Comparison

Live Transcribe vs CaptionCall

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Live Transcribe

This app provides real-time speech-to-text transcription for d/Deaf and hard of hearing individuals. It supports over 145 languages and offers features like adjustable text size, dark mode, and the ability to save and share transcripts, making conversations more accessible.

Highlights
  • Real-time transcription
  • 145+ languages supported
  • Adjustable text size
  • Dark mode
  • Save and share transcripts
  • Offline transcription for 9 languages
Features
Read full description

Live Transcribe by Mighty Fine Apps. Accurate live captions for d/Deaf and hard of hearing. Reliable in noisy places and group settings. Perfect alongside hearing aids when they aren’t enough. BUILT DIFFERENT • Accuracy — Best-in-class captions in 145+ languages. • Noisy Places — Works well in restaurants, in groups, and at distance. • Offline Mode — Continue when Wi-Fi or cellular drops. • Privacy — You choose if and when to share your transcripts. • Readability — Large, bold text for tired eyes and distant viewing. • Speaker Detection — Follow group chats with color-coded words. • Simplicity — Easily adopted by older and less-technical people. • Independent — Sustainable, iOS only, not affiliated with Google. DESIGNED FOR YOU • Deaf & Hard of Hearing — Stay independent at home and at work. • Hearing Aid Users — When aids fall short in noise or in groups. • Recent Hearing Loss — Rejoin the conversation right away. • Hearing Spouses & Family — Communicate more easily with a loved one. • Caregivers & Adult Children — Support a parent, child, or patient. • Faith-Community Members — Follow sermons, prayers, and group study. TRUSTED BY THOUSANDS • 6+ years on the market. • 15m+ conversations captioned. • 100m+ minutes transcribed. • 20k+ paying customers. • 10k+ App Store reviews at 4.6 stars. • 100+ hours per year of customer interviews. Your privacy is our top priority, and the app is designed to give you full control over whether your conversation transcripts — medical, legal, family, end-of-life, or otherwise — are summarized or shared. LIFE-CHANGING FOR FAMILIES “This app has changed my 86-year-old mother’s life. It is simple and easy for her and her friends to use. This is so important for the elderly since so many other apps are way too complicated. She can really have one-on-one conversations.” — Mark M SIMPLE TO USE • Place iPhone or iPad near the conversation. • Read what each person is saying on-screen as they speak. • Follow family dinners, doctor’s appointments, meetings, and more. HERE TO STAY Live Transcribe is an independent paid product, and we’re confident in its value. Your subscription allows us to run our captioning service day and night, and keep the app running smoothly on Apple’s devices. We answer to you — our customers and community — not advertisers, so when you need us next year, we’ll still be here. Current pricing is shown in-app and on our website. MADE IN CALIFORNIA Live Transcribe is built and supported by Mighty Fine Apps, a tight-knit team based in San Francisco. Our founder Rob Norback first created the app to communicate with his grandfather who was deaf in his later years, and we continue to shape it around the real communication needs of older adults and all those with some level of hearing loss. FURTHER READING • About Us: https://livetranscribe.app • Privacy Policy: https://livetranscribe.app/legal/privacy • Terms & Conditions: https://livetranscribe.app/legal/terms We love your questions and feedback! Get in touch at support@mightyfine.app.

About

CaptionCall

This app provides real-time, live captions for phone calls, enabling deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals to communicate effectively. It offers a free, secure, and private way to make and receive calls with automatic transcription, accessible anywhere with internet service.

Highlights
  • Live call captioning
  • Real-time transcription
  • Customizable display
  • Secure and private
  • Use WiFi or mobile data
  • Voicemail alerts
Features
Read full description

CaptionCall Mobile empowers deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals to make and receive phone calls with instant live captions. CaptionCall Mobile offers captioned phone calls in real-time at no cost to qualified deaf and hard-of-hearing users in an easy-to-use mobile app that integrates seamlessly into daily life and work. Why CaptionCall? No more landlines. CaptionCall Mobile goes where you go, allowing you to make and receive captioned calls from your mobile device anywhere with WiFi or mobile data service. Fast, accurate, and easy, CaptionCall automatically transcribes both sides of your conversation in a customizable easy-to-read format, using advanced voice to text for deaf and hard-of-hearing that is 100% private and secure. Accurate call captions appear in real-time for free-flowing, natural conversation. No cost, ever. As an FCC-approved captioned call service, CaptionCall provides 100% no-cost call captioning to those with qualified hearing loss, thanks to a federally-administered fund. GETTING STARTED WITH CAPTIONCALL MOBILE IS EASY: 1. Install the CaptionCall Mobile app 2. Create an account. You must provide accurate account information to meet federal requirements and enable your service. 3. Receive your new CaptionCall Mobile phone number for making and receiving captioned calls. Or you can continue using your existing phone number and automatically forward them to CaptionCall Mobile on your mobile device or tablet for captioning. 4. Tap “Allow” when asked to grant permissions to CaptionCall Mobile. You'll have quick access to your saved contacts, captioned voicemail and voicemail alerts, and can dial and receive calls from any phone number, just like your regular phone. 5. Use CaptionCall Mobile to start making calls with instant live captions. CaptionCall Mobile is exclusively for people with hearing loss who need captions to use the phone effectively in the United States only. CaptionCall and CaptionCall Mobile are available in the United States only. FEDERAL LAW PROHIBITS ANYONE BUT REGISTERED USERS WITH HEARING LOSS FROM USING INTERNET PROTOCOL (IP) CAPTIONED TELEPHONES WITH THE CAPTIONS TURNED ON. IP captioned telephone service may use a live operator. The operator generates captions of what the other party to the call says. These captions are then sent to your phone. There is a cost for each minute of captions generated, paid from a federally administered fund. No costs are passed along to individuals who qualify for the service. The CaptionCall phone and app remain the property of Sorenson in order to provide ongoing support, service, and upgrades. Patent information: www.Sorenson.com/Legal. Please report any bugs and feedback to Happy calling! Thanks, The CaptionCall Mobile Team

