Import & Export
Turn recordings into notes, label who's speaking, and export notes as Markdown, plain text, PDF or subtitles.
Transcribe audio files
Wispen transcribes audio and video files on your device, with your selected speech model and dictation language. Common formats work, including M4A, MP3, WAV, AIFF and video files.
- Tap the upload button next to the search field. On the Mac, you can also drag files onto the main window.
- Choose one or more files and tap Transcribe (Mac) or Open (iPhone and iPad).
- Wispen shows the progress for each file. Tap Cancel to stop.
Each file becomes a note, titled with the file name, in the project you used last. If no speech is found, the note says "[No speech detected in audio file]". When the import finishes, Wispen opens the last new note.
Wispen keeps a copy of the audio with the note, so you can play it back. The copy stays on the device you imported it on and doesn't sync over iCloud. On your other devices, the note shows "Original audio recording file is unavailable on this device."
Play back the audio
Notes with audio have a player above the text:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Play / Pause | Plays the recording. |
| Back / Forward | Skips 10 seconds. |
| Slider | Moves to a point in the recording. |
| Sync | While playing, shows the note as sentences with timestamps, highlights the one being spoken, and lets you tap a sentence to jump to it. |
| Speed | 0.75x, 1.0x, 1.25x, 1.5x or 2.0x. |
Speaker labels
Wispen can split a meeting or interview into "Speaker 1", "Speaker 2" paragraphs.
- For new imports: turn on Settings › Dictation › Label Speakers. It's off by default.
- For a note that already has audio: choose Identify Speakers from the note's menu (iPhone and iPad) or the wand menu in the toolbar (Mac). The previous text is saved to History.
The first time, Wispen downloads a small speaker model. Speaker labels work on recordings up to 2 hours long. If Wispen hears only one speaker, it leaves the transcript as it is.
Export a note
Open a note, then choose Export from the note's menu (iPhone and iPad) or click the export button in the toolbar (Mac):
| Option | File |
|---|---|
| Export as Markdown (.md) | The title as a heading, then the note text. |
| Export as Plain Text (.txt) | The title, then the note text. |
| Export 6x9 PDF Document (.pdf) | The note laid out on 6 x 9 inch pages. |
| Export Subtitles (.srt) | Subtitle cues, one per sentence. |
| Export WebVTT (.vtt) | The same cues in WebVTT format. |
On iPhone and iPad, a share sheet opens so you can save the file to Files or send it to another app. On the Mac, a save panel opens.
For imported audio, subtitle cues use the real timing of each sentence. For other notes, the recording's length is spread across the sentences by word count.
Export works one note at a time.
Copy a note
Choose Copy Note from the note's menu (iPhone and iPad) or click the copy button (Mac) to copy the text to the clipboard.