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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
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Is it worth paying for

Speech to Text Dictation AI

60
Value score / 100 Worth paying? Depends It depends

Speech to Text Dictation AI is a functional app for general dictation, offering good accuracy for many users, but its value is diminished by frequent bugs, inconsistent performance, and a confusing monetization model that often requires payment for basic features.

Free + in-app purchases seen up to $69.99 4.5★ lifetime (11,321) since 2016

This app generally provides accurate speech-to-text conversion for notes, emails, and even book writing, with some users finding it superior to built-in phone dictation R1R3R8. However, many users report significant issues with accuracy, frequent glitches, and a problematic paywall that makes it difficult to use without a subscription R5R13R60.

Free vs paid

The app is listed as 'Free' but many users report that it requires payment or a subscription to access core dictation features, with some being charged without a clear free trial R37R60R99R103. Some initial positive reviews mention using it without immediate payment, but this seems inconsistent R30. Paid users cite benefits like good accuracy, export options, and helpful support R3R16. However, even paid users experience bugs, freezing, and poor accuracy, leading to frustration and questions about value R5R12R19R28.

Value complaints

  • Many users report that the app is misleadingly advertised as free, requiring payment or a subscription immediately after installation or for basic functionality.R37R60R99R103
  • Some users were charged for subscriptions without a clear free trial or had their subscriptions canceled prematurely.R5R28R99R141
  • The app is considered too expensive by some, especially given its accuracy issues and bugs.R210R225
  • Concerns about fraudulent charges and lack of support for cancellations were raised.R70R199

Where it delivers

  • The app is highly effective for general dictation, from short notes to book writing, and is considered better than built-in phone dictation by some.R1R3R8R34
  • It offers good accuracy for many users, especially when speaking clearly, and can handle various languages.R3R17R23R32
  • Users appreciate features like easy transfer to emails and text messages, export options, and the ability to dictate for long periods without stopping.R3R16R29R32
  • It is found to be a time-saver for tasks like homework, record-keeping, and drafting stories.R8R16R27R31
  • The app is praised for its ease of use and intuitive interface by some.R29R30R33R39
Worth paying if

It might be worth paying if you need a dictation tool for general notes, emails, or drafting long-form content like books, and are willing to tolerate occasional errors and glitches R1R3R8R16. It could also be useful for those who find built-in dictation tools insufficient and appreciate features like offline transcription or multi-language support .

Skip / stay free if

Skip this app if you require high accuracy for specialized content like medical notes, need seamless integration with other apps like Gmail or Word without copy-pasting, or expect a completely bug-free experience R5R6R12R19. Users who are sensitive to unexpected charges or confusing subscription models should also avoid it R28R99R199.

Evidence note: Many positive reviews are short and lack specific details, while negative reviews often provide more in-depth explanations of issues. There's a clear discrepancy between the app being advertised as 'Free' and user experiences of immediate paywalls.

