WhatsApp Voice Notes to Text: iPhone, Android

WhatsApp can transcribe voice messages itself, on your phone, in a limited set of languages. For anything else (a language it does not cover, a long note, a file you want to keep, or text you want to export), you save the voice note as a file and upload it to a transcription tool. The saving step differs between iPhone and Android, and that is what this guide covers. For the general overview, see how to transcribe a WhatsApp voice note; this one goes deeper on the two platforms and on built-in versus upload.

Option A: WhatsApp's built-in transcripts

WhatsApp announced voice message transcripts on its blog on 21 November 2024. The post says transcripts are produced on your device, so that no one else, not even WhatsApp, can hear or read your messages. It says the setting is under Settings > Chats > Voice message transcripts, where you can turn it on and choose a transcript language, and that you transcribe a message by pressing and holding it and tapping transcribe. It says transcripts start in "a few select languages" with more to come, and links to a help page for the current list.

We could not read that WhatsApp Help page, so we cannot list the supported languages or devices; check WhatsApp Help for the current list. We also cannot say whether the feature has reached your account or phone. If you do not see the option, or your language is not supported, use the upload route below.

The built-in transcript lives inside WhatsApp. Whether you can export or save it as a file, we do not know; check WhatsApp Help. It is a convenient way to read a message, not a way to produce a document.

Option B: save the voice note and upload it

Choose this when you want a transcript file, a language the built-in feature lacks, a long note, or a subtitle file. WhatsApp's menus change between versions, and we could not read its help pages for the saving steps, so the routes below are the usual ones, not a quote. If a label differs on your phone, check WhatsApp Help.

iPhone

1. Press and hold the voice message in the chat.
2. Choose the forward or share option, then use the share sheet and pick Save to Files, or send it to yourself by email or another app.
3. Open the Files app, find the saved file, and either upload it to Scriptorium from your phone (choose the file from the file picker) or move it to your computer.

Android

1. Press and hold the voice message and use the share option to send it to a file app, email or a cloud folder.
2. Alternatively, open the phone's file manager and look in WhatsApp's voice notes folder; the exact path differs by Android version and phone maker, so check yours.
3. Copy the file to the computer or upload it directly from the phone's browser.

From a computer

If you use WhatsApp Web or the desktop app, the audio message may offer a download option in its menu; we did not verify the label. Whichever route you use, get the original audio file, not a recording of your phone's speaker.

1. Open the chat and find the voice message. Press and hold it.
2. iPhone: choose the option to forward or share it, then use the share sheet to Save to Files or send it to yourself by email. Android: the message is usually stored on the phone already; share it from the same menu to a file app, email or cloud folder.
3. Get the file onto the computer or open Scriptorium in the phone's browser and choose the file.
4. Upload it at audio to text. The no-account preview takes one file at a time, up to 15 minutes and 25 MB, with 3 tries a day, and deletes the file after 24 hours.
5. Set the language, review the transcript against the audio, then export the format you need.

File types you will see

WhatsApp voice notes are typically Opus audio in an Ogg container (.opus or .ogg), and forwarding or saving from some devices can produce .m4a. We have not tested every combination of phone and WhatsApp version, so if an upload is rejected, convert it with ffmpeg: ffmpeg -i note.opus note.m4a. You usually do not need to convert first, because the uploader reads common audio and video containers. Exports are TXT, timestamped TXT, SRT, VTT, Markdown, JSON and CSV, in 33 languages plus automatic detection.

Which route fits

Privacy and consent

A voice note is a recording of a person. Before you upload one, remember it is usually someone else's voice, and they sent it to you, not to a transcription service. For a family message that is rarely a problem; for a customer, a patient, a colleague's complaint or anything sensitive, ask first, and consider keeping the audio on the phone with the built-in feature or a local app. If you upload to us: The no-account preview takes one file at a time, up to 15 minutes and 25 MB, with 3 tries a day, and deletes the file after 24 hours. Our privacy guide and private transcription tools cover the options.

Arabic notes are very common on WhatsApp; see how to transcribe Arabic dialects and the Arabic guide تفريغ رسائل واتساب الصوتية.

Several notes in a row

A long conversation can be a dozen short voice notes. Save them in order and name each file with the date and a number so they sort correctly, then upload them one at a time and join the text in the same order. Label who spoke in each file yourself; each note is a separate recording, so speaker labels will not carry from one to the next.