Otonota 2026.11

Otonota is a meeting assistant for Mac, iPhone and iPad that works without internet. Press record, and what's said becomes text as it's spoken; a summary grows beside it. The work stays on the device, and by default audio and text never leave it. It's a tool for people who would rather listen than take notes.

Press record. That's all

• Completed lines pile up with timestamps, and every few lines the summary beside them updates
• Four summary modes: short summary, conversational summary, keywords, translation — in the output language you choose. Follow a meeting held in Japanese through an English summary, or keep English notes from a lecture given in German
• Add product names and people to a glossary to improve both the transcript and the summary

On the desk, or in your hand

• Mac — Records the microphone and system audio together, so the other side of a Zoom or Google Meet call lands in the same transcript as your own voice. Up to three columns: the transcript plus two summaries, each with its own mode and output language
• iPhone — Set it on the table and record with the microphone: the transcript on top, the summary below. Recording carries on with the screen locked, so it's ready for one-on-ones and interviews
• iPad — In landscape, your sessions, the transcript and the summary on one screen. Stand it on the meeting-room table and everyone can read along
• iPhone Duo — Record on the outer screen with it closed; open it to read everything side by side. Half-open, the transcript and summary split at the fold

Mac and iPhone / iPad at a glance

• Records — Mac: Microphone, system audio, or both at once. iPhone / iPad: Microphone
• Summary streams — Mac: Two (the second with Pro). iPhone / iPad: One
• Pop-out windows — Mac: Summary and translation on a projector (Pro). iPhone / iPad: no
• Importing files — Mac: Audio and video, re-transcription, speaker separation (Pro). iPhone / iPad: Audio and video, re-transcription, speaker separation (Pro)
• Engines — Mac: Built-in, WhisperKit, MLX, and cloud with your own API key (Pro). iPhone / iPad: Built-in (Apple speech recognition and Apple Intelligence); WhisperKit and MLX (Pro). No cloud option
• Languages — Mac: Interface, summaries and translation in 22 languages; transcription in 10 with the built-in engines and all 22 with WhisperKit. iPhone / iPad: The languages Apple speech recognition and Apple Intelligence support
• Requires — Mac: macOS 26 or later, Apple silicon (M1 or later). iPhone / iPad: iOS 27 / iPadOS 27 or later, a model with Apple Intelligence

Nothing leaves the device, by default

• Runs on Apple's speech recognition and Apple Intelligence — and on the Mac, also on WhisperKit and MLX models running locally
• No network by default. No account. Works on a plane
• Made for confidential negotiations, interviews, clinical and legal consultations — anywhere the audio can't go to the cloud
• Cloud speech recognition and language models (OpenAI / Google / Anthropic) are an option only in Pro on the Mac, with your own API key, and are used only when you explicitly switch to one. The iPhone and iPad version has no cloud option at all
• One exception on the Mac: with Apple Speech, macOS may use Apple's servers when on-device recognition for that language isn't available. If that matters, choose Apple Intelligence transcription or WhisperKit

Export

• Exporting transcripts and summaries as text is free on every device. Nothing is locked in. On the Mac, recorded audio files export for free too; export with elapsed times from the start of the recording (JSON / CSV / SRT) is Pro

Free, with no time limit

• Recording, transcribing, summarizing, the glossary and exporting text are free on every device, with no time or count limits
• Otonota Pro is a one-time in-app purchase, not a subscription, and comes in two kinds: Pro for Mac, iPhone and iPad, which works on every device signed in with the same Apple Account, and Pro for iPhone and iPad only. Start with the iPhone and iPad Pro, and you can later upgrade to the Mac from within the Mac app by paying the difference

Free vs. Pro

On the Mac, the line is: what runs on the Mac's built-in engines plus one WhisperKit and one MLX model is free; every other engine is Pro. Prices are shown in the app and on the App Store product page.

Requires: on the Mac, macOS 26 or later on an Apple silicon Mac (M1 or later) — 8 GB of memory is enough for the built-in engines. On iPhone and iPad, iOS 27 / iPadOS 27 or later on a model with Apple Intelligence (iPhone Duo included); it doesn't run on models without Apple Intelligence. Sessions aren't synced between devices; each stays on the device that recorded it.

Automatically generated transcripts and summaries may contain errors or inappropriate wording. Please record only with the consent of the people involved.