How to transcribe Apple Voice Memos with Vocatim

Bring a memo into Vocatim

1. Open Voice Memos and select the recording.
2. Open its actions menu and choose Share.
3. If offered an export format, choose rendered audio, which produces a mixed .m4a file, rather than an editable project.
4. Choose Vocatim in the share sheet. If it is not listed, save the audio to Files and import it from Vocatim instead.

Apple describes the current export options in its Voice Memos sharing guide. Labels can vary with your iOS version and language.

Choose the recording language, then transcribe

Download the model you want to use before going offline. In Vocatim, choose the language spoken in the recording and start local transcription. A Dutch interview can be transcribed with the interface in English: those settings have different purposes.

Use speaker labelling for interviews and conversations. For a personal memo with one voice, it may add less value. Review speaker names and difficult passages, then export the corrected text or generate a local summary.

If the recording will not import

First check that you exported audio, not an editable recording package. If you have a choice, use the rendered .m4a version. Make sure the file has finished downloading from iCloud before starting an offline transcription.

Play the exported file before processing it. If it is silent or incomplete, return to the original memo rather than repeatedly trying different transcription models. A model cannot recover speech that is missing from the exported audio.

Keep the original and review the result

Do not delete the original Voice Memo until the import and transcript are checked. Names, numbers and overlapping speech deserve particular attention. Use the audio as the reference, not an AI-generated summary.

This is useful when you want an editable session with speakers and local AI alongside your recording. It does not imply that Apple Voice Memos lacks its own transcription features on supported devices.