How to transcribe WhatsApp voice messages on a PC

Someone sends a six-minute voice message while you’re at your desk. You don’t want to put on headphones, and you definitely don’t want to listen twice to find the one date that mattered.

WhatsApp can transcribe voice messages itself, but its announcement describes a phone feature: transcripts are generated on your device, and you turn them on under Settings › Chats › Voice message transcripts. If you don’t see a transcribe option on your computer, there are two other ways.

On Windows or Mac, either play the voice message while Vokalu’s Notes listens to your computer’s audio, or save the file from WhatsApp and upload it. Both give you a transcript and short notes, and neither keeps the audio.

Option 1: play it while Notes listens

This needs no download, and it works the same in the WhatsApp desktop app and in WhatsApp Web.

1. Open Notes in Vokalu. Keep the Meeting notes template, or pick another, then choose Meeting notes. That option records your microphone and your computer’s audio as two separate sources.
2. Play the voice message in WhatsApp. Play several in a row if you like. Stay quiet while they play, or your own voice joins the transcript.
3. Choose Stop and write notes. You get the transcript and notes organized by topic, with any dates, numbers and requests kept.

A two-minute voice message costs 6¢, at 3¢ per minute of talking. Silence isn’t billed.

Option 2: save the file, then upload it

Use this for a long voice note you want to keep, or one you received a while ago.

1. Save the voice message from WhatsApp. In the desktop app or WhatsApp Web, hover over the voice message and use its menu or download arrow. It usually saves as an .opus or .ogg file. The exact label depends on your WhatsApp version.
2. Upload it in Vokalu. On the Notes page, choose Upload a recording and pick the file. Opus and Ogg work, along with MP3, M4A, WAV and video formats, up to 3 hours.
3. Read, ask, copy. Sentences appear as each part is transcribed, with speakers told apart. Then ask a question about it, such as “what does she need from me by Friday?”

Vokalu reads the file on your computer and sends only the stretches with speech for transcription. The file itself is never stored.

Where this saves the most time

Short voice notes are quicker to just play. The win is the long ones: a client thinking out loud about a project, a family member reading out an address and a time, a colleague’s update recorded on a walk. For example, a rambling message like this:

“So I talked to the landlord, and, um, the inspection is Thursday, not Wednesday, around ten. You don’t have to be there, but leave the spare key with Sam.”

comes back as notes you can act on: inspection moved to Thursday around 10, you don’t need to attend, leave the spare key with Sam.

Privacy and consent

The person sent the message to you, but they may not expect it to be transcribed by an app. Use judgment, especially with anything personal. If nothing may leave your devices, use WhatsApp’s own on-phone transcripts instead.

With Vokalu, the audio and the file are never saved. Only speech is sent to be transcribed, and the transcript and notes stay on your computer unless you share them. How transcribing recordings works.