9 Best Speech-to-Text Apps for Android in 2026

Android has more speech-to-text options than iOS, partly because Google's ecosystem is more open and partly because Android's market share attracts more developers. The downside: it's harder to sort the good apps from the mediocre ones. We tested nine of the most popular options to help you narrow it down.

Note: Wave is our app. We've included it because it's a genuine option for Android users, but we've tried to be fair in how we describe every tool here.

Gboard (Free, Built-In)

Gboard is already on your phone. Its voice typing is powered by Google's speech recognition, which is among the best in the industry. It supports over 900 languages and dialects, handles punctuation commands ("period," "comma," "new line"), and works offline for many languages.

The limitation is that Gboard is a keyboard, not a recorder. It's designed for dictation — composing texts, emails, and documents with your voice. It doesn't record audio, create transcripts of conversations, or identify different speakers. For dictation, it's the best free option on Android. For transcribing meetings or conversations, you need something else.

Google Recorder (Free, Pixel Only)

If you have a Pixel phone, Google Recorder is worth knowing about. It records audio and generates a real-time transcript simultaneously, with the ability to search through recordings by word. It works entirely offline, which is rare for a transcription tool.

The accuracy is impressive for a free, on-device tool — Google's speech models run locally on the Tensor chip. The catch: it's exclusive to Pixel phones. No Samsung, no OnePlus, no other Android device. It also lacks speaker identification and AI summaries. Transcripts are accurate but unsorted — you get one stream of text with no indication of who said what.

Otter.ai ($16.99/month Pro)

Otter's Android app mirrors its iOS and web experience. It records audio and generates transcripts with speaker labels in real time. The free tier gives you 300 minutes per month. Otter integrates with Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams for automatic meeting recording via bot.

For meeting transcription specifically, Otter is one of the more polished options. The trade-offs: the free tier has gotten increasingly restrictive, accuracy can suffer with background noise or multiple overlapping speakers, and the meeting bot is visible to all participants. Battery usage during long recordings is also higher than some alternatives.

Speechnotes (Free with Ads)

Speechnotes is a straightforward dictation app with a clean interface. You speak, it types. It auto-saves drafts, supports voice commands for punctuation, and exports to Google Drive. The free version is ad-supported; the premium version ($7.99 one-time) removes ads and adds Bluetooth microphone support.

Like Gboard, Speechnotes is a dictation tool rather than a conversation transcriber. It works best for single-speaker scenarios — composing notes, letters, or journal entries by voice. No speaker identification, no meeting recording features, no AI summaries.

Wave (Free Tier + Pro Plan)

Wave offers multiple ways to record on Android: capture audio from your phone's microphone for in-person conversations, use the built-in VoIP dialer to record phone calls with your real number, or pair it with Wave's desktop app for system audio capture. All recordings get transcribed with speaker labels and AI summaries. It runs in the background with the screen off, and recordings sync across devices.

Wave is designed for recording conversations — meetings, phone calls, lectures, interviews — rather than dictation. It works offline for recording, with transcription processing when you reconnect. The free tier includes limited monthly recording time; the Pro plan removes limits.

The main weakness compared to dictation-focused apps like Gboard is that Wave isn't designed for composing text in real time. It's a recorder first, transcriber second. If you need to dictate an email, use Gboard. If you need to transcribe a conversation, Wave handles that better.

Rev ($1.50/min Human, AI Tier Available)

Rev's Android app lets you record audio and send it directly for transcription — either AI-powered (fast, cheaper) or human-powered ($1.50/minute, 99%+ accuracy). The human transcription option is the most accurate service commercially available, which matters for legal, medical, or publishing work.

The app itself is basic — record, upload, wait for results. There are no real-time features, no AI summaries, and no speaker identification in the AI tier. It's a transcription service with a recording front-end, not a full-featured meeting tool.

Transcribe by Wreally ($20/year)

Transcribe combines AI transcription with a built-in text editor, so you can record and clean up the transcript in the same app. It supports 120+ languages and offers offline transcription for some language models. The editor includes keyboard shortcuts for playback control, making manual corrections faster.

At $20/year, it's one of the more affordable paid options. Accuracy is reasonable for single-speaker recordings but drops off with multiple speakers. No speaker identification, no AI summaries. It occupies a middle ground between free dictation apps and full-featured meeting transcription tools.

SpeechTexter (Free)

SpeechTexter is a free, no-frills speech-to-text app that supports 70+ languages. It uses Google's speech recognition API under the hood, so accuracy is comparable to Gboard's voice typing. The interface is minimal — a large text area with a microphone button.

Custom voice commands let you add punctuation and formatting hands-free. It's entirely free with no premium tier, which is notable. The downside is that it's purely a dictation tool with no recording, no transcript management, and no export beyond copy-paste.

Dragon Anywhere ($14.99/month)

Dragon is the legacy name in speech recognition, and Dragon Anywhere brings that to mobile. It adapts to your voice over time, supports custom vocabularies for industry-specific jargon (legal, medical, technical), and produces some of the most accurate single-speaker dictation available.

At $14.99/month, it's the most expensive option on this list. The accuracy advantage is real for professional dictation — doctors dictating notes, lawyers dictating memos — but diminishes for casual use where Gboard performs nearly as well for free. No meeting recording features, no speaker identification, no AI summaries.

Choosing the Right App

These nine apps serve two fundamentally different use cases, and picking the right one starts with knowing which you need:

• For dictation (composing text by voice): Gboard is free and excellent. Dragon Anywhere is better for professional/medical dictation. Speechnotes and SpeechTexter are solid free alternatives.
• For transcribing conversations and meetings: Otter is the most established option for virtual meetings. Wave handles both virtual and in-person conversations. Rev is best when you need maximum accuracy and are willing to pay per minute.
• For Pixel owners: Google Recorder is a hidden gem — free, offline, and surprisingly accurate.