IA Voice Notes vs Speechly
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
IA Voice Notes
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Capture every word, hands-free. IA Voice Notes transcribes your meetings, lectures, and conversations in real time with Apple's speech engine, on your device whenever your language supports it. Recording, transcription, the calendar, and AI features are all free to use. AI works right out of the box, with no key or account required. QUIZ YOURSELF, OUT LOUD Turn any lecture, meeting, or story into a spoken quiz. IA Voice Notes asks the questions, you answer by voice, and each answer is graded with feedback and a link to the moment in the recording that covers it. Quizzes adapt as you go, offer hints and practice rounds, and build on what you missed last time. Kid, Student, and Professional modes set the tone, and voice commands like "repeat", "hint", and "skip" keep it hands-free. TALK TO YOUR NOTES Ask a note anything, out loud, and hear the answer, with a link to the part of the recording it came from. Prefer typing? Ask follow-up questions in a thread, or even while you're still recording. A CALENDAR THAT STARTS RECORDING FOR YOU See your events laid out by day and time, with a live now-line, or as a simple list. Set one up and IA Voice Notes starts recording on its own when the time comes, using the mode you picked for it. Arm a recurring meeting once and it's covered every week. Works with Siri Shortcuts for full automation. TURN ANY MENTION INTO AN EVENT Scan a flyer, pick a photo, paste an invitation, or just mention a meeting while recording. The AI reads out the date, time, location, and who's coming, and drops it into a review tray for you to approve, linked back to the exact moment it came from. Your iOS Calendar can sit alongside it too, read-only, so you can arm any real meeting for recording in a tap. AI THAT WORKS WHILE YOU RECORD Choose a recording mode (Meeting, Interview, Lecture, Sales Call, and more) and let the built-in AI detect action items, flag key terms, and surface what matters as you speak. A summary is ready the moment you stop. 10 BUILT-IN RECORDING MODES General, Meeting, 1:1, Sales Call, Interview, Customer Research, Lecture, Brainstorm, Podcast, Journal, each pre-configured with the right AI features for that context. Build your own custom modes too. REAL-TIME TRANSCRIPTION Watch your words appear as you speak. Transcripts are saved with timestamps so you can jump to any moment in the recording. ATTACH AS YOU GO Snap a photo of a whiteboard, scan a document, sketch a diagram with Apple Pencil or your finger, or jot a quick text note, all attached to your recording at the exact moment they were captured. TIMELINE VIEW See your transcript, photos, scans, sketches, and AI results laid out in order, with natural spacing that reflects the rhythm of your conversation. EXPORT ANYWHERE Share your notes as Markdown or self-contained HTML, bundled with the audio file. Open in Obsidian, Notion, or any editor that handles Markdown. PRIVACY FIRST Your recordings stay on your phone. AI features send only the text they need, never your audio. Every install includes free AI calls to try; subscribe to AI Plan any time for a monthly allowance (or AI Plan Plus if you need more), or add your own Anthropic Claude / OpenAI API key and send requests straight to the provider you choose at your own cost. Quiz reports and conversations are saved on your device. Requires iOS 17. Transcription quality depends on Apple's speech recognition for your language. AI Plan and AI Plan Plus are auto-renewing monthly subscriptions billed through your Apple ID; manage or cancel anytime in Settings → [your name] → Subscriptions. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ — Privacy Policy: https://ianotes.net/privacy.html
Speechly
This app transforms any text into natural, human-sounding audio using ultra-realistic AI voices. It can read PDFs, web articles, images, ebooks, and typed text, offering a vast library of free ebooks and customizable listening environments.
- Ultra-realistic AI voices
- Read PDFs, web articles, images, ebooks
- OCR for scanned text
- 75,000+ free ebooks
- Customizable listening speed and highlighting
- Voice dictation to text
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Speechly is the most powerful text to speech app and #1 in Unlimited Text-to-Speech. With ultra-realistic AI voices, it transforms any content into natural, human-sounding audio you'll actually want to listen to. Listen to anything: PDFs, web articles, images, ebooks, documents, typed text. If it has words, Speechly can read it. Snap a photo of any text and our OCR engine reads it aloud instantly. 25+ premium AI voices: Choose from over 25 neural voices across multiple languages. These aren't robotic text to speech voices. They're warm, natural, and indistinguishable from a real human narrator. 75,000+ free ebooks: Unlock the world's greatest library. Classics, bestsellers, and everything in between, all free, all readable in Speechly. Built for focus: Set your perfect listening speed, follow along with real-time word highlighting, and layer in ambient background sounds to create your ideal listening environment. Every format. Every source. - PDFs & documents - Web articles & links - Images & scanned text (OCR) - Typed or dictated text - 75,000+ free ebooks Also speak, not just listen: Use Speechly's dictation feature to convert your voice into text on the fly. Whether you're commuting, studying, or just giving your eyes a rest, Speechly turns your reading list into your listening list. Privacy Policy: https://speechlyapp.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://speechlyapp.com/terms Apple Standard EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Speechly at every 8 days against IA Voice Notes's monthly. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. IA Voice Notes sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Speechly sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $12.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
IA Voice Notes ships an update monthly, Speechly every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | IA Voice Notes | Speechly |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 4.8 (6 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 6 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 8 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 52 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Liangyou Chen | Liberace Pte. Ltd. |
In-app purchases
IA Voice Notes
- AI Plan$4.991 Month
- AI Plan Plus$14.991 Month
- Pro Unlock$0.99
Speechly
- Speechly Pro$12.991 Month
- Speechly Pro3 Days trial$49.991 Year









