Bait and switch
Basically just switch their model where they made a basic version, their premium version and their premium version a business version. so anyone who was loyal to the premium version for a couple of years, would get the shock of the general use case now being strictly limited. and on top of it, if you chose not to upgrade to business and just wanted to cancel, you wouldn’t really even have the option to back up everything that’s in your account without upgrading to business. On top of that, they don’t allow a business account subscription through the App Store. Which is obviously intentional because Otter is in money grab phase of hooking a customer with an admittedly fine product then gouging with a higher subscription level to retain the same features as the previous premium level, and stripping features from paying subscribers.
This instead of being a thoughtful developer and actually coming up with something new for business level subscription.
Anyway, discovered that Microsoft Word dictation will actually do transcription at no additional cost, so Otter’s basic transcription isn’t a value. The other features might be to certain people, but I don’t think it’s really very ethical to create higher subscription levels and migrate features to the higher subscription model to pull in more revenue.
This instead of being a thoughtful developer and actually coming up with something new for business level subscription.
Anyway, discovered that Microsoft Word dictation will actually do transcription at no additional cost, so Otter’s basic transcription isn’t a value. The other features might be to certain people, but I don’t think it’s really very ethical to create higher subscription levels and migrate features to the higher subscription model to pull in more revenue.
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Response from developer
Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback. Our pricing/plan structure will allow us to continue innovating and adding more features, while still being priced low compared to our competitors. We have different subscription plans depending on the user's needs and limits. Our basic plan is free and offers 300 minutes per month. I will definitely pass your feedback along to our team though! Thank you!
Accurate and great for transcribing interviews
I’ve been using Otter to transcribe interviews in my research, and compared to other transcribing software like Microsoft copilot, this has by far been more accurate and is incredibly user friendly.
Being able to receive instant outlines from the audio, and the inbuilt otter chat function has been terrifically helpful.
I’ve been using the free version, and if I were to conduct more interviews, I would definitely invest in this app
Another great aspect is its capability to use it on both mobile and laptop, which makes the whole experience very efficient.
Super glad I found this app, never going back
Thank you
Being able to receive instant outlines from the audio, and the inbuilt otter chat function has been terrifically helpful.
I’ve been using the free version, and if I were to conduct more interviews, I would definitely invest in this app
Another great aspect is its capability to use it on both mobile and laptop, which makes the whole experience very efficient.
Super glad I found this app, never going back
Thank you
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Disappointed
Would be an awesome app if it actually transcribed the right words. It cannot even get basic clear words correct.
Response from developer
Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback. We'd like to look into these issues to see if we can improve the quality of your conversations. Could you please submit a new request through this link: https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=16792365532055.
Export
None of my dictations are not going to the email I sent.
That is unacceptable.
That is unacceptable.
Response from developer
Hello! Could you please submit a new request through this link with more information on how you were sending the transcripts to your email: https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=16792365532055. Were you exporting and clicking on an app? Please provide more information in the request and our team will gladly help.
Needs more work
Worked well for many months, but since the last update it periodically stops after a few seconds into a recording for no apparent reason. I have the subscription too which is very expensive. They have also changed the plan to a quarter of the minutes for an increase in price.
Response from developer
Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback. We'd like to look into this recording issue for you. Could you please submit a new request through this link: https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=16792365532055. Our team will gladly help.
Just Fabulous
I can’t say enough good things. I work from home now and it makes it so much easier to take notes of meetings, phone calls, etc. and after I have a long meeting, I can go back and easily see the talking points a summary, and action items. They’re already done for me. I don’t even have to do that part myself, the transcription is extremely accurate and very fast. When I need it, I can even listen to the conversation back as well. I just have nothing but good things to say. I ended up paying for the additional minutes/conversations after using the free version for about a year. I didn’t necessarily need to upgrade, but just decided that I liked it so much that I really wanted to invest in using it much more often and not having to be too judicious about using it. That said, I think a lot of people could just use the free version and have no problems at all. I intend on continuing with the paid version as long as the price doesn’t get entirely too steep. If I owned a business, I would get a license for all of my employees.
