Comparison

Whisper Notes vs Lyonesse

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

Head to head
About

Whisper Notes

This app provides accurate, on-device transcription of audio and video files in over 100 languages. It offers a secure, offline experience with no subscriptions or cloud uploads. Easily record or import files and export transcripts with timestamps.

Highlights
  • 100% offline transcription
  • Record voice or import audio/video
  • Supports 100+ languages
  • Export transcripts with timestamps
  • Lock screen widget for quick capture
  • Secure, on-device data storage
Features
Read full description

Maybe the best offline transcription app — 70,000+ journalists, researchers, and professionals seem to think so. Turn meetings, lectures, and voice memos into accurate text with speaker labels — fast, 100% offline, on your device. No subscription. One purchase, yours forever. ■ Core Features - Record voice memos and capture ideas instantly—from the Lock Screen, widgets, Control Center, the Action button, or just say "Hey Siri" - Import audio and video from any app (WhatsApp, Photos, Voice Memos, etc.), several files at once—even extract subtitles - Turn meetings, lectures, and interviews into transcripts with speaker labels—see who said what and name each speaker - Fix a word where you read it: double-tap any paragraph to edit in place - 101 languages, auto-detected (optimized for English), accurate even in noise and mixed languages—three models (Parakeet, Whisper, SenseVoice), switch freely - Export as SRT, VTT, or TXT—timestamps and speaker labels included—or auto-save every new transcript to Files or iCloud Drive ■ Privacy & Speed Because everything runs on your device, there is nothing to upload—and nothing to leak. Turn on airplane mode before you record and leave it on: Whisper Notes works exactly the same. That matters when the recording is an interview, a client meeting, or something you would never put on someone else's server. Transcribing 5 minutes of audio on iPhone 15: ~18 seconds with Parakeet, ~1 minute with Whisper. SenseVoice is much faster than Whisper and strongest for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Each model has its strengths—choose freely based on language and use case. Older devices are slower but work fine. ■ Honest Pricing Because transcription runs on your device, we have no server costs—so there is nothing to charge you monthly for. Most similar apps charge $100+/year; we charge once. No subscriptions, no in-app purchases, no ads. Not satisfied? Tap Settings → Request Refund. ■ Common Questions Does it work completely offline? Yes. Your audio never leaves your device. Works on flights, in remote areas, anywhere. Can I transcribe WhatsApp voice messages or videos? Yes. Share or save audio/video from WhatsApp to Whisper Notes and transcribe offline. Perfect for extracting subtitles without uploading to cloud services. Is there a recording time limit? Up to 24 hours per recording, and hours-long recordings transcribe on every supported iPhone. Longer recordings just take more time. Does it support real-time transcription while recording? Not during recording, but yes during transcription—after you finish recording, you'll see the transcript appear in real-time as it's being generated. Do you support speaker labels (diarization)? Yes—fully offline. Tap ⋯ on a note → Detect Speakers, then rename each speaker. Where is my data stored? Only on your device. We have zero access. Note: If you delete the app, your recordings are deleted too (because we don't keep secret backups). Please export important files regularly. Can I summarize a transcript? Yes — copy it into whichever AI tool you prefer. Whisper Notes itself never uploads anything; your audio and text stay on your device. What if I switch apps while transcribing? iOS limits background processing, so transcription pauses and continues automatically when you come back. Which devices are recommended? iPhone 12 and newer. Older devices (iPhone 11, iPhone SE 2nd gen) are not recommended—the app will not function properly on these devices. What languages are supported? English, Español, Français, Deutsch, Português, Italiano, Nederlands, 简体中文, 繁體中文, 日本語, 한국어, Hindi, Arabic, Русский, Türkçe, Polski, Українська, Tiếng Việt, Thai, Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia, Svenska, Norsk, Dansk, Suomi, Čeština, Greek, Hebrew, Română, Magyar, Persian, Urdu, and 65+ more languages. ■ Contact Questions? Email support@whispernotes.app Learn more: whispernotes.app

About

Lyonesse

Record audio or video and get instant, on-device transcriptions. This app allows you to ask questions about your content, generate summaries, and identify speakers, all without uploading your data to the cloud. It supports various file formats and offers offline functionality for ultimate privacy and convenience.

