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12 best diary and journal apps for Android and iOS in 2024

Published on March 15, 2024

Diaries and journals have been around for centuries. They are great spots to express your innermost feelings. Frankly, people should do that more often. It would probably help people deal with stuff that people aren’t so good at dealing with. Existential crises aside, journal apps and diary apps can be quite cathartic, as you journal all of your daily activities so you can think about them in different ways. Many even have extra features like mood tracking that your old paper journals and diaries couldn’t do. Here are the best diary apps and journal apps for Android!

The best diary apps and journal apps for Android

Daily diary, day one journal, five minute journal.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($1.99 – $34.99 per item)

Daily Diary hit the ground running in 2022, and it’s already one of the best diary apps. It features a colorful design with muted colors and well-labeled buttons. Some features include image support, a mood tracker function, a calendar so you can find previous entries, a daily reminder, and more. You can also lock it with a password or biometrics. We like this one a lot because it doesn’t require a subscription, which is increasingly rare in this space. The developers are attentive to bug reports, and even people with complaints still rate this thing highly. It’s easily one of the best, despite its bland name.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($4.99 – 34.99 per item)

The Day One Journal app is one of the best apps available for journaling, exclusively on the Apple App Store. The app has a beautiful interface and neat organizing capabilities; it lets you sort your written logs by categories and even color-coded menus. Additionally, it even allows you to add pictures, videos, locations, and even weather to your diary. The newer updates introduced a dark mode, voice recording, and a few other helpful features. You can rest assured about your privacy as the app claims to provide end-to-end encryption, touch ID and face ID lock, syncing, and an array of export options. It is free to use, but there are some limitations pertaining to the number of pictures, videos, and other stuff you can add to your journals.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($1.99 – $94.99 per item)

Daybook is a fairly decent journal app. It has a bunch of functionality. The features include password protection, to-do list features, voice recording (with speech to text), and more. It also has features for expense tracking, a class notebook, a trip diary, and other similar uses. The UI is a simple Material Design. You get a calendar view, and the editing view is free from too many distractions. This one is available for both Android and iOS.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($9.99 – 39.99 per item)

Moodnotes is another app available only to users with an Apple iPad, iPhone, or Apple Watch. It works as both a journaling app and a mood tracker app. The theme is warm and colorful; the UI isn’t cluttered; it’s neat and easy-to-use. You can even choose to change the color according to your mood, choose an emoji for the day, and track on the calendar how you feel each day. The app also helps you discover why you feel this way and shows you articles based on your mood, so you can feel better and find solutions to your dilemma.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($0.99 – $59.99 per item)

Daylio is a flashy and popular diary app. It has all of the basic features, like daily entries, backup and restore with Google Drive, a PIN lock, and CSV document exporting. This one also tracks your mood. Each entry has a mood that you choose. There are dozens of them to choose from. Over time, you can see a graph and other stats about your moods. This is great for stuff like depression, where tracking your bad days matters. Some features are free, but the rest you will have to unlock with in-app purchases. This one is also free if you use Google Play Pass. You can also get this one on the Apple App Store.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($9.99 per item)

Diarium is a good all-around diary app for Android and iOS. It has neat features like attaching pictures, videos, audio recordings, files, tags, people, ratings, or locations to your journal entries. It also displays calendar events, weather, and fitness information. You can also integrate your social media content into your daily logs. The app works cross-platform on PC, iOS, and macOS. Cloud syncing to Google Drive is also available. A useful feature that we liked is that this allows you to migrate your existing journals from other apps like Diaro, Journey, Day One, Daylio, and many more. The customization options are good with themeing, font changes, and color-changing stuff. You can purchase the pro version for $9.99, which is a single-buy with no subscription.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($2.99 – $9.99 per item)

Diaro is an above-average diary app. You get a lot of the good stuff, including a privacy lock, various themes, support for over 30 languages, geotagging, simple navigation, and more. Those who go pro also get syncing with Dropbox, an ad-free experience, and exporting to PDF. This is also one of the few diary apps with fingerprint scanner support. It’s easy to use and has very few unnecessary distractions. This one is also free if you use Google Play Pass. It’s also available for the Apple devices.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($4.99 – $99.99 per item)

Five Minute Journal is a unique journal app. This one focuses on getting your feelings on paper in about five minutes. It uses the five-minute journal method. You can actually find the book about it on Amazon. Anyway, this app features a simple interface, a decent timeline view, daily quotes, challenges, reminders, and password protection, as well as backup and export functions. It’s not as flashy as other diary apps or journal apps. However, sometimes it just doesn’t need to be. It comes with a price up front, and that’s also a little unique in this space. Be sure to try it within the refund period to make sure you really like it. This one is available for both Android and iOS.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($0.99 – $169.99 per item)

Journey is a flashy and popular journal app jam-packed with features available for both Android and iOS. It also includes a subscription, and we don’t like that at all. The basic features include mood tracking, rich text, a PIN lock, integration with Google Fit, and some other neat stuff. You also get syncing to the cloud via Google Drive and iCloud, as well as some other good features. The subscription unlocks the premium version, which lets you add things like images and shows you old journal entries as throwbacks, along with some other features. This is one of the best journal apps in this space.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($3.99 – $59.99 per item)

Gratitude is a self-care journal. It helps you build a sense of security, boosts your self-esteem, and helps you find the strength to love yourself again. The app gives you daily affirmations and motivational content, as well as a vision board, to help you develop a healthy self-love routine. This also has a challenge system to help you build consistency with your mood. This one is a bit expensive, though; the free version is okay.

My Diary is one of the most popular diary and journaling apps available on the Play Store. It has a pretty user interface, with many themes and customization options. There are tabs and tags, so you can easily categorize your stuff and search your journals. The app lets you set up a password or, using your biometrics, it sets up a lock, prioritizing your privacy. Syncing to Google Drive is another neat feature. It also allows you to add pictures and videos to your diary, which is a feature other apps don’t usually offer. You also have the option to add stickers to make your diary more visually appealing. This can also work as a mood-tracking app.

Price: Free/In-app purchases ($0.99 – $4.49 per item)

Universum is an above-average journal app. It comes with all of the basics, including exporting, backup to Google Drive and Dropbox, reminders, mood tracking, various organizational features, and even a dark theme. It’s another one of the few journal apps with fingerprint scanner support as a lock function. This one functions well in a variety of areas. You can use it for travel, diet, or even as a dream journal. You can also add images or draw stuff on the sketchpad. Its name is surprisingly appropriate. It has the features for basically most types of journal writing.

If we missed any great journal apps or diary apps for Android, tell us about them in the comments. You can also click here to check out our latest Android app and game news . Thank you for reading.

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6 Free Recording Apps for Audio Journaling

The 6 free recording apps for audio journaling that made our list include apps already on your phone, free recording apps, and some new audio journaling apps.

Looking for a free recording app for audio journaling?

Criteria for Audio Journaling Apps

We have assembled a list of 6 free recording apps for audio journaling. These apps have been ranked with these criteria;

• Free or freemium option – are they free or have a free option to get started?
• Easy to use  – how easily is it to start and record an audio journal?
• Cross-platform compatibility – are they available on any device?

1. Built-in Audio Recording Apps

(Free, All devices)

Amongst the best free option for audio journaling are the apps already on your devices;

• For Apple Devices (iPhone, Mac, iPad, & iPod), use the “Voice Memos” app allows you to record your audio from any apple device.
• For Android (Phone or Tablets), use the default “Audio Recorder” app. Depending on your device, you may be able to install Google’s “Recorder” app – which records audio and transcribes .

These built-in apps are integrated with voice assistant (Siri or Google Assistant). So, next time you can quickly get to audio journaling by asking Siri or Google Assistant!

2. Google Keep

After the built-in apps, Google Keep is the next best option for audio journaling. This is because it is available on all devices, offers audio transcription, and saves your audio.

Simply launch Google Keep from your mobile device (android or apple), and follow the screenshots below to save your audio alongside with its transcription.

Pro tip, use the Google Keep’s widget on your home screen to be able to audio journal faster!

Microsoft’s OneNote  allows you to record audio on all devices . Unfortunately, OneNote’s audio recording features are more advanced on Microsoft devices (duh!) while lacking some features on Apple devices. Here is what features you get on each device;

• OneNote for Apple Devices  – You are able to record audio, dictate via audio, and keep an index of the audio if you type while recording (Mac Only).
• OneNote for Windows Devices  – You are able to record audio, dictate via audio, keep an index of audio, and search inside the audio file .

Got any other tips for audio journaling with OneNote? Please do share in the comments.

4. Evernote

(Free and paid, All devices)

Evernote is still amongst the best and oldest note taking application. It allows you to record audio – perfect for audio journaling .

Also, the widgets can be added to your mobile phone’s home screen. This will allow you to start audio journaling faster. To learn more about how to record or audio journal with evernote, give this helpful article a read .

Otter is a new app as compared to other apps on this list. It is has impressive features (for free and paid versions) that can supercharge your audio journaling. The free plan offers 600 minutes (that is 10 hours!) of transcription per month – which is more than enough for most journal keepers.

6. Apple Pages

(Free, Apple Devices only)

Apple Pages allows you to record audio directly into the page document . Simply open the document from your iPhone, iPod, iPad or Mac and start audio journaling!

This option is limited in its features and usability. This option may be best suited for people who are heavy users of Apple Pages (or don’t like to have too many apps on their phone).

Is there another audio journaling app that I didn’t include? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll update the post with the best ideas (and a link crediting you)!

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Best speech-to-text app of 2024

Free, paid and online voice recognition apps and services

Best overall

Best for business, best for mobile, best text service, best speech recognition, best virtual assistant, best for cloud, best for azure, best for batch conversion, best free speech to text apps, best mobile speech to text apps, how we test.

The best speech-to-text apps make it simple and easy to convert speech into text, for both desktop and mobile devices.

1. Best overall 2. Best for business 3. Best for mobile 4. Best text service 5. Best speech recognition 6. Best virtual assistant 7. Best for cloud 8. Best for Azure 9. Best for batch conversion 10. Best free speech to text apps 11. Best mobile speech to text apps 12. FAQs 13. How we test

Speech-to-text used to be regarded as very niche, specifically serving either people with accessibility needs or for  dictation . However, speech-to-text is moving more and more into the mainstream as office work can now routinely be completed more simply and easily by using voce-recognition software, rather than having to type through members, and speaking aloud for text to be recorded is now quite common.

While the best speech to text software used to be specifically only for desktops, the development of mobile devices and the explosion of easily accessible apps means that transcription can now also be carried out on a  smartphone  or  tablet . 

This has made the best voice to text applications increasingly valuable to users in a range of different environments, from education to business. This is not least because the technology has matured to the level where mistakes in transcriptions are relatively rare, with some services rightly boasting a 99.9% success rate from clear audio.

Even still, this applies mainly to ordinary situations and circumstances, and precludes the use of technical terminology such as required in legal or medical professions. Despite this, digital transcription can still service needs such as basic  note-taking  which can still be easily done using a phone app, simplifying the dictation process.

