Apple has made huge strides withthe Notes app in iOS 18.
One of its best features is the ability torecord and transcribe voice notes in English.
That’s whereCleftsteps in.
It can also intelligently add subheadings and other small tweaks.
It’s still usable, but being in beta, it’s not on the App Store yet.
That’s set to change “in the next few weeks,” according toCleft’s roadmap.
If you don’t want to deal with a beta, theMac appis easy to set up.
I also tried the iOS app and the setup process is similar.
After you load the app, go to its prefs and choose your language.
That way, the app will be able to transcribe your notes better.
you could also let the app automatically detect your language, although that introduces some ambiguity.
Jotting down your thoughts
Cleft’s best feature is its speed.
It takes one tap to start recording a note on your iPhone and two on the Mac.
I love how Cleft can automatically transcribe and format my voice recordings.
I just hit the record button to create a quick to-do list for the day.
The note was titled To-Do List, which is a helpful label.
This is a genuinely great use of AI tools to make your life easier.
There are some issues with the app taking those liberties, though.
I didn’t like this at all.
The app is free, reliable, and feature-packed.
However, Cleft does a couple of things better.
First, it supports nearly 60 language for transcription, which makes it far more useful for voice notes.
Second, Cleft runs on iOS 17 as well as iOS 18, which makes it more accessible.
you could automateusing ZapierorObsidian (one of the best notes apps out there).
Cleft has a generous free tier that lets you record up to five minutes of voice notes per recording.
