AI-powered instruments like OpenAI’s Whisper have enabled many apps to make transcription an integral a part of their function set for private note-taking, and the area has rapidly flourished in consequence. Apps like AudioPen, Cleft Notes, and TalkNotes have proliferated throughout app shops and the Web, however most provide a reasonably restricted function set: They allow you to report notes and transcribe them, with some providing summarization options, however there’s quite a lot of floor to cowl when it comes to the options provided.
The newest app within the area is Voicenotes. Constructed by creator-tipping platform Buymeacoffee‘s founder, Jijo Sunny, and his spouse Aleesha, Voicenotes goals to set itself aside by together with an AI assistant that allows you to ask questions of your previous notes, along with offering numerous options like summaries and totally different formatting choices.
The builders stated in a video that after they suffered a miscarriage, to distract themselves, they began constructing a voice be aware device together with Jijo’s brother and Buymeacoffee co-founder, Joseph Sunny. When the couple was consulting medical professionals, they took quite a lot of voice notes to seize all of the issues nurses and medical doctors had been saying so they may recall the data later. That additionally fueled the thought of getting a transcription device helpful so that they didn’t have to replay notes repeatedly to recollect particulars.
Jijo and Aleesha shipped the primary model of the app in March to pick out testers, they usually made the net app public in April.
The app itself
Voicenotes’ webapp doesn’t require you to log in — you possibly can immediately hit report and begin speaking and the app will transcribe.
You’ll be able to solely report voice notes as much as one-minute lengthy until you pay for the device. When you cease recording, you possibly can tag the notes, edit them, and regenerate titles utilizing AI. It additionally helps you to use AI to reformat the be aware — flip it right into a weblog publish, a tweet, a to-do listing, or an e-mail — and the app may even generate a abstract of the be aware and listing the details.
There’s additionally an “Ask my AI” function, which helps you to verbally search by means of your notes utilizing the AI assistant — if you wish to keep in mind what model of dishwashing liquid you added to your grocery listing two months in the past, for instance.
The corporate has now launched each iOS and Android apps. This can be a massive benefit, given Cleft Notes solely works on Mac and iOS (nonetheless in beta). Whereas AudioPen is accessible as an internet app from wherever, it might probably’t do background recording on iOS — in case your smartphone display will get locked or for those who change to a different app, it’ll cease recording.
Voicenotes additionally makes use of AI to nudge you with prompts that you would be able to reply and report some notes.
Competitors and roadmap
Voicenotes brings some helpful options, however as we talked about above, it’s getting into an area that’s rising crowded rapidly. It additionally has to take care of rivals who carry higher options. Cleft Notes, for instance, permits for on-device transcription (an vital level as a result of it retains your notes personal as an alternative of sending it to a server for transcription), has higher Apple integration, and permits you to report notes as much as 10 minutes lengthy within the free tier. AudioPen provides you a ton extra choices for formatting your notes, which some could discover helpful.
Aside from competitors with different AI-powered voice be aware apps, Voicenotes additionally has to compete with native apps akin to Google Recorder on Pixel, and Samsung’s Transcribe Help — each apps can be found solely on choose fashions, however they may trickle right down to different fashions because the expertise advances.
The most important threat for all these apps can be Apple including transcription to its voice memo apps, since that will primarily make third-party apps redundant on iOS units. Nonetheless, there could be worth in providing cross-platform compatibility, higher formatting choices, and extra options.
You’ll be able to attempt Voicenotes at no cost or pay $10 a month to unlock entry to raised fashions like GPT-4 Turbo and Claude Opus, in addition to take away the be aware size restrictions. For a restricted period of time, you can even pay $50 for a “believer” plan and get entry to the app for all times (learn: so long as the developer retains supporting it). The corporate stated it has already gained $100,000 in income from subscriptions.
Jijo instructed TechCrunch over e-mail that the app’s differentiation might be its “easy however elegant design,” its use of the most effective AI fashions, and the “Ask My AI” function.
He added that Voicenotes will quickly be accessible on smartwatches, too, needs to increase its performance throughout platforms as a real-time assistant. Moreover, additionally it is engaged on turning voice notes into to-do lists with reminders.
