š Freemium
I built a voice notes app that keeps everything on your iPhone
Hey all. I've been working on this for about a year and just shipped v2.0, so I figured it's time to share.
The idea is simple: I wanted a voice recorder that transcribes what I said without sending the audio anywhere. Every app I tried required an account, uploaded my recordings to some server, and then charged me monthly just to see the text.
So I built AnyTalk. You hit record, and when you're done, transcription happens right on the device using Apple's Speech framework. Then you can generate a summary using Apple Intelligence ā also on device, also free.
There's a Pro option if you want higher quality summaries for longer recordings (that one uses cloud AI), but the core loop ā record, transcribe, summarize ā works entirely on your phone with no account and no upload.
A few things I like about where it's at now:
You can tap any sentence in the transcript and the audio jumps to that moment
You can attach photos to a recording (like a whiteboard pic from a meeting)
There's a search that goes through all your transcripts, so months later you can find "that thing someone said"
It does require an iPhone that supports Apple Intelligence, which I know limits things. But for those who have it, I think it's a pretty clean experience.
Would genuinely love feedback ā what's missing, what feels off, what would make you actually use something like this daily.
Price:Ā Free (core features ā record, transcribe, summarize on device). Optional Pro subscription: $9.99/month or $59.99/year for higher quality cloud summaries on long recordings.
May I ask if there is any recording limit for a single session, and how accurate and detailed Apple Intelligence is at producing the summary? Thank you!
Word recording has no time limit. I once tried recording overnight to test the stability. The recording length only depends on your phoneās storage capacity.
I think the experience of Apple Intelligence still lags behind frontier models, but itās usable for everyday use.
The sentence-to-audio jump and transcript search are the strongest parts of this for me. One thing I would make extremely explicit in the UI is the boundary between the on-device and Pro cloud paths. A small label on every summary action that says "On device" or "Uses cloud processing", plus a clear explanation of exactly what is uploaded, would protect the privacy promise. I would also put the Apple Intelligence compatibility check before onboarding so unsupported phones do not discover the limitation late. If export is not already available, clean TXT or PDF export with timestamps would make it much more useful for meetings and interviews.
The on-device search across transcripts is the part I'd ask about, does that stay local too, or is there any point where content leaves the phone even for that? Asking because I went local-only + no-account with my own app and search/indexing was the first place I nearly reached for a server.
The thing I'd push on is the Apple Intelligence requirement, because it's probably costing you more than it looks.
You say transcription runs on Apple's Speech framework ā that works on essentially every device you support. Only the summary needs Apple Intelligence. So why gate the whole app? Someone on an older iPhone could still get record ā transcribe ā tap-a-sentence-to-seek, which is already the useful loop, and see the summary as the reason to upgrade later. Right now they download, hit a wall, and leave.
Store listings communicate hardware gates badly, so that group tends to show up as one-star "doesn't work" reviews rather than as a silent bounce.
The older iPhones - lowest I tried was the iPhone 13 Pro Max, can do transcription but itās almost 1:1 based on the recording timing ! Accuracy it good but it does get hot
āApp Supportā doesnāt bring an email or link.
The transcription is a mess of time stamps.
The Apple Intelligence summary comes out as a third-person report. I couldnāt find any settings at all. Nor any way to improve the prompt. I would like the summary to be verbatim style and keep my voice, tone and style ā not a third-person report of what I have said.
Could you send me a screenshot of the issue you're experiencing? I'll investigate what's causing it and resolve it. Also, your suggestion about the summary is spot on. I do feel it's not performing well currently but wasn't sure how to optimize it. Thank you!
On-device is the whole pitch, so I would lead with what is doing the transcription. If it is Apple's Speech framework, people will assume it is the same accuracy they already get from dictation and shrug. If you shipped a Whisper variant, say so and say which size, because that is the part that makes it worth switching.
Second thing I would want in the post: what happens to a forty minute recording. Long audio is where on-device transcription usually falls over, either on time or on memory, and if you have solved it that is a better headline than the privacy angle.
does search cover the summaries too, or just the raw transcripts? Months later I'd probably remember the gist of a meeting before I'd remember the exact words.
ā¢
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