Transcriptor vs Tom
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Transcriptor
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Transcriptor: The Premium Voice-to-Text App Unlock the power of seamless transcription with Transcriptor, the ultimate voice-to-text app designed for speed, precision, and reliability. Whether you're a busy professional, a student capturing lecture notes, or a creative transcribing ideas on the go, Transcriptor turns your voice into accurate, high-quality text in real time. Speak freely, and let the app handle the rest. Key Features: • Instant, Real-Time Transcription Speak naturally, and see your words instantly appear as text—no typing needed. Whether dictating emails, writing reports, or brainstorming ideas, Transcriptor makes it effortless. • Unmatched Accuracy Powered by advanced speech recognition technology, Transcriptor captures even the most complex sentences with exceptional precision, even in noisy environments or during fast speech. • 100% Ad-Free Enjoy a distraction-free experience with no pop-ups or ads, allowing you to focus entirely on your ideas and productivity. • Privacy & Security First Your data stays on your device—we do not store or share any of your content. You have complete control over your information. • One-Time Payment, Lifetime Access No subscriptions, no hidden fees. Pay once and unlock all premium features for life. • Simple & Intuitive Designed for users of all levels, Transcriptor features a clean, easy-to-navigate interface that allows you to start transcribing right away. • Multi-Language Support Transcribe in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, and more. Perfect for multilingual users or those working across different languages. • Effortless Export & Sharing Save your transcriptions as text files and share them quickly via email, cloud storage, or messaging apps. Perfect For: • Professionals & Entrepreneurs Take meeting notes, transcribe interviews, and dictate reports on the go. Transcriptor boosts productivity and helps you stay on top of your work. • Students & Academics Capture lecture notes, seminar discussions, and research ideas quickly and accurately, so you never miss important details. • Writers & Creatives Turn your spoken ideas into text for editing or content creation. Whether you’re writing a novel, script, or article, Transcriptor lets you work hands-free. • Anyone On-the-Go Dictate reminders, to-dos, or personal notes while multitasking, traveling, or working out. Why Choose Transcriptor? Unlike many free transcription apps, Transcriptor was designed as a premium tool to meet the needs of professionals, students, and creatives. We focus on speed, accuracy, and privacy to ensure you get the best possible transcription experience every time. Speak. Transcribe. Done.
Tom
Convert audio and video files to text securely and privately on your device. This app handles long recordings, identifies speakers, and supports multiple languages, all without needing an internet connection.
- 100% local processing
- Handles long audio files (2-3 hours)
- Speaker identification
- Multilingual support
- Search and manage transcriptions
- Copy or export text
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Transcribe audio & video with the engine that fits the job — three options, all 100% on-device. Tom turns sound into clean, editable text right on your iPhone. Lectures, WhatsApp voice notes, screen recordings, interviews, podcasts, long meetings — pick your engine, drop in the file, read the transcript. No account, no upload. Built originally for a friend who is deaf, Tom is for anyone who needs to read what was said. TRY IT, THEN DECIDE Five transcriptions are on the house — from files or recorded live, with any engine, no time limit and no minute counter. Enough to put your own audio through it and see what comes out. Tom Pro — a single payment, no subscription, no ads — removes the limit on new transcriptions, and adds subtitle export in SubRip and WebVTT plus re-transcribing a file with a different engine, keeping every version. Whatever you've already transcribed stays yours either way: read it, edit it, search it, play it back and export it as text, with or without Pro. Bought Tom back when it was a paid app? You already have Tom Pro, free, forever. Nothing to do. CHOOSE YOUR ENGINE • Apple Speech — fast, low memory, built into iOS. Great default for live recording and short files. 25 languages. • Whisper — OpenAI's recognizer, running locally. Six sizes from Tiny (80 MB) to Large v3 (3.1 GB), including Turbo for the best speed/quality balance. Up to 99 languages. • Parakeet v3 — high-accuracy European transcription from FluidAudio, on-device. 25 European languages. KEY FEATURES • Live recording — tap once and watch the transcript appear as you speak. • File import — any video from your library, or audio from the Files app (WhatsApp voice notes included). • Multiple engines + re-transcribe — pick Apple Speech, Whisper, Parakeet or Nemotron per file, and (with Tom Pro) re-run the same audio through a different engine without losing the previous transcript. • Editable segments — long-press a segment to fix a word the recognizer got wrong. Your edit stays on the device. • Subtitle export — save any transcript as plain text, or as SubRip (.srt) and WebVTT (.vtt) with Tom Pro. • Player with smart controls — tap-to-seek, follow the highlighted segment, skip ±10s, switch speed to 1.5x or 2x. • Honest hallucination flag — when Whisper invents text on silence or music, suspect segments are clearly marked. We never silently strip your transcript. • Long files — chunked processing for meetings, lectures and full episodes. • Model management — downloaded models live in Documents, visible in the Files app. Delete one from Settings or Files to reclaim space anytime. • Wi-Fi only downloads — on by default, so large models never eat your cellular data. • Smart storage — custom titles, search by title or content, activity log on every step. WHO IS IT FOR • Students extracting notes from lectures, videos, or screen recordings. • Professionals transcribing interviews, meetings, or long audio files. • WhatsApp users who want to read voice messages instead of listening. • Content creators turning audio or video into text or subtitles for TikTok, Reels, Shorts, or blogs. • Podcasters making episodes accessible with .srt subtitles. • Anyone who is deaf or hard of hearing and needs private, reliable transcription. WHY CHOOSE TOM Most transcription apps upload your audio to a server. Tom does the opposite: every engine — Apple Speech, Whisper, Parakeet, Nemotron — runs entirely on your iPhone. No account, no upload, no subscription: Tom Pro is a one-time purchase. With multiple engines, re-transcribe-and-compare, segment editing, subtitle export and an honest hallucination flag, Tom covers the whole flow from "I said this" to "here's a clean text I can share" — without ever sending a byte off your device. Note: the app needs permission for the microphone (live recording), the photo library (video import), and Apple's speech recognition. Your audio stays on your device. Offline models are downloaded once on first use.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Tom at Free against Transcriptor's $5.99. Transcriptor's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 months). On ads, in-app purchases, 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
Tom is free to download; Transcriptor costs $5.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Transcriptor ships an update every 4 days, Tom every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Transcriptor | Tom |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $5.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | — | 4.5 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 4 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | — | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 0 MB | 50 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Lucas Exequiel Di Tomase | Marco Tini |
In-app purchases
Transcriptor
No in-app purchases
Tom
No in-app purchases









