Tapedeck
The file is always playable
Audio is written to disk continuously, not assembled at the end. Kill the app mid-sentence and the recording up to that second opens and plays. There is no save button to forget.
A voice recorder that never loses your recording.
Most recorders finalise the file when you press stop, so a crash, a dead battery or a locked screen can take the whole thing with it. Tapedeck writes a valid file the entire time it is running. Whatever happens, what you already said is still there.
Free to record, with no time limit and no file count. Built for iPhone. No account, no sign-up, no email.
The promise
Four things, and the app is built around them.
Everything else is detail. These are the reasons to move.
It keeps going when the screen locks
Lock the phone, switch apps, take a call, let the battery run low. The recording continues. Nobody should have to turn off auto-lock to record a meeting.
Transcription runs on the device
Apple's own on-device speech engine turns a recording into text without uploading anything. Recording, playback and transcription make no network requests at all.
There is no account
No sign-up, no password, no email address. Your recordings live on your phone and belong to you. Buying is handled by your Apple Account, so we never learn who you are.
What you get
Free forever, and the part that is paid.
Recording is never behind a paywall. Not a trial, not a limit, not a number of files. Only the text side is sold.
Free, with no expiry
- Recording of any length, as many as you like
- Continuous autosave and crash recovery
- Playback, speed control and skip
- Markers you can drop while recording
- Folders, rename and search by title
- Audio export and sharing
- Light and dark mode, and the green theme
- Your first transcript, always
Pro adds four things
- Transcripts of every recording, unlimited
- Search inside what was said, not just titles
- Export as text, Markdown or SRT subtitles
- Three more theme colours
Transcription happens on your device, so there is no per-minute cost to pass on and no monthly minute allowance to run out of.
Pricing
The app is free. Pro is the text side of it.
Recording, autosave, recovery, playback, markers, folders and audio export cost nothing and never expire. The two prices below buy transcripts and what you do with them, and nothing else. No weekly billing, no price you only discover on your statement.
The app
$0
always
Unlimited recording, crash recovery, playback, markers, folders, audio export, and your first transcript. Nothing here is a trial.
None of it switches off if you never buy Pro, and there is no account to make.
Pro, yearly
$29.99
per year
Starts with a 7 day free trial through the App Store. Cancel any time in Settings and you are not charged.
Renews automatically at $29.99 a year unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends. Prices in other countries are set by Apple's regional tiers.
Pro, once
$59.99
one payment
Pay once and Pro is yours for good, on every device signed in to the same Apple Account. Nothing renews.
Restore purchase brings it back on a new phone. There is nothing to log in to.
Privacy, in four sentences
Audio never leaves the phone
No upload, no server copy, no exceptions.
Transcription runs on the device
Nothing is sent anywhere to be read.
There is no account
No sign-up, no email, no password to lose.
No ads, and nothing you said is measured
Anonymous counts of which screens are opened, nothing more. Never audio, text or titles.
Questions
Before you ask.
Do I lose my recordings if I do not pay?
No. Recording, autosave, recovery, playback and audio export never expire and are never limited. Pro only adds transcripts, search inside them, structured export and extra theme colours.
Is this a call recorder?
No. Tapedeck records through the microphone only. It does not record phone calls.
Where are my recordings stored?
On your device, inside the app's own storage. They are included in an encrypted iPhone or iCloud backup if you make one, and deleting the app deletes them with it.
Can I get my recordings out?
Yes. Any recording can be shared or exported as an audio file through the normal iOS share sheet, and with Pro a transcript can be exported as text, Markdown or SRT.
How do I cancel the subscription?
In the Settings app, tap your name, then Subscriptions, then Tapedeck. Subscriptions are managed by Apple, not by us, so cancelling there is immediate and final.
I bought Pro and switched phones. What now?
Open Settings inside Tapedeck and tap Restore purchase. The purchase belongs to your Apple Account, so it comes back without any login.