1. Install it
Get AudioPen from Google Play and sign in with your email. No credit card needed.
AudioPen for Android
Voice typing on Android that sounds like you.
Gboard, Google's keyboard, has voice typing built in: tap the microphone at the top and talk. On most phones it types what you said, false starts and all. AudioPen adds a floating bubble that shows up whenever your keyboard opens. Tap it, talk, and your words land where you were typing, rewritten in your style if you like.
Get it on Google Play
Free to start.
Gboard voice typing
Fine for a search box. Rough in an email.
Gboard's voice typing works in most places you can type. On most phones it types everything you say, false starts included. That's fine for a search box. In an email, it reads badly.
Google does have rewrite commands, like “Make my message clearer” and “Formalize the text”, but only on a Pixel 9 or later, and not the 9a. AudioPen's bubble turns a ramble into clear sentences in your style, and it doesn't need a Pixel.
| What we compared | Gboard voice typing | AudioPen |
|---|---|---|
| How you start it | Gboard voice typingTap the microphone at the top of Gboard. | AudioPenTap the AudioPen bubble that appears with your keyboard. |
| Where it types | Gboard voice typingMost places you can type with a keyboard. | AudioPenAny app with a text field. It never appears in password fields. |
| Punctuation | Gboard voice typingSay it: “period”, “comma”, “new paragraph”. Added for you on a Pixel 6 or later. | AudioPenPunctuated and formatted for you. |
| Rambling and false starts | Gboard voice typingTyped word for word. Rewrite commands like “Make my message clearer” need a Pixel 9 or later, not the 9a. | AudioPenAsk for a rewrite and a long, rambling message comes back clear and to the point. |
| Tone and style | Gboard voice typingOn a Pixel 9 or later (not the 9a), say “Formalize the text” or “Shorten my text”. | AudioPenPick a built-in style or write your own. Both work on the free plan. |
| Without internet | Gboard voice typingOn a Pixel 6 or later, advanced voice typing keeps the text you speak on your device, except for Fix it and detailed edits. | AudioPenWith AudioPen's offline setting, transcription runs on your phone. Rewriting still goes online. |
Sources for the Gboard voice typing column: Type with your voice and Use advanced voice typing features, checked October 2026.
Getting started
Start talking in four steps.
2. Allow the bubble
Android asks you to grant permissions, such as showing the bubble over other apps and accessibility access so AudioPen can put text where you're typing. You can turn voice typing off or revoke them in Android settings at any time.
3. Open any app
Tap a text field in WhatsApp, Gmail or Slack. When your keyboard opens, the AudioPen bubble appears.
4. Tap and talk
Tap the bubble and say what you mean. AudioPen turns it into text and types it in, as you said it or rewritten in your style.
Voice typing, in any style
Say it however it comes out.
The bubble shows up wherever your keyboard opens, so a long WhatsApp message and a work email can both come out clean.
Talk the way you think. Start mid-thought, circle back, change your mind halfway through. AudioPen types your exact words when you want them, or writes it up in a style you pick, right at your cursor.
“hi mum, so um the train's delayed, the 5:40 one, we'll probably get in around half seven now, don't wait for us for dinner, oh and can you leave the key under the pot, the blue one, love you”
Hi Mum, the 5:40 train is delayed, so we'll get in around 7:30. Don't wait for us for dinner. Could you leave the key under the blue pot? Love you
Works in any app, on every device: a hotkey on Mac and Windows, the AudioPen keyboard on iPhone and iPad, and a floating bubble on Android.
Privacy
Keep your audio on your phone.
Offline is a setting you turn on in AudioPen, for the bubble and for notes you record in the app. You can pick cloud transcription instead. Voice typing audio is never saved either way.
Offline when you want it
Pick offline transcription in settings and your phone turns speech into text on its own. The audio stays on the phone.
Rewrites aren't kept
When the bubble rewrites a message, that step runs in the cloud. AudioPen processes your text and throws it away. Nothing is stored.
What the permissions do
Accessibility access lets AudioPen see when a text field is active and type your words into it. It never appears in password fields, and it doesn't read or store anything else on your screen.
Notes
Keep the thought for later.
Want to keep a thought instead of sending it? Record it in the AudioPen app. The note lands in your library, ready on the web and in AudioPen on Mac, Windows and iPhone.
Everywhere you work
One account on every device.
Sign in with the same account on a Mac, a Windows PC, an iPhone or iPad, or in your browser.
One Prime account covers all of them. Your notes sync across every device, so whatever you capture on one is waiting on the next.
Testimonials
Loved by people who think out loud
Read what real users have to say about AudioPen.
I used to manually summarize my transcribed brainstorming sessions. Took hours. AudioPen automates everything to the point where I am almost done with my article after talking about a topic for 10min. Magic.
No product has fundamentally changed the way I work over the last 12 months more than Audiopen. Home Screen on iPhone.
I can now create 95% of my blog posts and have minimal editing. In my tone of voice. This saves so much time
I’ve been using AudioPen to talk through my ideas, have them summarized and then use the summarization as a draft for blog posts. 13 out of 10. Highly recommend for the “blank page” problem.
This is probably the best product I’ve come across in the past 18 months. So useful and it just keeps getting better.
Simple, but effective. The best tool to convert rambling into structured text, while keeping what you rambled intact.
I freakin love AudioPen.ai. If you are not using it yet, get on it.
Most helpful AI tool = audiopen. Been using it daily to do things like: turn voicenotes into action items, content ideas (magic for this), summarize calls, giving feedback. The UI is also so clean that it’s an absolute joy to use.
You speak to it as thoughts come in. It stitches a fine narrative from the rant. Writers can edit a ‘wrong’ page, not a ‘blank’ page. AudioPen gets you to 90% and then you do the rest.
OH MY GOSH. I just learned about AudioPen today, and it’s already a GAME CHANGER. If you write, create, or do any serious thinking, this tool is for you.
This is one tool that has dramatically changed the way I think. It has allowed me to get the thoughts out of my head and down on paper.
I can’t say enough good things about the AudioPen app. It’s been my go-to app for getting ideas down without having to type. Not only does it arrange even the most inarticulate nonsense into readable sentences, it’s the best dictation app I’ve ever used.
I’ve been writing online for over 10 years and tried virtually every writing app, productivity, note-taking, and idea-capture system out there. Nothing comes close to the amount of time AudioPen saves me.
This is by far the greatest and most useful tool I have ever had! I have severe ADHD and it’s able to translate my rambling into a well written and concise note. I feel more organized and less anxious!
Best buy in 2023: AudioPen from @louispereira. Hats off.
Switched from Superwhisper to Audiopen Mac App within 20 minutes of using the Mac App.
Tried it out, and paid for the prime version because it is SO good and simple to use. The product has made it so much easier to track my various thoughts throughout my day.
I am a natural speaker. My ideas flow faster when I speak. I record my voice notes and with my accent, it is perfect all the time.
AudioPen is able to clear my spoken thoughts into text in Estonian, one of the most complicated languages in the world! Shut Up And Take My Money!
Already not sure what I did before I had AudioPen. If you often have thoughts you want to capture in writing, check it out. Cost is super reasonable too.
Questions
Everything you might want to know
Straight answers to the questions people ask before they start.