# Aiko — AI Speech-to-Text (Transcribe)

> On-device AI speech-to-text transcription powered by OpenAI's Whisper. (iPhone/iPad app by Sindre Sorhus.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/aiko/id1672085276 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Sindre Sorhus](https://appshunter.io/developer/328077650)
- Category: Productivity, Business
- Price: $24.00
- Rating: 4.70/5 from 325 App Store ratings · 308 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 26.0 · 1.7 GB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2023-03-03
- Data updated: 2026-08-29
- Monetization: paid
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/aiko/id1672085276/reviews.md

## What is Aiko?

High-quality on-device transcription. Easily convert speech to text from meetings, lectures, and more.

The transcription is powered by OpenAI's Whisper running locally on your device. Nothing leaves your device.

You can export the transcription as subtitles too. It has a word-replacement feature to let you automatically fix common mistakes.

Aiko favors accuracy over speed.

It does not do live transcription while recording.
It does not currently have speaker detection.


Try the trial first. See website.

Note: Sharing from Voice Memos on iOS 26 does not work because of a iOS 26 bug outside of my control.


Supports audio in 100 different languages:
Afrikaans, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Assamese, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Bashkir, Basque, Belarusian, Bosnian, Breton, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Finnish, French, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hausa, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kannada, Kazakh, Khmer, Korean, Lao, Latin, Latvian, Lingala, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Macedonian, Malagasy, Malay, Malayalam, Maltese, Marathi, Mongolian, Māori, Nepali, Norwegian, Norwegian Nynorsk, Occitan, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Sanskrit, Serbian, Shona, Sindhi, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tajik, Tamil, Tatar, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Turkish, Turkmen, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Welsh, Yiddish, Yoruba


The app was made possible thanks to Whisper by OpenAI and whisper.cpp by Georgi Gerganov.


■ FAQ

‣ Can I edit the text in the app?

I don't plan to support any editing. Export the transcription and edit it in a proper text editor.

‣ Why is the app so large?

The app delivers the highest quality transcription on the market for 100 different languages. Rather than asking why it's so large, the real question is how is it so small.

‣ Why is the transcription so slow?

The app favors accuracy over speed. However, performance is expected to improve in the coming months.

‣ Why must I keep the iOS app open while it transcribes?

iOS apps are fundamentally restricted from operating in the background for extended periods.

‣ Can I delete some of the languages to save space?

This is unfortunately not possible. The model has all the languages stored together in a way that makes it impossible to remove just some languages.


More FAQs on the website.


■ Technical details

The app uses the Whisper medium or small model on iOS depending on available memory and the large v3 model on macOS.


■ Privacy

The transcription is done locally on your device. Nothing leaves your device.


■ Support

You can contact me through the feedback button in the app.

## Key features

- On-device AI transcription
- OpenAI Whisper powered
- Export as subtitles
- Word replacement for corrections
- Supports 100+ languages
- Privacy-focused, no data leaves device

## Chart rankings

- #32 in Top Paid · Productivity (US App Store)

## What do users think of Aiko?

Overall sentiment: positive

**Pros**

- 🔒 Privacy-focused transcription
- 🚀 Accurate transcription
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🎉 Free and open-source
- 💪 Powerful AI model (Whisper)

**Cons**

- 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
- ⏱️ Slow transcription speed
- 🔋 Resource-intensive
- 🤔 Inconsistent formatting

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Repeated sentences
- Incorrect language detection
- Transcription loss on app exit

**Most requested features**

- Support for multiple speakers
- Ability to select transcription model
- Export options for timestamps and speaker labels
- Background transcription mode

## Recent user reviews (10 of 308)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/aiko/id1672085276/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Excellent app easy to use.

*2026-07-11, version 1.11.0*

I absolutely love this app! Very clear and simple to use and you can copy and paste to anywhere. Definitely worth all the money I paid!

### 5/5 — A fantastic app for language learners!

*2026-07-10, version 1.11.0*

Aiko helps me create subtitles from Chinese videos without captions, making it much easier to study and understand native speech. Simple, accurate, and extremely useful. Thank you for this wonderful tool! 🙏

### 5/5 — Great App - Thank You

*2026-06-23, version 1.10.0*

For me it’s a great app. I have a bit of a problem remembering an entire conversation.  This app has helped me quite a bit in recalling them.  It is nice to have an instant replay to job my memory!

### 5/5 — Fantastic!

*2026-06-22, version 1.10.0*

Aiko is one of the most useful apps I’ve added to my workflow. The interface is clean, intuitive, and refreshingly minimal—there’s no clutter, just a tool that does exactly what it promises.

What sets Aiko apart for me is its commitment to local processing. Being able to keep both my audio recordings and transcriptions on-device provides a level of privacy and control that is increasingly rare. The transcription quality is excellent, setup is effortless, and the app stays out of the way so I can focus on my work.

Simple, fast, reliable, and privacy-focused. Highly recommended.

### 5/5 — Simply awesome

*2026-05-29, version 1.10.0*

The app works great and it respects user’s privacy by not collecting data. It’s also the only app I’ve found where one can drag an audio from iMessage and drop it in the app to get a transcription, which is useful for users that use the phone in multiple languages.

