Comparison

Transcriptor Light vs Transcribe

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

Head to head
About

Transcriptor Light

Features
Read full description

Your voice. Your device. Nothing else. Transcriptor Light turns speech into text entirely on your iPhone. No cloud, no account, no internet needed - your words never leave your hands. DICTATE, LIVE • Watch your words appear as you speak, powered by Whisper AI running locally • Automatic language detection - speak French, English, Spanish and more • Or use Apple's on-device speech recognition, your choice YOUR NOTES, ORGANIZED • Voice notes grouped by day, week and month • Full-text search with keyword highlighting • Edit any transcript by hand, share or copy in one tap AI ACTIONS - STILL 100% ON-DEVICE • Turn a raw transcript into a polished email, a chat message, a summary, a to-do list, meeting notes or a translation • A small AI model runs locally: your text is never sent anywhere • Every action is fully customizable CALIBRATED FOR YOUR IPHONE • Models are sized to your hardware for the best speed/accuracy balance • Works in airplane mode, in the subway, on a plane TRY IT, THEN OWN IT • Free demo: recordings up to 1 minute • Start a 3-day free trial: 30-minute recordings and all AI actions unlocked • One single purchase unlocks everything, forever. No subscription, ever.

About

Transcribe

Features
Read full description

Turn audio, video and voice notes into clear text, with every speaker identified and an automatic summary. Transcriptor requires a subscription. The yearly plan starts with 7 days free for eligible new subscribers. The weekly plan has no free trial. SEE IT BEFORE YOU SUBSCRIBE • A real example in your language, clearly labeled as an example, shows how a conversation looks as text TRANSCRIBE WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE • Import audio and video files: m4a, mp3, wav, mp4, voice notes and more • Open audio files from Files and other apps straight in Transcriptor • Paste a public link to your own files in Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive, or a direct link, up to 200 MB • Paste a link to a public online video up to 3 hours. Our server gets the audio, transcribes it and deletes it, and only the text reaches your iPhone. Online videos are transcribed without speakers or audio playback. Use only content you own or have the right to use. RECORD MEETINGS AND VOICE NOTES • Record meetings, classes and voice notes, also with the screen locked • Up to 3 hours per part, then it continues in part 2 on its own • Saved as you record and recovered after an unexpected close EVERY SPEAKER, CLEARLY • Cloud transcription with top accuracy and automatic language detection • Every speaker identified, in colored bubbles with timestamps • Hear a clip of a voice and name the speaker, and the name updates everywhere • Tap any line to jump to that moment in the audio • Search by title, text or speaker AUTOMATIC SUMMARY • Key points and tasks, ready after each cloud transcription • In the language of the audio or in your app language EXPORT AND SHARE • PDF, TXT, SRT and VTT subtitles, or JSON YOUR PRIVACY, YOUR CHOICE • Cloud mode, only after you agree: your audio is sent to Groq to be transcribed and the text to Anthropic for summaries. Our server doesn't keep your audio or your text. • Private mode: everything stays on this iPhone. Slower and less accurate. • No account and no ads. IN YOUR LANGUAGE • 17 languages, now including Arabic with a full right-to-left layout. ABOUT THE SUBSCRIPTION • Transcriptor Premium is an auto-renewing subscription, yearly or weekly. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when you confirm the purchase, or when the free trial ends if you start one. It renews automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel it in Settings > your name > Subscriptions. Prices are shown in the app before you confirm. • If you allow notifications, we remind you 2 days before your trial ends. • You can make a recording before you subscribe. It stays only on your iPhone and is kept if you subscribe. If you don't, it's deleted after a final reminder. Recordings started with an active subscription are always kept. • Without a subscription, the transcripts you already have stay available to read, search and export as TXT. • Fair use: the cloud is designed for heavy personal use. If a period is extremely heavy, transcription keeps working on your iPhone until the next one. Terms of Use: https://digitalnafta.com/cdn/transcriptor/terms.html Apple Standard EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://digitalnafta.com/cdn/transcriptor/privacy.html

Screenshots

Transcriptor Light4 screens
Transcribe4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Transcribe at none against Transcriptor Light's 1. Transcriptor Light's advantage is iOS requirement (15.5 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. Transcriptor Light sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Transcribe asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 5 days. Both last shipped on October 10, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences Ā· 4 level
Transcriptor Light versus Transcribe: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTranscriptor LightTranscribe
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysEvery 5 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
DevicesiPhone, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.5 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size46 MB192 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperSERENOVANTUSJan Daniel Naftanaila

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Transcriptor Light

One-time1
  • Lifetime unlock$19.99
None

Transcribe

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Transcriptor Light free?
Transcriptor Light is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Transcribe free?
Transcribe is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Transcriptor Light or Transcribe have ads?
Neither Transcriptor Light nor Transcribe shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Transcriptor Light or Transcribe?
Transcriptor Light ships an update every 5 days, and Transcribe every 5 days. Most recently, Transcriptor Light was updated on October 10, 2026 and Transcribe on October 10, 2026.

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