Support

Offline Transcribe for Mac, iPhone and iPad

Something not working, or a recording that came out wrong? Write to supportlap478@gmail.com and you'll get a real answer from the person who wrote the app.

It helps to say which device you were on, what language you were speaking, and what you expected. If the app showed you a message, quoting it word for word is the fastest way to a fix.

Things people ask

Why does it want to download something the first time?

Speech recognition needs a language model on the device, and your device only ships with the ones for its own language. If your phone is set to English and you speak Spanish, Spanish has to be downloaded once. Open the globe button, find your language and tap the download arrow. After that it works with no internet at all — you can check by turning on Airplane Mode.

I spoke Spanish and the text came out as nonsense

That happens when the app is transcribing with the wrong language: an English model listening to Spanish produces English-looking words that mean nothing.

With automatic detection on, the app notices this and redoes the transcript in the right language by itself. If the right language isn't downloaded yet, it tells you which one it sounds like and offers to download it. You can also just pick the language yourself from the globe button — and once you do, the app remembers it, so the next recording starts out right.

Why does it detect the language after I stop, not while I record?

Because there is nothing to listen to yet. The speech engine has to be told a language before the first second of audio exists. So the app records with the language you have selected, and when you stop it checks whether what you said matches — and redoes it if it doesn't. Opening a file is different: there the app listens to the first thirty seconds and picks the language before starting.

Can it tell speakers apart?

No. The transcript is one continuous piece of text with no "Speaker 1 / Speaker 2" labels, because the on-device engine does not separate voices. If you need labelled speakers for meeting minutes, this app is not the right tool and we'd rather say so than have you find out after paying.

Does it work with no internet?

Yes, completely — once the language you need has been downloaded. That is the whole point of the app: the recognition runs on your Mac, iPhone or iPad, and nothing is ever uploaded.

Can I fix a word the app got wrong?

Yes. Open a transcript and choose Edit. When you save, the timings are kept and re-spread over the corrected text, so exported subtitles still line up.

Can I export several transcripts at once?

Text and Markdown, yes — they are combined into one file, each under its own heading. Subtitles cannot be merged: an .srt starts its timings at zero, so joining two would make the second one overwrite the first. Subtitles are exported one file per transcript.

Do I have to buy it twice for my Mac and my phone?

No. One purchase covers Mac, iPhone and iPad.

Where are my recordings kept, and how do I get rid of them?

In the app's own storage on that device. Deleting a transcript deletes its audio too, and deleting the app removes everything. Nothing was ever copied anywhere else.

Languages

The app can transcribe in every language the operating system's speech engine supports on your device — around thirty at the time of writing. The Languages screen shows which ones are already on your device and which need downloading.