However, different speech-to-text programs have different levels of ability and complexity, with some using advanced machine learning to constantly correct errors flagged up by users so that they are not repeated. Others are downloadable software which is only as good as its latest update.

Here then are the best in speech-to-text recognition programs, which should be more than capable for most situations and circumstances.

We've also featured the best voice recognition software .

The best paid for speech to text apps of 2024 in full:

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

1. Dragon Anywhere

Our expert review:

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid.

Dragon Anywhere is the Nuance mobile product for Android and iOS devices, however this is no ‘lite’ app, but rather offers fully-formed dictation capabilities powered via the cloud. 

So essentially you get the same excellent speech recognition as seen on the desktop software – the only meaningful difference we noticed was a very slight delay in our spoken words appearing on the screen (doubtless due to processing in the cloud). However, note that the app was still responsive enough overall.

It also boasts support for boilerplate chunks of text which can be set up and inserted into a document with a simple command, and these, along with custom vocabularies, are synced across the mobile app and desktop Dragon software. Furthermore, you can share documents across devices via Evernote or cloud services (such as Dropbox).

This isn’t as flexible as the desktop application, however, as dictation is limited to within Dragon Anywhere – you can’t dictate directly in another app (although you can copy over text from the Dragon Anywhere dictation pad to a third-party app). The other caveats are the need for an internet connection for the app to work (due to its cloud-powered nature), and the fact that it’s a subscription offering with no one-off purchase option, which might not be to everyone’s tastes.

Even bearing in mind these limitations, though, it’s a definite boon to have fully-fledged, powerful voice recognition of the same sterling quality as the desktop software, nestling on your phone or tablet for when you’re away from the office.

Nuance Communications offers a 7-day free trial to give the app a try before you commit to a subscription. 

Read our full Dragon Anywhere review .

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2. Dragon Professional

Should you be looking for a business-grade dictation application, your best bet is Dragon Professional. Aimed at pro users, the software provides you with the tools to dictate and edit documents, create spreadsheets, and browse the web using your voice.   

According to Nuance, the solution is capable of taking dictation at an equivalent typing speed of 160 words per minute, with a 99% accuracy rate – and that’s out-of-the-box, before any training is done (whereby the app adapts to your voice and words you commonly use).

As well as creating documents using your voice, you can also import custom word lists. There’s also an additional mobile app that lets you transcribe audio files and send them back to your computer.   

This is a powerful, flexible, and hugely useful tool that is especially good for individuals, such as professionals and freelancers, allowing for typing and document management to be done much more flexibly and easily.

Overall, the interface is easy to use, and if you get stuck at all, you can access a series of help tutorials. And while the software can seem expensive, it's just a one-time fee and compares very favorably with paid-for subscription transcription services.

Also note that Nuance are currently offering 12-months' access to Dragon Anywhere at no extra cost with any purchase of Dragon Home or Dragon Professional Individual.

Read our full Dragon Professional review .

Otter is a cloud-based speech to text program especially aimed for mobile use, such as on a laptop or smartphone. The app provides real-time transcription, allowing you to search, edit, play, and organize as required.

Otter is marketed as an app specifically for meetings, interviews, and lectures, to make it easier to take rich notes. However, it is also built to work with collaboration between teams, and different speakers are assigned different speaker IDs to make it easier to understand transcriptions.

There are three different payment plans, with the basic one being free to use and aside from the features mentioned above also includes keyword summaries and a wordcloud to make it easier to find specific topic mentions. You can also organize and share, import audio and video for transcription, and provides 600 minutes of free service.

The Premium plan also includes advanced and bulk export options, the ability to sync audio from Dropbox, additional playback speeds including the ability to skip silent pauses. The Premium plan also allows for up to 6,000 minutes of speech to text.

The Teams plan also adds two-factor authentication, user management and centralized billing, as well as user statistics, voiceprints, and live captioning.

Read our full Otter review .

Verbit aims to offer a smarter speech to text service, using AI for transcription and captioning. The service is specifically targeted at enterprise and educational establishments.

Verbit uses a mix of speech models, using neural networks and algorithms to reduce background noise, focus on terms as well as differentiate between speakers regardless of accent, as well as incorporate contextual events such as news and company information into recordings.

Although Verbit does offer a live version for transcription and captioning, aiming for a high degree of accuracy, other plans offer human editors to ensure transcriptions are fully accurate, and advertise a four hour turnaround time.

Altogether, while Verbit does offer a direct speech to text service, it’s possibly better thought of as a transcription service, but the focus on enterprise and education, as well as team use, means it earns a place here as an option to consider.

Read our full Verbit review .

5. Speechmatics

Speechmatics offers a machine learning solution to converting speech to text, with its automatic speech recognition solution available to use on existing audio and video files as well as for live use.

Unlike some automated transcription software which can struggle with accents or charge more for them, Speechmatics advertises itself as being able to support all major British accents, regardless of nationality. That way it aims to cope with not just different American and British English accents, but also South African and Jamaican accents.

Speechmatics offers a wider number of speech to text transcription uses than many other providers. Examples include taking call center phone recordings and converting them into searchable text or Word documents. The software also works with video and other media for captioning as well as using keyword triggers for management.

Overall, Speechmatics aims to offer a more flexible and comprehensive speech to text service than a lot of other providers, and the use of automation should keep them price competitive.

Read our full Speechmatics review .

6. Braina Pro

Braina Pro is speech recognition software which is built not just for dictation, but also as an all-round digital assistant to help you achieve various tasks on your PC. It supports dictation to third-party software in not just English but almost 90 different languages, with impressive voice recognition chops.

Beyond that, it’s a virtual assistant that can be instructed to set alarms, search your PC for a file, or search the internet, play an MP3 file, read an ebook aloud, plus you can implement various custom commands.

The Windows program also has a companion Android app which can remotely control your PC, and use the local Wi-Fi network to deliver commands to your computer, so you can spark up a music playlist, for example, wherever you happen to be in the house. Nifty.

There’s a free version of Braina which comes with limited functionality, but includes all the basic PC commands, along with a 7-day trial of the speech recognition which allows you to test out its powers for yourself before you commit to a subscription. Yes, this is another subscription-only product with no option to purchase for a one-off fee. Also note that you need to be online and have Google ’s Chrome browser installed for speech recognition functionality to work.

Read our full Braina Pro review .

7. Amazon Transcribe

Amazon Transcribe is as big cloud-based automatic speech recognition platform developed specifically to convert audio to text for apps. It especially aims to provide a more accurate and comprehensive service than traditional providers, such as being able to cope with low-fi and noisy recordings, such as you might get in a contact center .

Amazon Transcribe uses a deep learning process that automatically adds punctuation and formatting, as well as process with a secure livestream or otherwise transcribe speech to text with batch processing.

As well as offering time stamping for individual words for easy search, it can also identify different speaks and different channels and annotate documents accordingly to account for this.

There are also some nice features for editing and managing transcribed texts, such as vocabulary filtering and replacement words which can be used to keep product names consistent and therefore any following transcription easier to analyze.

Overall, Amazon Transcribe is one of the most powerful platforms out there, though it’s aimed more for the business and enterprise user rather than the individual.

8. Microsoft Azure Speech to Text

Microsoft 's Azure cloud service offers advanced speech recognition as part of the platform's speech services to deliver the Microsoft Azure Speech to Text functionality. 

This feature allows you to simply and easily create text from a variety of audio sources. There are also customization options available to work better with different speech patterns, registers, and even background sounds. You can also modify settings to handle different specialist vocabularies, such as product names, technical information, and place names.

The Microsoft's Azure Speech to Text feature is powered by deep neural network models and allows for real-time audio transcription that can be set up to handle multiple speakers.

As part of the Azure cloud service, you can run Azure Speech to Text in the cloud, on premises, or in edge computing. In terms of pricing, you can run the feature in a free container with a single concurrent request for up to 5 hours of free audio per month.

Read our full Microsoft Azure Speech to Text review .

9. IBM Watson Speech to Text

IBM's Watson Speech to Text works is the third cloud-native solution on this list, with the feature being powered by AI and machine learning as part of IBM's cloud services.

While there is the option to transcribe speech to text in real-time, there is also the option to batch convert audio files and process them through a range of language, audio frequency, and other output options.

You can also tag transcriptions with speaker labels, smart formatting, and timestamps, as well as apply global editing for technical words or phrases, acronyms, and for number use.

As with other cloud services Watson Speech to Text allows for easy deployment both in the cloud and on-premises behind your own firewall to ensure security is maintained.

Read our full Watson Speech to Text review .

1. Google Gboard

If you already have an Android mobile device, then if it's not already installed then download Google Keyboard from the Google Play store and you'll have an instant text-to-speech app. Although it's primarily designed as a keyboard for physical input, it also has a speech input option which is directly available. And because all the power of Google's hardware is behind it, it's a powerful and responsive tool.

If that's not enough then there are additional features. Aside from physical input ones such as swiping, you can also trigger images in your text using voice commands. Additionally, it can also work with Google Translate, and is advertised as providing support for over 60 languages.

Even though Google Keyboard isn't a dedicated transcription tool, as there are no shortcut commands or text editing directly integrated, it does everything you need from a basic transcription tool. And as it's a keyboard, it means should be able to work with any software you can run on your Android smartphone, so you can text edit, save, and export using that. Even better, it's free and there are no adverts to get in the way of you using it.

2. Just Press Record

If you want a dedicated dictation app, it’s worth checking out Just Press Record. It’s a mobile audio recorder that comes with features such as one tap recording, transcription and iCloud syncing across devices. The great thing is that it’s aimed at pretty much anyone and is extremely easy to use. 

When it comes to recording notes, all you have to do is press one button, and you get unlimited recording time. However, the really great thing about this app is that it also offers a powerful transcription service. 

Through it, you can quickly and easily turn speech into searchable text. Once you’ve transcribed a file, you can then edit it from within the app. There’s support for more than 30 languages as well, making it the perfect app if you’re working abroad or with an international team. Another nice feature is punctuation command recognition, ensuring that your transcriptions are free from typos.   

This app is underpinned by cloud technology, meaning you can access notes from any device (which is online). You’re able to share audio and text files to other iOS apps too, and when it comes to organizing them, you can view recordings in a comprehensive file. 

3. Speechnotes

Speechnotes is yet another easy to use dictation app. A useful touch here is that you don’t need to create an account or anything like that; you just open up the app and press on the microphone icon, and you’re off.   

The app is powered by Google voice recognition tech. When you’re recording a note, you can easily dictate punctuation marks through voice commands, or by using the built-in punctuation keyboard. 

To make things even easier, you can quickly add names, signatures, greetings and other frequently used text by using a set of custom keys on the built-in keyboard. There’s automatic capitalization as well, and every change made to a note is saved to the cloud.

When it comes to customizing notes, you can access a plethora of fonts and text sizes. The app is free to download from the Google Play Store , but you can make in-app purchases to access premium features (there's also a browser version for Chrome).   

