# Cleft - For Verbal Thinkers — user reviews > 50 indexed App Store user reviews of Cleft by Cleft AI, rated 4.70/5 from 67 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cleft-for-verbal-thinkers/id6479458038/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cleft-for-verbal-thinkers/id6479458038.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 59 · 4★ 2 · 3★ 0 · 2★ 3 · 1★ 3 ## What do users think of Cleft? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 🚀 Excellent transcription quality - 👍 Intuitive and easy to use - 💡 Helpful summarization and formatting - 🚀 Seamless cross-device experience - 👍 Responsive and helpful support team **Cons** - 🐛 Unreliable recording and syncing issues - 🐛 Glitchy and unusable after recent update - 🐛 Inconsistent performance and frequent errors **Commonly reported bugs** - Recording stops working after initial use - Inability to append to existing notes - Manual sync never works as expected - Lack of support for non-English languages **Most requested features** - Increase maximum recording time - Improve editing and toggling between modes - Add ability to retry processing failed summaries - Allow custom storage locations for notes and audio - Enhance integration with Obsidian and other tools - Expand Shortcuts and automation capabilities ## Newest reviews (11 of 50) ### 5/5 — Cleft is my fave *2025-05-09* (I used Cleft to create this note) # Thoughts on Cleft AI Voice Memos I really love using Cleft. It makes everything so much easier because I can just use my voice without worrying about structuring my dictation, punctuation, or even organizing my thoughts. I can simply think out loud, and it gives me back a usable note. Speak your mind, Cleft Collects your thoughts indeed! ## Preparing for a Review - I'm getting ready to include this in a review of Cleft AI Voice Memos on the Mac App Store. - It's super cool to be able to just talk and receive something useful in return. ### 5/5 — Manual sync required *2025-04-25* Update: Since my initial review, I’ve been in touch with tech support who had been great! They corrected my issues & have no issues. Good app! Earlier Review:Keeps telling me I need to manually sync. I end up loosing what I’ve recorded & having to re-record my memos hoping that I don’t get this message. Incredibly frustrating! Msged tech support but didn’t get much help there. I would like a prorated refund. **Developer response:** Glad we were able to get this resolved via email - thanks for letting us know ❤️ - Jonny C ### 5/5 — Like a phoenix from the ashes *2025-03-21, version 1.9* Just wanted to give a big shoutout to the team behind this app—they actually listen to feedback and put in the work to improve things. It’s rare, and it deserves credit. Since the 1.9 update, transcription and input have been rock solid. This app has become my go-to for capturing those random thoughts that pop up when you least expect them—the kind you always think you’ll remember later… but don’t. The new Apple Watch app is honestly beautiful. I can finally jot stuff down without pulling out my phone or even having it with me. That’s a huge win. They’re already working on Shortcuts support too, which is just another sign that these devs aren’t phoning it in—they care, and it shows. If I could give it 6 stars, I would. ### 5/5 — The missing link for me! *2025-01-23* Using this app has completely changed how I interact with my notes. I can simply speak my mind, and it formats everything just the way I intended it. I’ve always struggled with note-taking because I overthink everything but this app has completely solved that. It works so well, I find myself reaching for my phone more often to capture these moments. This has led to a boost in my creativity and has made me more active with my note-taking; something I've been wanting to achieve for a really long time. I actually created with review using Cleft! **Developer response:** This review truly warms my heart. Exactly how I felt about note taking and so glad the solution has worked the same for you. - Justin ### 5/5 — Best Ai voice app *2025-01-21, version 1.8* This app is way the best Ai voice app I have ever used. I have been there from the beginning and have seen this app develop its going places at the speed of light so join the ride…you won’t be disappointed! ### 5/5 — I like it.... *2025-01-03, version 1.6* There are a lot of AI note apps and I feel like I have tried them all. But Cleft has the edge for me not least because of its responsive developers. Also, it's clean, well thought out and reliable. The watch app is apparently imminent and I will then make it 5*! ### 5/5 — Great tool *2025-01-03* I used Cleft at launch, then tried some other options. I switched back to Cleft with a year subscription. I am hoping they increase the time greater than 30 minutes. **Developer response:** Great to have you back on board - expect an email coming your way to hear more about how we can upgrade your experience. Appreciate the review - Jonny ### 5/5 — Awesomely good capturing my ponderings *2024-12-31, version 1.6* I use Cleft to record my random musings when I get inspired while going about my day. I just press the widget on the Lock Screen and I speak my thoughts. When I am in a position to review them, I am presented with a structured rounded out note of each, which has used the on-device AI. It does a great job even if my ramblings were not entirely coherent! It’s like a buddy telling me what they understood from what I said, and I can ask it to redo the note if I am not happy with the first attempt. It’s good at this and it can also help me clarify my initial thoughts. There is always the option to view the actual words I spoke, in text form, that it heard and uses for its processing. I can also listen to the recording of my voice speaking those words to clarify anything it might have ‘misheard’ due to some background environmental noises. I can search all the notes for specific words or parts of words to find specific or related notes which is very helpful. I can edit them in app, share them, and of course copy them to where I want to use them. Cleft covers all the bases I need, as noted above, and does an awesome job. ### 5/5 — Life-Changing for Organization and Productivity *2024-12-28* I can’t recommend this app enough! It has been a total game-changer for staying organized and managing my busy life. As a full-time student, a parent of five, and someone preparing for the next phase of my career, this app has provided exactly what I need to keep everything in order. The features are intuitive and reliable, and I love how seamlessly it works across devices. The support team is also outstanding—they went above and beyond to help me resolve an account issue quickly and kindly. This app has not only made my daily tasks easier but has also given me a tool I can truly rely on. I’m actually excited for classes to start again, knowing I’ll be more prepared and productive with this app. Highly recommend it! **Developer response:** Delighted to hear this @Jabo - thanks so much for taking the time to leave such a lovely review. We're proud to hear we've made an impact ❤️ - Jonny ### 5/5 — This is the one! Hands down, the best one! *2024-12-13* I've tried a bunch of other AI-supported dictation apps, and a lot of them have let me down. Cleft is the first one that just does it well every single time. It's got excellent summarization and always seems to know exactly how to format it in a way that's useful. I can't recommend this one highly enough, and the developers are absolutely amazing and responsive. This is the one to support. **Developer response:** Thanks for the support. Reviews like this keep us going @JGibbard - Jonathan ### 5/5 — So awesome, I want more *2024-12-09* Cleft is one of the better note tools on the market. It creates stellar outlines and summaries and I can always copy and use my transcript in other tools. As awesome as it is, I still have a wishlist: (1) more intuitive editing, toggling between read and write mode feels clunky sometimes. (2) ability to retry processing when the summary generation fails (3) settings to determine where audio notes and recastipts are stored on disk (4) improved file naming with obsidian (5) richer apple shortcuts (6) integration with raycast (7) apple shortcut support with quick actions that show up in the 3 dot context menu (so I can add “custom actions” to my notes) **Developer response:** This is a killer wishlist, thank you @bfxcane We've improved editing since v1.6 and richer Shortcuts are on the roadmap. Raycast keeps coming up so it's on the list too as are your other ideas, thank you! Appreciate the detail! - Jonathan ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Doesn’t work on macOS 26 *2025-12-10, version 1.10* I will remove this review once the issue has been resolved since this app is great on both iOS and macOS, but only when I updated to macOS 26 did the app crash anytime I try to start a voice note or have it break down a text note. ### 1/5 — No Way To Cancel Subscription *2025-07-20, version 1.8* After paying for upgrade, even after three days, I am still on the Free plan. ### 1/5 — Shockingly bad. It used to be good! *2025-04-27, version 1.9* What the hell happened to this app?? It can’t complete the