Frequently asked

Is Speech to Text Dictation AI truly free?
No, despite being listed as 'Free', many users report that the app requires a subscription or in-app purchase to function, with some being charged immediately or finding a very small word limit on any free usage R37R60R99R103.
How accurate is the speech recognition?
The speech recognition accuracy is mixed; some users find it excellent, picking up words correctly about 90% of the time and outperforming Siri or Apple's built-in dictation R3R17R23R32, while others report it misses many words, substitutes wrong words, or has only fair to poor accuracy, sometimes as low as 60% R5R13R14.
Does the app have any known bugs or issues?
Yes, users frequently report bugs such as the app stopping recording mid-sentence, randomly repositioning the cursor, freezing during recording, duplicating text, and not working after updates R12R19R41R71.
Can I use this app with other applications like Gmail or Word?
The app does not directly integrate with all external applications like Gmail or Word; users often have to copy and paste text from the app into other programs, which some find to be an unnecessary extra step R6R263R340.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R37] 1/5 · US PAID APP: Requires subscription and in-app purchases. This should be flagged as such.
  2. [R60] 1/5 · US Bruh: U cant even open it without paying
  3. [R99] 1/5 · US No free trial?: I tried the app out and thought it was reasonably priced for what I hoped it would be able to do. Also, there was supposed to be a free trial. That didn’t happen. I was billed for the first month. Also, you have to sign up for a plan before you can try anything out on the app. Then when you try it out you see there is a very small word limit on anything you do. I wanted to use this
  4. [R103] 1/5 · US Warning!: Asking to purchase the software after installation is not ideal. This information should have been provided prior to installation.
  5. [R5] 3/5 · US not thrilled: Gave it plenty of time, and unfortunately too late to cancel the yearly charge. It’s not terribly responsive. It’s not even as responsive as the built-in mic in the iPhone. Substitutes wrong words, regardless of proximity to the phone. I’m sure there are better ones out there.
  6. [R28] 1/5 · US I bought the year they canceled me 30 days later don’t buy from them: They cancelled my yearly subscription after 30 days and during the 30 days they kept kicking me off so I had to keep signing back in so they are a scam don’t waist your money.
  7. [R141] 3/5 · US No trial for 1 month subscriptions: Wishing I could have tried this app before handing over my credit card but they wanted me to sign up for an annual subscription in order to try it. Sorry, thats some gimmick sales tactics and I won’t be trying it.
  8. [R210] 3/5 · US DICTATE: TOO EXPENSIVE!
  9. [R225] 3/5 · US Waste of money: The two times I’ve used this app, the dictation of a lecture of every day language, the dictation turned out to be streams of words that was not even sensible ! Words, at times, are scrambled, omitted, and down right wrong!
  10. [R70] 1/5 · US It is not clear how to cancel subscription and no way to contact support: The app doe not let you contact support and there is no button or way to cancel a subscription. Can someone from the developer please contact me or cancel my subscription before the 7 day period ends?
  11. [R199] 3/5 · US Urgent! Scam!: This app is either a total scam, or it has been hacked. When I set it up, my credit card suddenly was charged for two separate fraudulent charges. Stay away from this.
  12. [R1] 5/5 · US No titles, retired from active work.: This is an excellent app for any dictation, from a small note to a book writing. It cooperates in numerous ways. Accidentally deleting is no problem! 🙏👌
  13. [R3] 5/5 · US Excellent app! I love it!: After 2 years it gets better and better. As an author this is a great tool for notes and easy transfer to emails and text messages! Translations too! Get it now! You are missing out! I’m a PhD and use this everyday for notes, texts, and emails.
  14. [R8] 5/5 · US It Works!: I love using this app in the early morning hours to rough draft stories for my book. It is easy to upload the draft and move into editing. It captures the flow of the voice and does well with periods and commas. I’m happy with it.
  15. [R34] 4/5 · US Nice program: Dictating to this program is way better than dictating to Siri. Dictating to Siri is just awful, this program is pretty decent. nice program.
  16. [R17] 5/5 · US Kinda Therapeutic: This is app Picks up language good and is very helpful. Way better than Siri. I got it when I broke my arm and couldn’t journal. I still Use to help process thoughts cause sometimes you just need to say a bunch shizzle and get it out and email it to yourself.
  17. [R23] 5/5 · US This is next level audio capture, note taking app, enhanced by ai: Im so impressed by this app that i have to write a review. It Gets the words correctly about 90%, but running it further witb chatgpt corrects it. This ai-powered tools are next level.
  18. [R32] 5/5 · US Great App: I love this app. It’s not 100% accurate but it’s very close if you speak clearly. I use it often while driving and I love how it stays on/active and doesn’t shut off on you like other apps when you’re quiet for too long.
  19. [R16] 5/5 · US Great!: Works like it’s supposed to. Great export options. Quick, fast, and pretty accurate. I use it to transcribe audio files to make my outlines and take notes. What a time saver. Thank you Christian!
  20. [R29] 5/5 · US Very helpful: Easy to use, I can email the transcript to myself. Highly recommend.
  21. [R27] 5/5 · US Best typing time saver: This app has made doing homework so much easier.
  22. [R31] 5/5 · US Love this app!: Dictate has made my record keeping so much easier. It takes half the time it use to take! Easy to use.
  23. [R30] 5/5 · US This Dictation Ap Works: This ap works, when others I tried did not. Other apps asked me to pay them money, or get a free trial and then pay money, but this one did not. (Or has not yet, at least) Other aps were difficult to work with but this one was very intuitive. You just press the "Start" microphone to start recording, and then press Stop when you're done, and it translates what you say
  24. [R33] 5/5 · US Efficient. Easy to use. Excellent!: I haven't tried all of many dictation/translation/transcription apps out there. Who has time to do that? I'm really glad I found this one when I did. Thank you for a well-designed, simple and highly functional tool. It works. It works better than well.
  25. [R39] 5/5 · US Dictation Voice to Text: It took a minute to get used to it, but now that I have done that, I am very pleased with the ease with which I can use it.
  26. [R13] 3/5 · US could be better: The app frequently doesn’t understand what’s being said and so puts wrong words into the text. Also there should be a way to copy a section of the text without it only offering “copy all” as the only option.
  27. [R14] 3/5 · US Speech accuracy: The speech recognition of this technology or this app is fair to poor. I probably will not renew it when my year is up.
  28. [R12] 2/5 · US Used to be Better: I have been using Dictate for a couple years. Each update makes it worse and worse. It now stops recording in the middle of talking and in order to keep recording you have to shut the app down and reopen it. If you have to correct an error (which doesn’t bother me it makes errors) it will mess up your formatting and when you start talking again, you it puts an uppercase lette
  29. [R19] 2/5 · US Perpetual Bugs, but generally functional: I got this app because I do a lot of report writing. Most of the time, it works alright with voice recognition, but if you dictate for too long, it will randomly reposition your cursor and start typing into already dictated sections. The editing headaches from it can take just as long as typing out what you originally intended. Multiple updates have not fi
  30. [R41] 1/5 · US too many glitches: On the surface, this sounds just like the previous parable. But let's look up a little more closely. And this example, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant who is seeking beautiful pearls. When the merchant found one pearl of great price, he sold everything to buy that pearl. In our previous parable, the kingdom of Heaven is like treasure that was hidden in the field. And th
  31. [R71] 1/5 · US Garbage: The AI transcription tool is pretty accurate when it works but completely froze while I was recording. I lost the entire recording I needed because the app froze and I was unable to stop recording when finished. Complete waste.
  32. [R6] 1/5 · US Don’t buy if you use G mail: I go into the directions online and discover that it doesn’t function with Gmail. It suggest using some Apple app. Don’t waste your time with this app.
  33. [R263] 3/5 · GB Experienced Voice Dictation User: The App works really efficiently and well in its own window. It is fast and accurate and responds to commands. It does not however compared with estanlished non-apple products such as Dragon, in that it cannot type into non- app spaces eg word, Excel etc. In order to achieve typing into these apps one has to use copy and paste, an extra and unneccesary step.
  34. [R340] 3/5 · GB It Works!!: Works with a simple Headset mic. Quiote a few errors but still metter than typing, most of the corrections are done as part of the text edit I would do anyway Usualy dictate several pafes and then past into word - Word works better tan Pages for this

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store