Comparison

Transcribe on device vs Longhand Transcribe

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

Head to head
About

Transcribe on device

This application uses an on-device AI model to transcribe speech from multiple languages. Your audio data remains private as all processing occurs locally, ensuring no information is shared externally.

Highlights
  • On-device AI transcription
  • Multi-language support
  • Private data processing
  • No data leaks
  • Free to use
Features
Read full description

This app transcribe multi language speech with AI model. All process is on device, no data leaks outside.

About

Longhand Transcribe

Features
Read full description

Longhand records or imports a conversation and gives you back a transcript with every speaker's words attributed to them. All of it runs on your device. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no account. WHAT IT DOES Record on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch or Mac, or import an audio file you already have. Read a transcript split into turns, each turn labelled with who was speaking. Rename a speaker once and every one of their turns changes with it. Teach it your own voice, so you are named rather than numbered in later recordings. Search across your whole library, or find a phrase inside one transcript. Tap any word to move the audio to that moment. Correct a turn when the machine got it wrong. Corrections are stored apart from the transcript, so re-processing a recording never erases them. Export as Markdown, plain text, or the full transcript as JSON. IT RUNS ON YOUR DEVICE Transcription and speaker separation both happen locally. There is no server, no account and no analytics. The only network activity anywhere in the app is a one-time download of a speech model, and only when the language you are recording needs one. LANGUAGES Apple's own speech recognition covers a long list of languages and needs no download at all. For the rest, including Hebrew and Russian, Longhand uses a Whisper model that runs on your device after one download. It can also detect the language passage by passage, which keeps a conversation that switches languages readable. YOUR VOICE STAYS YOURS Voice profiles are biometric-like data. They are held on your device only, are never part of any export, and can be deleted completely whenever you want. ON EVERY SCREEN YOU OWN The same app runs full width on iPad, with a sidebar and hardware keyboard shortcuts. The Apple Watch app records a take on your wrist and hands it to your iPhone to process. The Mac app keeps its own library and takes files by drag and drop. Longhand does not summarise your conversations, score them, or send them anywhere. It writes down what was said, and tells you who said it.

Screenshots

Transcribe on device4 screens
Longhand Transcribe4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Longhand Transcribe at daily against Transcribe on device's every 2 months. Transcribe on device's advantage is iOS requirement (18.2 vs 26.5). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Transcribe on device ships an update every 2 months, Longhand Transcribe daily. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 6 level
Transcribe on device versus Longhand Transcribe: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTranscribe on deviceLonghand Transcribe
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews50.0% of reviewsโ€”
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsDaily โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeโ€”
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch โ€” better
Requires iOS18.2 โ€” better26.5
Further details โ€” not scored
Size49 MB22 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerichiro NAKAHARAPavel Ferencz

In-app purchases

None

Transcribe on device

No in-app purchases

None

Longhand Transcribe

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Transcribe on device free?
Transcribe on device is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Longhand Transcribe free?
Longhand Transcribe is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Transcribe on device or Longhand Transcribe have ads?
Neither Transcribe on device nor Longhand Transcribe shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Transcribe on device or Longhand Transcribe?
Transcribe on device ships an update every 2 months, and Longhand Transcribe daily. Most recently, Transcribe on device was updated on November 4, 2026 and Longhand Transcribe on November 6, 2026.

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