Highlights
  • On-device AI transcription
  • Speaker labeling
  • Summaries and action items
  • Q&A across library
  • Import various file types
  • Offline functionality
  • Export in multiple formats
Features
Read full description

Record a meeting or lecture and read the words as people speak. Ask a question about what was said, get a summary in seconds, and find any moment later with search. The transcription and AI run on your device. Lyonesse is a private workspace for the things you record and the documents you read. Recording, transcription, summaries, speaker labels, and Q&A happen locally. There is no cloud transcription provider, so it keeps working with no internet and your audio is not uploaded to be processed. No account to create. Optional iCloud sync is off by default. WHAT YOU CAN DO - Transcribe live recordings, or import an audio or video file you already have. On Mac you can also capture system audio from any app, call, or video playing on your device. - Get AI summaries in the style you want: concise, bullets, action items, or a structured outline. - Ask Lyonesse: chat across your whole library. Notes, transcripts, PDFs, and images, with follow-up questions and citations back to the source. - Read your documents. Import a PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint file or an image, then summarize it, pull out the key points, or ask it questions. - Run a private meeting assistant: link your calendar, see full-screen live captions, get on-device speaker labels, and turn a recording into drafted minutes with action items. PICK YOUR ENGINE Lyonesse ships Apple Speech and a downloadable Parakeet model for transcription, plus Apple Intelligence and a downloadable Qwen 3 model for on-device AI. Auto picks the best one available for your language and device. In our published LibriSpeech benchmark, Apple's Speech API outperformed the Whisper models Lyonesse used to ship (read it at lyonesse.app/blog/apple-speech-api-benchmark.html). BUILT FOR STUDY AND WORK - Turn a recording into study sheets, meeting minutes, or follow-up notes with Smart Drafting. - Organize notes into Projects that file themselves, then ask questions across a whole project. - Export to PDF or text with an optional summary, Q&A, and full transcript. Send action items to Apple Reminders. - Full-text search across recordings, transcripts, documents, and action items. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT Your recordings, documents, and transcripts stay on your device. Recording, transcription, summaries, speaker labels, document analysis, and Q&A run on-device, with no cloud AI provider in the loop. A private alternative to cloud tools like Otter, Fireflies, Rev, and ChatPDF. Works on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with transcription and summaries in 15 languages. Lyonesse is free to download and there is a free tier. For unlimited use, choose a subscription or a one-time Lifetime purchase. No per-minute fees. Privacy Policy: https://lyonesse.app/privacy.html Terms of Service: https://lyonesse.app/terms.html

Screenshots

Whisper Notes4 screens
Lyonesse4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Lyonesse at Free against Whisper Notes's $7.99. Lyonesse also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 66%) and update cadence (every 3 days vs every 2 weeks). Whisper Notes's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 3.8) and in-app purchases (none vs 4). On 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

Lyonesse is free to download; Whisper Notes costs $7.99 up front. Lyonesse sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. Whisper Notes asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Whisper Notes holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Whisper Notes has 679 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 66% of Whisper Notes's written reviews are positive against 100% of Lyonesse's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Whisper Notes ships an update every 2 weeks, Lyonesse every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
Whisper Notes versus Lyonesse: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWhisper NotesLyonesse
Price$7.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (679 ratings) — better3.8 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews66.2% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings679 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#10 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS18.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size656 MB67 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSmashMelon LLCJOSIP MARKOVIC

Customer experience

Whisper Notes

All ratings673 ratings
Positive91.2%
Neutral3.7%
Negative5.1%
Written reviews337 reviews
Positive66.2%
Neutral10.1%
Negative23.7%

Lyonesse

All ratings5 ratings
Positive60.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative40.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Whisper Notes

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Recordings disappearing after transcription
  • Transcription process getting stuck at 1%
  • Crashes on certain iOS/iPadOS versions
  • Inability to import audio files consistently

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for speaker diarization
  • Implement real-time transcription mode
  • Allow customization of hotkey/shortcut
  • Improve integration with Apple Shortcuts
  • Provide option to choose transcription model size

Lyonesse

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Whisper Notes

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Lyonesse

Subscriptions3
  • Weekly Subscription$3.997 Days
  • Lyonesse Monthly$7.991 Month
  • Lyonesse Annual$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lyonesse Unlimited$59.99

Questions

Is Whisper Notes free?
Whisper Notes costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Lyonesse free?
Lyonesse is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Whisper Notes or Lyonesse?
Whisper Notes is rated higher. Whisper Notes averages 4.7 out of 5 from 679 ratings, while Lyonesse averages 3.8 from 5 ratings.
Do Whisper Notes or Lyonesse have ads?
Neither Whisper Notes nor Lyonesse shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Whisper Notes or Lyonesse?
Whisper Notes ships an update every 2 weeks, and Lyonesse every 3 days. Most recently, Whisper Notes was updated on October 30, 2026 and Lyonesse on October 28, 2026.

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