Read our full Speechnotes review .

4. Transcribe

Marketed as a personal assistant for turning videos and voice memos into text files, Transcribe is a popular dictation app that’s powered by AI. It lets you make high quality transcriptions by just hitting a button.   

The app can transcribe any video or voice memo automatically, while supporting over 80 languages from across the world. While you can easily create notes with Transcribe, you can also import files from services such as Dropbox.

Once you’ve transcribed a file, you can export the raw text to a word processor to edit. The app is free to download, but you’ll have to make an in-app purchase if you want to make the most of these features in the long-term. There is a trial available, but it’s basically just 15 minutes of free transcription time. Transcribe is only available on iOS, though.   

5. Windows Speech Recognition

If you don’t want to pay for speech recognition software, and you’re running Microsoft’s latest desktop OS, then you might be pleased to hear that speech-to-text is built into Windows.

Windows Speech Recognition, as it’s imaginatively named – and note that this is something different to Cortana, which offers basic commands and assistant capabilities – lets you not only execute commands via voice control, but also offers the ability to dictate into documents.

The sort of accuracy you get isn’t comparable with that offered by the likes of Dragon, but then again, you’re paying nothing to use it. It’s also possible to improve the accuracy by training the system by reading text, and giving it access to your documents to better learn your vocabulary. It’s definitely worth indulging in some training, particularly if you intend to use the voice recognition feature a fair bit.

The company has been busy boasting about its advances in terms of voice recognition powered by deep neural networks, especially since windows 10 and now for Windows 11 , and Microsoft is certainly priming us to expect impressive things in the future. The likely end-goal aim is for Cortana to do everything eventually, from voice commands to taking dictation.

Turn on Windows Speech Recognition by heading to the Control Panel (search for it, or right click the Start button and select it), then click on Ease of Access, and you will see the option to ‘start speech recognition’ (you’ll also spot the option to set up a microphone here, if you haven’t already done that).

Aside from what has already been covered above, there are an increasing number of apps available across all mobile devices for working with speech to text, not least because Google's speech recognition technology is available for use. 

iTranslate Translator  is a speech-to-text app for iOS with a difference, in that it focuses on translating voice languages. Not only does it aim to translate different languages you hear into text for your own language, it also works to translate images such as photos you might take of signs in a foreign country and get a translation for them. In that way, iTranslate is a very different app, that takes the idea of speech-to-text in a novel direction, and by all accounts, does it well. 

ListNote Speech-to-Text Notes  is another speech-to-text app that uses Google's speech recognition software, but this time does a more comprehensive job of integrating it with a note-taking program than many other apps. The text notes you record are searchable, and you can import/export with other text applications. Additionally there is a password protection option, which encrypts notes after the first 20 characters so that the beginning of the notes are searchable by you. There's also an organizer feature for your notes, using category or assigned color. The app is free on Android, but includes ads.

Voice Notes  is a simple app that aims to convert speech to text for making notes. This is refreshing, as it mixes Google's speech recognition technology with a simple note-taking app, so there are more features to play with here. You can categorize notes, set reminders, and import/export text accordingly.

SpeechTexter  is another speech-to-text app that aims to do more than just record your voice to a text file. This app is built specifically to work with social media, so that rather than sending messages, emails, Tweets, and similar, you can record your voice directly to the social media sites and send. There are also a number of language packs you can download for offline working if you want to use more than just English, which is handy.

Also consider reading these related software and app guides:

• Best text-to-speech software
• Best transcription services
• Best Bluetooth headsets

Which speech-to-text app is best for you?

When deciding which speech-to-text app to use, first consider what your actual needs are, as free and budget  options may only provide basic features, so if you need to use advanced tools you may find a paid-for platform is better suited to you. Additionally, higher-end software can usually cater for every need, so do ensure you have a good idea of which features you think you may require from your speech-to-text app.

To test for the best speech-to-text apps we first set up an account with the relevant platform, then we tested the service to see how the software could be used for different purposes and in different situations. The aim was to push each speech-to-text platform to see how useful its basic tools were and also how easy it was to get to grips with any more advanced tools.

Read more on how we test, rate, and review products on TechRadar .

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Brian has over 30 years publishing experience as a writer and editor across a range of computing, technology, and marketing titles. He has been interviewed multiple times for the BBC and been a speaker at international conferences. His specialty on techradar is Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, covering everything from office suites to IT service tools. He is also a science fiction and fantasy author, published as Brian G Turner.

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The 8 Best Voice-to-Text Apps of 2024

Dragon Anywhere is the best overall voice-to-text app

Stacey has worn many hats throughout her writing career, working in content marketing, nonprofit communications, and journalism at different points in her life.

We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more .

Getty Images / RapidEye-izabell

Voice-to-text apps can be helpful for accessibility needs and busy professionals alike. If you’re always on the go, transcribing interview notes, or you can think faster than you can write, these special programs can increase your efficiency and store the recordings safely and sound via the cloud. Depending on your needs, you can choose an app with customizable language for commonly used words or industry terms.

The main features to consider when looking at voice-to-text apps include accuracy, shortcuts, and available languages. Accuracy is one of the most critical factors, and some options perform much better than others in this area. These apps are becoming more mainstream, from basic software to advanced technology. Whether you want to take notes , send quick messages, or translate on the fly, the best voice-to-text apps below are ready to help.

Best Voice-to-Text Apps of 2024

Best overall: dragon anywhere, best assistant: google assistant.

• Best Transcription: Transcribe
• Best for Long Recordings: Speechnotes

Best for Notes: Voice Notes

• Best for Messages: SpeechTexter  

Best for Translation: iTranslate Converse

Best for niche industry terms: braina.

Dragon Anywhere

• Price: $15 per month or $150 per year
• Free Trial: One week
• Accuracy Rate: 99 percent

Why We Chose It

We chose Dragon Anywhere because of its 99 percent accuracy rating and options for voice editing and formatting.

Pros & Cons

No word limits

99 percent accuracy

Multiple ways to share documents

Expensive compared to some other apps

May take time to learn the built-in commands

Available for Android and iOS devices, Dragon Anywhere is a premium professional tool that’s a big deal in the world of dictation apps. It’s 99 percent accurate and comes with voice editing and formatting. You can use the app for as long as you need—there are no word limits.

Dragon Anywhere allows you to customize industry lingo for even more accuracy. After transcription, share your notes by email, Dropbox, Evernote, and more. For supported versions, you can synchronize Dragon Anywhere with your desktop and do voice work on your computer as well. However, to do this, you will need to purchase a desktop version of Dragon as well.

Its accuracy and rich features come with a cost, but the bill could be a worthy business investment if you often think of ideas on the fly or need to record meetings. The application costs $15 per month or $150 per year.

Google Assistant

• Price: Free
• Free Trial: N/A
• Accuracy Rate: Not disclosed

We chose Google Assistant because it can help you accomplish a variety of tasks.

Integrated into services you already use, such as email and messaging

Free to use

Not specifically designed for note-taking

Must use applets to boost note-taking abilities

Google Assistant does a lot, including playing music and opening maps. One of its best features? Voice recognition. You can use voice command to look up information and tell Google Assistant to perform certain functions, but it can also convert speech to text.

The app sends messages, manages tasks, and sets reminders. While it’s not a speech-to-text app in the purest sense, it will still help organize your ideas and notes with voice recognition.

Use IFTTT (If This Then That) to maximize your Google Assistant note-taking abilities. In one applet , Google Assistant can log all of your notes into a spreadsheet. You can also search IFTTT for other productivity-boosting applets or create your own as you see fit.  

Best for Transcription: Transcribe - Speech to Text

Transcribe - Speech to Text

• Price: $5 per hour of transcription, subscription options also available
• Free Trial: 15 minutes of transcription

Transcribe - Speech to Text offers you the opportunity to transcribe any voice or video file using the help of artificial intelligence.

Transcription available for over 120 languages and dialects

Easy-to-use software

Only available for Apple products

Journalists or executive assistants who have a lot of conversations to track may find this app useful. Using A.I., Transcribe can turn any voice or video memo into a transcription in over 120 different languages and dialects. After recording, you can drop your file in this app and export your raw text into another app such as DropBox.

Keep in mind that Transcribe is only available for Apple products with Voice Memo and video since there’s no direct in-app dictation. Transcribe can also get pricey. Users receive a free trial for 15 minutes of transcription. Every extra hour costs $5 and 10 hours costs $30, but there are also subscriptions available for frequent users.

Best for Long Recordings: Speechnotes - Speech to Text

Speechnotes - Speech to Text

• Accuracy Rate: 90 percent or better

We chose Speechnotes because it allows for extremely long recordings.

Long recordings allowed

Can add in punctuation where needed

In-app advertisements as a free app

Only available in browser and on Android

Writers who think faster than they can type will appreciate this app. Speechnotes is excellent for organizing long notes thanks to two special features. First of all, it doesn't stop recording—even if you pause to think or breathe—so you can keep the recording open for as long as needed. Second, you can tap a button or use a verbal command to insert punctuation marks into your work so they won't become too unwieldy.

The free app has a small ad banner, but you can upgrade to a premium version to get rid of it. Other perks: It won't clog up your phone space at 4 MB, plus it saves all your recordings as TXT files. Plus, you won’t need to open the app to use it either; you can tap on a widget to access Speechnotes. Keep in mind that Speechnotes is only available on your browser and Android. 

Voice Notes

We chose Voice Notes for its efficient layout to help you store notes.

Recognizes 120 languages

Only available on Android phones

Voice Notes has speech recognition that allows you to create notes efficiently. You can then organize your notes into categories and create reminders by customizing alerts synced with your phone calendar. The interface is intuitive and easy to use; simply press the microphone button and speak to record. You’ll even be able to make your notes with the phone screen turned off.

The app can recognize up to 120 languages, just in case you need to record notes in something other than English. The app is free, though you can subscribe to a premium plan to support the developer.

Of course, there are a few caveats. Voice Notes is a popular app, but the one major limitation is that it's only available on Android phones. Plus, you need to have Google voice search installed to use it.

Best for Messages: SpeechTexter - Speech to Text

SpeechTexter - Speech to Text

• Accuracy Rate: Better than 90 percent

SpeechTexter is a useful tool to help you draft texts, notes, emails, reports, and more with your voice. 

Desktop and android versions available

Over 70 languages supported

Customizable commands

Offline mode is less accurate

Need to send a quick message but find your hands occupied with other tasks? Here’s a quick solution. Using Google’s backend, SpeechTexter allows you to create text notes, emails, and reports with your own voice. The easy-to-use app supports over 70 languages with an accuracy rate higher than 90 percent. You can customize your own commands for punctuation as well.

It's possible to use the app when you're not connected to the Internet, though keep in mind that the accuracy lowers in offline mode and the recognition speed depends on your Internet connectivity. To use the app offline, make sure that you install language packs of your preference.

iTranslate Converse

• Price: $6 per month or $50 per year
• Free Trial: Yes

We chose iTranslate Converse because it is designed to help you translate languages on the go in noisy environments.

