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OpenWhispr is on the App Store. It runs on iPhone and iPad, it’s free to download, and on-device transcription is unlimited without an account.

OpenWhispr: Voice to Text

Download on the App Store — free, iPhone and iPad.
It’s newer than the desktop app and it doesn’t do everything the desktop app does yet. The gaps below are marked as gaps rather than glossed over.

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What you need

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Setting it up

The app walks you through all of this on first launch. It’s written out here because the keyboard step trips people up, and because you can come back to it later if you skipped it.
1

Install it and open it

Onboarding starts by itself. If you already pay for OpenWhispr, sign in with the same account and Pro carries across — there’s nothing to buy again.
2

Add the OpenWhispr keyboard

This is the part that makes dictation work in other apps. Onboarding takes you into iOS Settings on OpenWhispr’s own page, where you:
  1. Tap Keyboards
  2. Enable OpenWhispr
  3. Turn on Allow Full Access
  4. Tap Allow on the popup
  5. Come back into the app
You can also reach this later at iOS Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard.
3

Allow the microphone

Nothing records without it. iOS asks once.
4

Pick Private mode or OpenWhispr Cloud

Private mode runs on your device and downloads a model the first time. Cloud is faster and needs an account. You can change this per recording afterwards, so the choice here isn’t binding.
5

Switch to the keyboard in a real app

Open Messages or Mail, tap into a text field, then press and hold the globe icon in the bottom-left corner of the keyboard and choose OpenWhispr.
Why the keyboard asks for Full Access. An iOS keyboard extension can’t reach the main app’s storage without it. OpenWhispr uses that shared storage to pass your recording and the finished transcript between the keyboard and the app — so without Full Access, the mic button in the keyboard has nowhere to put the text and can’t work at all.

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Dictating in another app

The flow is a little unusual the first time, and it’s deliberate rather than a bug:
  1. Tap the mic in the OpenWhispr keyboard.
  2. iOS switches you into the OpenWhispr app, which starts recording, then switches you straight back to where you were. Recording keeps going in the background.
  3. Stop when you’re done. The transcript is pasted into the text field you started in.
If you see the screen flick to OpenWhispr and back, that’s the handoff working.

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What it does

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Private mode and OpenWhispr Cloud

You choose how each recording is processed, the same way you do on desktop. Private mode runs Whisper entirely on your device. Audio never leaves the phone, it works with no signal, and it is unlimited and free — no account, no word count, no plan. It costs you a one-time model download and a little speed. OpenWhispr Cloud is faster and more accurate, needs an account, and is metered on the Free plan. Those are the only two options on the phone — you’ll see them labelled On-Device and OpenWhispr Cloud in settings. Using your own OpenAI or Groq API key is a desktop feature and isn’t on iOS. If you run out of cloud words, switching to Private mode removes the limit entirely. The app offers you that as the alternative to upgrading, and it’s a real one — see Cloud vs local processing.

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What it costs

Downloading the app is free. So is on-device transcription, permanently.
Pro costs more when you buy it on the App Store. On iPhone and iPad the subscription is $9.99/month or $99.99/year, because it’s sold through Apple. Buying the same Pro plan on the desktop app or the website costs $8/month or $80/year — see Plans and limits. It’s one subscription either way: buy it wherever you prefer and sign in on both.
Already paying? Sign in on the phone with the account you already have. Pro is included and there’s nothing to buy again.

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Managing an App Store subscription

If you subscribed inside the iOS app, Apple holds the billing, not us. That changes where you go:
  • Cancel or change it in iOS Settings → Apple Account → Subscriptions. We can’t cancel an App Store subscription for you — Apple doesn’t give us the ability, however much we’d like it.
  • Refunds are Apple’s decision too, requested at reportaproblem.apple.com.
Subscriptions bought on the desktop app or the website are ours to handle normally — email us and we’ll sort it out.

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Android

Not yet — but it’s actively being built, and we’re really keen to get it to you. Plenty of people have asked, and we’re counting every one. Stay tuned for updates. We’ll say so the moment there’s something to install, and if you’d like us to tell you directly, email support@openwhispr.com — we’ll add you to the list, and we do write to everyone on it.
Still need help? Email support@openwhispr.com and tell us your device, your iOS version, and the app version from the Version row on the Account screen. The app’s own Send Feedback and Report a Bug buttons reach the same inbox. A real person reads every message.Prefer to ask the community? Join us on Discord.