### 2/5 — Confusing

*2026-05-18, version 1.10.0*

I paid, I downloaded, I opened it, and I'm confused about how to use it. You capture one note, you don't know where it went, then you start to record another thing, and you don't know where the first note went. It's so confusing. I really regret paying for this thing. Never pay for something you cannot try ever again.

### 1/5 — Doesn’t Work

*2026-05-02, version 1.10.1*

I tried using this app instead of Otter.AI, but the tool got stuck transcribing the first few words in my recording over and over. I adjusted the settings to prevent the error, but doing so had no effect. Wish I could get a refund! In Otter, the transcription worked just fine with the same audio clip.

### 5/5 — Wizardry

*2026-04-29, version 1.10.1*

I’m convinced there is some kind of dark art at work here. I record interviews with people around a table. It’s a challenging environment with people cross talking, but Aiko captures the conversations accurately so I can then organise them with AI and write my documents with it. Brilliant.

### 1/5 — Décevante et peu pratique

*2026-04-27*

Je déconseille fortement cette application. Je l’ai achetée en pensant obtenir un vrai outil de transcription, mais l’expérience a été très décevante.

Points négatifs :
- Impossible de transcrire correctement certains audios.
- Interface peu intuitive et désagréable à utiliser.
- Aucun résumé automatique, alors que c’est une fonctionnalité attendue aujourd’hui.
- Transcription très lente.
- Obligation de laisser l’application ouverte pendant tout le traitement.
- Si on ferme l’application, la transcription peut être perdue.

Au final j’ai payé pour une application qui me fait perdre du temps au lieu de m’en faire gagner. Je recommande de regarder d’autres alternatives avant d’acheter.

**Developer response:** Merci pour votre retour. Aiko est conçu pour la confidentialité, pas pour la vitesse à tout prix : vos fichiers audio restent sur votre appareil et ne sont jamais envoyés à un serveur. C’est très différent de la plupart des applications de transcription, qui peuvent être plus rapides parce qu’elles traitent vos fichiers audio dans le cloud.

En contrepartie, la transcription peut prendre plus de temps, surtout sur iPhone/iPad, et iOS oblige Aiko à rester ouvert pendant le traitement. C’est une limitation du système.

Aiko est un achat unique avec des transcriptions illimitées. La plupart des alternatives basées sur le cloud fonctionnent par abonnement, ont des limites d’utilisation, ou les deux. Elles ne sont donc pas directement comparables.

---

Thanks for the feedback. Aiko is built for privacy, not speed at any cost: your audio stays on your device and is never uploaded to a server. That is very different from most transcription apps, which can be faster because they process your audio in the cloud.

The tradeoff is that transcription can take longer, especially on iPhone/iPad, and iOS requires Aiko to stay open while processing. That is a system limitation.

Aiko is a one-time purchase with unlimited transcriptions. Most cloud-based alternatives are subscriptions, have usage limits, or both, so they are not directly comparable.

### 5/5 — Merci 🙏

*2026-03-07*

C’est une des rares applications qui coche toutes les cases ! Un second merci au développeur pour sa participation active, la communauté des développeurs indépendants est vraiment formidable :)

__________________________________

This is one of the few applications that ticks all the boxes! A second thanks to the developer for his active participation, the community of independent developers is really great :)

## Frequently asked questions about Aiko

### What does this app do?

This app converts audio recordings into text using advanced AI technology. It leverages OpenAI's Whisper model to provide high-quality transcriptions directly on your device, ensuring your data remains private. You can then export these transcriptions as subtitles or use them for other purposes.

### How accurate is the transcription?

The app prioritizes accuracy over speed, aiming to provide the highest quality transcription available. It supports over 100 languages, making it a versatile tool for various audio sources like meetings and lectures.

### Is this app free to use?

The app is not free to use. It is a paid application designed to offer high-quality, on-device transcription. You can try a trial version first to assess its capabilities before purchasing.

### What devices is this app compatible with?

The app is available for iOS and macOS. Technical details indicate it uses different Whisper models depending on the device's available memory and operating system.

### Can I edit the transcribed text within the app?

No, the app does not support in-app text editing. The developer recommends exporting the transcription and using a separate text editor for any necessary modifications or corrections.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.11.0 — 2026-06-27

- The app now requires iOS 26.
- Improved performance.

### 1.10.0 — 2026-02-20

- New app icon. You can revert to the old one in the settings.
- Added setting to remove silent parts in audio, which can improve transcription quality and reduce repitition issues.

### 1.9.2 — 2025-11-24

- Bug fixes.

### 1.9.1 — 2025-05-30

- Bug fixes.

### 1.9.0 — 2025-04-18

- Now requires iOS 18.
- Improved performance.
- Reduced hallucinations during silence in audio.

## Apps similar to Aiko

| App | Rating | Price | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
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| [Noted: Record & AI Transcribe](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/noted-record-and-ai-transcribe/id1149425482) | 4.5 (3,601) | Free | Productivity |
| [Otter Transcribe Voice Notes](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/otter-transcribe-voice-notes/id1276437113) | 4.8 (75,660) | Free | Productivity |
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## More apps by Sindre Sorhus

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All apps by Sindre Sorhus: https://appshunter.io/developer/328077650

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-29.*