Comparison

Earshot Live Transcription vs XBScribe

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

Head to head
About

Earshot Live Transcription

This app provides real-time, on-device captioning for conversations, lectures, and ambient sounds. It prioritizes privacy and offline functionality, making speech accessible without cloud processing. It also offers translation and urgent sound alerts.

Highlights
  • Real-time captioning
  • Ambient sound recognition
  • Speech translation
  • Offline functionality
  • On-device processing
  • Save and share transcripts
Features
Read full description

Earshot is real-time, on-device captioning for iPhone - for conversations, lectures, doctor visits, anywhere you want to read what's being said. It's a free app that captions speech and ambient sound in real time, inspired by a Deaf researcher who'd spent his career on captioning. Having a disability shouldn't cost you money or your privacy. So I built Earshot. • Free — no sign-up, no sign-in, no ads, no upsells. • Private — everything runs on your device. The only network call is to download or update the local speech model so conversations never go to the cloud. • Offline — works with no Wi-Fi or cellular connection. • Multilingual — 99 languages, and it can translate any of them into English. • Ambient-sound aware — recognizes hundreds of environmental sounds, with full-screen alerts for urgent ones: smoke alarm, carbon monoxide, doorbell, crying baby, phone ringing, sirens. Accessibility tools shouldn't themselves be inaccessible. Free should mean free. Private should mean private. WHAT IT DOES • Real-time captions in a clean, focused screen, plus a chat-style "feed" layout. Tap the cog for text size, vibration, and ambient-sound options. • Translate non-English speech to English on the fly. • Full-screen urgent-sound alerts with strong haptics; ambient-sound tags shown in the corner when you want them. • Save transcripts on your device as readable documents. Star the ones to keep, filter by 1:1 or group, by alerts, by starred. • Share any transcript as plain text — it never leaves your device unless you send it. WHO IT'S FOR Built for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community as a private alternative to cloud captioning. Also useful in loud environments, for language learners, and for anyone who wants to read or save what was said. PRIVACY Audio never leaves your device. No accounts, no analytics, no ads, no tracking. The AI model downloads once on first launch (~244 MB) — the only network request the app makes. Full policy at briankemler.github.io/LiveTranscribe/privacy. REQUIREMENTS iPhone on iOS 17 or later. Works offline after the one-time model download. CONTACT brian.kemler@gmail.com

About

XBScribe

This app converts speech, audio, video, and web links into editable text. It offers real-time transcription, offline capabilities, and the ability to extract text from online media. Ideal for students, professionals, and content creators who need to quickly capture and process spoken information.

Highlights
  • Live speech transcription
  • Audio/video file transcription
  • Link-based content extraction
  • Offline transcription
  • Picture-in-Picture captions
  • System share sheet integration
Features
Read full description

Turn speech, media, and video links into text you can edit, translate, and use. XBScribe brings live transcription, audio and video transcription, link extraction, system translation, and floating captions into one focused app. It is built for meetings, classes, interviews, video learning, and content creation—whenever listening again and typing everything by hand would slow you down. TRANSCRIBE FOR 100 YEARS No time limits. No usage limits. Turn live speech, audio, video, and linked content into useful text in one place. OFFLINE AFTER THE MODEL IS READY XBScribe uses Apple's on-device speech recognition. A system language model may need to be downloaded the first time you use a language. Once installed, live speech and local media can be transcribed offline, without uploading your audio. SPEAK AND SEE THE WORDS APPEAR Start the microphone and follow the transcript in real time, with controls to pause, resume, and save. Picture in Picture keeps live captions visible while you use another app—useful for meetings, lectures, classes, interviews, and quick ideas. EXTRACT TEXT FROM AUDIO AND VIDEO Import a recording, audio file, or video from Files or Photos. You can also send media, plain text, or text files to XBScribe through the system share sheet, including content shared from messaging and other apps. PASTE A LINK, GET EDITABLE COPY Paste a supported public link from TikTok, Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, and other supported platforms to extract spoken content as editable text—without manually saving the video first. Link resolution and media download require an internet connection; transcription runs on the device after download. Contact us: support@miremire.com Privacy Policy: https://xbscribe.com/privacy/ Terms of Service: https://xbscribe.com/terms/

Screenshots

Earshot Live Transcription4 screens
XBScribe4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: XBScribe at 3 against Earshot Live Transcription's 1. Earshot Live Transcription's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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

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

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Earshot Live Transcription against 5.0 for XBScribe. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 2 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Earshot Live Transcription ships an update monthly, XBScribe every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Earshot Live Transcription versus XBScribe: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEarshot Live TranscriptionXBScribe
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings3 — better2
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBrian KemlerBeijing Zaomeng Shidai Technology Co., Ltd.

Customer experience

Earshot Live Transcription

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

XBScribe

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Earshot Live Transcription

No in-app purchases

None

XBScribe

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Earshot Live Transcription free?
Earshot Live Transcription is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is XBScribe free?
XBScribe is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Earshot Live Transcription or XBScribe?
Earshot Live Transcription and XBScribe are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 3 and 2 ratings respectively.
Do Earshot Live Transcription or XBScribe have ads?
Neither Earshot Live Transcription nor XBScribe shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Earshot Live Transcription or XBScribe?
Earshot Live Transcription ships an update monthly, and XBScribe every 4 weeks. Most recently, Earshot Live Transcription was updated on October 12, 2026 and XBScribe on October 16, 2026.

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