How to record and transcribe interviews on iPhone

The worst part of interviewing is not the interview, it's the hours of re-listening to find that one quote. A transcript with speaker labels removes most of that work. AI Transcribe is our app.

Consent first: recording laws differ by country and by state, and some require every party to consent. Ask before you start and repeat the question on the recording, which documents consent and makes attribution cleaner. This is not legal advice; if in doubt, ask your editor, your ethics board or a lawyer.

Step 1: Record well

• In person: place the phone between you and the subject, closer to them than to you. A quiet room beats any café; background noise costs the most accuracy. A recording runs up to 2 hours; record longer sessions in parts.
• Over Zoom, Meet or Teams: the Mac app records the Mac's audio and your microphone together, so your questions and the answers are both captured. No bot joins the call, and when Zoom, Teams or Meet starts a call, the app offers to record it. Still tell the other person you are recording.
• Already have a recording? Import audio or video files up to 3 hours, such as the platform's own recording. Here is how to transcribe a Zoom recording.
• Phone interviews: AI Transcribe does not record phone calls on iPhone. The options that exist are in can you transcribe phone calls on iPhone.

Step 2: Transcribe with speaker labels

In all 32 languages, the app tries to label each speaker turn and adds timestamps. Check names, quotes and decisions against the recording: with overlapping voices or poor audio, words and labels can be missing or wrong. The language is detected automatically, including interviews in Japanese or Hindi. Rename the speakers once and the transcript shows the name instead of "Speaker 2".

Step 3: Work the transcript, not the audio

• Search the text for the topic you remember, then jump to the timestamp to check the tone.
• Summarize or Highlight key ideas for a fast editorial overview.
• Ask AI: ask the transcript specific questions ("what did she say about the budget?"). One answer is included without a subscription; after that, chat is part of Pro.
• Translate into any of 46 languages when the interview was in another language.
• Export on iPhone as text, PDF, Word or SRT, and on the Mac also as Markdown or VTT. The original audio stays as your record.

If you write on a Mac and record on your iPhone, sign in with the same email on both: recordings, transcripts and speaker names sync.

Frequently asked questions

How accurate are the speaker labels? Do not expect perfect attribution. Frequent interruptions, similar voices or poor audio reduce accuracy, and words and labels can then be missing or wrong. Check every quote against the audio before you publish.

Can I transcribe old interviews sitting in Voice Memos? Yes, import works on any existing recording regardless of age. See how to transcribe voice memos.

What does it cost? AI Transcribe is free to download. Pro, weekly or annual, starts with a 3-day free trial that you can begin on iPhone or Mac, and one subscription covers both apps (the trial is once per Apple ID). Before you start it, you can try two imports or AI tool runs and one chat answer, and on iPhone you can keep recording and transcribing without subscribing. For Otter and TurboScribe pricing, see our honest comparison.

Should I use Otter instead? If your interviews happen in scheduled video calls with a team workspace, Otter is convenient: its bot joins Zoom, Meet and Teams, and its Mac and Windows desktop app can record without the bot. For in-person interviews with many files, note that Otter's free plan allows only 3 audio or video file imports for the life of the account (as of October 2026).