Screenshots

Live Transcribe4 screens
CaptionCall4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: CaptionCall at none against Live Transcribe's 20. CaptionCall also leads on review sentiment (75% vs 57%) and rating (4.8 vs 4.6). Live Transcribe's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs fortnightly) and chart position (#92 vs unranked). On price, ratings volume, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Live Transcribe sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. CaptionCall asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

CaptionCall holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 7.9K and 3.7K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 57% of Live Transcribe's written reviews are positive against 75% of CaptionCall's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Live Transcribe ships an update every 4 days, CaptionCall fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Live Transcribe versus CaptionCall: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLive TranscribeCaptionCall
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (7.9K ratings)4.8 (3.7K ratings) — better
Positive reviews57.4% of reviews74.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings7.9K — better3.7K
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#92 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size108 MB111 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMighty Fine Apps LLCMachineGenius

Customer experience

Live Transcribe

All ratings7,927 ratings
Positive91.4%
Neutral3.5%
Negative5.1%
Written reviews580 reviews
Positive57.4%
Neutral6.4%
Negative36.2%

CaptionCall

All ratings3,660 ratings
Positive96.5%
Neutral1.3%
Negative2.2%
Written reviews162 reviews
Positive74.7%
Neutral6.8%
Negative18.5%

User reviews

Live Transcribe

From 7.9K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Accurate transcription
  • 💡 Helpful for hard of hearing
  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 👍 Great for doctor's appointments
  • 👍 Saves conversations

Room to improve

  • 💰 Expensive subscription
  • 🔒 Limited free trial
  • 🐛 Inconsistent performance
  • 🐛 Struggles with background noise and accents
  • 🔒 Confusing subscription model

CaptionCall

From 3.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great captioning quality
  • 🚀 Fast and accurate transcription
  • 🔓 Ability to use own phone number
  • 💡 Saves call transcripts for reference
  • 👍 Helpful for hearing-impaired users

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional dropped calls
  • 🐛 Inconsistent performance
  • 🔒 Privacy concerns with personal data
  • 🐛 Caller ID issues
  • 🐛 Difficulty with voicemail

Bugs and requests

Live Transcribe

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Transcription stops unexpectedly
  • Deletes correct transcription
  • Incompatible with some devices

Requested features

4 requests
  • Distinguish between multiple speakers
  • Ability to use on Mac
  • More than 5 hours of premium transcription per month
  • Improved accuracy for medical/technical terms

CaptionCall

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Login/connection issues
  • Captions not showing up during calls
  • Keypad blocking captions

Requested features

4 requests
  • Automatic language detection and switching
  • Text-to-speech functionality for mute users
  • Customizable tone/volume settings
  • Improved integration with phone dialer

In-app purchases

13 purchases

Live Transcribe

Subscriptions10
  • Live Transcribe Monthly3 variants$4.991 Month
  • Live Transcribe Monthly3 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Live Transcribe Monthly$9.991 Month
Show 7 more
  • Starter$9.991 Month
  • Live Transcribe Yearly3 Days trial3 variants$49.991 Year
  • Live Transcribe Yearly$49.991 Year
  • Try Real-Time Transcription3 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Starter3 Days trial2 variants$79.991 Year
  • Live Transcribe Yearly3 Days trial$79.991 Year
  • Live Transcribe Yearly$79.991 Year
One-time3
  • 1 Hour$1.49
  • 5 Hours2 variants$7.49
  • 10 Hours$14.99
None

CaptionCall

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Live Transcribe free?
Live Transcribe is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is CaptionCall free?
CaptionCall is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Live Transcribe or CaptionCall?
CaptionCall is rated higher. Live Transcribe averages 4.6 out of 5 from 7.9K ratings, while CaptionCall averages 4.8 from 3.7K ratings.
Do Live Transcribe or CaptionCall have ads?
Neither Live Transcribe nor CaptionCall shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Live Transcribe or CaptionCall?
Live Transcribe ships an update every 4 days, and CaptionCall fortnightly. Most recently, Live Transcribe was updated on October 16, 2026 and CaptionCall on October 15, 2026.

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