Offline Transcription:Your Data Stays Yours.

Cloud transcription means your audio travels through the internet, gets processed on someone else's computers, and stored according to their policies.

Offline transcription is the simpler arrangement: the model runs on your device, so the audio has nowhere to go and nothing to wait for. There's nothing to trust because there's nowhere for the data to go.

It also works everywhere: planes, remote areas, offices with restricted networks. Without an upload step there is nothing to wait for before the text appears.

One note before we start: this guide covers transcribing recorded audio — imported files, meetings, interviews, voice memos. If you want to dictate text into any app in real time instead, see our voice to text offline dictation guide.

Think of it like the Photos app on your phone. It doesn't need to send your pictures to a server to let you look at them. Whisper Notes works the same way: it turns sound into text right where you are.

When you install Whisper Notes, the AI models download to your device. Mac and iPhone both run the same lineup: Parakeet V3 (the default — 10x faster than Whisper for English and 24 other European languages), Whisper Large-V3-Turbo (100+ languages), and SenseVoice (the fastest offline engine for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean).

1. Tap record (or use the lock screen widget)
2. Speak
3. Stop
4. Text appears

You can also import existing audio files. Meeting recordings, interviews and lectures all work, in any of the supported formats. Processing happens on the device, so there is no upload time to add.

Lock screen recording. Tap the widget without unlocking. Useful for catching a thought before it goes, without unlocking the phone first.

Audio import. Import existing recordings. No file size limits.

100+ languages. Auto-detects what you're speaking.

Custom vocabulary. Add names and technical terms the model might miss.

Timestamps. Click any paragraph to jump to that moment in the audio.

Offline transcription fits if you:

• Want recordings to stay private
• Work in places without reliable internet
• Prefer one-time payment over subscriptions
• Transcribe sensitive conversations
• Want something that works without account setup

Offline processing has costs, and they are worth knowing before you commit:

Storage. The app is ~680MB. On Mac, the Whisper Large V3 Turbo model adds ~1.5GB for highest accuracy.

First launch. Takes 3-8 seconds to load the model. That happens once per session, and every transcription after it starts immediately.

Platform. iPhone and Mac only.

Speed. Faster than real-time. iPhone processes 5 minutes of audio in about 1 minute. An M-series Mac is faster still, at 12x real-time or better.

These trade-offs are worth it for some people. For others, cloud transcription makes more sense. Both have their place.

Price: $7.99 on iPhone. Free trial on Mac (10,000 words free, then $14). No subscriptions.

Models: Parakeet V3 (default), Whisper Large-V3-Turbo, and SenseVoice — the same lineup on Mac and iPhone, all running locally on Apple silicon.

Privacy: No network requests during transcription. Verify with a network monitor.

Updates: Free.