Your iPhone has been transcribing your voice memos for free since iOS 18. The transcript is easy to miss, and it's two taps away. Below are the exact steps from Apple's own guide, which iPhones and languages get it, how to get the text out, and what to use when your phone or language doesn't qualify.
How to Transcribe a Voice Memo on iPhone
There's nothing to switch on. Voice Memos transcribes speech on its own, and Apple says it'll even transcribe older recordings from iOS 17 or earlier when you open them. Per Apple's Voice Memos guide, here's how to see the text.
- Open Voice Memos. It lives in the Utilities folder if it isn't on your home screen.
- Tap the recording you want.
- Tap the More button.
- Choose View Transcript to read it, or Copy Transcript to copy the whole thing.
That's it. No app, no account, no upload, and it costs nothing.
Watch the Transcript Live While You Record
You don't have to wait until you're done. The transcript can run as you talk, which is handy for checking that the phone is actually hearing you.
- Open Voice Memos and tap the Record button.
- Swipe up from the top of the waveform.
- Tap the Transcription button. The words appear as you speak, with the current one marked.
- Tap the Transcription button again to go back to the waveform.
- Tap Done to save.
How to Copy the Text Out
A transcript stuck in Voice Memos isn't much use. Getting it into an email or a doc takes a few seconds.
- The whole transcript. Tap the recording, tap More, then Copy Transcript. Paste it anywhere.
- Just one part. Tap More, then View Transcript. Select the passage you want, then tap Copy.
- Into a note with the audio. Record in the Notes app instead. Notes keeps the audio and transcript in the same note, and it can add the transcript text to the note body.
Apple's guide suggests pasting into a Mail message or a text file. Pasting into Notes first gives you a scratch space to fix names and numbers before the text goes anywhere else.
Search Memos by What You Said
This is the underrated part. Because every memo has a transcript, search looks inside them. Tap the Search button in Voice Memos and type a word. The list narrows to recordings with that word in the title or the transcript. Tap a word in a transcript and the playhead jumps to that moment in the audio. If you've got 200 memos with names you don't remember, this is how you find the one where you said the client's name.
Which iPhones and Languages Get It
Here's what Apple lists on its Voice Memos transcription page.
| Requirement | What Apple says |
|---|---|
| iPhone | iPhone 12 or later |
| Software | iOS 18 or later (recordings from iOS 17 or earlier get transcribed when opened) |
| Languages | English (all variants), Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese |
| Region | Not available in all countries or regions |
| Summaries | Need Apple Intelligence, listed for iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPhone 16 or later |
| Cost | Free |
Summaries come through Writing Tools, which can also proofread the transcript and suggest rewording. Apple notes Apple Intelligence isn't in every language or region, and usage limits may apply.
Voice Memos or Notes, Which to Record In
Since iOS 18 the Notes app records and transcribes audio too, using the same iPhone 12 or later and language rules, per Apple's Notes guide. They overlap a lot. The difference is where the words end up.
| Feature | Voice Memos | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Live transcript while recording | Yes | Yes |
| Copy the full transcript | Yes | Yes, or add it to the note body |
| Search inside transcripts | Across all recordings | Find in Transcript, inside a recording |
| Export the audio | Save to Files as .m4a | Save or delete from the More menu |
| Typing notes while recording | Not covered in Apple's guide | Swipe down from the top of the screen |
Our rule of thumb. Use Voice Memos for quick ideas you'll search later, and Notes when the recording belongs next to typed notes, like a lecture or a meeting where you want to jot things down as you go. Notes is also where iPhone saves recorded phone calls. To record in Notes, follow these steps.
- Open a note and tap the Attachments button.
- Tap Record Audio, then tap the Record button.
- Tap the Transcription button to watch the live transcript, or swipe down to type notes while it records.
- Tap Done when you're finished. The audio and transcript stay in the note.
Get a Cleaner Transcript Next Time
The built-in transcriber is only as good as what the mic hears. Small habits fix most errors before they happen.
- Keep the phone close. A foot away on the table beats a phone in your pocket across the room.
- Watch it live. Turn on the live transcript for the first few seconds. If the words look wrong, move closer before you lose the whole recording.
- One voice at a time. Crosstalk is where every transcriber slips, Apple's included.
- Name it right away. A clear title makes search work even when the transcript misspells the word you're looking for.
Voice Memo Transcripts on Mac
Voice Memos on the Mac transcribes too, per Apple's Mac guide. Click a recording, click the Transcription button, select the text, Control-click, and choose Copy. Search works the same way, matching words in the transcript as well as the title. If you'd rather clean up a long transcript on a real keyboard, record on your iPhone and edit on the Mac.
If There's No Transcript
When View Transcript is missing or the text is empty, it's almost always one of these.
- Older iPhone. iPhone 11 and earlier don't get the built-in transcript. Use the export route below.
- Old software. Update to iOS 18 or later in Settings, then General, then Software Update.
- Unsupported language. If you spoke a language off Apple's list, there's nothing to transcribe from its point of view.
- No clear speech. Music, wind, or a mic buried in a pocket can leave the transcript blank or full of gaps.
- Region. Apple doesn't offer it everywhere.
Read it before you send it. Built-in transcripts are good for notes and searching. Names, numbers, and jargon still slip, so check anything you'd quote against the audio.
How to Transcribe Voice Memos on an Older iPhone
If your iPhone or language doesn't qualify, export the memo and send it to a transcription tool. Apple's export guide says recordings save to Files as .m4a by default, which nearly every transcriber accepts.
- In Voice Memos, tap the recording, then tap the More button and the Share button.
- Scroll down and tap Save to Files.
- Pick a folder and tap Save.
- Upload the .m4a file to a transcription tool.
For step 4, we'd use ElevenLabs Scribe. ElevenLabs bills it as industry-leading transcription accuracy across 99 languages, which covers plenty that Apple's list doesn't, and the free plan works out to about 30 minutes of transcription a month. We break down that free plan in our ElevenLabs free plan guide. If you pay for Microsoft 365, Word's Transcribe feature also accepts .m4a files, up to 300 minutes a month. For every other free route, see how to transcribe audio to text.
When Voice Memos Is the Wrong Tool
Voice Memos is great for quick thoughts. Two habits outgrow it fast.
You're recording memos to write something. If you dictate a memo, copy the transcript, then paste it into an email, you're doing dictation the long way. A dictation app types straight into whatever app you're in. Wispr Flow works on iPhone, Android, Mac, and Windows, and its free plan covers 1,000 words a week on mobile and 2,000 on desktop. Our Wispr Flow review covers 90 days of daily use, and the AI dictation guide compares it with the rest.
You're recording meetings and calls. Leaving a phone on the table running Voice Memos works, until you forget to start it. A dedicated recorder is built for that job. Pocket and Plaud Note both clip to your phone and handle phone calls as well as in-person conversations. Our AI voice recorder rankings sort out which one fits. And if the recording you need is a phone call, iOS can do that natively now, covered in how to record a phone call on iPhone.