Comparison

Whisper Notes vs LocalWhisper

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

LocalWhisper

This app offers on-device speech-to-text transcription powered by AI. It prioritizes user privacy by processing all audio locally, with options for free offline use or a one-time purchase for enhanced features and accuracy. Advanced users can also connect to their own Whisper servers.

Highlights
  • On-device speech-to-text transcription
  • Privacy-focused, no cloud uploads
  • Offline functionality
  • AI-powered grammar and punctuation cleanup
  • Customizable phrase keys and user dictionary
  • Optional connection to personal Whisper servers
  • Hands-free dictation with slide controls
Features
Read full description

Speech-to-text that runs entirely on your iPhone. No subscription. No cloud. No word limits. Pay once, dictate forever. LocalWhisper is a dictation keyboard powered by Whisper AI. Your voice is transcribed on-device and never uploaded anywhere. Optional AI cleanup polishes grammar and punctuation — also on-device. Why pay monthly to transcribe your own voice? LocalWhisper's free tier has no word limit and works completely offline. Want even better accuracy? A single one-time purchase — less than the price of a coffee — unlocks our most powerful models. Forever. No trials, no renewals, no surprises. WHY GO LOCAL? Every time you dictate into a cloud-based keyboard, your voice is uploaded, processed, and stored on someone else's server. Passwords, private messages, medical notes, journal entries — all of it. LocalWhisper takes a different approach. The AI runs on your device. Your audio is processed in memory, used for transcription, and immediately discarded. There is nothing to hack, nothing to leak, and nothing to sell. Your words never leave your phone. HOLD TO RECORD. SLIDE TO CONTROL. Long-press the mic to record. Release to transcribe. Slide right to lock recording for hands-free dictation. Slide left to discard. It feels natural from the first use. Made a mistake? Undo the last dictation within 30 seconds. Need to tweak the wording? Edit your transcription before it is inserted. Changed your mind? Cancel mid-transcription. You are always in control. THREE WAYS TO TRANSCRIBE Free — A capable Whisper model, bundled and ready to go. Works offline with no purchase needed and no word limit. Genuinely useful for everyday notes, messages, and quick dictation. Pro — For the price of a coffee, unlock Apple Neural Engine acceleration. Choose from models up to Large v3 for faster, more accurate transcription. One-time purchase. No subscription. Yours forever. Server — Connect to your own Whisper server running on your Mac, home lab, or anywhere reachable over Tailscale or your local network. Run the largest models on your own hardware with zero compromise on privacy or accuracy. AI-POWERED ENHANCEMENT Connect your own LLM (Ollama, Groq, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint) for automatic grammar and punctuation cleanup. Run inference locally on your Mac over Tailscale — no cloud required. Choose a style that fits you: General, Developer, Gen Z, Gen Alpha, or Royal. BUILT FOR PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT THEIR TOOLS - Custom phrase keys — configurable shortcuts for punctuation, symbols, and cursor movement - User dictionary — set find-and-replace rules so your terminology is always correct - Live status display — see your provider, model, and latency at a glance - Refined dark theme with fluid animations — a keyboard you will actually enjoy using PRIVACY IS THE ARCHITECTURE LocalWhisper collects no data whatsoever. No accounts. No analytics. No telemetry. The App Privacy label reads "Data Not Collected" because that is the literal truth. GET STARTED IN UNDER A MINUTE 1. Download LocalWhisper 2. Open Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards > Add LocalWhisper 3. Enable Allow Full Access (required for local app communication only — no data leaves your device) 4. Switch to the LocalWhisper keyboard in any app 5. Hold the mic and speak Free to download. Free to use. No subscription, no ads, no word limits. Upgrade once if you want the best — it costs less than a morning coffee.

Screenshots

Whisper Notes4 screens
LocalWhisper4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: LocalWhisper at Free against Whisper Notes's $7.99. LocalWhisper also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 66%). Whisper Notes's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 3.8) and in-app purchases (none vs 1). On update cadence, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

LocalWhisper is free to download; Whisper Notes costs $7.99 up front. LocalWhisper sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. 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 4, 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 LocalWhisper'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, LocalWhisper every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Whisper Notes versus LocalWhisper: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWhisper NotesLocalWhisper
Price$7.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (679 ratings) — better3.8 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews66.2% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings679 — better4
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#7 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size656 MB41 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSmashMelon LLCKevin Mok

Customer experience

Whisper Notes

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

LocalWhisper

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
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

LocalWhisper

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Whisper Notes

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

LocalWhisper

One-time1
  • LocalWhisper Pro$4.99

Questions

Is Whisper Notes free?
Whisper Notes costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is LocalWhisper free?
LocalWhisper is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Whisper Notes or LocalWhisper?
Whisper Notes is rated higher. Whisper Notes averages 4.7 out of 5 from 679 ratings, while LocalWhisper averages 3.8 from 4 ratings.
Do Whisper Notes or LocalWhisper have ads?
Neither Whisper Notes nor LocalWhisper shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Whisper Notes or LocalWhisper?
Whisper Notes ships an update every 2 weeks, and LocalWhisper every 3 weeks. Most recently, Whisper Notes was updated on October 30, 2026 and LocalWhisper on October 24, 2026.

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