most basic commands without laughable mistakes. I ask it to schedule a task for tomorrow, and it gives me an arbitrary date in the **2023** 😭 ### 1/5 — Glitchy to the point of being unusable *2025-01-30* I’ve tried six different recordings and two of them worked. The first gave an error after two minutes. It gave me two options: “retry” and “later.” I tapped “retry” and got the same error. The second seemed to work until I hit the stop button. Then the screen started displaying gibberish, like “translating eurkeoan jekslah mounmoa”. The third was one minute long and worked. The fourth was two minutes long and failed like #1. The fifth was 4:45 long and did the same. The sixth was 4 minutes long and actually worked. Of the four failed attempts, the audio recording did not save for any, so there is no way to recover what was said. Because of this, I cannot trust Cleft and certainly wouldn’t pay for Cleft Plus and risk losing 30 minutes of voice notes. I tried the beta months ago and was impressed, but currently this app is unusable. **Developer response:** Hi there Aniphone5suser, thanks for letting us know! It looks like you’ve hit a bug, and we’re super sorry for the frustration this has caused. Version 1.8 introduced support for older iOS devices but it seems to be causing an issue for your device. We’ve pushed a beta build that should address what you have shared. We’d love for you to try it out— https://testflight.apple.com/join/A4pPjcmh. Please reach out to us at hello@cleftnotes.com to let us know if this works please, we're happy to hop on a call over the weekend to get this working smoothly for you. Thanks again for your patience! - Jonny C ### 1/5 — Unusable since update to v1.8 *2025-01-17* Since the latest update, It only records ONCE properly and then you have to kill and restart the app before it will record anything again. It is no longer able to append to existing notes, whether the app was restarted or not. Now, all it does is show the recording screen but no matter the audio it doesn't show recording anything. It keeps saying it was saved offline and needs a manual sync. The manual sync NEVER works. I have already tried all the basic troubleshooting steps. Restarting the app, rebooting the phone, deleting the app and rebooting the phone before re-installing the app and it still fails. Please roll back this change or fix it. As it stands I'm about to abandon Cleft for being unusable. **Developer response:** Sorry to hear about this! If we aren’t already talking over email please reach out to support@cleftnotes.com so we can debug with you. If you have vocal shortcuts enabled in iOS accessibility you may want to try turning those off as well. ### 1/5 — can’t transcribe Chinese *2024-08-30, version 1.0* can’t transcribe Chinese ### 2/5 — Frustrated with Bugs *2026-02-06* I’m a paying Cleft subscriber and the recent updates have introduced numerous bugs to iOS 18. It will attempt to start a recording automatically and then tell me it needs to be at least three word. When I attempt to view it and back out, the whole interface turns white and I have to force quit the app. I also can’t reliably get my audio to sync. And every time the app opens it shows me the most recent update patch notes. **Developer response:** Hey WriteTheCheck, sorry about the experience - NOT the experience you should have had, sorry about that. We've shipped three updates since v1.11 that address the auto-recording trigger, the white screen crash, and sync reliability. v1.12.3 is live now: https://learn.cleftnotes.com/changelog#march-22-2026. Would love for you to update and let us know if things improve. If not, email us athello@cleftnotes.com and we'll sort it out. - Jonathan ### 2/5 — Super slow transcription *2025-06-25, version 1.9* Just use the Voicenotes app, it's honestly way more polished ### 2/5 — Was excellent at first *2025-06-01* Transcriptions are getting worse and its contents less valuable. There definitely seems to be a regression in quality. The app also crashes constantly without providing any indication of that, so you think your recording, but the app closed along time ago **Developer response:** Fair feedback on v1.8 @Monkbearsfruit. We've made a lot of improvements to the whole transcription pipeline since then, plus fixed the silent crash issue. v1.12.3 is live now: https://learn.cleftnotes.com/changelog#march-22-2026. Email hello@cleftnotes.com and I'll set you up with some free Plus time to give it another shot. - Jonathan ### 2/5 — Manual sync required *2025-01-30, version 1.8* Keeps telling me I need to manually sync. I end up loosing what I’ve recorded & having to re-record my memos hoping that I don’t get this message. Incredibly frustrating! Msged tech support but didn’t get much help there. I would like a prorated refund. