How to Transcribe a Voice Memo

Rashida Beal
Jan 14, 2023
How to Transcribe a Voice Memo
How to Transcribe a Voice Memo

iPhone voice memos are a simple way to record your thoughts for later. They’re also a great tool for recording interviews or lectures.

While listening back to the voice memo can help in some cases, it would also be great if you could turn the voice memo file into text.

The good news is that there are ways to transcribe a voice memo to text!

Keep reading to learn how!


How to Record a Voice Memo on iPhone

The first step is to record your memo with a voice recorder app. If you have an iPhone or IOS device, you won't need a third-party app from the app store. These devices include an easy voice recorder. In case you have not done this yet, here’s how recording audio works:

  1. Open the “Voice Memos” app on your phone. Modern iPhones house this app under the “Utilities” folder automatically.
  2. Press the large red button to begin recording
  3. Tap the recording waveform to bring up the menu
  4. Select “Pause”
  5. Then, press “Done” to end the recording


Why Transcribe a Voice Memo?

If you’ve never considered transcribing a voice memo before, you may wonder why this is so helpful. It’s true, sometimes we just take quick memos for personal notes. In that case, it may not be necessary to transcribe!

However, the built-in voice memo app on iPhones & iPads is incredibly handy for a variety of uses.

Here are some ways you may use the audio memo feature on ios devices:

As you can see, there are several important reasons to take voice notes. However, if you’re leaving them in audio format, you may not be getting the best use of them.

For example, imagine that you recorded a class lecture or business meeting. In audio form, the only way to get the information you’re looking for is to re-listen to the entire thing! With a written transcript, you have built-in notes to use when studying or writing up a meeting recap. If the transcript includes timestamps, then you can even use it to find certain parts of the audio to re-listen to!


Manually Transcribing Voice Memos

One option for transcribing voice memos is using a manual technique. Essentially, you would listen to the voice recording and type what you hear into your notes app, Google Docs, Microsoft Word, or another word processor.

If your voice note is very short, then this method may work fine! You don’t need a lot of equipment to do this, making it a very affordable choice.

However, if you are transcribing an interview, long voice note, or something more complex, then this method will take an extremely long time. The downside to manual transcription is that you have to spend your time and energy doing it. If you have long memos or a lot of memos to transcribe, this can eat up a ton of time.

Another option is to pay for a transcription service. But this can get incredibly expensive and still take a decent amount of time. In most cases, this is not the best way to transcribe audio in real-time.


The Best Way to Transcribe iPhone Voice Memos

Fortunately, Maestra makes it fast and simple to transcribe your voice memo file to text. Our AI-powered software includes an automatic audio-to-text converter. Here’s how you can use it to turn your iPhone voice memo into a written transcript:

Download Your Voice Memo File

The first step is to get your audio file. Select the voice memo you want to transcribe. Click on the three dots at the bottom left. “Save to Files” or “Share” it to your cloud storage app like Google Drive or Dropbox.

Upload Your File to Maestra

Head to our audio to text converter to upload your audio file. Sign into your account. You can drop a file from your device, or browse files from Dropbox, Google Drive, Instagram, and more. We support the most common file formats.

Automatically Transcribe the Audio

Upon uploading your file and selecting the original language, automatic transcription begins. You won’t need to worry about any part of transcription! You can also choose to include timestamps and speaker tags, which is ideal for interview content, podcasts, and more.

Review and Export

Your automatic transcription finishes in minutes! When it’s done, make any adjustments you’d like with our advanced editor. Then, transport the transcription file into your format of choice (PDF, DOCX, TXT, etc.)


Use Maestra to Transcribe Voice Memos Today!

If you’re looking for a fast, efficient way to transcribe voice memos to text, Maestra is here to help! Our easy online platform automatically transcribes audio, including voice memos. Try it out  and sign up for a free demo to learn more!

Rashida Beal
Jan 14, 2023

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