Best Dictation Applications for Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac

There was a lot of hype when the first dictation apps appeared. People were enthusiastic about using their voices to type on their devices. However, those apps quickly killed the excitement since they were inaccurate and couldn’t really be used practically.

However, with the improvement of AI technologies, dictation tools are finally becoming feasible and bringing what they promised. Even though you still can’t expect 100% accuracy, many apps can make minimal mistakes.

We took the time to research the best dictation applications for all popular platforms. Today, we’ll share them with you and give you some details about what to expect from them. But before we get to that, let’s see what dictation apps are.

What Are Dictation Applications?

Dictation applications, tools, or software can convert our spoken words into text. Dictation applications are very useful for people who must quickly dictate and save their thoughts, documents, emails, notes, etc. Professionals like writers, journalists, or content creators are the most common users of dictation applications.

However, they are also used by “regular” individuals who want to quickly write text without using the touchscreen or the keyboard. The technology that makes this possible combines machine learning, natural language processing, and speech recognition.

Dictation applications allow users to generate text quickly without typing. That will enable them to save valuable time and write text when they don’t have the conditions. For example, you can't type accurately if the sunlight is too bright or you’re walking somewhere.

Best Dictation Apps for Android

Voice Notes

Voice is an Android dictation app designed specifically for taking notes quickly while on the go. There are two ways to record your voice and turn it into notes. You can save the audio file so you can listen to it later or use text-to-speech technology to get a transcription of your notes on the screen.

It has a helpful reminder feature that lets you set the time when you want to get nudged. Furthermore, you can customize the type of notification you get. Voice Notes also enables you to set up recurring reminders. It has several useful organizational features like exporting, importing, colored tags, and customizable categories.

Speechnotes

Unlike Voice Notes, Speechnotes is more optimized for recording and transcribing longer formats like essays or lectures. One of the best features of Speechnotes is the punctuation keyboard. It’s usually tricky to dictate punctuation, but the keyboard gives you additional buttons to add commonly used punctuation marks.

In other words, you can dictate faster and create natural text. The keyboard also lets you add symbols and emojis to showcase creativity.

Voice Notebook

Voice Notebook is one of the most feature-packed dictation apps for Android. It has some fantastic functionalities, like a customizable list of punctuation marks and words that are auto-replaced during dictation. Its voice-activated undo feature allows users to import text files from Google Drive and different file managers.

It has character and word counters for all dications and voice notes, which can be useful for professionals who must pay attention to the overall word count. This app has different in-app purchases, including Bluetooth file transfer, a nonstop dictation feature, and a power-saving mode.

Best Dictation Apps for iPhone

Otter

Otter is an AI dictation app for iPhone that accurately transcribes lectures, interviews, and meetings. It relies on sophisticated algorithms to capture, analyze, and transcribe audio. Its live transcription feature can recognize multiple speakers and transcribe their voices in real-time, allowing users to follow the conversation and who is saying what.

It supports seamless collaboration, and users can share text with other people. Otter has a free plan for 600 minutes of transcription per month. However, this version is limited and doesn’t have all the features. If you want seamless integration with apps like Google Meet, team collaboration, and custom vocabulary, you will have to get the premium version.

Evernote

Evernote is a fantastic dictation app for iPhone and it has a really powerful voice-to-text feature. It’s a full-blown app for taking notes that allows you to organize all of your notes with ease. Users can dictate memos or notes with ease. Dictating notes and syncing them is effortless. It also has a powerful search feature that lets you find notes by tags or keywords.

The AI plain language search makes your life much easier, and you can use countless customization options to maximize efficiency. Even though Evernote has a free version, it lacks most of the essential features and the paid option is on the expensive side.

Dragon Anywhere

Dragon Anywhere is one of the best-known transcription apps used by millions of people worldwide. It has incredibly accurate voice detection but lacks some modern features compared to other apps. You can dictate long documents without limits.

The “correct that” voice command lets you easily fix mistakes or punctuation. It’s a reliable dictation app with consistent results, but you must have a reliable internet connection.

Dragon Anywhere can be trained with words and phrases to accurately transcribe industry-specific text. This app has many different export options and available formats, and it has a desktop version that can be synced with your app. It also offers many integrations, including Evernote and Dropbox.

