Every Way to Get Text From Audio and Video on iPhone and Android

What are the main ways to get text from audio and video on a phone?

On iPhone and Android, the options fall into five groups. The right one depends on where the recording is, how long it lasts and whether you need every word or just the key points.

• Built-in phone transcription: best for recordings you just made in Voice Memos, Notes or your phone's recorder app.
• A mobile transcription app: best for files that came from elsewhere, such as WhatsApp voice notes, interviews or video files.
• Online converters: usable from any browser, with more steps on a small screen.
• Chat assistants such as ChatGPT or Gemini: more reliable for questions about a text than for a full transcript.
• Platform transcripts: many YouTube videos with captions have one.

Before you start, check four things: maximum length, accepted formats, supported languages and what happens to your file afterwards. If cost matters, see how to transcribe audio to text for free on your phone.

Can iPhone and Android transcribe recordings without an extra app?

Partly. Both systems include transcription, but it is tied to specific apps, devices and languages.

On iPhone

Recent iOS versions can show a transcript for recordings made in Voice Memos and Notes, on supported models and in a limited set of languages. Live Captions, in Accessibility settings, shows text for sound playing on the phone, but it is meant for reading along, not for saving a document.

On Android

Live Caption displays captions for media playing on many Android phones, and Google's Live Transcribe app turns speech from the microphone into text in real time. Recorder on Pixel phones and Voice Recorder on some Samsung Galaxy models can transcribe recordings made in those apps.

The limit: these tools are built around their own recordings or live sound. A WhatsApp voice note, an interview saved in Google Drive or a downloaded video usually needs another method. Playing the audio out loud into Live Transcribe works in a pinch, but accuracy drops.

Step by step

1. Find the recording

   Open the app that holds the audio or video: a voice recorder, WhatsApp, Telegram, Files or Google Drive.

2. Tap Share

   Use the Share option on the file. In some messaging apps, you may need to long-press the message first.

3. Choose a transcription app

   Pick the transcription app in the list of apps. On iPhone, tap More the first time if it is not shown.

4. Review and export the text

   Read the transcript, check names and numbers against the audio, then copy, share or export it.

How do you turn a file from another app into text on your phone?

For a recording you already have, the most direct route is the share sheet, available on both iPhone and Android. Open the audio where it is, tap Share and send it to a transcription app. The text comes back on your phone: no computer, no conversion.

Zeepit works this way from a voice recorder, WhatsApp, Telegram or Google Drive, and you can also pick a file from Files or Drive inside the app. You get:

• the full transcript, word for word, with the language detected automatically;
• an instant summary (short, medium or long) and a translation when needed;
• options to copy, share, or export as PDF, Word (DOCX) or plain text.

Accepted audio formats are mp3, m4a, wav, caf, ogg, opus, aac, flac, amr and webm. Video files in mp4, mov, mkv and avi work too; only the audio track is used. A recording can last up to 4 hours, and your first conversions are free after install, long recordings included, with no account, no card and no ads. More detail in our guides to audio file to text, video to text and which files can be transcribed.

Are online audio and video to text converters practical on a phone?

Browser converters fill many search results: open a website, upload the file, wait for the text. They are workable on a computer, but on a phone the friction adds up.

• Reaching the file. A voice note inside a messaging app is not always visible from the browser's file picker, so you may have to save it to Files first.
• Limits. Free tiers often cap file size or duration, and some require an account before you can download the result.
• Formats. Phone formats such as opus, amr or caf are not always accepted.
• Ads and pop-ups can crowd small screens and hide the upload or download buttons.
• Privacy. Look for how long the site keeps your file and whether it reuses it.

If you use one, keep the tab open until the upload ends and copy the result before leaving the page.

Can ChatGPT or Gemini transcribe an audio or video file?

Sometimes, with caveats. Chat assistants are built for conversation, so a clean transcript from a file is not guaranteed:

• Whether you can attach audio or video depends on the service, your plan and the file type.
• Long recordings may be refused, cut short or answered with a summary instead of the full text.
• Even when you ask for a word-for-word transcript, the reply can be tidied or shortened, so compare a few passages with the recording.
• Copying a long answer out of a chat thread on a phone is awkward.

They are more useful at a later step: paste an existing transcript and ask questions about it. For turning the recording into text in the first place, a tool built for transcription is more predictable.

How do you get text from a YouTube video or a podcast link?

When the content is online, you may not need the file at all.

• YouTube's own transcript: many videos with captions offer Show transcript in the description, in the app and on the web. It has timestamps, but copying it on a phone is clumsy, and videos without captions have none.
• Captions while watching: Live Caption on Android or Live Captions on iPhone show text as the video plays, without saving it.
• A summary from the link: Zeepit accepts links to public YouTube videos, podcasts and web pages and turns them into a summary, which is often what you want from a long talk or episode.

For step-by-step options, read how to transcribe a YouTube video into text.

Frequently asked questions