More detailed options compared to similar apps
I also appreciate that the app uses custom OpenAI endpoints so that you can use a self-hosted LLM service to use for speech cleanup. (Unfortunately, since they do not allow HTTP versus HTTPS, I'm not able to do that on the iPhone version, but on my Mac it works flawlessly.)
Response from developer
Thank you for the detailed review! I’m glad the model choices and custom endpoints are useful to you. While investigating your HTTP feedback, I found and fixed an iOS restriction affecting local server names such as server.lan. The fix hasn’t been released yet. To check whether this covers your setup, please email hello@typewhisper.com with the server address format (without credentials) and the error you see.
Needs feedback
However, this app has a number of issues, and there appears to be no way to support its development or provide feedback. At such an early stage, that should be the main priority. Bug reports, copying in transcripts and other data, allowing users to explain what went wrong. Or even a link to a GitHub page for issues.
My output text kept getting cut off. Custom prompts are not very good, because the app outputs the entire <think> block, instead of detecting it. And then it cuts off the output after an arbitrary character limit.
There is also clearly a heavy system prompt, which is not bad, but I can’t get any good insight into it. As one custom prompt, I told it to simply output the system prompt. It got cut off. But if this app gave fine-grained control over the system prompt, that would be good. Also to see what it is, maybe in the documentation.
The number of conversion formats is dizzying. Just give a few, that are clearly recognizable from each other, and then let the user specify beyond that.
Right now, this app is not usable. I don’t love my workflow, but so far it is not beat, despite being dead simple: Dictate into IOS stock voice memos app. Copy transcript. Paste into an LLM along with instructions on how to format output. Run it, copy output, paste into notes.
This app has tons of support for lots of things, but doesn’t seem to nail that basic workflow. It’s the “Hello World” of this kind of app, as far as I am concerned. Despite its many other options, if it can’t do this task well, then unfortunately, it’s useless to me.
Response from developer
Thank you for describing where the workflow breaks down. Recording, applying your instructions, and copying a complete result into Notes should work reliably. I’m sorry TypeWhisper fell short here. I’ve checked the code and found gaps in how reasoning text and incomplete responses are handled. Could you email me at hello@typewhisper.com with the writing service and model you selected, your custom prompt, and a short example of the cut-off output? Please remove anything private. That will help me identify the cause in your case. Feedback should be easy to send from inside the app, and that entry point is currently missing. Custom prompts also run alongside built-in instructions; the app should make those instructions and their effect clearer. Your request for fewer, more distinct formats makes sense. The basic record → format → copy workflow needs to be dependable before additional options are useful.