Best Dictation Apps for Windows

Braina Pro

Braina Pro is a flexible and versatile dictation app for Windows that offers high accuracy with voice recognition. It also comes with various productivity features that make your life easier. It’s a voice-controlled tool for navigating around the PC and a reliable dictation tool anyone can use with ease.

It supports voice dictation with efficient input, web navigation, PC control, automating tasks with voice commands, and multilingual support. Braina Pro has a very user-friendly interface and can handle many different tasks besides dictation. Even though it’s a desktop app, it requires an internet connection to give the desired results.

Descript

Descript is often used by podcasters, YouTubers, bloggers, and other content creators to transcribe voice and audio into text format. It effectively utilizes sophisticated algorithms to turn audio into text. Apart from transcription and dictation, Descript also lets you edit your text, record your screen, and edit videos.

One of the great features of Descript is “Overdub,” which allows you to insert words within the transcript, which are automatically added after recording. Training the program’s AI to reproduce your voice is even possible.

The transcription AI accurately converts spoken words into text, which only takes a few minutes to complete. You can transcribe voice in real time or upload an audio file.

Dragon Professional

Dragon Professional is a highly reputable dictation software known for its efficiency and accuracy. This tool was developed for professionals who want to use robust dictation software and voice control features daily. It has custom voice commands you can use for different repetitive tasks to cut down on manual work.

As you use Dragon Professional, the tool adapts to your voice over time and improves accuracy. It has a customizable vocabulary to adjust the output according to your industry jargon. Dragon Professional is a user-friendly tool that’s compatible with all types of formats and apps. However, the cost is slightly higher than other tools with similar capabilities.

Best Dictation Apps for Mac

UniConverter

UniConverter is different from your typical video converter software. It comes with various advanced AI features, including speech-to-text capabilities. UniConverter accurately transcribes video and audio files into text. It’s super convenient to transcribe lectures, interviews, and any other content with speech. This dictation app is available both on Mac and Windows.

It offers accurate voice recognition in over 90 languages and allows customized text editing. It’s very efficient and quickly converts large video and audio files into text. The tool is very user-friendly and can be used by anyone. To get accurate transcriptions, you only need to go through three steps.

Dictation

Apple has its own Dictation tool. Initially, it was very bad because it offered inconsistent results and couldn’t accurately transcribe voice to text. However, over the years, Apple has tried to improve the tool, and today, it’s a respectable app any Mac user can rely on.

It’s a very simple and functional tool for those who don’t need anything else apart from getting easy and quick transcriptions.

Since it’s an integrated Mac app, download or installation is unnecessary. It’s completely free and provides solid results. It also offers other voice commands that allow you to edit or format your text. At the moment, Apple Dictation supports over 40 languages, which isn’t that impressive.

However, it also adapts to the user’s voice and provides better results over time.

Amberscript

Amberscruopt is a very intuitive dictation software with a strong reputation. It isn’t just a dictation tool but a full-blown transcription platform with a smooth interface and modern automation capabilities. Ambersoft packs a powerful speech-to-text capability that delivers 95% accuracy and turns video and audio files into transcriptions in no time.

This tool supports over 30 different languages, and its API ensures that your voice is understood clearly, even in sub-optimal conditions. This platform also has text editing capabilities and works with various formats.

Even though this is one of the best transcription services, it comes with a high price tag, especially if you want to get the premium features.

Bonus: How to Use a Dictation App to Generate AI Videos Quickly

If you’re a content creator who wants to use dictation apps to generate video transcripts quickly, you’ll be happy to know that you can further automate and streamline your workflow. Other powerful AI tools like Wondershare Virbo can generate AI videos with spoken text without the need to record yourself.

Virbo has multinational AI avatars to customize videos and several natural AI voices you can use to create different presentation videos, guides, training videos, etc. You only have to add the text you’ve previously transcribed in your tool and add it to Virbo to generate visually impressive videos using AI.

Furthermore, Virbo also utilizes powerful ChatGPT AI to create and edit your scripts so you can generate text and videos that resonate with your audiences. On the other hand, if you don’t have the time to dictate text ideas, you can skip this step and use Virbo to generate scripts from scratch.

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Conclusion

Dictation apps have gone a long way, especially with the evolution of AI technologies. Today, these tools can deliver reliable results that require minimal editing or manual work.

Take the time to check out these tools we’ve mentioned, and you’ll be able to improve your efficiency and create content more easily, regardless of the type of media you’re working on.

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