Speech to Text with OpenAI Whisper — my app that makes transcription simple
Speech to Text with OpenAI Whisper — my app that makes transcription simple
Why I built it
I wanted a fast way to transcribe speech to text — no subscription, no hassle. So I built Speech to Text - Transcription. A simple iOS app that uses OpenAI Whisper to turn your voice into text at the tap of a button.
It started as a personal annoyance. Every time I wanted to get a thought, a voice memo or a meeting into text, I ended up with apps that either charged a monthly fee or wanted access to half my phone. I wanted the opposite: open, talk, done.
How it works
The flow is deliberately stripped down:
- Open the app
- Tap to record
- The text appears — ready to copy
There's no login, no accounts and no subscription model billing your card every month. You buy cheap tokens and you get some for free at start.
Whisper — why it's the right choice
OpenAI Whisper is one of the strongest transcription models out there. It handles accents, background noise and multiple languages better than most alternatives — and it switches effortlessly between languages mid-sentence. For anyone who dictates the way people actually speak, with filler words and half-finished thoughts, that makes a real difference.
A few things Whisper is genuinely good at:
- Multilingual: a wide range of languages, with strong accuracy
- Noisy environments: meetings, the car, the café — it still picks up the words
- Punctuation and paragraphs: the text comes out readable, not one endless sentence
The Mac trick that's genuinely slick
One thing I like especially is the clipboard integration with Mac. Transcribe something on your phone and you can drop it straight into your computer's clipboard via Apple's Universal Clipboard. Speak → Copy → Paste on the Mac. It's a smooth flow for anyone juggling phone and laptop.
Your data stays with you
The app collects zero data about you. There's no account login tying your transcriptions to a profile, and nothing is sent to a third party beyond the Whisper call itself, made with your own key. The text is saved locally on your device. If you transcribe meetings, interviews or sensitive notes, that's an important difference from cloud services that store everything on their own servers.
Token based, in a subscription world
Most transcription apps in the App Store cost $5–40 per month. That's a business model that works for them, but often feels unnecessary for a simple tool. Speech to Text - Transcription is token-based — you only pay for what you use. Transcribe half an hour a week and it costs almost nothing. Go heavy for a stretch and you pay for that stretch. No lock-in, no fee quietly ticking over in the background.
Who is it for?
- Journalists and writers who want interviews in text
- Business owners dictating emails and notes between meetings
- Students recording lectures
- Anyone who simply writes slower than they talk
Give it a try
The app is available on the App Store and is perfect for anyone who often dictates notes, wants to transcribe meetings, or simply wants to skip typing on their phone.
Updated: 2026-07-09