Transcribe voice memos to text, free
On an iPhone 12 or later, Voice Memos can write its own transcript: open the recording, tap More, then Copy Transcript. When that does not cover you (an older iPhone, a language Apple does not list, a recording someone sent you, an Android phone) or you need subtitles with times, save the voice memo as an .m4a and drop it here. Burncaps writes every word, you correct any of them with a click, and you download a text file, SRT or VTT. Text and subtitle files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes, with no sign-up.
The file stays in your browser. On a computer, the sound is heard on your own device unless you choose our speech service; on a phone, it goes to our speech service unless you keep it on the phone. The service gets short pieces of sound, never the file itself.
- Free, no sign-up
- iPhone and Android recordings
- Text, SRT or VTT
- Click any word to fix it
Live preview, rendered on this page by the same engine that burns your video.
First, check the iPhone's own transcript
Apple's note, read on 3 November 2026: "Audio transcription is available on iPhone 12 or later in English (all variants), Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese. It's not available in all countries or regions." If your iPhone and your language are on that list, this is the quickest way, and it needs nothing else.
Copy a voice memo's transcript on iPhone
- Open the Voice Memos app (in the Utilities folder).
- Tap the recording with the transcript you want.
- Tap More, then choose Copy Transcript for all of it, or View Transcript to select part of it and tap Copy.
- Paste the text into a note, a Mail message or a text file.
Apple's page also says a recording made in iOS 17 or earlier is transcribed when you open it, if it holds speech, and that Voice Memos on a Mac transcribes too, with macOS 15 or later on a Mac with Apple silicon.
When Apple's transcript is not the answer
| Your case | Voice Memos' own transcript | Burncaps |
|---|---|---|
| An older iPhone | Apple's note says iPhone 12 or later | Opens the saved .m4a in a browser on a computer or a phone |
| Hindi, Arabic, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Turkish or Urdu, for example | Not on Apple's list | All among the 59 spoken languages it writes |
| You need subtitles with times | Apple's page describes viewing, copying and searching the text, and no subtitle file | SRT, VTT and ASS files, each line timed to the voice, and a Text file with a time at each paragraph if you tick it |
| A recording someone sent you, or one from an Android phone | Apple's page covers recordings in Voice Memos | Opens an MP3, M4A or WAV, whoever recorded it |
| Names and jargon come out wrong | Apple's page describes no corrections | Click a word to correct it, and one click changes it everywhere it was heard |
How to get a voice memo off your iPhone
Apple's page says Voice Memos exports a recording "in .m4a format" by default, "so layered recordings are flattened and Spatial Audio becomes stereo". That .m4a is the file Burncaps opens.
Save it to Files
- In Voice Memos, tap the recording, tap More, then tap Share.
- Scroll down and tap Save to Files.
- Choose where to save it, then tap Save.
Or send it to your computer
- In Voice Memos, tap the recording, then tap More Actions and Share.
- Tap Options and choose Rendered, which Apple says creates "a single .m4a file with all audio effects and layers mixed in".
- Choose AirDrop to send it to your Mac, or Mail or Messages, then tap Done or Send.
With Voice Memos turned on in iCloud settings, Apple says your recordings also appear on your iPad and Mac signed in to the same Apple Account. Then open burncaps.app on the computer and drop the .m4a, or open burncaps.app on the iPhone and choose the file you saved in Files.
What Burncaps does with the voice memo
It listens
On a computer, English is heard on your own device, and our speech service is offered for other languages and for a recording over ten minutes. On the iPhone itself the sound goes to our speech service unless you tap Keep the sound on this phone.
You correct it
Every word sits on the page as a script. Click a word to correct it everywhere it was heard, and type names in Names to spell right so our AI spells them right (only the text goes).
You take the files
Text for the words in paragraphs, SRT or VTT for subtitles. A memo up to ten minutes gives them free, as often as you like; a longer one, up to three hours, gives its first ten minutes free, and all of it as one of your free videos (2 every 30 days), in the 7-day Captions + Clips trial or on a paid plan.
A long memo: a lecture or a meeting
Over ten minutes, Burncaps reads an M4A with AAC sound inside, a piece at a time. M4A to text says what that means, and what to do if a long one will not open. The Text file does not name who is speaking, so a meeting's notes still need the names added. The script's text leaves your device only if you type names to spell right or choose a translation (it then goes to our AI); ticking Keep everything on this device stops that.
Android voice recordings
Google's Recorder app runs on Pixel 3 and later phones and the Pixel Tablet, and writes its own transcript; Google's page says "Recorder sends audio to an on-device Google service or app to transcribe it". To keep its transcript, touch and hold a recording, tap Share, then Transcript (.txt).
Get the sound out of Google's Recorder
- Open the Recorder app and touch and hold the recording.
- Tap Share, then File.
- Choose Audio, then the app to share it with.
Then drop that file on burncaps.app. A recording from another phone's recorder app opens the same way if it is an MP3, M4A or WAV; transcribe audio to text lists every file that works.
Recording on video next time?
Captions burned into the picture and Clips work on a picture, so they need a video file. Filmed on the iPhone's camera instead, the same talk becomes a captioned video in 60 styles, free for 2 videos every 30 days with no watermark. Or choose Clips, and Burncaps finds the best moments and cuts each into a ranked, captioned 9:16 clip; each free video exports up to 3 of them, and Captions + Clips exports every clip, unlimited.