Works well in noisy environments

Enables real-time communication with someone in another language

38 languages recognized

Subscription fee

Unknown accuracy rate

Brought to you by the same developers behind the popular iTranslate app, iTranslate Converse is as close to real-time translation as you’ll get, which is convenient if you need to communicate with clients who don’t speak the same language as you or if you’re traveling abroad. All you have to do is set the two languages. Then tap, hold, and speak into your phone.

The app will pick up on the language that you’re speaking, then issue out a translation—yes, even in noisy environments. The app is capable of recognizing 38 languages. After your conversation is done, you can download full transcriptions. It’s not always perfect, of course, but it’s faster than going through a personal assistant app to look up translations for you.

While it has a subscription fee, iTranslate won't stretch your budget significantly. When you download it, you'll receive a free trial. After that runs out, you'll be upgraded to the pro version for $6 per month or $50 per year. You must cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the trial to avoid being put on a paid membership.

• Price: $0-$399
• Free Trial: No
• Accuracy Rate: 99%

Briana can help you utilize voice-to-text in a jargon-filled industry.

Personal A.I. builds to recognize your industry jargon

Over 100 languages recognized

May take some time to customize

Braina is a personal A.I. for Windows P.C.s with companion Android and IOS apps. The program can convert your voice into text for any website or software program, including a word processor. It recognizes most medical, legal, and scientific terms, which makes it ideal if you work in a niche industry with technical jargon. You can also teach Braina uncommon names and vocabulary with ease.

Braina has other helpful voice recognition features besides learning niche industry terms. For example, it can recognize over 100 languages to serve non-English users. The program also includes convenient dictation commands for deleting, tabbing, and casing.

The app has a few price tiers; there is a free version with limited access to features, while the pro version costs $79 per year or $399 for lifetime access (which often goes on sale for $199).

Final Verdict

Dragon Anywhere is our pick for the best overall voice-to-text app thanks to its streamlined tools, high accuracy rating, and accessible computer synchronization. The app costs a bit more than other popular options, but discounts are available on annual subscriptions, and it has no limit on words.

As a bonus, Dragon Anywhere also allows users to customize their experience for specific industry lingo and other terms. This app is also accessible for Android and iOS devices and features simple sharing options to multiple apps or email accounts.

Compare the Best Voice to Text Apps

Guide to choosing a voice-to-text app.

Not sure how to choose a voice-to-text app? Consider the following factors to select the best option for your needs:

• Accuracy rating
• Available languages
• Limits on words or usage
• Platform (Android or iOS)
• Exporting files
• Translation
• Customizable terms or industry language

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best voice to text app.

Dragon Anywhere is the best voice-to-text app on our list. This app is available for both Android and iOS users, has a high accuracy rating, and makes it easy to export files to your computer, email, or other apps.

What Is the Best Free Voice to Text App?

Speechnotes, Voice Notes, Google Assistant, and SpeechTexter are all great choices for free voice-to-text apps. Choose the best option for your specific needs based on maximum length of recording, available languages, and exporting options.

What Is the Best Way to Convert Voice to Text?

Voice-to-text apps and computer programs are both helpful ways to convert your voice to text. If you need to record notes on the go or away from your computer, a mobile app is likely best for you. On the other hand, some people prefer apps downloaded to their computers to take notes during meetings or classes.

What Is the Most Realistic Speech-to-Text?

Dragon Anywhere has the highest accuracy rating of voice-to-text apps compared in this list. Additionally, this app allows users to customize specific industry language and commonly used terms to make their transcriptions more realistic.

Methodology

To find the best voice-to-text apps we compiled a list of the most popular options available. Next, we took a closer look at several factors, including the price, free trial options, accuracy rates, and more. Finally, we decided which providers were best suited for what our readers needed.

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Speech to Text - Voice Typing & Transcription

Take notes with your voice for free, or automatically transcribe audio & video recordings. secure, accurate & blazing fast..

~ Proudly serving millions of users since 2015 ~

I need to >

Dictate Notes

Start taking notes, on our online voice-enabled notepad right away, for free.

Transcribe Recordings

Automatically transcribe (and optionally translate) audios & videos - upload files from your device or link to an online resource (Drive, YouTube, TikTok or other). Export to text, docx, video subtitles and more.

Speechnotes is a reliable and secure web-based speech-to-text tool that enables you to quickly and accurately transcribe your audio and video recordings, as well as dictate your notes instead of typing, saving you time and effort. With features like voice commands for punctuation and formatting, automatic capitalization, and easy import/export options, Speechnotes provides an efficient and user-friendly dictation and transcription experience. Proudly serving millions of users since 2015, Speechnotes is the go-to tool for anyone who needs fast, accurate & private transcription. Our Portfolio of Complementary Speech-To-Text Tools Includes:

Voice typing - Chrome extension

Dictate instead of typing on any form & text-box across the web. Including on Gmail, and more.

Transcription API & webhooks

Speechnotes' API enables you to send us files via standard POST requests, and get the transcription results sent directly to your server.

Zapier integration

Combine the power of automatic transcriptions with Zapier's automatic processes. Serverless & codeless automation! Connect with your CRM, phone calls, Docs, email & more.

Android Speechnotes app

Speechnotes' notepad for Android, for notes taking on your mobile, battle tested with more than 5Million downloads. Rated 4.3+ ⭐

iOS TextHear app

TextHear for iOS, works great on iPhones, iPads & Macs. Designed specifically to help people with hearing impairment participate in conversations. Please note, this is a sister app - so it has its own pricing plan.

Audio & video converting tools

Tools developed for fast - batch conversions of audio files from one type to another and extracting audio only from videos for minimizing uploads.

Our Sister Apps for Text-To-Speech & Live Captioning

Complementary to Speechnotes

Reads out loud texts, files & web pages

Reads out loud texts, PDFs, e-books & websites for free

Speechlogger

Live Captioning & Translation

Live captions & translations for online meetings, webinars, and conferences.

Need Human Transcription? We Can Offer a 10% Discount Coupon

We do not provide human transcription services ourselves, but, we partnered with a UK company that does. Learn more on human transcription and the 10% discount .

Dictation Notepad

Start taking notes with your voice for free

Speech to Text online notepad. Professional, accurate & free speech recognizing text editor. Distraction-free, fast, easy to use web app for dictation & typing.

Speechnotes is a powerful speech-enabled online notepad, designed to empower your ideas by implementing a clean & efficient design, so you can focus on your thoughts. We strive to provide the best online dictation tool by engaging cutting-edge speech-recognition technology for the most accurate results technology can achieve today, together with incorporating built-in tools (automatic or manual) to increase users' efficiency, productivity and comfort. Works entirely online in your Chrome browser. No download, no install and even no registration needed, so you can start working right away.

Speechnotes is especially designed to provide you a distraction-free environment. Every note, starts with a new clear white paper, so to stimulate your mind with a clean fresh start. All other elements but the text itself are out of sight by fading out, so you can concentrate on the most important part - your own creativity. In addition to that, speaking instead of typing, enables you to think and speak it out fluently, uninterrupted, which again encourages creative, clear thinking. Fonts and colors all over the app were designed to be sharp and have excellent legibility characteristics.

Example use cases

• Voice typing
• Writing notes, thoughts
• Medical forms - dictate
• Transcribers (listen and dictate)

Transcription Service

Start transcribing

Fast turnaround - results within minutes. Includes timestamps, auto punctuation and subtitles at unbeatable price. Protects your privacy: no human in the loop, and (unlike many other vendors) we do NOT keep your audio. Pay per use, no recurring payments. Upload your files or transcribe directly from Google Drive, YouTube or any other online source. Simple. No download or install. Just send us the file and get the results in minutes.

• Transcribe interviews
• Captions for Youtubes & movies
• Auto-transcribe phone calls or voice messages
• Students - transcribe lectures
• Podcasters - enlarge your audience by turning your podcasts into textual content
• Text-index entire audio archives

Key Advantages

Speechnotes is powered by the leading most accurate speech recognition AI engines by Google & Microsoft. We always check - and make sure we still use the best. Accuracy in English is very good and can easily reach 95% accuracy for good quality dictation or recording.

Lightweight & fast

Both Speechnotes dictation & transcription are lightweight-online no install, work out of the box anywhere you are. Dictation works in real time. Transcription will get you results in a matter of minutes.

Super Private & Secure!

Super private - no human handles, sees or listens to your recordings! In addition, we take great measures to protect your privacy. For example, for transcribing your recordings - we pay Google's speech to text engines extra - just so they do not keep your audio for their own research purposes.

Health advantages

Typing may result in different types of Computer Related Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI). Voice typing is one of the main recommended ways to minimize these risks, as it enables you to sit back comfortably, freeing your arms, hands, shoulders and back altogether.

Saves you time

Need to transcribe a recording? If it's an hour long, transcribing it yourself will take you about 6! hours of work. If you send it to a transcriber - you will get it back in days! Upload it to Speechnotes - it will take you less than a minute, and you will get the results in about 20 minutes to your email.

Saves you money

Speechnotes dictation notepad is completely free - with ads - or a small fee to get it ad-free. Speechnotes transcription is only $0.1/minute, which is X10 times cheaper than a human transcriber! We offer the best deal on the market - whether it's the free dictation notepad ot the pay-as-you-go transcription service.

Dictation - Free

• Online dictation notepad
• Voice typing Chrome extension

Dictation - Premium

• Premium online dictation notepad
• Premium voice typing Chrome extension
• Support from the development team

Transcription

$0.1 /minute.

• Pay as you go - no subscription
• Audio & video recordings
• Speaker diarization in English
• Generate captions .srt files
• REST API, webhooks & Zapier integration

Compare plans

Privacy policy.

We at Speechnotes, Speechlogger, TextHear, Speechkeys value your privacy, and that's why we do not store anything you say or type or in fact any other data about you - unless it is solely needed for the purpose of your operation. We don't share it with 3rd parties, other than Google / Microsoft for the speech-to-text engine.

Privacy - how are the recordings and results handled?

- transcription service.

Our transcription service is probably the most private and secure transcription service available.

• HIPAA compliant.
• No human in the loop. No passing your recording between PCs, emails, employees, etc.
• Secure encrypted communications (https) with and between our servers.
• Recordings are automatically deleted from our servers as soon as the transcription is done.
• Our contract with Google / Microsoft (our speech engines providers) prohibits them from keeping any audio or results.
• Transcription results are securely kept on our secure database. Only you have access to them - only if you sign in (or provide your secret credentials through the API)
• You may choose to delete the transcription results - once you do - no copy remains on our servers.

- Dictation notepad & extension

For dictation, the recording & recognition - is delegated to and done by the browser (Chrome / Edge) or operating system (Android). So, we never even have access to the recorded audio, and Edge's / Chrome's / Android's (depending the one you use) privacy policy apply here.

