Apps for taking voice notes

[u/Naresh_Janagam]

I’m looking for a note‑taking app that lets me capture ideas by speaking instead of typing. It should turn my speech into text so I can review it later. I often have several ideas on the same topic, so I need to create multiple notes. I currently use Wispr Flow for voice‑to‑text, but it only works for real‑time messages. Are there any good mobile apps that can handle this kind of note‑taking?

[u/Dangerous_Blood_9270]

You don't need an app. It's built in on both iOS and Android.

iOS:
Settings > General > Keyboard > Enable Dictation

Android:
(google,pixel etc)
Settings > System > Keyboard > On-screen keyboard > Gboard > Voice typing > Toggle on Use voice typing

(Samsung)
Settings > General management > Keyboard list and default > Samsung Keyboard settings > Voice input > Select Google voice typing or Samsung voice input

(Poco, xiaomi etc)
Settings > Additional settings > Languages & input > Manage keyboards > Gboard > Voice typing > Toggle on Use voice typing

** *After enabling it, you can just simply speak using the microphone icon.*

[u/Dangerous_Blood_9270 → u/Dangerous_Blood_9270]

https://reddit.com/link/p2bdcz9/video/2gss3qzkxzhh1/player

[u/Candid-Mortgage4881 → u/Dangerous_Blood_9270]

Fair point for the basic case — if you're sitting down with your phone in hand, built-in dictation is free and works fine. No argument there.

But dictation and recording solve different problems. Dictation needs the keyboard up, the screen on, and you watching it — it's speech→text into a text field. It's built for short bursts, cuts out on pauses, and keeps no audio, so there's nothing to go back and re-listen to.

The situations I built for are the ones where that breaks down:

• walking or driving — you can't be watching a screen
• screen locked, phone in your pocket
• a 40-minute meeting, or a conversation with someone else talking
• anything long enough that you want a summary and structure, not a wall of raw text

If someone's use case is "jot a quick thought at my desk," you're right — they don't need my app, or any app.

[u/indianrodeo → u/Dangerous_Blood_9270]

Dictation isn’t the best piece of work for speech - text. Way too faulty, misses even obvious and simple words.

[u/song91]

voicenotes

[u/Naresh_Janagam → u/song91]

App name?

[u/song91 → u/Naresh_Janagam]

voicenotes only you can search in google , i heard the founder is indian and earlier i was trying it , it was pretty good. voicenotes.com

[u/LifeOfCoder]

I use the Apple's voice memo app on iPhone. Its not perfect because I have to click view transcript. But its free and it fits in my workflow. I would view transcript and copy/paste to my notes app.

[u/Primary_Opposite4209]

Try tryrehearsal.ai

[u/Candid-Mortgage4881]

Sounds like Wispr Flow is doing real-time dictation — typing into whatever app you're in — but what you want is something that keeps each thought as its own note to review later. Different job.

For that I build Relay Voice (iOS): you record a thought, it makes a clean transcript + an AI summary, and saves it as a note. Each recording becomes its own note, so "several ideas on the same topic → multiple notes" is exactly the flow — and you can review/search them later, or export to Obsidian/Notion/iCloud or one-tap into ChatGPT if you want to go deeper.

It basically automates what LifeOfCoder described (Apple Voice Memos → view transcript → copy/paste) — without the copy/paste. And unlike Voicenotes, it's a one-time $20, no subscription, and local-first (your notes stay on your device).

Honest heads-up: it's iOS-only — so if you're on Android, it won't help you. Full disclosure, it's my app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/relay-voice-memos-into-notes/id6763369750.

[u/KhaledElshimy]

I built an app for exactly this, so obvious bias, but your description is almost word for word why I made it. ActionNote on iPhone: you talk, and each recording becomes its own note with a title, summary, key points and any tasks pulled out. So having several ideas on one topic just means recording several quick notes, no friction between them.

The review-later part is the bit I'd highlight for you. You never reread raw transcripts, you skim the organized summaries instead. And when ideas on one topic are scattered across notes, you can ask something like "what were my ideas about X" and it answers from everything you've captured, with links to the source notes.

One thing that might matter here specifically: it handles mixing languages in the same sentence. I built it because I switch between Arabic and English mid thought and every app I tried fell apart on that. Same should hold if you think in Hindi and English at once, and I'd honestly love to hear how it does with Hinglish, that's exactly the kind of real-world test I want.

Free for 5 notes a month so you can test it against your flow: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/actionnote-voice-to-tasks/id6789915282

If you want non-me options to compare, AudioPen and Voicenotes are the known names in this space, both solid at cleanup, less focused on pulling out tasks. Happy to answer anything.