What it costs
Free: 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark, no sign-up. Then try Captions + Clips free for 7 days, no card. Captions + Clips is $29 a month for unlimited clips and captions; Captions is $9.98 a month or $49 once.
Questions, answered plainly
How do I transcribe a voice memo on my iPhone?
On an iPhone 12 or later, Voice Memos can write the transcript itself: open the recording, tap More, then choose Copy Transcript, or View Transcript to copy part of it (Apple's steps, read 3 November 2026). Where that does not cover you, save the recording to Files and drop the .m4a on burncaps.app: it writes every word, you correct any of them with a click, and you download a text file, SRT or VTT, free for recordings up to ten minutes.
Why is there no transcript in my Voice Memos?
Apple's note says audio transcription is available on iPhone 12 or later in English (all variants), Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese, and is not available in all countries or regions. An older iPhone or another language gets no transcript there; Burncaps writes 59 spoken languages from the saved .m4a.
What format are iPhone voice memos?
Apple's page says recordings are exported in .m4a format by default, so layered recordings are flattened and Spatial Audio becomes stereo. Burncaps opens that .m4a. Apple's other choice, Editable, saves the QuickTime Audio format so the effects and layers can be changed later; choose the default for a transcript.
How do I get a voice memo onto my computer?
In Voice Memos, tap the recording, tap More Actions, then Share, and send it by AirDrop or Mail; Apple's page says Rendered makes a single .m4a file. Or tap Share, then Save to Files. With Voice Memos turned on in iCloud settings, Apple says your recordings also appear on a Mac signed in to the same Apple Account.
Can I get subtitles or timestamps from a voice memo?
Yes, with Burncaps. Press SRT or VTT for subtitle files with every line timed to the voice, or Text for the words in paragraphs; tick Times in the Text file and each paragraph starts with its time in the recording, like [00:01:23].
Is my voice memo uploaded?
The file itself stays in your browser. On a computer, the sound is heard on your own device unless you choose our speech service; on a phone it goes to our speech service unless you keep it on the phone (short pieces of sound to Microsoft's speech recognition in the EU, which by Microsoft's terms for the service stores none of it).
Can I transcribe a voice recording from an Android phone?
Yes. Google's Recorder on Pixel 3 and later phones writes its own transcript and can share it as a .txt file. For its sound, touch and hold the recording, tap Share, then File, then Audio (Google's steps, read 3 November 2026), and drop that file on burncaps.app. A recording from another app opens the same way if it is an MP3, M4A or WAV.
Does it say who is speaking?
No. The Text file holds the words in paragraphs and does not name or label who is speaking, so for a meeting or an interview you add the names yourself.
Where Apple's and Google's facts come from
Read on their own help pages on 3 November 2026, and rechecked monthly: Apple's iPhone User Guide, View a Voice Memos transcription on iPhone, Export a Voice Memos recording to Files, Share a recording in Voice Memos and Make a recording in Voice Memos; the Voice Memos User Guide for Mac, View a Voice Memos transcription on Mac; and Google's Pixel Help, Create, edit and delete a recording and Save and share recordings and transcripts.
Burncaps facts, checked 3 November 2026
What it is: a browser tool that burns animated word-by-word captions into a talking video, or finds the best moments of a talk, podcast or interview and gives them back as ranked, captioned 9:16 clips.
Price: free for 2 videos every 30 days, each one recording with its captioned video and up to 3 clips, no mark and no sign-up; then the free 7-day Captions + Clips trial, no card (your email only); then Captions + Clips, $29 a month, gives unlimited clips and captioned videos, or Captions, $9.98 a month or $49 once, gives unlimited captioned videos. Captions paid once is not a subscription.
Privacy: the video never leaves your browser. The sound goes only to our speech service, on a phone unless you switch it off, on a computer only if you choose it. Because the video never reaches us, we cannot keep it or train AI on it, and we train no AI on anything you make.
Files: MP4 or MOV in, MP4 out. Captions on the whole video: up to ten minutes. Clips: up to three hours, on a phone or a computer. SRT, VTT, ASS and text files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes; a longer recording, up to three hours, gives its script and those files (the first ten minutes free, all of it as one of your free videos, in the trial or with Captions + Clips or Captions) and its clips (every one found and shown before you sign up; up to 3 from each free video exported free, every one in the trial or with Captions + Clips).
Clips: about one clip for every two minutes of talk, up to 30, ranked, the ones we would post first circled, each showing the words it opens and ends on and the reason it was chosen; each cut to 9:16 with ums and dead air removed, an opening card and captions, framed on whoever is talking. Every clip of the whole recording is found and shown, free and with no sign-up; each free video exports up to 3 of them, and the 7-day trial and Captions + Clips export every clip, unlimited.
Languages and styles: captions in the language spoken, twelve Indian languages heard on your device, translation into 59 languages, 60 caption styles.
After it listens: correct any word (one click changes it everywhere), add or cut words, one to six words at a time, position, size, text and highlight colours, and names this browser remembers, all free and without listening again.
Made by: Jordan Labs Ltd, UK company no. 17358646.
Against other tools: sixteen caption tools compared, from the vendors' own pages.