The results of the dictation are saved locally on your machine - via the browser's / app's local storage. It never gets to our servers. So, as long as your device is private - your notes are private.

Payments method privacy

The whole payments process is delegated to PayPal / Stripe / Google Pay / Play Store / App Store and secured by these providers. We never receive any of your credit card information.

More generic notes regarding our site, cookies, analytics, ads, etc.

• We may use Google Analytics on our site - which is a generic tool to track usage statistics.
• We use cookies - which means we save data on your browser to send to our servers when needed. This is used for instance to sign you in, and then keep you signed in.
• For the dictation tool - we use your browser's local storage to store your notes, so you can access them later.
• Non premium dictation tool serves ads by Google. Users may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Ads Settings . Alternatively, users can opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalized advertising by visiting https://youradchoices.com/
• In case you would like to upload files to Google Drive directly from Speechnotes - we'll ask for your permission to do so. We will use that permission for that purpose only - syncing your speech-notes to your Google Drive, per your request.

SpeechTexter is a free multilingual speech-to-text application aimed at assisting you with transcription of notes, documents, books, reports or blog posts by using your voice. This app also features a customizable voice commands list, allowing users to add punctuation marks, frequently used phrases, and some app actions (undo, redo, make a new paragraph).

SpeechTexter is used daily by students, teachers, writers, bloggers around the world.

It will assist you in minimizing your writing efforts significantly.

Voice-to-text software is exceptionally valuable for people who have difficulty using their hands due to trauma, people with dyslexia or disabilities that limit the use of conventional input devices. Speech to text technology can also be used to improve accessibility for those with hearing impairments, as it can convert speech into text.

It can also be used as a tool for learning a proper pronunciation of words in the foreign language, in addition to helping a person develop fluency with their speaking skills.

Accuracy levels higher than 90% should be expected. It varies depending on the language and the speaker.

No download, installation or registration is required. Just click the microphone button and start dictating.

Speech to text technology is quickly becoming an essential tool for those looking to save time and increase their productivity.

Powerful real-time continuous speech recognition

Creation of text notes, emails, blog posts, reports and more.

Custom voice commands

More than 70 languages supported

SpeechTexter is using Google Speech recognition to convert the speech into text in real-time. This technology is supported by Chrome browser (for desktop) and some browsers on Android OS. Other browsers have not implemented speech recognition yet.

Note: iPhones and iPads are not supported

List of supported languages:

Afrikaans, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Basque, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kannada, Kazakh, Khmer, Kinyarwanda, Korean, Lao, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Malayalam, Marathi, Mongolian, Nepali, Norwegian Bokmål, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Southern Sotho, Spanish, Sundanese, Swahili, Swati, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Tsonga, Tswana, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Venda, Vietnamese, Xhosa, Zulu.

Instructions for web app on desktop (Windows, Mac, Linux OS)

Requirements: the latest version of the Google Chrome [↗] browser (other browsers are not supported).

1. Connect a high-quality microphone to your computer.

2. Make sure your microphone is set as the default recording device on your browser.

To go directly to microphone's settings paste the line below into Chrome's URL bar.

chrome://settings/content/microphone

To capture speech from video/audio content on the web or from a file stored on your device, select 'Stereo Mix' as the default audio input.

3. Select the language you would like to speak (Click the button on the top right corner).

4. Click the "microphone" button. Chrome browser will request your permission to access your microphone. Choose "allow".

5. You can start dictating!

Instructions for the web app on a mobile and for the android app

Requirements: - Google app [↗] installed on your Android device. - Any of the supported browsers if you choose to use the web app.

Supported android browsers (not a full list): Chrome browser (recommended), Edge, Opera, Brave, Vivaldi.

1. Tap the button with the language name (on a web app) or language code (on android app) on the top right corner to select your language.

2. Tap the microphone button. The SpeechTexter app will ask for permission to record audio. Choose 'allow' to enable microphone access.

3. You can start dictating!

Common problems on a desktop (Windows, Mac, Linux OS)

Error: 'speechtexter cannot access your microphone'..

Please give permission to access your microphone.

Click on the "padlock" icon next to the URL bar, find the "microphone" option, and choose "allow".

Error: 'No speech was detected. Please try again'.

If you get this error while you are speaking, make sure your microphone is set as the default recording device on your browser [see step 2].

If you're using a headset, make sure the mute switch on the cord is off.

Error: 'Network error'

The internet connection is poor. Please try again later.

The result won't transfer to the "editor".

The result confidence is not high enough or there is a background noise. An accumulation of long text in the buffer can also make the engine stop responding, please make some pauses in the speech.

The results are wrong.

Please speak loudly and clearly. Speaking clearly and consistently will help the software accurately recognize your words.

Reduce background noise. Background noise from fans, air conditioners, refrigerators, etc. can drop the accuracy significantly. Try to reduce background noise as much as possible.

Speak directly into the microphone. Speaking directly into the microphone enhances the accuracy of the software. Avoid speaking too far away from the microphone.

Speak in complete sentences. Speaking in complete sentences will help the software better recognize the context of your words.

Can I upload an audio file and get the transcription?

No, this feature is not available.

How do I transcribe an audio (video) file on my PC or from the web?

Playback your file in any player and hit the 'mic' button on the SpeechTexter website to start capturing the speech. For better results select "Stereo Mix" as the default recording device on your browser, if you are accessing SpeechTexter and the file from the same device.

I don't see the "Stereo mix" option (Windows OS)

"Stereo Mix" might be hidden or it's not supported by your system. If you are a Windows user go to 'Control panel' → Hardware and Sound → Sound → 'Recording' tab. Right-click on a blank area in the pane and make sure both "View Disabled Devices" and "View Disconnected Devices" options are checked. If "Stereo Mix" appears, you can enable it by right clicking on it and choosing 'enable'. If "Stereo Mix" hasn't appeared, it means it's not supported by your system. You can try using a third-party program such as "Virtual Audio Cable" or "VB-Audio Virtual Cable" to create a virtual audio device that includes "Stereo Mix" functionality.

How to use the voice commands list?

The voice commands list allows you to insert the punctuation, some text, or run some preset functions using only your voice. On the first column you enter your voice command. On the second column you enter a punctuation mark or a function. Voice commands are case-sensitive. Available functions: #newparagraph (add a new paragraph), #undo (undo the last change), #redo (redo the last change)

To use the function above make a pause in your speech until all previous dictated speech appears in your note, then say "insert a new paragraph" and wait for the command execution.

Found a mistake in the voice commands list or want to suggest an update? Follow the steps below:

• Navigate to the voice commands list [↑] on this website.
• Click on the edit button to update or add new punctuation marks you think other users might find useful in your language.
• Click on the "Export" button located above the voice commands list to save your list in JSON format to your device.

Next, send us your file as an attachment via email. You can find the email address at the bottom of the page. Feel free to include a brief description of the mistake or the updates you're suggesting in the email body.

Your contribution to the improvement of the services is appreciated.

Can I prevent my custom voice commands from disappearing after closing the browser?

SpeechTexter by default saves your data inside your browser's cache. If your browsers clears the cache your data will be deleted. However, you can export your custom voice commands to your device and import them when you need them by clicking the corresponding buttons above the list. SpeechTexter is using JSON format to store your voice commands. You can create a .txt file in this format on your device and then import it into SpeechTexter. An example of JSON format is shown below:

{ "period": ".", "full stop": ".", "question mark": "?", "new paragraph": "#newparagraph" }

I lost my dictated work after closing the browser.

SpeechTexter doesn't store any text that you dictate. Please use the "autosave" option or click the "download" button (recommended). The "autosave" option will try to store your work inside your browser's cache, where it will remain until you switch the "text autosave" option off, clear the cache manually, or if your browser clears the cache on exit.

Common problems on the Android app

I get the message: 'speech recognition is not available'..

'Google app' from Play store is required for SpeechTexter to work. download [↗]

Where does SpeechTexter store the saved files?

Version 1.5 and above stores the files in the internal memory.

Version 1.4.9 and below stores the files inside the "SpeechTexter" folder at the root directory of your device.

After updating the app from version 1.x.x to version 2.x.x my files have disappeared

As a result of recent updates, the Android operating system has implemented restrictions that prevent users from accessing folders within the Android root directory, including SpeechTexter's folder. However, your old files can still be imported manually by selecting the "import" button within the Speechtexter application.

Common problems on the mobile web app

Tap on the "padlock" icon next to the URL bar, find the "microphone" option and choose "allow".

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Speech to Text Converter

Descript instantly turns speech into text in real time. Just start recording and watch our AI speech recognition transcribe your voice—with 95% accuracy—into text that’s ready to edit or export.

How to automatically convert speech to text with Descript

Create a project in Descript, select record, and choose your microphone input to start a recording session. Or upload a voice file to convert the audio to text.

As you speak into your mic, Descript’s speech-to-text software turns what you say into text in real time. Don’t worry about filler words or mistakes; Descript makes it easy to find and remove those from both the generated text and recorded audio.

Enter Correct mode (press the C key) to edit, apply formatting, highlight sections, and leave comments on your speech-to-text transcript. Filler words will be highlighted, which you can remove by right clicking to remove some or all instances. When ready, export your text as HTML, Markdown, Plain text, Word file, or Rich Text format.

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• 3 Create a new project Drag your file into the box above, or click Select file and import it from your computer or wherever it lives.

Expand Descript’s online voice recognition powers with an expandable transcription glossary to recognize hard-to-translate words like names and jargon.

Record yourself talking and turn it into text, audio, and video that’s ready to edit in Descript’s timeline. You can format, search, highlight, and other actions you’d perform in a Google Doc, while taking advantage of features like  text-to-speec h, captions, and more.

Go from speech to text in over 22 different languages, plus English. Transcribe audio in  French ,  Spanish , Italian, German and other languages from around the world. Finnish? Oh we’re just getting started.

Yes, basic real-time speech to text conversion is included for free with most modern devices (Android, Mac, etc.) Descript also offers a 95% accurate text-to-speech converter for up to 1 hour per month for free.

Speech-to-text conversion works by using AI and large quantities of diverse training data to recognize the acoustic qualities of specific words, despite the different speech patterns and accents people have, to generate it as text.

Yes! Descript‘s AI-powered Overdub feature lets you not only turn speech to text but also generate human-sounding speech from a script in your choice of AI stock voices.

Descript supports speech-to-text conversion in Catalan, Finnish, Lithuanian, Slovak, Croatian, French (FR), Malay, Slovenian, Czech, German, Norwegian, Spanish (US), Danish, Hungarian, Polish, Swedish, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese (BR), Turkish.

Descript’s included AI transcription offers up to 95% accurate speech to text generation. We also offer a white glove pay-per-word transcription service and 99% accuracy. Expanding your transcription glossary makes the automatic transcription more accurate over time.

6 Audio Journaling Apps to Make Your Welfare Journaling Easier

If you often feel overwhelmed or out of touch with your emotions, try these audio-journaling apps to help get your thoughts in order.

