adobe , we have already started seeing practical applications and the inclusion of this technology in everyday products. One place AI technologies are already showing up is smartphones, where features like Circle to Search and Live Translate make the $1,299.99  Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra interesting, but not worth buying for AI yet .

Apple hasn't made as big a marketing push for its products with AI yet, but that's in part because the iPhone already has some very impressive functionalities built in. Further,  Apple has said it is gearing up to make a big AI push in 2024 . While we wait for whatever Apple will announce, here are five artificial intelligence features you can use on your iPhone today.

Read more: 12 Smart Gadgets You Didn't Know Existed

Google Translate is a great tool, making many people's lives easier. With Live Text on iPhone, you can take this further by getting instant translations and other functionalities like copy/paste or search — simply by pointing your camera to some text.

To use this handy iPhone camera hack that makes life a breeze , launch the Camera app and point your phone toward whatever text you need to work with. Once it recognizes text on the screen, the phone should display a yellow icon on the bottom right of the image. Tapping on the yellow icon will create a snapshot of the identified area and will present a few options: You can copy the text and paste it elsewhere, or one-tap translate it in any language. 

Depending on the type of text identified, you may be able to perform other quick actions. For example, if you're pointing your camera at a phone number, you'll be able to start a call. There's also a "Look Up" option that will run a web search based on whatever text you select. If you're at a restaurant with friends and want to share the Live Text translation of a menu, for example, you can do so using iMessage, AirDrop, or another app. Live Text works with handwritten notes too. 

Live Text is available on iPhones running iOS 15 or later and is currently compatible with popular languages including English, Chinese, French, and more, in regions like China, France, the United States, and India. 

Personal Voice

Some of the best hidden iPhone features that are complete game changers  can be found in the Accessibility settings. One of the most popular is called Personal Voice, and it's perhaps the most impressive use of artificial intelligence that can be currently used on Apple devices. With this accessibility feature, you can synthesize a voice that sounds like you, and use it to talk to others via your iPhone. 

To create a digital clone of your voice, navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Personal Voice and tap "Create a Personal Voice". You will be asked to speak out random sentences displayed on the screen, capturing about 15 minutes of audio in total. Before you start, make yourself comfortable and make sure you're not in a noisy environment. Once completed, your iPhone will process the snippets overnight, when you're least likely to be using it. This feature is available on iPhone 12 or newer running iOS 17.

Besides being cool, this feature can make a big difference for people who have vocal disabilities or are at risk of losing their voice. You can use Personal Voice jointly with another Apple feature, Live Speech, which allows you to type out what you want to say in a video chat, rather than speaking. The voice model is stored on your device and can only be used when you specifically choose it. You can share this Personal Voice on a Mac or iPad through iCloud, which stores the data using encryption. Among the many transcription apps that convert audio to text , this is one of Apple's most personalized ways to communicate with your loved ones.

Find Photos Of People Easily

Camera hardware on top-tier smartphones keeps getting better, and one of Apple's newest tricks is a tool to shoot cinematic quality photos and videos on your iPhone . Features like Live Photos, Portrait Mode, and Slo-Mo let you capture memories using a mix of the camera's optics and Apple's specialized software, and then edit them in the company's free Photos app.

Apart from offering powerful photo and video editing tools, the Photos app uses AI technologies to identify photos of people and pets, as well as find shots with the best framing, brightness, and other features. The Photos app then groups images of the same person together. You can find these curated images in the "Album" tab in the Photos app. You can add names to people that your iPhone has recognized, which you can use later to search for their pictures through the search bar.

Over time, the Photos app recognizes patterns like groups of people, events, and frequently visited places to make better suggestions in the "For You" section of the app. The Photos app can recognize blurry or obstructed faces too, since the algorithm uses different technologies to identify different parts of a person's body, for example. This feature is available on iPhones running iOS 15 and higher.

Predictive Text

The iPhone's keyboard is iconic, and was known for its innovative design at launch in 2007. It also has well-known limitations, such as replacing the wrong words with its  contextual keyboard autocorrect . Overall, the iPhone keyboard works just fine for most users and still has a few conveniences like being able to use your iPhone's keyboard as a trackpad . In its most recent releases over the past year, Apple's focused on ensuring that the overall typing experience on the iPhone has improved. In the past year, Apple has dialed back the aggressiveness of its autocorrect and revamped inline predictions now make completing sentences quicker.

Navigate to Settings > General > Keyboard and enable both the "Predictive Text" and "Show Predictions Inline" options. Your iPhone might take a while to build up accurate predictions based on how you type, but you'll soon start to notice suggestions in a row above your keyboard that are pretty good. Predictions use words, emojis, and even information like your location or phone number to cut down on the time you spend typing. 

If you start typing a sentence and find a prediction useful, hitting the space bar will add the word or emoji automatically. Use the backspace button to remove the appended prediction in a single tap. While language support for predictive text is quite expansive, the new inline predictions only work for the English keyboard in regions like the United States, Australia, and Canada. 

Personalized Recommendations On The Journal App

Released with iOS 17 last year, the free  Journal app on iPhone  uses on-device AI technologies to identify potential memories you'd want to write to yourself about, based on the activities your phone sees you do throughout the day. 

When making a new entry, you can use the "Moments" sections to glance over any recent images you've taken or places you've visited. These prompts also show up as suggestions when you start writing about your day. Anyone familiar with writing knows how tough creative blocks can be, which is why the Journal app often asks questions, such as about what things you've done for the day. 

The app will also send you daily reminders, if you prefer, to help make journaling a habit. All entries in your journal are encrypted and can be locked behind additional security, requiring a Face ID scan or Touch ID verification. Personalized suggestions and prompts happen locally on your iPhone, making the Journal app a safe way to express your thoughts. 

Read the original article on SlashGear .

Transcribe speech to text ‪゜‬ 4+

Audio transcription, sarun wongpatcharapakorn.

• 3.8 • 4 Ratings
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Description.

Offline Transcription provides a fast and privacy-safe way to transcribe audio, video, and podcast files. If you are looking for an app to transcribe - Minutes of meetings. - Classroom audio recording. - Create subtitles for YouTube videos. - Transcribe podcasts into text. - etc. ◼ Features: - No data leaves your Mac. Transcription happens locally without the internet. - Easy to use interface. Drag and drop + one click are all you need to do. - Supported formats: - Audio: mp3, wav, m4a, ogg, aac, and caf - Video: mov and mp4 - Exported formats: text, srt, vtt, and csv. - Transcribes multiple files at once. ◼ Supported 100 different languages The app can transcribe audio in 100 different languages: Afrikaans, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Assamese, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Bashkir, Basque, Belarusian, Bosnian, Breton, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Finnish, French, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hausa, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kannada, Kazakh, Khmer, Korean, Lao, Latin, Latvian, Lingala, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Macedonian, Malagasy, Malay, Malayalam, Maltese, Māori, Marathi, Mongolian, Nepali, Norwegian, Norwegian Nynorsk, Occitan, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Sanskrit, Serbian, Shona, Sindhi, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Spanish, Sundanese, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tajik, Tamil, Tatar, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Turkish, Turkmen, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Welsh, Yiddish, Yoruba Terms of Use: https://offlinetranscription.com/terms/ Privacy Policy: https://offlinetranscription.com/privacy/

Version 1.0.5

Minor bug fixes and improvements.

Ratings and Reviews

Anything remotely long doesn't work.

I had it do something two hours long and it just repeated the same phrase over and over again, like it had just stopped working

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The developer, Sarun Wongpatcharapakorn , indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

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The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

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