Apple has made big strides with the Notes app in iOS 18. One of the best features is the ability to record and transcribe voice notes in English. While I love this feature, it doesn’t help people who speak other languages, at least not for now. That’s where Cleft comes in. Cleft lets you quickly record voice notes and uses AI to transcribe them in multiple languages, not just English. It can also intelligently add subheadings and other minor adjustments. It has one of the smoothest workflows I’ve seen for going from jotting down an idea to a beautifully formatted transcript.
Everything You Can Do With Voice Memos | More Powerful Than You Think
As of this writing, Cleft’s Mac app is fully functional, but its iPhone app is only available via TestFlight. It’s still usable, but because it’s still in beta, it’s not yet available in the App Store. That will change “in the coming weeks,” according to Cleft’s roadmap.
If you don’t want to work with a beta version, the Mac app is easy to set up. Just use your email address to log in, give a few permissions (microphone and accessibility) and you’re good to go. I also tried the iOS app and the setup process is similar.
After installing the app, go to the settings and choose your language. This will help the app transcribe your notes better. You can also let the app automatically detect your language, although that introduces some ambiguity.