Journaling is the act of keeping a record of your personal thoughts, feelings, and emotions via handwritten or virtual notebooks and diaries.

Many people keep journals for their mental health benefits. Journaling about your feelings may be able to reduce mental distress and is encouraged for people dealing with anxiety.

Audio journaling is one of the recently introduced forms of journaling, so let's take a look at the best audio journaling apps available.

1. Journify

Journify lets you make simple audio recordings. It recommends daily 5-minute recordings that help you capture the essence of your emotions before your thoughts begin to stray.

The app's simple interface allows you to incorporate journaling into your day easily. You choose what happens to your recordings; you can share them on various platforms as a written text or audio transcript. All your journal entries are encrypted automatically, so no third-party can access them without your consent.

Journify also has a burnout tracker feature that monitors and breaks down your mood and mental state over time. It helps you check in on your daily sleep, energy, and motivation to know when there’s a decline or improvement in your wellbeing. Upgrade to Journify Unlimited to access a mood analyzer and unlimited audio journal entries per month.

Download : Journify for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

Murmur is another audio-journaling app with easy-to-use features. Murmur serves as your online voice diary, tracking your daily inputs on your voice calendar. It allows you to tell the story about your day in your own words, putting down your emotions as they come.

Murmur focuses on capturing the emotions and different ways you feel during the day with your voice. At the end of the day, you can listen to your recordings to understand your victories and areas to focus on.

Murmur has notification features that remind you to log your feelings and thoughts as frequently as you want to. It also has five levels of emotions to choose from before you begin each recording. This way, you can track your emotions to see your progress. There are several alternative mood tracker apps that could also help you.

Download : Murmur for Android (Free, in-app purchases available) | iOS ($0.99, in-app purchases available)

Stoic is a comprehensive mental tracking app, including breathing exercises, meditations, and guided visualizations.

You can use it for journaling either by recording and typing out your thoughts or by tapping the microphone on the Empty Page screen to record a voice note. Add images or videos, or even sketches, to help you express yourself.

If you have that "blank page terror" then Stoic has the perfect solution, with numerous collections of guided prompts on topics such as happiness, stress/anxiety, and relationships to help you to get started.

Easy to use and beautifully designed, you can easily track your mental health with the Stoic app .

Download: Stoic for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

4. Success Voice Journal

Anxiety often comes with debilitating mental challenges like low self-confidence and motivation. This daily voice journal could you improve your self-confidence and bring back your motivation for the day.

Success Voice Journal allows you to record a brief audio entry of 30 seconds (so that you focus purely on that specific moment), where you get to vent, release your emotions, record your wins, or document your losses.

As you frequently update your journal, you get a portfolio of achievements and emotional progress. You can also track improvements as the day goes by.

Download: Success Voice Journal for Android (Free, in-app purchases available)

5. Day One Journal

Award-winning journaling app Day One Journal not only looks stylish, it's extremely simple to use. The basic app is free, but to get access to audio journaling you'll need to subscribe to Day One Premium. Then you'll find that your voice recordings are transcribed accurately so that you can review and revisit your memories. Add photos, video clips, and even PDFs to enhance your journal entries.

Day One provides optional prompts if you need a little help getting started. It's easy to build unlimited journals, so you can keep your thoughts about different topics separate.

Over time Day One becomes a fully secure record of your life and thoughts. The On This Day feature allows you to revisit moments from your past.

If you use Apple devices, Day One also syncs across iOS, watchOS, and macOS to allow you to seamlessly switch and record your thoughts, wherever you are.

Download: Day One Journal for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

6. Sound Off: Voice Memo Journal

Sound Off makes the process of audio-journaling into a quick mindfulness exercise. In its basic form, it's a simple voice recorder. But it takes a unique approach to guided prompts.

Before speaking, you can listen to a one-minute audio clip with a suggested exercise, presented by a friendly and reassuring voice. It encourages you to respond more readily than if you just read the prompt on-screen, because you feel as though you're having a conversation.

Unlike Day One, the emphasis in Sound Off is not on reliving memories, but the process of thinking out loud. So although you can listen back, there's no pressure to do so. The act of speaking your thoughts is sufficient self-care.

Download: Sound Off: Voice Memo Journal for iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

Why Audio-Journaling May Help Control Anxiety

You may wonder what makes audio-journaling different from other types of journaling, or what makes speaking your thoughts more effective than writing them out. One of the top answers is the in-the-moment spontaneity that it offers to help you potentially relieve your anxiety .

1. Spontaneity Captures Raw Emotions

Audio-journaling allows you to record your thoughts in their purest form, exactly how you’re thinking them. Because you’re recording at the moment when you feel triggered or anxious, you can capture your raw emotions and thoughts.

Since you often have your phone with you, you can hit the record button whenever you feel overwhelmed or out of control. As you speak, you record exactly how you feel. It can help you process these thoughts and emotions better when you hear them out loud.

2. Talking Helps to Release Inner Tension

Many studies show that talking to yourself about your problems can help you release your pent-up emotions. When you talk about what you feel and the way you feel it, it helps you lose the stress of holding your emotions in.

Through audio-journaling, you can talk to help overcome worries, instead of struggling alone in your head. There are numerous effective techniques you can use in your digital gratitude journaling .

3. You Capture Speech Faster Than Writing

It’s well-known that many people talk faster than they write. When you’re feeling overwhelmed, you may find it difficult to put down your thoughts in writing fast enough.

Audio journaling solves this problem. With audio-journaling apps, you can record your thoughts on the go, without having to type a single word of it. Some of these journals transcribe your spoken thoughts to text if you still like to have your thoughts in the written word. Alternatively, you could use one of these guided journaling apps to help you create a self-care diary .

Audio Journaling Provides a Listening Ear

Managing your anxiety becomes easier when you have a listening ear. This is what these audio journaling apps offer you. To enjoy the true benefits of audio journaling for anxiety, be sure to engage with it throughout the day.

Start with a few thoughts and build up as you get comfortable. It may not always start out easy, but consistency pays off in the end.

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Some people can type hell for leather, but we have to agree that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. How would it be if you could type as fast as you speak? Well, why think when you can execute! While iPhone’s native Notes app can handle your basic transcribing needs, it lacks added functionality.

So, here’s a list of the best speech-to-text apps for your iPhone!

• dictate2us Record & Transcribe
• Rev Voice Recorder & Memos
• Day One Journal

1. Evernote: Notes organizer – Editor’s choice

Evernote is a widely used application for note-taking. However, it serves multiple purposes like clipping articles, scanning documents, and also allows adding content (pictures, videos, audio, etc.) with notes.  

Open the virtual keyboard and tap the mic below the return key to dictate text. You can now dictate, and it’ll not only be converted but also sync across your devices.

If you’re a student, you can use the app to take notes, track them, and even create separate notebooks. Further, you can also bring people, projects, and ideas together with shared Spaces. This is especially helpful for businesses or if you are working on a group project. Evernote also has multiple other features and is free to use.  

• Scan and convert handwritten notes
• Transcription works flawlessly
• Numerous useful templates
• Note linking
• Excellent organization system
• Cannot save data offline
• Lean cloud storage
• Cannot sync with more than 2 devices with the basic plan

Price : Free (In-App Purchases start at $10.00)

2. dictate2us Record & Transcribe – Fastest transcription service

Dicatate2us is one of the leaders in transcription services, and you can get the audio transcribed within an hour regardless of the time, 365 days a year. You can record letters, reports, case notes, interviews, etc.  

All you need to do is save a recording which will get uploaded to the platform. A person, yes, an actual person, will sit and transcribe the audio, after which an editor will check if there are errors, and then the Google doc file will be sent to you.  

Dicatate2us can be downloaded for free, and you get a $15 free trial credit. After the trial ends, you are charged a minute rate depending on the turnaround time. D2U uses military-grade encryption, so you need not worry about confidential data being hacked.

• Military-grade encryption
• Fast turnaround time
• $15 Trial credit
• Can’t transcribe instantly

Price : Free ($15 trial credit) 

3. Transcribe: Speech to Text – Instant transcription

Some people repeatedly listen to their voice memos as reminders. However, listening to the whole message to get to something you want to hear might be a time-consuming event, and Transcribe comes in. It is among the fastest transcription apps. A tap of a button is all it takes to transcribe your audio or video files. 

It lets you transcribe any voice or video file into text. All is done with the help of AI. You get 15 minutes of the free trial, after which you will need to either upgrade to the Pro version or buy add-on hours. Transcribe Pro offers features like exporting files in TXT, PDF, and DOCX formats. You also get 5 hours of transcription every month and can save up to 50GB of files on its cloud.  

• Instant transcription
• Supports both audio and video files
• Supports multiple file formats
• Not great for longer duration transcriptions
• Users have reported frequent app crashes

Price : Free (In-app purchase starts at $4.99)

4. Rev Voice Recorder & Memos – Simplified design

Rev Voice is yet another transcription service that people have employed to transcribe audio. The company claims a 99% plus accuracy rate alongside fast turnaround times. You can get a 30-minute recording transcribed under 12 hours.  

The Rev Voice app has a clean and minimal user interface. Besides transcribing audio, it also lets you record audio, trim the audio, etc. You can use the recorder in the background, and it will automatically pause when you receive a call.  

While the application is free to download, Rev charges 1 credit for a minute of audio transcribed, and if you avail of their services through their website, it’ll cost you $1.50 for a minute of audio transcribed. You can also view the progress of your order, and once done, you’ll receive it in your email inbox and the app.

• Affordable rates
• Effortless editing
• High accuracy rate
• The subscription model would make the service more appealing
• Turnaround times are longer

Price : Free (1 credit costs $1.99)

5: Dictation: Speech to text – Translate your transcription

Dictation serves one purpose, converting speech to text, and it does the job quite decently. But there are instances where it might miss a few words. You can not only record audio in the app but also import audio files.

Further, translation is a unique feature offered by Dictation. It supports over 40 languages. All you have to do is tap a button to translate the transcribed text.

The app also has iCloud Synchronization. Once turned on, you can dictate text from your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, etc.

Besides, you can also share the text across several social media platforms like Twitter, WhatsApp, etc. However, the app is infested with ads. You will need to upgrade to the pro version to get rid of ads, costing $17.49 per year.

• Translation with support for 40 languages
• Works flawlessly across multiple iOS devices
• Cluttered UI 
• Infested with ads 

Price : Free (Pro version costs $4.99 per month)

6. Day One Journal: Private diary – Journalling made fun

If you want to get into the habit of maintaining a daily journal but have been postponing the idea for a long time because you find writing to be a tedious process, Day One Journal is here to help. You can add notes to your journal at any time of the day as the app provides speech-to-text services.

It’s not just words; you can also add videos and images alongside handwritten entries or drawings to your journal. However, this feature is limited to the premium version. You can also take notes from your Apple watch. If that was not enough, you could also send text messages or emails to your journals.  Pretty impressive, right?

