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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Apple Intelligence can transcribe your voice memos free of charge.
- The transcriptions are straightforward to entry and pretty correct.
- The Otter.ai various is $17 per thirty days.
Whenever you hear of AI options on smartphones, you usually consider the flashiest, agentic AI options that might perform duties for you with out you having to raise a finger. Nevertheless, I’m a agency believer that the litmus take a look at as as to if an AI characteristic is value it must be whether or not it’s returning actual worth to your life, whether or not that be time or cash, and in the most effective case, each. This transcription characteristic in Voice Memos does simply that.
As a reporter, my job includes recording interviews. These interviews require transcribing to not solely make it simpler to drag quotes but in addition to parse via prolonged interviews. Ever since undergrad, I’ve relied on providers equivalent to Otter.ai, which additionally got here in useful for different makes use of, equivalent to transcribing conferences, lectures, and conferences.
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That stated, the Apple Intelligence Voice Memo transcription characteristic solved a serious challenge I had with the transcription service, and I’m doubtless by no means going again — and this is why you should not both in case you are an Apple consumer who values a bang to your buck.
Otter.ai jail
Earlier than I clarify what makes the Apple intelligence characteristic so good, I would like to elucidate the largest challenge with its extra well-liked competitor, Otter.ai. The transcription service used AI to offer high-quality transcriptions lengthy earlier than the know-how exploded in reputation.
Whereas Otter.ai has a free subscription tier, it solely permits three lifetime audio/video file imports and 300 month-to-month minutes, that are straightforward to fly via in the event you’re utilizing it frequently, as one assembly, interview, or lecture alone will be 60 minutes lengthy.
Nevertheless, I used to be keen to take care of that, as more often than not, I simply logged on from totally different emails every time I hit a restrict, and the transcriptions had been principally correct, with a handy and simple interface.
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Being despatched to Otter.ai jail was my final straw.
Basically, in case you are on a free plan, Otter.ai solely enables you to view your 25 most up-to-date conversations. Any older conversations over 25 are archived and inaccessible. That is particularly problematic if, like me, you require entry to your recordings months later, both for sophistication, finding out, or an article.
The worst half is that you could’t export the audio, even in the event you recorded it within the app. The one technique to entry it’s to improve to Otter Professional for $17 per thirty days. As soon as that occurred, I knew I needed to discover another: Apple’s Voice Memo.
Apple Voice Memo Transcriptions (and find out how to entry)
Since my each day driver is an iPhone 16 Professional, I already report most of my voice memos on the app. From masking Apple Intelligence extensively, I knew there was a transcription choice, so I made a decision to provide it a strive.
After months of utilizing it, I’ve discovered the transcriptions to be correct. Most significantly, not solely is it free to entry, however this can be very straightforward to take action natively with out having to export information. All you want is iOS 18.0 or afterward an iPhone 12 or later, which makes it considered one of Apple’s extra accessible options. The broader suite of Apple’s AI options is obtainable solely to telephones with the A17 Professional chip or larger, which incorporates the iPhone 15 Professional or later.
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Then, to entry the transcripts, click on on the icon that appears like a citation mark inside a thought bubble whereas recording to see a dwell transcript. Or, you may see the textual content after the actual fact. Like with Otter.ai, in the event you click on on the textual content, it can play the corresponding audio, which I usually do to confirm the accuracy of the transcription or seize some phrases it could have missed.
Whereas it lacks some instruments that Otter.ai has, equivalent to the flexibility to spotlight or add feedback, you may choose content material and duplicate it to a different app or doc, and you may also select to repeat your complete transcript and import it elsewhere. I’ve achieved this earlier than and imported it right into a Google Doc in order that I can extra simply spotlight or make notes. The very best half is figuring out that my audio messages are usually not going to be locked behind a paywall at any time.
If you’d like step-by-step directions on find out how to provoke a recording within the Voice Memos app or find out how to entry the transcripts, you may observe Apple’s step-by-step guide. However as talked about above, the method is fairly intuitive.
My favourite a part of this characteristic? A reminder that AI options will be easy to be good.
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