I managed to get a lifetime subscription for Voicenotes early on. Very pleased so far.
My perception so far is that there is very little differentiation in this field. All the other apps mentioned above sound good, and I've tried some of them, such as AudioPen. But none stand for me.
The slightly related one that does stand out is Granola. It's marketed as a meeting notes AI, but it's ability to accurately and thoroughly summarise meetings is very impressive. It's not about the features, it's the quality of the output.
I've therefore started to have meetings with just myself for the use cases you mentioned.
I was lucky enough to buy a lifetime license of AidioPen when it was in early beta, and a lifetime license of Letterly with AppSumo. They're my everyday thinking tools too. Can't stand without them.
I use Letterly to take quick voice notes on the fly, when I'm doing things that don't let me have much time to think in a structured way. Indeed I find AudioPen more suitable when I have more thinking time, and let the stream of consciousness go free out of my mind. The possibility to aggregate several notes is also a strong point.
Agree. Louis has maintained his artisanal approach to AudioPen since the beginning, often telling us users about aspects of his professional life that led him to develop certain features.
Appreciated the thoughtful curation of Voice AI tools in this edition. Spatial hearing still feels like the missing link—essential for creating voice interfaces that truly understand users in dynamic, noisy spaces.
Thanks, Dani. I’m curious about spatial hearing - and looking forward to experimenting with the next iteration of the Vision Pro and other devices like it that combine vision elements with the kind of Spatial Audio you’re referencing.
Appreciate the curiosity! If you're interested in experiencing spatial hearing in action, feel free to book a quick demo with us—we’d love to show you what’s possible: https://www.kardome.com/spatial-hearing
I think Voicenotes is one, and Ali Abdaal has one called Voicepail too. I'm curious about giving it a try with ChatGPT since I already have that, or even just capturing into Apple Notes too.
I tried VoicePal and it works very well but is really expensive. I got an early lifetime licence to AudioPen and it does the same (nearly). Worth having a look.
There are some great tools to remove filler words from your transcript, but if you want to remove them from your speech, there is an app called Credible. https://soundcredible.com/
I use AudioPen and am a big fan. Apart from some of the use cases you mentioned above, I also use it for student feedback. I record my feedback on student presentations using AudioPen. While it is generating the rewrite in my chosen style, I download the audio file and save it. I then email the students a link to the audio file and a cut-and-pasted version of AudioPen's text output. That way, the students get my feedback in spoken and written form.
I picked this up at CES two weeks ago. https://virtusxus.com/ . This Ai mouse has an easy button. I just push and talk. Workflow begins with a mouse, and it's just made things unbelievably easy.
I have a question. I am seeing two classes of tools in this space: individualized tools such as Jeremy is reviewing here and "groupish" tools such as come with Zoom and other meetingapps. Does anybody have any experience with using tools for in-person meetings, where there is the additional task of speaker recognition. Notta, for example, seems to market this feature on their website. Thanks for any comments from the community. Don
Really like all your use cases, it gives me even more ideas.
Also, the classic Voice memo on iphone works well. I use AudioPen regularly but recently for a work use case, I used VoiceMemo just to get the transcript and then run it through AI to write the whole summary of a brainstorming session. I had of course to then tweak it and add my notes but it saves me so much time compared to re-writing all the flipchart page notes!
I also use voice within Tana to quickly add a note. It works both on the desktop and in the capture app.
This is super. I would love to know if anyone has ever used it and then connected it with an automation tool, that collects then and processes them through AI (grouping according to theme)
All audio and text notes are stored in encrypted form. The encryption keys are kept in a separate, secure repository. They are necessary to decrypt your notes when you request them to be processed by OpenAI for rewriting or transcription.
However, developers do not have direct access to these keys. A special multi-step validation process is required to use the keys, ensuring that your data remains fully protected.
We understand that privacy is a fundamental part of any service, so we take it seriously. As users, we also use other services ourselves and expect the same level of diligence from them. Since we are heavy users of our own product, we want our privacy to be respected as well.
Great post, as usual.
I managed to get a lifetime subscription for Voicenotes early on. Very pleased so far.
My perception so far is that there is very little differentiation in this field. All the other apps mentioned above sound good, and I've tried some of them, such as AudioPen. But none stand for me.
The slightly related one that does stand out is Granola. It's marketed as a meeting notes AI, but it's ability to accurately and thoroughly summarise meetings is very impressive. It's not about the features, it's the quality of the output.
