Voice Notes That Become Text Instantly

Brain Dump is a voice journaling app for iPhone and iPad that transcribes your speech to text instantly using on-device transcription. Notes are saved as standard Markdown files in your iCloud Drive—no cloud upload, no account required, and no vendor lock-in.

Brain Dump focuses on privacy with on-device transcription; Otter.ai uploads audio to the cloud. Brain Dump saves to Markdown in iCloud; Otter locks notes in their platform. Brain Dump works offline; Otter requires internet. Brain Dump is for personal voice capture; Otter is optimized for meeting transcription with multiple speakers.

Yes! Brain Dump is the perfect voice capture companion for Obsidian. Simply point Brain Dump at your Obsidian vault in iCloud Drive. When you record a voice note, it appears as a Markdown file directly in your vault—no import needed. Speak your thoughts and find them in Obsidian moments later.

Yes. Brain Dump uses Apple's on-device speech recognition, which means transcription happens entirely on your iPhone or iPad. You can record and transcribe voice memos even in Airplane Mode with no internet connection. Your audio never leaves your device.

Brain Dump has a generous free tier that includes full voice capture, on-device transcription, iCloud storage, and Markdown export. No subscription is required for core features. Optional paid upgrades include extended recording length and AI polish features.

Brain Dump saves all notes as standard Markdown (.md) files with UTF-8 encoding. These files work with Obsidian, Notion, Bear, iA Writer, Logseq, VS Code, or any text editor. You can sync them with Git, Dropbox, or any file system. No proprietary format—no lock-in.

Apple Voice Memos only records audio—you get an audio file. Brain Dump transcribes your speech to searchable text instantly. Brain Dump auto-titles and formats your notes as Markdown, integrates with Obsidian and PKM systems, and lets you review your thoughts as text rather than listening back to recordings.

Brain Dump is designed for quick brain dumps—getting thoughts out of your head before they disappear. Many users with ADHD find it helpful because you can capture ideas in seconds without the friction of typing. Just tap, speak, and your words become organized text. Perfect for minds that think faster than they type.

Yes! Brain Dump uses Voice Activity Detection (VAD) to filter silence automatically. Leave it running while you read a book, take a walk, or work—it only transcribes when you actually speak. Battery optimized for long sessions. Pauses, background noise, and silence are filtered out so your notes stay clean.

Yes! Say "Hey Siri, Brain Dump" to start a new voice note hands-free. Say "Hey Siri, continue my note" to append to your last entry. Perfect for capturing thoughts while driving, cooking, or when your hands are full. Works from Lock Screen.