Steno Notes vs Jot Transcribe
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Steno Notes
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Steno is a fast, distraction-free Markdown editor designed for focused, beautiful writing. Built natively for Apple platforms with CloudKit, Steno keeps your documents automatically synced across your devices—without ads, tracking, or external servers. Why Steno? • Seamless iCloud sync across Mac, iPhone, and iPad • Native performance—no bloat, no lag, just fast • Clean typography with powerful, design-forward customization • Sub-block-level references for linking directly to the exact passage you mean • Deep system integration—Handoff, Spotlight, Siri, and Widgets • Customizable PDF export for polished sharing • No data collection, no AI. Your documents stay on your device and in iCloud • All documents stored as plain Markdown files Whether you're drafting essays, making lists, or capturing ideas, Steno combines speed, clarity, and privacy in a focused writing environment.
Jot Transcribe
Dictate text in any application on your iPhone without needing an account or cloud sync. This app offers on-device transcription and AI-powered features to refine your spoken words into polished text, and allows you to search your past dictations with natural language questions.
- System-wide custom keyboard
- On-device transcription
- AI-powered text refinement
- Natural language search of transcripts
- Customizable rewrite prompts
- Five-minute warm microphone
- Vocabulary list
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A dictation keyboard for iPhone. Switch to Jot from any app — Messages, Mail, Slack — tap Dictate, and your voice goes into the text field you're in. No account. No cloud. Nothing leaves your iPhone. Speak Instead of Typing, in Any App You're in Messages, Mail, Slack, your browser — anywhere you'd normally type. Tap the globe key on your iPhone keyboard to switch to Jot, tap Dictate, and speak. Your voice goes straight into the text field you're already in. Keep Going When Life Interrupts Your phone rings mid-sentence. Someone hands you something. You jump into Calendar to check a date. Come back, and Jot's microphone is still warm — up to five minutes, ready to pick up where you left off. What you'd already said is saved as you said it. Even if everything drops, the part you'd already dictated is safe and waiting in the text field. Polish What You Said Into What You Meant You dictated something long and meandering. Open it in Jot and tap a built-in prompt: • Articulate — cleans up the prose • Action Items — pulls out the tasks • Email — formats it for sending Or write your own prompt — with your voice. "Turn this into bullet points." "Translate to French." "Make it sound more formal." Save it once, run it on any transcript with a tap. Ask Across Everything You’ve Said Every dictation becomes searchable by meaning, not just keywords. Ask Jot a real question — "What did I decide about the launch?" — and get a clear, written answer drawn from your own transcripts, with the exact notes it used cited as tappable sources. Ask in plain language, even by date — "what did I say last Tuesday?" Or just describe the note you're after — "the standup about channel config" — and Jot finds it for you. Answered on device with Apple Intelligence; your notes never leave your phone. What’s Inside • System-wide custom keyboard — works in any text field on iPhone • Ask Jot — natural-language questions and search across your transcripts, answered on device with Apple Intelligence • Recents strip — last 10 dictations one tap away to re-insert • Five-minute warm microphone across app switches and calls • On-device transcription using Apple's speech models, plus optional Parakeet 600M • On-device AI rewrite (optional 2.5 GB download) • Custom rewrite prompts you write once and reuse • Vocabulary list for names and technical terms • Light and dark mode — Jot follows your iPhone's appearance automatically • Action Button support and a "Transcribe Audio with Jot" Shortcuts action Your Data Transcription runs on device. Audio never leaves your iPhone. AI rewrites and Ask Jot run on device too. No account. No sign-in. No cloud sync. No analytics. No third-party SDKs. Transcripts live in the app, on your phone, until you delete them. Requirements iOS 26 or later. iPhone with A14 chip or newer. Optional AI rewrite: iPhone 15 Pro and later, 2.5 GB download. Ask Jot answers use Apple Intelligence (Apple Intelligence–capable iPhone required). English at launch. More languages to follow. Free to download. No subscription. No ads. No upsell.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Jot Transcribe at none against Steno Notes's 4. Steno Notes's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs weekly). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Steno Notes sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Jot Transcribe asks for nothing beyond the download.
Steno Notes ships an update every 2 days, Jot Transcribe weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and July 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Steno Notes | Jot Transcribe |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 4.6 (9 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 9 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days — better | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 85 MB | 45 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mikail Kraft | Vineet Sriram |
In-app purchases
Steno Notes
- Tip Jar (Small)$0.99
- Tip Jar (Medium)$2.99
- Steno Complete$4.99
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- Steno Tip (Large)$4.99
Jot Transcribe
No in-app purchases





