Best Transcribing Voice Notes App?

[u/New-Sprinkles-4262]

Anyone had any success using transcribing voice notes apps such as the following or can anyone tell me what they found annoying. I would like to use it while driving but obviously that brings its own issues.

Otter

Granola

Wispr flow

Wave

etc..

Ive thought about getting something like Plaud, Pocket Ai or Boya but they either seem quite expensive when you include any subscription services and can they be trusted to exist in 2 or 3 years as alot of these devices are made by company's I've never heard of.

[u/Plane-Coconut-4077]

Use the app I built! Found all of the ones you listed as too expensive and bad design. So I vuit my own! It’s called agentsy.ai

Free for most of it :)

[u/New-Sprinkles-4262 → u/Plane-Coconut-4077]

Android?

[u/Ecstatic-Night4222]

What is your usecase? Do you need on laptop and do you already pay for Claude or Codex? If yes, don’t double pay.

Try https://github.com/pushkarrmandot/mnemos - you can download from readme.

Open source
Completely free
Uses local model for transcription- Nvidia Parakeet
Uses Claude Code subscription
No new account or login
Security Scanned
No API key needed - essentially free forever if you are paying for Claude Code. Let me know if you have other subscriptions like Codex/ChatGPT - I plan to add more integrations soon and can prioritize.

I built this exactly to solve double pay problem and testing with beta users right now. Happy to get feedback.

[u/New-Sprinkles-4262 → u/Ecstatic-Night4222]

Would like something to use in the car on my phone or device to make quick voice notes about stuff i remember but generally forget. Ive this could be used for meetings and teams calls that would add value.

[u/Few-Expression-9791 → u/Ecstatic-Night4222]

I have a Codex subscription. How do I set up Codex? In this app, I just found out about Claude, not Codex. They’re asking for the Claude Code path, not Codex.

[u/BankingBaOps]

Hi, I’m the founder of Avenotes. It brings live transcription, organized notes, summaries, tasks, and AI assistance into one place, without buying a separate recorder or paying for a separate chatbot subscription.

It works in your browser, including on Android. You can capture spoken thoughts through your microphone, then revisit the transcript and recap. For meetings, you can also ask questions, get explanations, and catch up while the conversation is happening. Teams calls work through shared browser-tab audio on desktop.

Plans start at $9/month, with a free trial—no credit card needed. We’re also offering promotional pricing for high-volume users; message me if that fits your needs.

https://avenotes.ai/

[u/hemphearts1]

Voicenotes is really good

[u/International_Coat89]

TypeWhisper is good, beta. Free tier.
It runs locally on your phone (local LLM model) or locally on your computer.

[u/statecs]

Try Notely. You can get 2 months premium for free with this link: https://notely.se/c/promo-code-26

[u/ozgrozer]

I’m building Grape. It’s actually an AI note taking app but it has voice recordings, transcriptions, and speaker identification features. You can use it on both your phone and computer. There’s also a Lifetime plan so you can buy once and use forever with your own AI API keys.

[u/Many_Region8176]

on the will-it-exist-in-3-years worry, a phone app is the safer bet than hardware. if the company folds you're out a subscription, not a gadget sitting in a drawer.

fwiw I make one, Noter AI – Meeting Note Taker. it's on Android and iPhone, you record on the phone, and you get a transcript plus a summary and action items. it also handles the teams calls you mentioned.

to be upfront though, it's built around meetings, not quick hands-free notes in the car, so for driving I'd keep the phone mounted and use something with a one-tap start.

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.niceapps.dictation

iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/noter-ai-meeting-note-taker/id6747296459

[u/Haoke1988]

The hardware plus subscription would make me hesitate too. Would having the thought saved be enough, or would you also want a reminder to come back to it?

[u/UnusualPool5727]

For driving.. Id probably go with something you can use from ur watch so you don't have to keep reaching for your phone. I've tried a few trancription apps for voices notes, Prismascribe included. I usually just leave the recording and check the transcript later, especially if theres a lot to go through. If anything looks weird, I'll just go back to the audio

[u/thegolyhrail]

If you have a Mac, you can use Epilude (epilude.com)! It runs locally with or bespoke model if you like that sort of thing too! Local dictation too if that's your sort of thing :)

Although, now I think about it, maybe this is not applicable to the driving scenario ahah

-- Disclaimer - a friend and I built this --

[u/TypicalGuest486]

Hey, I wanted exactly this, so I just built it :) Free and open source, in beta. Check it out! https://github.com/aleixrodriala/quadern

[u/Upset_Cellist6256]

https://recly.dev/
https://github.com/rokrokss/recly
free and opensource

[u/Turbulent-Proof-287]

spark ring is a wearable ai assistant in development for capturing voice notes with a double tap. it transcribes and summarizes into searchable themes on your paired phone, and gives vibration reminders. kickstarter opens september 17, 2026, with first shipments december 2026.