• Easy to use
• Supports and integrates images, videos, etc., in the journal
• Can only be used as a diary

Price : Free (Premium costs $5.99 per month)

7. Otter: Transcribe voice notes – Best for businesses

Otter works flawlessly for transcribing text and is an excellent tool for personal use. But it shines more when put to use in a corporate environment. You can automatically take notes (through speech to text), save these notes, and share them with everyone on the team.

Another great feature of Otter is that it provides live captioning to the deaf or people with special needs. The app also lets users highlight text, and the punctuation is quite accurate.

The integration of Otter with iOS helps you start recording through Siri shortcuts and syncs notes with the iOS calendar, contacts, etc. You can also record with AirPods. The app offers all these features for a limited amount of time as a free trial, after which the Pro subscription offers 6000 transcription minutes per month. A great overall app for businesses!

• Caters to specially-abled users
• Great iOS integration
• The free plan is good for personal use
• Transcription is a hit or miss for longer audio files
• No support for images in notes

Price : Free (Premium Costs $16.99 per month) 

Wrapping up!

Well, this was my list of the best speech-to-text apps for iPhone and iPad, which are beneficial for both students and professionals. If you found the right speech-to-text app that suits your requirements, share your thoughts in the comments below!

• Best translation apps for iPhone and iPad
• Best voice changer for Mac
• Top alarm apps for iPhone and iPad
• Best voice recorder apps for iPhone

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AirChat, the buzzy new social app, could be great — or, it could succumb to the same fate as Clubhouse

Over the weekend, another social media platform exploded into the fray: AirChat . The app is like a combination of Twitter and Clubhouse. Instead of typing a post, you speak it. The app quickly transcribes what you say, and as your followers scroll through their feed, they’ll hear your voice alongside the transcription.

Built by AngelList founder Naval Ravikant and former Tinder exec Brian Norgard, Airchat takes a refreshingly intimate approach to social media. There are people I’ve known online for years, and only after following each other on AirChat did I realize I’d never heard their actual voices. The platform makes it feel like we’re actually having conversations with one another, but since AirChat is asynchronous, it doesn’t feel as daunting as joining a room on Clubhouse and having live conversations with strangers.

Posting with your voice may sound scary, but it’s not as intimidating as it seems — you can re-record your post if you misspeak. But if you’re someone who loves sending your friends three-minute voice memos instead of typing (or if you have a podcast), AirChat feels intuitive.

AirChat wouldn’t be worth using if the transcriptions were sub-par, but it’s the best speech-to-text product I’ve ever used. It almost always hits the mark in English… it even transcribes Pokémon names correctly (yes, I tested this extensively). It also seems to be doing well in other languages — I found it functional in Spanish, and TechCrunch reporter Ivan Mehta said that the app did a decent job transcribing Hindi. Sometimes, the app will translate speech directly to English, and while the translations were generally correct in our testing, it’s not clear why or when the app translates instead of transcribing.

So, is AirChat here to stay? That depends on what kind of people can find community on the platform. For now, the feed feels like a San Francisco coffee shop — most of the people on the app have some connection to the tech industry, which could be because tech enthusiasts are often the first to jump on new apps. This wasn’t the case for Threads when it launched (it’s just an extension of Instagram), or even Bluesky , which developed an early culture of absurd memes and irreverence. Right now, the app has paused invites, so this won’t improve in the near future.

The app’s current culture could also be a reflection of its founders, who are influential in Silicon Valley and venture capitalist circles. But it’s telling that when AirChat introduced a channels feature, two of the first to spring up were “Crypto” and “e/acc,” which stands for effective acceleration , an aggressively pro-tech movement.

This doesn’t have to be an automatic red flag — I (somewhat reluctantly) use Twitter/X every day, and the tech industry also feels especially loud there. But at least on X, my feed also contains posts about my favorite baseball team, the music I like and the ongoing debate over adding more bike lanes in my neighborhood. So far on AirChat, I haven’t seen many conversations that aren’t about tech in some way.

What I do consider a red flag is AirChat’s naïve approach to content moderation.

“We’re going to try and put as many of the moderation tools in the hands of the users as possible. We want to be as hands-off as possible. That said, sometimes you just have no choice,” said Ravikant on AirChat.

The phrasing of “ hands-off ” is reminiscent of Substack, a platform that lost popular publications like Platformer and Garbage Day after it refused to remove pro-Nazi content proactively.

AirChat did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.

Ravikant argues that AirChat should function like a dinner party — you won’t kick someone out of your house for partaking in a civil debate. But if they start violently screaming at you, it would be wise to intervene.

“We don’t want to moderate for content, but we will moderate for tone,” Ravikant said.

In real-life social situations, it’s very normal behavior to disagree with someone and explain why you think differently. That’s a pretty manageable situation to handle at your own dinner table. But AirChat isn’t a normal social situation, since you’re in conversation with thousands of other people; without more robust content moderation, this approach is like hosting a big music festival, but with only one person working security. One might hope that everyone will enjoy the music and behave themselves without supervision, but it’s not realistic. Just look at Woodstock ’99 .

This is another way in which AirChat parallels Clubhouse. Clubhouse’s approach to content moderation was even more permissive, since there was no way to block people for months after launch — AirChat already has block and mute features, thankfully. Clubhouse repeatedly played host to antisemitic and misogynistic conversations without consequence.

With this minimalist approach to content moderation, it’s not hard to see how AirChat could get into hot water. What happens if someone shares copyrighted audio on the platform? What about when someone doxes another user, or if someone uploads CSAM? Without an actual plan to navigate these situations, what will happen to AirChat?

I hope that people can behave themselves, since I think the concept behind AirChat is brilliant, but we can’t be so naïve. I would like to know that if neo-Nazis tried to politely explain to me why Hitler was right, the platform would be able to protect me.

Naval Ravikant’s Airchat is a social app built around talk, not text

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Congress Passed a Bill That Could Ban TikTok. Now Comes the Hard Part.

President Biden has signed the bill to force a sale of the video app or ban it. Now the law faces court challenges, a shortage of qualified buyers and Beijing’s hostility.

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By Sapna Maheshwari and David McCabe

Sapna Maheshwari reported from New York, and David McCabe from Washington.

A bill that would force a sale of TikTok by its Chinese owner, ByteDance — or ban it outright — was passed by the Senate on Tuesday and signed into law Wednesday by President Biden.

Now the process is likely to get even more complicated.

Congress passed the measure citing national security concerns because of TikTok’s Chinese ties. Both lawmakers and security experts have said there are risks that the Chinese government could lean on ByteDance for access to sensitive data belonging to its 170 million U.S. users or to spread propaganda.

The law would allow TikTok to continue to operate in the United States if ByteDance sold it within 270 days, or about nine months, a time frame that the president could extend to a year.

The measure is likely to face legal challenges, as well as possible resistance from Beijing, which could block the sale or export of the technology. It’s also unclear who has the resources to buy TikTok, since it will carry a hefty price tag.

The issue could take months or even years to settle, during which the app would probably continue to function for U.S. consumers.

“It’s going to be a royal mess,” said Anupam Chander, a visiting scholar at the Institute for Rebooting Social Media at Harvard and an expert on the global regulation of new technologies.

TikTok pledged to challenge the law. “Rest assured, we aren’t going anywhere,” its chief executive, Shou Chew, said in a video posted to the platform. “We are confident, and we will keep fighting for your rights in the courts.”

Here’s what to expect next.

TikTok’s Day in Court

TikTok is likely to start by challenging the measure in the courts.

“I think that’s the one certainty: There will be litigation,” said Jeff Kosseff, an associate professor of cybersecurity law at the Naval Academy.

TikTok’s case will probably lean on the First Amendment, legal experts said. The company is expected to argue that a forced sale could violate its users’ free speech rights because a new owner could change the app’s content policies and reshape what users are able to freely share on the platform.

“Thankfully, we have a Constitution in this country, and people’s First Amendment rights are very important,” Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s vice president of public policy, said in an interview with a creator on the platform last week. “We’ll continue to fight for you and all the other users on TikTok.”

Other groups, like the American Civil Liberties Union, which has been a vocal opponent of the bill, may also join the legal fight. A spokeswoman for the A.C.L.U. said on Tuesday that the group was still weighing its role in potential litigation challenging the law.

The government will probably need to make a strong case that ByteDance’s ownership of TikTok makes it necessary to limit speech because of national security concerns, the legal experts said.

TikTok already has a strong record in similar First Amendment battles. When he was president, Donald J. Trump tried to force a sale or ban of the app in 2020, but federal judges blocked the effort because it would have had the effect of shutting down a “platform for expressive activity.” Montana tried to ban TikTok in the state last year because of the app’s Chinese ownership, but a different federal judge ruled against the state law for similar reasons.

Only one narrower TikTok restriction has survived a court challenge. The governor of Texas announced a ban of the app on state government devices and networks in 2022 because of its Chinese ownership and related data privacy concerns. Professors at public universities challenged the ban in court last year, saying it blocked them from doing research on the app. A federal judge upheld the state ban in December, finding it was a “reasonable restriction” in light of Texas’ concerns and the narrow scope affecting only state employees.

Small Buyer Pool

Analysts estimate that the price for the U.S. portion of TikTok could be tens of billions of dollars.

ByteDance itself is one of the world’s most valuable start-ups , with an estimated worth of $225 billion, according to CB Insights, a firm that tracks venture capital and start-ups.

The steep price tag would limit the list of who could afford TikTok. Tech giants like Meta or Google would probably be blocked from an acquisition because of antitrust concerns.

Private equity firms or other investors could form a group to raise enough money to buy TikTok. Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in March that he wanted to build such a group. And anyone who can pony up the money still has to pass muster with the U.S. government, which needs to sign off on any purchase.

Few others have expressed public interest in buying the app.

The last time the government tried to force ByteDance to sell TikTok in 2020, the company held talks with Microsoft and the software company Oracle. (Oracle and Walmart ultimately appeared to reach an agreement with ByteDance, but the deal never materialized .)

A Complicated Divestment

Even if TikTok approaches a sale, the process of separating TikTok from ByteDance is likely to be messy.

The legislation prohibits any connection between ByteDance and TikTok after a sale. Yet TikTok employees use ByteDance software in their communications, and the company’s employees are global, with executives in Singapore, Dublin, Los Angeles and Mountain View, Calif.

It’s unclear if ByteDance would consider selling TikTok’s entire global footprint or just its U.S. operations, where the company has nearly 7,000 employees.

Breaking off just the U.S. portion of TikTok could prove particularly challenging. The app's recommendation algorithm, which figures out what users like and serves up content, is key to the success of the app. But Chinese engineers work on that algorithm, which ByteDance owns.

During Mr. Trump’s attempt to force a sale in 2020, the Chinese government issued export restrictions that appeared to require its regulators to grant permission before ByteDance algorithms could be sold or licensed to outsiders.

The uncertainty around the export of the algorithm and other ByteDance technology could also deter interested buyers.

China’s Unpredictable Role

The Chinese government could also try to block a TikTok sale.