I've therefore started to have meetings with just myself for the use cases you mentioned.
I was lucky enough to buy a lifetime license of AidioPen when it was in early beta, and a lifetime license of Letterly with AppSumo. They're my everyday thinking tools too. Can't stand without them.
Curious when you decide to use one vs the other — do you have a preference in particular use-cases?
I use Letterly to take quick voice notes on the fly, when I'm doing things that don't let me have much time to think in a structured way. Indeed I find AudioPen more suitable when I have more thinking time, and let the stream of consciousness go free out of my mind. The possibility to aggregate several notes is also a strong point.
Same and I like how Louis regularly adds more features.
Agree. Louis has maintained his artisanal approach to AudioPen since the beginning, often telling us users about aspects of his professional life that led him to develop certain features.
Appreciated the thoughtful curation of Voice AI tools in this edition. Spatial hearing still feels like the missing link—essential for creating voice interfaces that truly understand users in dynamic, noisy spaces.
Thanks, Dani. I’m curious about spatial hearing - and looking forward to experimenting with the next iteration of the Vision Pro and other devices like it that combine vision elements with the kind of Spatial Audio you’re referencing.
Appreciate the curiosity! If you're interested in experiencing spatial hearing in action, feel free to book a quick demo with us—we’d love to show you what’s possible: https://www.kardome.com/spatial-hearing
Incidentally, I'm using Flow to post this comment. Thanks!
I think Voicenotes is one, and Ali Abdaal has one called Voicepail too. I'm curious about giving it a try with ChatGPT since I already have that, or even just capturing into Apple Notes too.
I tried VoicePal and it works very well but is really expensive. I got an early lifetime licence to AudioPen and it does the same (nearly). Worth having a look.
Very useful post from @jeremycaplan thanks for this.
There are some great tools to remove filler words from your transcript, but if you want to remove them from your speech, there is an app called Credible. https://soundcredible.com/
I use AudioPen and am a big fan. Apart from some of the use cases you mentioned above, I also use it for student feedback. I record my feedback on student presentations using AudioPen. While it is generating the rewrite in my chosen style, I download the audio file and save it. I then email the students a link to the audio file and a cut-and-pasted version of AudioPen's text output. That way, the students get my feedback in spoken and written form.
I picked this up at CES two weeks ago. https://virtusxus.com/ . This Ai mouse has an easy button. I just push and talk. Workflow begins with a mouse, and it's just made things unbelievably easy.
I have a question. I am seeing two classes of tools in this space: individualized tools such as Jeremy is reviewing here and "groupish" tools such as come with Zoom and other meetingapps. Does anybody have any experience with using tools for in-person meetings, where there is the additional task of speaker recognition. Notta, for example, seems to market this feature on their website. Thanks for any comments from the community. Don
Why is Letterly hiding its pricing on its webpage?
Really like all your use cases, it gives me even more ideas.
Also, the classic Voice memo on iphone works well. I use AudioPen regularly but recently for a work use case, I used VoiceMemo just to get the transcript and then run it through AI to write the whole summary of a brainstorming session. I had of course to then tweak it and add my notes but it saves me so much time compared to re-writing all the flipchart page notes!
I also use voice within Tana to quickly add a note. It works both on the desktop and in the capture app.
Finally, I found a Chrome extension that allows to use voice with Claude https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/claude-voice/oaljfolckhcnijgnnbhgahcdjhpfpjfp?hl=en
This is super. I would love to know if anyone has ever used it and then connected it with an automation tool, that collects then and processes them through AI (grouping according to theme)
AudioPen has a Zapier connection. I haven't really used it yet but that could be interesting.
I have a strong concern for these tools that I do not see being addressed. Who else can hear them? How are they kept secure and private?
Hello, David!
Security is a top priority for us at Letterly.
All audio and text notes are stored in encrypted form. The encryption keys are kept in a separate, secure repository. They are necessary to decrypt your notes when you request them to be processed by OpenAI for rewriting or transcription.
However, developers do not have direct access to these keys. A special multi-step validation process is required to use the keys, ensuring that your data remains fully protected.
We understand that privacy is a fundamental part of any service, so we take it seriously. As users, we also use other services ourselves and expect the same level of diligence from them. Since we are heavy users of our own product, we want our privacy to be respected as well.