Heard about Whisper Memos on the recent podcast. Looked at the app page, checked the “in-app purchases” section, saw there was a monthly option, and figured I’d give it a shot for a month to see if it works well.
I get into the app, and it offers a few free transcriptions - but the only way to subscribe is $40 for a year. Looked for the monthly option, sent a quick email to the dev, and it no longer exists.
I’m fine paying for an app, but especially in the evolving AI space I’d prefer to (a) not throw $40 at the app to test it out for a few weeks, and (b) support a dev that offers more flexibility.
Any alternate suggestions that you’ve actually used?
I’ve used Just Press Record for several years. My JPR audio files go to a folder in iCloud and I have a reminder to check that folder twice every day, which I do on my Mac. Although Just Press Record can transcribe them, AI transcriptions are better. In JPR’s transcription, there’s no punctuation unless you say things like “period” and “question mark” while recording; I don’t do that because it interrupts the thought process. So what I’ve been doing instead is opening the JPR audio files with MacWhisper for an AI transcription. The transcriptions are more accurate and include punctuation. I had been using Aiko, but MacWhisper is faster and can transcribe multiple files at once.
That has worked, but after hearing David Sparks mention Whisper Memos, I tried it. Like David, I have it send the transcriptions to Drafts. That workflow is so efficient that I want to replace Just Press Record with it. But I am in the same situation as webwalrus: I’m using the few free transcriptions and am hesitant to spend $40 for an annual subscription. I was also disappointed that the monthly subscription is no longer available because that would make the most sense for me until I am certain that I would want to keep using Whisper Memos for a full year.
Yeah. I politely suggested that the dev might want to consider bringing back monthly subscriptions so people like me could really try it out full-on for a month or so, and his reply was that I should try it for a year. He did give me a $10 off coupon code, but I’m not exactly thrilled by the customer service.
I currently use it. AFAIK it uses on-device dictation, which is pretty bad much of the time. I’m hoping for an app that can kick stuff out to AI for transcription.
Hi, it’s good to see Whisper Memos here - creator of the app here.
We use OpenAI API for transcription, so the quality & speed is top notch, and I think we’re the only one with Apple Watch app, and we put a lot of effort into making it really reliable.
If anyone wishes to test the app for longer, just email me (from settings screen), and I’ll extend your trial so that you can make sure the quality is good enough for your needs.
I think it’s better than paying $5/mo for 2 months, and then switching to annual anyway. (Which works out to just $3.3/mo).
Hey Vojto, any idea if WM will up from the 15 minute limit, or at least give us a way to know when we get close? Currently, if I record on my watch, if I hit the limit? I lose all of it. If I have an alarm go off ON the watch? I lose all of it.
@vojto How does Whisper Memos handle recordings that exceed the current time limit. Right now this is the imitation I have. Most meetings are 30 mins and few that run an hour long. So capping at 15 mins is impractical.
At least a 30 mins makes more sense for Whisper Memos in a professional workspace.
Vojto, I’m looking to purchase a Watch specifically the 11 series so i can record conversations for actionable items i can do rather than hand writing notes during interviews etc. all me research is not going well. i need to find APP that records up to 1 hour mtgs and then transcribes to actionable items with filing capability. any help would be appreciated.
I swear by Epiphanies - a slick app that allows for multiple actions using different AI instructions per action. So I have a rambling stream of consciousness action to my Slack channel and also one Slack action which extracts Work and Life insights from my rambles.
Todos can be emailed or go into Todoist/Things3. The transcribing is top-notch and you can add custom words via a dictionary in the app. I had a few calls with the developer early on and its already a polished app with good thoughtful UX. Highly recommended - I use it multiple times a day.
I’m very happy with Whisper Memos for this function. I often record up to 90 minutes at a time from my watch and get a good file automatically sent to Drafts where I can further process it with AI as needed.
It looks like there was a recent price hike. When I subscribed about a year and a half ago, it was $30 per year. I let my subscription lapse, and I just got an email telling me that it was my last chance to lock in a rate of $5 a week or something.
It’s not a bad app, but unless you really need the dictation from the whisper model I think there are better options.
I have been using https://spokenly.app/ for a while, across Mac and iPhone. They have a fair free test phase and offer option for local models and/or BYOK.
Maybe slightly different scope than Whisper Memos, but you can get the same type of output