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Love *2026-07-17* It's hard to connect the word "love" with a piece of digital technology, but Cleft somehow gets me excited to wake up first thing in the morning and to record my first journal. From the animation that reacts to the sound of my voice to the different writing styles that I can summarize to the local storage, it's a beautiful app that keeps things simple, doesn't charge too much for the service that it offers, and keeps me engaged with developing a journal that I'm going to come back to years later. If you're thinking about downloading a voice recording app, don't look any further than Cleft. I'm excited about all the additional features that they work on because the app is a little bit bare, and it could use some more development. That's my only complaint, and it's a small one. ### 5/5 — So cool *2026-06-23, version 1.14.1* This app is so cool it really is for verbal thinkers. ### 5/5 — Best around *2026-04-03* I’ve been using this app since it first began, and before was even released on the App Store. It’s amazing with constant updates and a developer who truly believes in it. I have Parkinson’s and this app has changed my life and how I use my phone. **Developer response:** Delighted to hear this @tacogy3 - thanks so much for taking the time to leave such a lovely review. We're proud to hear ❤️ Anything you need, please reach out to us! - Jonny ### 5/5 — Life Saver *2026-01-17* Cleft is my favorite tool. I’m at the hospital with my mom, and I’m about to record a message to recap everything the doctors have said this morning. So helpful to me and to the family members who will get the link. Grateful to have the specific support of Cleft. **Developer response:** Some feedback stops me with feels, and this was one of those @AmyAnnettely. thank you sooo much! Glad Cleft could help during a tough time. Wishing your mom well!! If you need anything, be sure to drop us a line! - Jonathan ### 5/5 — So useful for my ADHD brain *2025-10-10* As someone with ADHD, I love this app for processing and streamlining ideas, capturing insights, and working through complex problems. I recommend it to all my coaching clients, too, who find it incredibly useful. Thank you! **Developer response:** Thank you SO much for recommending Cleft to your clients @imbusybeingawesome. Hearing that it helps with ADHD processing means a lot to us. - Jonathan ### 5/5 — Wow great! *2025-09-12, version 1.10* I love the longer talking time. I can ramble and take tangents while thinking out loud and Cleft puts them all structured and formatted clearly. Very impressive! ### 5/5 — Cleft is my fave *2025-08-26* (I used Cleft to create this note) # Thoughts on Cleft AI Voice Memos I really love using Cleft. It makes everything so much easier because I can just use my voice without worrying about structuring my dictation, punctuation, or even organizing my thoughts. I can simply think out loud, and it gives me back a usable note. Speak your mind, Cleft Collects your thoughts indeed! ## Preparing for a Review - I'm getting ready to include this in a review of Cleft AI Voice Memos on the Mac App Store. - It's super cool to be able to just talk and receive something useful in return. **Developer response:** Love that you used Cleft to write the review. That's the best endorsement we could ask for! - Jonathan ### 5/5 — Works great & integrates Markdown well *2025-07-22* Cleft is a great summary tool for recording meetings and verbal thoughts. It integrates well with other tools and has the best condensed summaries from an AI tool that I have used. **Developer response:** Glad the markdown integration is working for your setup. Thanks for the review! - Jonathan ### 5/5 — Truly helpful for getting thoughts and ideas out *2025-07-15, version 1.9* Been using the app for a while and being able to just talk through an idea or a problem and get a summary is hugely helpful. I use it for quick notes to myself, I use it to work out difficult work problems, and I use it as a journal when I can’t be bothered to write or type. The Custom Vocab feature is super helpful. ### 5/5 — The perfect, lightweight note-taking companion *2025-05-23* Cleft is a little gem of an app. Great for on-the-fly notes, tracking work, etc. UX is clean, uncluttered, and easy to navigate. **Developer response:** Appreciate the kind words. "Little gem" is going on the fridge. - Jonathan --- *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 2026-08-08.*