Chinese officials criticized a similar bill after the House passed it in March, although they have not yet said whether they would block a divestment. About a year ago, China’s commerce ministry said it would “firmly oppose” a sale of the app by ByteDance.

Chinese export regulations appear to cover TikTok’s content recommendation algorithm, giving Beijing a say in whether ByteDance could sell or license the app’s most valuable feature.

It “is not a foregone conclusion by any means” that China will allow a sale, said Lindsay Gorman, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund who specializes in emerging tech and China.

China may retaliate against American companies. On Friday, China’s Cyberspace Administration asked Apple to remove Meta’s WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store, according to the iPhone manufacturer. The Chinese government cited national security reasons in making the demand.

Sapna Maheshwari reports on TikTok, technology and emerging media companies. She has been a business reporter for more than a decade. Contact her at [email protected] . More about Sapna Maheshwari

David McCabe covers tech policy. He joined The Times from Axios in 2019. More about David McCabe

Voice To Text-audio to text 4+

Voice recognition&translate.

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Support real-time voice translation&real-time voice to text conversion; Real time voice translation function, supporting multiple languages, can directly translate voice into corresponding languages, record travel and meetings, and convert real-time translation in real time. We provide users with the following purchases: Monthly Renewal Enjoy 100 minutes of free translation/voice conversion per month Annual renewal 1200 minutes of free translation/conversion per year Purchase of Time Package 100 minutes/38 yuan 1000 minutes/298 yuan Privacy Policy: http://yw.jiaofei8.cn/index/agreement/index?m_num=7&title=%E8%AF%AD%E9%9F%B3%E8%BD%AC%E6%96%87%E5%AD%97

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The developer, 嘉奇 赵 , indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

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Senate Passes TikTok Ban Bill, Setting Up Legal Battle Between App and U.S. on First Amendment Issues

Legislation to force China's ByteDance to divest TikTok was tied to foreign-aid package; President Biden has said he will sign TikTok bill into law

By Todd Spangler

Todd Spangler

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The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to approve a bill that would ban TikTok nationwide unless Chinese parent company ByteDance sells its stake in the popular app. The development will likely result in a court battle between the U.S. and TikTok, which argues that the legislation violates the First Amendment — and if TikTok loses that fight, there’s a real chance it could be shut off for Americans.

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TikTok will file a legal challenge once the bill is signed into law , Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s head of public policy for the Americas, wrote in a memo to company staff over the weekend. The legislation is a “clear violation” of the First Amendment, the exec wrote: “This is the beginning, not the end of this long process.” Beckerman also criticized the TikTok divest-or-ban measure as “an unprecedented deal worked out between the Republican Speaker [Mike Johnson] and President Biden.”

Ahead of the vote, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, delivered comments on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon about the national security threats posed by ByteDance’s ownership of TikTok. Passage of the bill “goes a long way towards safeguarding our democratic systems from covert foreign influence,” he said, saying that Chinese companies like ByteDance “don’t owe their obligation to their customers, or their shareholders, but they owe it to the PRC [People’s Republic of China] government.”

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate’s Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, suggested TikTok and ByteDance are “weaponizing” data and AI to spy on American citizens, the military and government personnel, including journalists covering the company. (In 2022, ByteDance said it fired four employees for “misconduct” after the company found they accessed TikTok data on several users , including two reporters.)

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) spoke out against the TikTok ban bill before the final vote, saying the more pressing “clear and present danger” is the harm kids face from social media apps more broadly, including from U.S.-based companies.

“I don’t deny that TikTok poses some national security risks,” Markey said. “TikTok has its problems. No. 1, TikTok poses a serious risk to the privacy and mental health of our young people.” But he said the bill likely would result in “widespread censorship,” and he suggested that the bill’s supporters object to liberal political viewpoints popular on TikTok. “Instead of suppressing speech on a single application, we could be addressing the root of the mental health crisis by targeting Big Tech’s pernicious, privacy-invasion business model of teenagers and children in our country,” Markey said.

TikTok has said the bill, if it becomes law, would infringe the free-speech rights of its 170 million U.S. users and “devastate” the estimated 7 million American businesses on the platform. It claims TikTok contributed $24 billion to the U.S. economy in 2023 .

The TikTok divest-or-ban legislation has been opposed by the ACLU and other advocacy groups.

“This is still nothing more than an unconstitutional ban in disguise,” Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel at the ACLU, said in a statement Tuesday prior to the Senate vote. “Banning a social media platform that hundreds of millions of Americans use to express themselves would have devastating consequences for all of our First Amendment rights, and will almost certainly be struck down in court.”

Because of its Chinese ties, TikTok has been a political football in the United States for years, as well as in other countries (including India, where it’s been banned since June 2020 ). TikTok has prevailed in challenging other laws in the U.S. seeking to ban the app. Last December, a  federal judge blocked Montana’s first-of-its-kind statewide ban of TikTok , ruling that the law likely violated the First Amendment. An attempt by the Trump administration to  force ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban also was found unconstitutional  by federal courts on First Amendment grounds.

Backers of the TikTok bill argue that it doesn’t restrict free speech, saying it only requires apps to be owned by a company that isn’t subject to the control of an adversarial foreign government. As a precedent, the legislation’s proponents point to the 2020 sale of dating app Grindr by Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech Co. to a group of U.S.-based investors, a transaction forced by the U.S. government over concerns about the privacy of the app’s users.

Per the text of the bill, legal challenges to the “Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” may be filed only in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

If TikTok is unsuccessful in getting the divest-or-ban law overturned, it is unlikely that ByteDance would sell its ownership stake — and that the app would effectively become outlawed in the U.S. Chinese officials have  said the government would “firmly oppose”  any forced sale of TikTok, which would represent a technology export and be subject to the government’s approval. “You’re not going to be able to force ByteDance to divest,” James Lewis, SVP at the Center for Strategic and International Studies,  told  the New York Times last month.

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TikTok says US House bill that could ban app would 'trample' free speech

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Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Leslie Adler

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Kanishka Singh is a breaking news reporter for Reuters in Washington DC, who primarily covers US politics and national affairs in his current role. His past breaking news coverage has spanned across a range of topics like the Black Lives Matter movement; the US elections; the 2021 Capitol riots and their follow up probes; the Brexit deal; US-China trade tensions; the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan; the COVID-19 pandemic; and a 2019 Supreme Court verdict on a religious dispute site in his native India.

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President Biden signs law to ban TikTok nationwide unless it is sold

Bobby Allyn

President Biden has signed a law that gives ByteDance up to a year to fully divest from TikTok, or face a nationwide ban. Kiichiro Sato/AP hide caption

President Biden has signed a law that gives ByteDance up to a year to fully divest from TikTok, or face a nationwide ban.

President Biden on Wednesday signed a law that would ban Chinese-owned TikTok unless it is sold within a year.

It is the most serious threat yet to the video-streaming app's future in the U.S., intensifying America's tech war with China.

Still, the law is not expected to cause any immediate disruption to TikTok, as a forthcoming legal challenge, and various hurdles to selling the app, will most likely cause months of delay.

The measure was tucked into a bill providing foreign aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. The law stipulates that ByteDance must sell its stake in TikTok in 12 months under the threat of being shut down.

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The move is the culmination of Washington turning the screws on TikTok for years.

Chinese tech giant ByteDance, in 2017, purchased the popular karaoke app Musical.ly and relaunched the service as TikTok. Since then, the app has been under the microscope of national security officials in Washington fearing possible influence by the Chinese government.

Despite concerns in Washington, TikTok has soared. It has become the trendsetter in the world of short-form video and is used by 170 million Americans, which is about half of the country. It is where one-third of young people get their news, according to Pew Research Center.

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Yet lawmakers and the Biden administration argue that as long as TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, it is beholden to the dictates of China's authoritarian regime

"Congress is not acting to punish ByteDance, TikTok or any other individual company," said Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, in remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon.

"Congress is acting to prevent foreign adversaries from conducting espionage, surveillance, maligned operations, harming vulnerable Americans, our servicemen and women, and our U.S. government personnel."

In a video posted to the platform soon after Biden signed the bill, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said he is confident TikTok would win in court, adding that users should not expect issues with the app in the meantime.

"Rest assured, we aren't going anywhere," Chew said. "The facts and the Constitution are on our side and we expect to prevail again."

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Tiktok plans to take biden administration to court over the law.

If not sold within a year, the law would make it illegal for web-hosting services to support TikTok, and it would force Google and Apple to remove TikTok from app stores — rendering the app unusable with time.

It marks the first time the U.S. has passed a law that could trigger the ban of a social media platform, something that has been condemned by civil liberties groups and constitutional scholars.

TikTok has vowed to take the Biden administration to court, claiming the law would suppress the free speech of millions of Americans.

The sentiment was echoed by Kate Ruane, who runs the Center for Democracy & Technology's Free Expression Project, who said the law is unconstitutional and a blow to free expression in the U.S.

"Congress shouldn't be in the business of banning platforms," Ruane said. "They should be working to enact comprehensive privacy legislation that protects our private data no matter where we choose to engage online."

Selling TikTok won't be so easy

Any company, or set of investors, angling to purchase TikTok would have to receive the blessing of the Chinese government, and officials in Beijing have strongly resisted a forced sell.

In particular, ByteDance owns the engine of TikTok, its hyper-personalized algorithm that pulls people in and keeps them highly engaged with their feed.

Chinese officials have placed content-recommendation algorithms on what is known as an export-control list, meaning the government has additional say over how the technology is ever sold.

Law took TikTok by surprise

By almost any measure, the law passed rapidly, and it caught many inside TikTok off guard, especially because the company had just breathed a sigh of relief.

Last month, the House passed a bill to compel TikTok to find a buyer, or face a nationwide ban, but the effort stalled in the Senate.

The legislation gave TikTok a six-month window to find a buyer, which some senators said was too little time.

A new push, this time attaching the divest-or-be-banned provision to foreign aid, fasted-tracked the proposal. It mirrors last month's attempt, but it extends the sell-by deadline, now giving TikTok nine months to find a buyer, with the option of a three-month extension if a potential acquisition is in play.

Sen. Markey: 'American companies are doing the same thing'

Lawmakers from both parties have argued that TikTok poses a national security risk to Americans, since the Chinese government could use the app to spy on Americans, or influence what U.S. users see on their TikTok feeds, something that has gained new urgency in an election year.

But some have pushed back, including Democratic Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts. He said on the Senate floor on Tuesday that there is "no credible evidence" that TikTok presents a real national security threat just because its parent company is based in China.

National intelligence laws in China would require ByteDance to hand over data on Americans if authorities there sought it, but TikTok says it has never received such a request.

Markey said concerns about digital security, the mental health of young people and data privacy should be addressed with comprehensive legislation encompassing the entire tech industry, not just TikTok.

"TikTok poses a serious risk to the privacy and mental health of our young people," Markey said. "But that problem isn't unique to TikTok and certainly doesn't justify a TikTok ban," he said. "American companies are doing the same thing, too."