Hearnote is an iPhone and iPad app that records meetings and lectures, transcribes them on the device and writes structured notes: decisions, action items, outlines, key terms. English and Vietnamese, equally good. No account, no upload.
How it works
Tap the red button and it’s recording. Lock the screen or switch apps and it keeps going; a phone call pauses it and waits for you.
Apple’s speech recognizer runs on your iPhone and produces a timestamped transcript. Tap any line to hear that exact moment.
Apple Intelligence writes a summary in the template you pick — meeting, lecture, interview and more. Export to Word, Markdown or subtitles in one tap.
Features
Hearnote doesn’t stop at a transcript — your iPhone can already do that. It turns speech into notes you can use right away, and finds any sentence again later.
Transcript
Every sentence has a timestamp and a speaker. Tap a line to play it, fix a word in place, search the whole recording.
Summaries
Pick a template and Hearnote writes structured notes on the device with Apple Intelligence. Action items come with an owner and a due date.
Ask Hearnote
“What did we promise the client last week?” Hearnote searches every recording and answers with timestamps — tap one to hear the exact sentence.
Study
Study mode makes flashcards and a quick quiz from the lecture itself. Translate between English and Vietnamese on the device when you study in two languages.
And more
App closed or battery died mid-meeting? Next launch, Hearnote recovers the recording up to the last few seconds.
TXT, Markdown, Word (.docx) and .srt subtitles — with or without the summary.
Organize by class, project or client; smart filters for this week, meetings, lectures and recordings with action items.
Start recording from the Lock Screen, by voice or with the Action button. A Live Activity shows the timer in the Dynamic Island.
Sensitive meetings? Turn on the lock so only you can open Hearnote.
Got a file from a voice recorder, Zoom or Voice Memos? Open it in Hearnote to transcribe it.
A sample meeting is ready when you open the app, with every Pro feature unlocked on it — see real results before you decide.
Type a word and see which recording said it, and at what minute.
Use cases
In the room or on speakerphone: get decisions, action items and open questions. No bot has to join the call.
Listen in class instead of copying slides. Get an outline, key terms and flashcards before the exam — even in a hall with no Wi‑Fi.
Candidates, users or sources: split by speaker and quote every line exactly, with its timestamp.
Record the session, export .srt subtitles and chapter notes, and publish faster.
Privacy
Most AI note-takers upload your recordings to a server to process them. Hearnote has no server to send them to: speech recognition and summaries both run on your iPhone’s chip.
Transcription by Apple’s speech recognizer, summaries by Apple Intelligence — both on your iPhone. Only the language pack is downloaded from Apple, once.
No sign-up, no email, no password. Open the app and record.
Audio, transcripts and notes live in the app’s private storage. They leave only when you share or export them yourself.
Compare
A general comparison with the common kind of meeting note-taker that processes audio on its servers. Individual apps vary — read their policies.
| Compare | Hearnote | Typical cloud note-taker |
|---|---|---|
| Where audio is processed | On your iPhone | On the provider’s servers |
| Account required | No | Usually |
| Works without internet | Yes — record, transcribe, summarize | Usually records only; processing waits for a connection |
| Bot joins your call | No — records in the room | Often a bot joins Zoom/Meet |
| Vietnamese | As good as English | Varies, often weaker |
| Your recordings train AI models | Can’t — they never leave the phone | Depends on each app’s policy |
Plans
Prices are shown in the App Store for your region.
Enough for a few meetings a week.
For people who record every day.
Monthly, yearly (with a 7-day free trial) or a one-time lifetime purchase.
FAQ
English (in the regional variants your iPhone supports) and Vietnamese — both get the same care. You choose a default language when you start, and you can re-transcribe any recording in the other language at any time.
Yes. Recording, transcription, summaries, Ask and translation all run on the device. The first time you use a language, your iPhone downloads its speech model from Apple (once, with progress shown); after that no connection is needed.
Hearnote needs iOS 26 or later. Recording and transcription work on every iPhone that runs iOS 26. Summaries and Ask Hearnote’s written answers need Apple Intelligence: iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max or any iPhone 16 or later, with Apple Intelligence turned on and supporting the recording’s language. Without it you still get the full transcript, export and search, and Ask shows the best-matching moments instead of an answer.
Hearnote writes a safety journal alongside the recording and saves it every 5 seconds. If the app is swiped away, closed by iOS, or the phone powers off, the next launch shows “Recording recovered” — everything up to the last few seconds. Locking the screen or switching apps doesn’t stop recording at all.
No. Audio, transcripts and notes stay in the app’s private storage on your iPhone. Hearnote has no server that receives them and no account. They leave the phone only when you export or share them yourself.
Hours. Memory use stays flat however long it runs. Hearnote only stops if your storage is nearly full, and even then everything recorded so far is safe.
Free includes unlimited recording, transcription for 3 recordings and up to 60 minutes a week, quick-note summaries and TXT/Markdown export. Pro unlocks unlimited transcription, every summary template, Ask Hearnote, speakers, chapters, study mode, translation and Word/SRT export. The sample recording in the app has every Pro feature unlocked so you can try them.
It depends on where you live. The safest habit is to always tell people you are recording and ask for consent where required. You are responsible for how you record.
Hearnote is coming soon to the App Store for iPhone. Free to start.