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Useful, but…
Otter have produced a useful tool to record events, meetings etc. In theory at the end you should have an audio track and a set of words which represent roughly what was said. I’m surprised, how often reading the transcript, it makes no sense so I have to play the recording to understand; this takes a lot of valuable time. Also, twice now I’ve depended on the recording, and found it’s not there at the end. Try to avoid this being your only record of an important meeting because you may just be let down. One positive, although the transcription is mediocre much of the time, it’s way better than Microsoft’s dictation system (on a Mac).
Since I wrote the above, Otter have massively increased their prices and reduced the number of minutes’ transcription they provide. All in all it’s not worth it any more; I shall not renew.
Since I wrote the above, Otter have massively increased their prices and reduced the number of minutes’ transcription they provide. All in all it’s not worth it any more; I shall not renew.
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Response from developer
Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback. We'd like to look into these issues to see if we can improve the quality of your conversations. Could you please submit a new request through this link: https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=16792365532055.
Life Changer
Otter has honestly been a life changer. My university supplied it for me as an accommodation to have a live transcription/record of classes/lectures and it was INCREDIBLE! Up until grad school I had been getting lost during class and often having to ask classmates what we were talking about - but now I could simply scroll up the transcript and read verbatim what I had missed. It was also very helpful for when professors verbally explained assignments. In the past I would have the prompts but forget what the professor had explained, but now I could go back and read the transcript or actually listen to the audio of their instructions!
It’s also been so helpful during meetings to create a transcript so I can focus on the conversation itself rather than trying to write everything down. It creates highlights which are helpful to jog my memory, and then I have everything right there if I want to look back at it.
It also is so helpful when I write papers! In the past I’ve spent a lot of time staring at a blank Word doc because I just didn’t know how to start or write out all of my thoughts. With Otter I start by talking through my outline, and then use that transcript document to flesh out the rest of my paper. I don’t know how I would have finished grad school without Otter.
It’s also been so helpful during meetings to create a transcript so I can focus on the conversation itself rather than trying to write everything down. It creates highlights which are helpful to jog my memory, and then I have everything right there if I want to look back at it.
It also is so helpful when I write papers! In the past I’ve spent a lot of time staring at a blank Word doc because I just didn’t know how to start or write out all of my thoughts. With Otter I start by talking through my outline, and then use that transcript document to flesh out the rest of my paper. I don’t know how I would have finished grad school without Otter.
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Technical support worse than the business
Very frustrating here asking every day for me to up my minutes and every day I open the case to up my minutes and nobody even gets back to me. I believe your application is really good but your support is probably the worst I’ve ever seen in the history of my career. And when I contact the Sales they told me open up the case there comes as a pop-up pop-up, which I do every day. and I told him how crazy it was so obviously this is gonna give this application a zero star for me here soon and I’m gonna copy and paste this into my comments about this application with Apple Store App Store and that everybody else know that I have contacts as an msp with over 200 clients in the metro New York area and a lot of them do use you guys not more pretty soon because it’s getting very frustrating . The best way for any software application provider can lose clients is by not provide the technical for someone who is beta testing it to see if he likes it. Oh, and by the way, Sales told me I gotta buy a premier package of some sort tickets support with that really is crazy and I even asked to purchase every day more minutes and you guys don’t get back to me…something is really wrong with your company
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Response from developer
Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback. Could you please submit a new request through this link: https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=16792365532055. We'll look into all of this further. Thank you!
Technical support worse than the business
This is a negative review and I’m pretty positive. Probably not post it because they don’t want this to be posted because they’re application is good but they have absolutely zero technical support even when you’re trying to buy additional minutes. Their application does not have an automatic recording only when there’s voice activated in the background. So therefore, they want you to run out of your minutes, so be careful that using this, except for only, what you need to. It’s a lot easier going back to any handheld recorded, has voice activation, and then use your transcriber from another company… More likely this post will not be publicized for they do not like public negative reviews. This app does not even deserve a one star rating. It should be a zero star rating because of their technical support here it is by seven days requesting more minutes and ask somebody to email me or respond back to A. Technical support question has not happened yet. This is probably ran by one person in the basement has AI to respond to the millions they have so I would not even invest in this. Go to the competitor much better.
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