To write a note, Parley Notes first turns the audio into text. On the phone you have two ways to do that and you pick under Transcribe in Settings.
In the cloud
This is the default. While you record, the audio goes to our servers over an encrypted connection, the speech becomes text and the audio is deleted there. Once the note is written the copy on your phone is deleted too. Only the text is kept in your account. We never use it to train AI.
It works on every plan and needs an internet connection. The transcript appears on screen as people speak.
On this phone
Download the transcription model once from Settings (about 500 MB; best on Wi-Fi and you can lock the phone while it downloads). Then pick On this phone. From then on:
- Your phone turns speech into text by itself. The audio never leaves it and it is deleted once the note is written.
- Speaker separation runs on the phone too.
- Only the finished text goes to the cloud, to write the summary.
- Recording and transcription keep working with no signal. The summary is written when you're back online.
The on-device engine covers 25 European languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian and Dutch. It handles Latin-script languages only; speech in another script is left out rather than mis-rendered.
When does transcription begin?
Only when you start a recording: from the Record tab from a calendar row on Home or (on Android) from the lock-screen notification. Parley Notes never records or transcribes on its own. If you started one by accident, stop it and delete the note.
How do I know it's transcribing?
The Record screen shows a timer and the live transcript filling in. With the screen off, the notification shows the recording is running and how much has been transcribed, with its own Stop button.
When does transcription end?
When you tap the red square or when the recording reaches the length set under Stop recording after in Settings. Either way the recording is finalised normally and the note is written.
What's the same either way
The summary, the decisions, the action items and Ask Parley all work from the text so they're the same whichever way you transcribe. The note tells you which one it was.
Common transcription issues
- Bluetooth devices: if Prefer Bluetooth device is on and a headset is connected, Parley Notes records through it. If the headset isn't near the conversation, you'll get little or nothing. Turn the setting off or take the headset off and the built-in microphone is used. If a headset goes silent mid-recording, Parley Notes switches to the built-in mic on its own and tells you.
- Very short recordings: a recording under four seconds is refused as nothing to write up.
- Nothing was said: a recording with no speech gets a note that says so, not an invented meeting.
- The model hasn't finished downloading: the recording is saved and transcribed once it has. Nothing is lost.
- Another script: if the room spoke Russian, Arabic, Chinese or another non-Latin language, transcribe in the cloud rather than on the phone.