How Do I Generate Transcripts Using the Voice Recorder on My Phone?

You can convert recorded words into searchable text

Edward C. Baig,

AARP

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Published February 03, 2026

a gif of a soundwave coming out of a person's mouth next to a smartphone

Paul Spella

AARP members and readers are invited to submit pressing technology questions they’d like me to tackle in my Tech Guru column, including issues around devices, security, social media and how all the puzzle pieces fit together. This week, I’m answering a question about the recorder apps on popular smartphones and whether they can generate searchable transcripts, a more relevant query than ever with advances in artificial intelligence.

I used to record meetings, conversations and lectures with a tape recorder back in the day and later graduated to a portable digital recorder. But tediously transcribing whatever I recorded was always my biggest pain point. My understanding is that the voice recorders built into smartphones can automatically produce transcripts and sometimes summarize recordings. Can you explain how these work?

Baked-in recorder apps have become a table-stakes feature on modern smartphones. And the ability to produce transcripts automatically so that you don’t have to bang them out yourself is a major bonus, though how they are produced varies by handset.

As a journalist who sometimes records interviews and meetings, the fact that you can search these transcripts is indeed a big deal. Some recordings can also be summarized via artificial intelligence or even translated into another language.

Making a recording on any of these apps isn’t difficult. You press a record button to do just that, and a play/pause button when you want to listen. The various apps let you edit recordings, change playback speeds, add titles and so on.

But since you asked, let’s focus on transcripts.

Google Recorder app on Pixel

To me, easily searchable transcripts are the standout feature of the Recorder app on Google’s Pixels. You can search not only within a given recording but across all your recordings.

Transcripts are generated in real time, automatically, after you press the round red recorder button. Normally, as you record or play back a recording, you will see a waveform. To read the transcript instead, tap the transcript icon, represented by three horizontal lines within a circle.

Saved recordings are listed on the app’s home screen, typically by date and/or title. To launch a specific recording, tap it in the list, then tap Transcript. You can scroll up or down the transcript and tap on text to start playing — and, for that matter, reading — from that spot. As you listen and read, words are highlighted.

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To search within that given recording, tap the three horizontal dots on the upper right corner of the screen, tap Search transcript from the menu that appears, and type in the words or phrases you want to search for in the Search in this recording area at the top of the screen.

If you’re looking to search across all your recordings, open the Recorder home screen and enter your search query within the Search recordings area at the top.

Recordings that contain multiple voices include speaker labels such as Speaker 1, Speaker 2, Speaker 3 and so on. If you know who is talking, you can replace those labels with speaker names. To do so, tap the three horizontal dots | Edit speaker labels | Tap speaker name | Rename speaker X and type the name.

You can also search for sounds that may have been detected in a recording using terms such as “applause” or “laughter.”

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If you want to change the transcription language, tap your profile picture on the upper right, Recorder settings | Transcription language and choose an available language from the list.

You can send the final transcript to Google Docs or Google’s NotebookLM note-taking tool.

Voice memos on iPhone

The default recorder app on iPhone is called Voice Memos. You can generate a transcript in real time, as with the Pixel, but what you initially see instead is a waveform. To view the transcript, tap the recording in question, tap the waveform icon, followed by the transcript icon at the bottom left corner of the screen, which resembles quotation marks. Scroll up from the bottom of the display to reveal a search box to enter the text you want to find in the transcript. You can play back the recording from that point.

If you are at the main All Recordings screen within the app, tap the magnifying glass near the top right to search for titles and transcripts associated with the words you’re looking to find within recordings.

To change the transcription language, tap Settings | Apps | Voice Memos | Language and select from the list.

Voice recorder on Samsung Galaxy

Recent Samsung Galaxy phones also let you create transcriptions, search the content and summarize a recording.

Tap Transcribe after selecting a saved recording; it may take a couple of minutes for the device to generate a transcript, especially for longer recordings. You can press play to listen to the words as you read them.

Among other options: Tap the magnifying glass at the upper right to search within an open transcript, or enter your search term in the magnifying glass that appears on the All recordings screen to find recordings that match your query.

To quickly review a meeting or get the general gist of what was discussed, launch a recording, tap the Samsung Galaxy AI icon at the top — it’s got stars — and choose Summarize from the menu.

A word about privacy: According to Samsung, when you summarize recordings, transcripts will be processed online. If you’re not OK with that, and for added privacy, go to Settings | Galaxy AI and scroll down to Process data only on device. Tap the switch to turn it blue. You will need to turn this setting off to process a summary.

To change the transcription language, go to Settings | Apps | Voice Recorder | Voice Recorder Settings | Transcript Assist and choose either Auto detect language to automatically detect the language spoken in the recording you transcribe, or Transcription language to choose it yourself.

You can add transcripts to the Samsung Notes app or move them to a secure folder on the device.

Bonus tip: Record calls via the phone app

You can record phone calls using the native phone apps on iPhone, Galaxy and Pixel, and generate transcripts of those calls. Just make sure you’re complying with local laws before turning on the recorder function, as follows.

On Pixel, open the Phone app, make a call, then tap Call Assist | Call Notes. To alert the person you’re speaking with, a “call is being recorded” announcement is automatically generated and heard by both parties.

You can access the audio and transcript, and if you are using one of the more recent Pixels, you can also get a summary of the call.

On iPhone, make your call, tap More | Call Recording | Continue. A similar “this call is being recorded” message plays. Recordings and transcripts are saved in the Notes app.

The drill is similar on a Samsung Galaxy. Place the call, tap Call Assist, then tap the Record icon, which has a T in a circle on top of what appears to be a cassette. Once more, everyone on the call is notified that it is being recorded.

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Edward C. Baig covers technology and other consumer topics. He previously worked for USA Today, BusinessWeek, U.S. News & World Report and Fortune, and is author of Macs for Dummies and coauthor of iPhone for Dummies and iPad for Dummies. Follow him on LinkedIn; Threads; and X, formerly known as Twitter.