Voice Memo to Text

Upload a voice memo from your iPhone or Android phone and Wave AI turns it into text you can copy, search or paste into notes. Rambling ideas come back with a short summary and any to-dos pulled out.

Drop a voice memo here

Voice Memos .m4a, or any phone recording up to 200MB. Free, no account needed.

How to get a voice memo off your phone

Voice memos live inside the recorder app, so first save a copy where your browser can see it:

  • iPhone Voice Memos. Tap the recording, tap the ••• button, then Share → Save to Files. Back on this page, tap Choose a file and pick it from Files. Or AirDrop it to your Mac and drop it in.
  • Voice Memos on a Mac. Memos sync from your iPhone over iCloud. Drag a recording out of the Voice Memos list onto your desktop, then drop that file here.
  • Android recorders. In Samsung Voice Recorder or Google Recorder, open the recording and tap Share; choose the audio file (not a link or the text) and save it to Files or Drive.

Voice memo to text: common questions

My iPhone already shows a transcript in Voice Memos. Why use this?

Apple's built-in transcript only appears on supported iPhones and languages, and it's one block of text. Here you get each speaker labelled with timestamps, an AI summary with action items, and a file you can download.

Why can't I see my voice memos when I choose a file?

The browser can't open the Voice Memos app directly. Save the memo to Files first (Share → Save to Files), then pick it from Files.

What format are iPhone voice memos?

They're .m4a files (AAC audio, or Apple Lossless if you changed the quality setting). Both upload as they are, with no converting.

Can I transcribe a long voice memo?

Yes, up to 200MB, which at the standard Voice Memos quality is several hours. You can transcribe up to 5 files a day for free.

Can Wave record and transcribe memos for me automatically?

Yes. The Wave app records on iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and Apple Watch and hands you the transcript and summary as soon as you stop, so there's nothing to export.

Related: Free Audio Transcription: Transcribe Audio to Text with AI · Transcribe Your Voice Memos Into Searchable Text

Wave app screenshot showing meeting transcription
Wave AI note taker background pattern