Comparison

Stenographer vs HarkNote

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

Head to head
About

Stenographer

This app offers on-device audio recording and transcription, ensuring complete privacy as your data never leaves your device. It utilizes advanced AI for accurate speech processing, summarization, and multilingual support, with a one-time purchase for unlimited use.

Highlights
  • 100% on-device processing
  • No subscriptions, one-time purchase
  • Discreet background recording
  • AI-powered transcription and summarization
  • Intelligent search and tagging
  • Multilingual transcription and translation
  • Cross-device synchronization
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Your conversations are valuable. They should also stay private. Stenographer records, transcribes, identifies speakers, summarizes, and organizes audio directly on your iPhone or iPad. Capture from your phone or Apple Watch, then turn hours of audio into a readable, searchable record without sending your conversations to a transcription service. NEW IN STENOGRAPHER 2.0 • Seamless Transcript Read recordings as one continuous, newspaper-like conversation. Stenographer hides file splits and processing chunks while preserving the original audio behind every turn. • Know who said what Private, on-device speaker diarization separates conversations into natural speaker turns. Name a speaker and Stenographer can use an on-device voice profile to recognize that person in other recordings when there’s a confident match. • Private AI summaries On supported devices, summaries and labels use Apple’s on-device Foundation Models. An optional downloadable local fallback is available, and your transcripts remain on your device. • Record from your wrist Start recording from Apple Watch when reaching for your phone would interrupt the moment. Finished recordings remain queued on Apple Watch and retry until iPhone safely receives them for private transcription and analysis. MORE WAYS TO WORK • Continue recording in the background from iPhone or Apple Watch • Import existing audio files • Automatically detect supported languages • Transcribe speech or translate supported languages into English • Search across transcripts, summaries, and labels • Add labels and optional timestamps • Select exact transcript turns to share • Merge recordings and export all transcripts as JSON • Customize transcript fonts, speaker display, processing concurrency, and recording limits • Return to the classic per-recording layout at any time PRIVATE BY DESIGN Transcription, speaker identification, summaries, and labels run on your device whenever available. Nothing is uploaded unless you explicitly choose to share it. Speaker and optional fallback models may download when needed; your audio and transcripts are not uploaded for processing. ONE PURCHASE. NO SUBSCRIPTION. Record and transcribe without monthly fees, usage quotas, or cloud transcription charges. Ideal for meetings, lectures, interviews, research, personal notes, and private lifelogging. App icon designed by aaatelier.ch.

About

HarkNote

Record, transcribe, and summarize audio privately on your device. Features include speaker labeling, on-device AI for summaries and Q&A, and Apple Watch integration. Your data remains on your iPhone unless you choose to share it.

Highlights
  • On-device audio recording
  • Offline transcription
  • Speaker labeling
  • AI-powered summaries and Q&A
  • Apple Watch companion app
  • Calendar integration
  • Private data storage
Features
Read full description

HarkNote is a private voice recorder and meeting transcription app. Recording, transcription, speaker labels and summaries all run on your iPhone. There is no account, no sign-in, no analytics and no cloud. Your audio and your notes never leave the device unless you share them yourself. WHAT IT DOES • Record meetings, interviews, lectures and voice notes, or import audio from the share sheet • Transcribe offline with NVIDIA Parakeet or Whisper, running on your iPhone • Speaker labels tell who said what, and finish even for two and three hour meetings • Summaries, key points, action items and decisions with Apple Intelligence on supported iPhones, with an honest fallback when it is not available • Ask questions about a recording and get answers from the transcript, on device • Transcribe a finished recording again with a different model whenever the audio is still on your iPhone • Apple Watch companion: record on your wrist and hand the audio to your iPhone, with an optional live preview while you speak • Calendar-aware: see today's meetings and start a recording from the list • Control Center and Live Activity controls so a recording is one tap away PRIVATE BY DEFAULT • No account, no telemetry, nothing phones home • Your recordings stay in your own iCloud Drive and your notes in your private iCloud database, never on our servers • A save receipt tells you exactly when a note is safely stored, so you can put the phone away BUILT FOR LONG SESSIONS Hour-long meetings are normal. If the app is closed mid-way, processing picks up where it left off instead of starting over, and the card tells you how long it has been running and how long is left. Languages: English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch and Portuguese. HarkNote is a one-time purchase. No subscription.

Screenshots

Stenographer4 screens
HarkNote4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: HarkNote at 5.0 against Stenographer's 4.3. HarkNote also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 88%). Stenographer's advantage is ratings volume (3 vs 1). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

Stenographer costs $4.99 and HarkNote $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

HarkNote holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of Stenographer's written reviews are positive against 100% of HarkNote's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Stenographer ships an update every 5 days, HarkNote every 10 days. Both last shipped on October 8, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
Stenographer versus HarkNote: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStenographerHarkNote
Price$4.99$4.99
Rating4.3 (3 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews87.5% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 10 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#82 — better#107
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS17.517.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size575 MB27 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCaleb PhillipsChristopher Knuteson

Customer experience

Stenographer

All ratings3 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral33.3%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive87.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative0.0%

HarkNote

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Stenographer

No in-app purchases

None

HarkNote

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Stenographer free?
Stenographer costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is HarkNote free?
HarkNote costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Stenographer or HarkNote?
HarkNote is rated higher. Stenographer averages 4.3 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while HarkNote averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Stenographer or HarkNote have ads?
Neither Stenographer nor HarkNote shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Stenographer or HarkNote?
Stenographer ships an update every 5 days, and HarkNote every 10 days. Most recently, Stenographer was updated on October 8, 2026 and HarkNote on October 8, 2026.
Which is more popular, Stenographer or HarkNote?
Stenographer currently peaks at #82 in the App Store charts, and HarkNote at #107. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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