How do you turn a voice recording into text on Samsung?

Samsung has two built-in ways to turn a saved recording into text. In the Voice Recorder app, you use Transcript assist. In Samsung Notes, you use Speech-to-text on a recording that is already in a note. ^{1 2} Both work on recordings, not on speech as you say it into a text field. For live dictation, see our guide to talk to text on Samsung Galaxy.

Which one you use depends on where the transcript should go. Use Voice Recorder when you want to translate or share the text. Use Notes when the transcript belongs in a note you are already writing.

Transcribe a recording in Voice Recorder

1. Open the Voice Recorder app and make a new recording, or select one you already saved.
2. Select the recording, then tap the Transcript assist icon (four stars) at the top of the screen, and tap Transcribe. ¹
3. Read the transcript. Samsung says you can translate it into other languages, share it, or move it to Samsung Notes. ³

Samsung's support page tells you to check your internet connection when transcription is delayed or shows errors. ⁴ If a transcript fails, check the connection first, then try again.

Check the language list before you record

Samsung's two support pages list different languages for Transcript assist. The US Voice Recorder page lists 16 languages, including several regional forms of English, Spanish and Chinese. ⁵ The UAE Transcript Assist page lists 13. ⁶ The UAE list leaves out Arabic, Russian and Indonesian, which the US list includes.

Because the pages disagree, check which languages your own phone offers before you record in a language that appears on only one of them. If your language is missing from both pages, Transcript assist may not support it on your phone.

Turn a recording into text in Samsung Notes

1. Open the note that holds the voice recording.
2. Tap List to see your saved recordings, then tap Speech-to-text. ²

Samsung lists this feature on the Galaxy Z Fold6, Z Flip6, S24, S25 and S26 series, and on select Galaxy A models. ⁷ If the option does not appear, first check that your phone is one of these models.

Your phone may not have either feature

Samsung says the Voice Recorder Galaxy AI features are on select phones and tablets running Android 14 with One UI 6.1 or higher. ⁸ Check the device list on Samsung's support page for your own model before you rely on either feature.

Recordings from outside the app

We did not find a Samsung page that explains how to import an audio file from email or cloud storage into Voice Recorder or Notes. Samsung's pages describe transcribing recordings that are already in the app. If your audio came from elsewhere, you can try saving it into Voice Recorder first, but we did not confirm that this works. For a file you have on a computer, a free browser tool such as our audio to text converter is an alternative. Read its privacy terms before you send a confidential recording to any website.

What to do

1. Check that your phone is on Samsung's supported list for Transcript assist or Notes Speech-to-text.
2. Make sure the recording is saved in Voice Recorder or in a note, since both features work on saved recordings.
3. Confirm your language is on the Transcript assist language list before you record.
4. Keep a connection on for Transcript assist, and retry if the transcript is slow or shows errors.

Where to read more

This question is part of our guide to talk to text on Samsung Galaxy, which sits in our overview of dictation on phones and tablets. For the feature itself, see the Transcript Assist glossary entry. If you want to dictate live instead of transcribing a file, read our question on whether Samsung voice input or Google Voice Typing is better. If the microphone is not working at all, see why talk to text is not working on a Samsung.