See Your Words Turn Into Text as You Speak
ScreenApp’s live transcribe app captures a meeting, lecture, or voice memo on your Windows or Mac computer and shows a live transcript on screen while you talk. When you stop, you get the full transcript, cleaned up, with speaker labels and AI notes.
Live Transcribe is an Android app from Google. ScreenApp is an independent alternative for Windows and Mac and is not affiliated with Google.
The live view is a beta feature: it is a rough, running caption of what is being said, not the finished transcript. The polished version, with punctuation, speaker names, and timestamps, is ready a few minutes after you stop recording.
What you get:
- A live transcript on screen while you record, so you can follow along without waiting
- The finished transcript afterward, in 100+ languages, with speaker identification
- screen, window, browser tab, microphone and camera, with system audio, so you can capture a Zoom call, a YouTube video, or your own voice
- custom vocabulary for transcription, useful for names and technical terms
- Export as PDF, DOCX, TXT, SRT and VTT
- Free plan: 2 transcriptions of recordings up to 45 minutes each, with AI chat
Recordings are stored in your account and open on any device where you sign in.
How to Get a Live Transcript on Your PC
- Open ScreenApp and press record: Use the browser, or the Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows apps. Choose your microphone for your own voice, or turn on system audio to capture a call, a video, or anything else playing on the computer.
- Watch the live transcript: Text appears on screen as the recording runs, so you can follow the conversation without waiting for it to finish. Keep recording until you are done.
- Read the finished transcript: A few minutes after you stop, the full transcript is ready with speaker labels and timestamps, alongside AI notes. Search it, jump to a moment, or ask a question about what was said.
Accuracy depends on the audio. A clear microphone close to the speaker works well; a noisy room with several people talking over each other will have gaps. See how we measure accuracy.
Live Transcribe for PC vs Other Apps
| Feature | ScreenApp | Maestra AI | Speechnotes | Otter.ai |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free live transcription | 2 transcriptions of recordings up to 45 minutes each | free basic live transcription, no account required | free, ad-supported dictation | 300 minutes/month, 30 minutes per conversation |
| Speaker labels | Included | Pro plan | Not stated | Basic plan |
| Languages | 100+ | 125+ | Not stated | 6 |
| Paid plan | $19/month annual | Not stated | $1.90/month | $8.33/month annual |
Sources, checked 2026-09-17: screenapp.io/accuracy#languages, ScreenApp pricing, live.maestra.ai/transcribe, speechnotes.co, otter.ai/pricing
- vs Maestra AI: Maestra’s free mode is live captions in the browser with no account needed, but saving the transcript or turning on speaker labels needs the Pro plan. ScreenApp’s plans include saving the transcript and speaker labels from the start.
- vs Speechnotes: Speechnotes is free, ad-supported dictation, aimed at dictating text as you speak, and paid removes the ads for $1.90 a month. It is built for dictation, not for a searchable transcript with speaker labels from a recorded meeting or lecture.
- vs Otter.ai: Otter’s free plan caps you at 300 minutes a month and 30 minutes per conversation, in 6 languages. ScreenApp’s free plan covers 2 transcriptions of recordings up to 45 minutes each, in 100+ languages.
Who Uses Live Transcribe for PC
Students record a lecture on a laptop and follow the live captions if they sit at the back of the hall, then read the finished transcript and AI notes to study later.
Business professionals record a Zoom or Teams call with system audio, watch the conversation transcribe live, and get a searchable record afterward instead of typing notes during the call.
Journalists and researchers record an interview and refer to the live transcript to check they captured a key quote, then work from the finished, speaker-labeled transcript when writing up.
People who are deaf or hard of hearing use the live transcript to follow speech on their own computer in real time, then keep the saved transcript for later reference, something an on-screen-only caption tool does not offer.
Remote and part-time learners record webinars and online classes, and search across a growing library of transcripts by keyword instead of rewatching recordings.
