To find out whether a transcription app really works offline, turn on Airplane Mode, make sure Wi-Fi is off, record a short clip and import a file stored on the phone, then ask the app to transcribe both. If text appears, the speech model runs on your iPhone. If you get an error, a spinner or an upload queue, it doesn't.
That takes about five minutes. The rest of this page is the exact protocol, how to read the result, and the two tools Apple gives you to look further: the App Store privacy label and App Privacy Report. I make ScribeKit, an offline transcription app, so I describe what it does in this test too. You don't need to trust me on that; the point of the test is that you can run it yourself.
Does transcription work offline?
It depends on where the speech recognition happens.
On-device apps keep the speech model on the phone and run it on the iPhone's own chip. They need no connection to turn audio into text. Some ship the model inside the app; others download it once after you install. Either way, once the model is on the phone, transcription is offline.
Cloud apps send your audio to a server, which sends back text. Many of them can record without a connection and upload later, which makes them feel offline right up until you look for the transcript. Most of the best-known transcription services and AI note takers work this way.
Hybrids do some of each: an on-device model plus an optional cloud mode, or on-device transcription with summaries or "AI notes" generated in the cloud.
App descriptions blur these lines, sometimes by accident. "Works offline" can mean "records offline." "Private" can mean "encrypted on our servers." "On-device" can apply to one model in a menu of several. The only reliable way to know what a particular app does with your audio, on your phone, today, is to watch it with the network switched off.
This is also why the test matters more than any list of apps, including my own guide to offline transcription apps on iPhone. Apps change between versions. Your test is current the moment you run it.
How do you test if a transcription app works with no internet?
You need the app installed, five minutes, and one short audio file saved on the phone itself.
- Prepare a local file. In the Files app, put a short audio file (an M4A or MP3 of a minute or two) in On My iPhone, not in iCloud Drive. A file in iCloud Drive may not be downloaded yet, and a failure to fetch it offline would tell you about iCloud, not about the app.
- Close the app. Swipe it away in the app switcher, so it starts fresh without a network connection it already had.
- Cut every connection. Open Control Center and turn on Airplane Mode. Then check the Wi-Fi icon. Apple's Airplane Mode article says Airplane Mode "turns off all radios except for Bluetooth," and that you can turn Wi-Fi back on in Airplane Mode. If you've done that before, your iPhone may do it again, so make sure Wi-Fi is off too. To be thorough, turn Bluetooth off as well.
- Record. Open the app and record 30 seconds of yourself speaking normally. Stop, and ask for a transcript if the app doesn't start one by itself.
- Import. Import the local file from step 1, through the app's import button or by sharing it to the app from Files. Ask for a transcript.
- Wait and watch. Give each one a minute or two. Note what you see: text, an error, a spinner, a "waiting for connection" badge, a sign-in screen, or a request to download something.
Then turn Airplane Mode off and note whether anything changes. A recording that suddenly gets its transcript the moment you're back online was waiting for a server.
First-launch variant. If you haven't installed the app yet, install it, then switch on Airplane Mode before opening it for the first time, and run steps 4 to 6. This tells you whether the app works offline out of the box or needs to download a model first. That matters if you plan to install it on the way to the airport.
What does a pass, a partial or a fail look like?
| Result | What you see in Airplane Mode | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Pass | Both the recording and the imported file get a transcript | Transcription runs on the phone |
| Partial | The app asks to download a model first, then works offline after you do | On-device, but not offline on first launch |
| Partial | Only some models, languages or features work; others say they need a connection | Hybrid: part on-device, part cloud |
| Partial | The recording transcribes but the imported file doesn't, or the other way round | Different paths for different sources; check which one you need |
| Fail | An error, an endless spinner, an upload queue, or a sign-in screen | Transcription happens on a server |
| Fail | Nothing happens offline, then the transcript appears once you reconnect | The app recorded offline and uploaded later |
A partial isn't necessarily bad. An app that downloads its model once and then never touches the network again is fine for most people. What you want is to know which kind you have before you record something that matters.
What does the App Privacy label on the App Store prove?
Every App Store listing has an App Privacy section, the "nutrition label": Data Used to Track You, Data Linked to You, Data Not Linked to You, or Data Not Collected. It's worth reading. A cloud transcription app that lists audio data linked to your identity is telling you something important.
But know what it is and isn't:
- It's self-reported. Apple's guidance for developers says, "You're responsible for keeping your responses accurate and up to date." The developer fills in a questionnaire in App Store Connect. It's an official declaration, not an inspection.
- It describes collection, not connections. The same guidance says that if data is "sent to your servers then immediately discarded after servicing the request," the developer doesn't need to disclose it. So an app could, in principle, send audio to a server for transcription, discard it immediately, and still declare no audio collected.
- "Data Not Collected" doesn't mean "no internet." An app can download models, check purchases or load web content and still truthfully carry that label.
So treat the label as a useful first filter. If it lists audio or user content linked to you, you have your answer. If it says nothing is collected, the Airplane Mode test and App Privacy Report are how you check the rest.
How do you check an app's network activity on iPhone?
Since iOS 15.2, iPhone has a built-in tool for this: App Privacy Report. According to Apple's iPhone User Guide, you go to Settings, then Privacy & Security, then App Privacy Report. Apple's App Privacy Report article gives the steps to switch it on:
- In Settings, tap Privacy & Security.
- Scroll down and tap App Privacy Report.
- Tap Turn on App Privacy Report.
Two details matter for this test. First, Apple says the report "starts gathering information only after you turn it on," so switch it on, then use the app normally for a day or two, online, with real recordings. Second, its App Network Activity section "shows domains that have been contacted either directly or from content within an app in the past 7 days." Apple also says the report data is "encrypted and stored only on your device."
How to read it for a transcription app:
- Tap the app under App Network Activity to see every domain it contacted and when.
- Look for transcription or upload hosts that line up with when you transcribed something. A domain contacted every time you finish a recording is the strongest sign of cloud transcription you can get without special tools.
- Expect some innocent domains. Purchase validation services, model download hosts and crash reporters are common and not a sign your audio left. A model host such as huggingface.co appearing once, when you downloaded a model, is exactly what an on-device app looks like.
- Remember the limits. The report shows who the app talked to, not what it sent. It can't tell an upload of your audio from a price lookup on the same domain. Pair it with the Airplane Mode test, which shows whether transcription works with no one to talk to at all.
What does ScribeKit do in this test?
Here is what you should see if you run the protocol on ScribeKit, based on how the app is built.
It passes on first launch. The Parakeet speech model ships inside the app, which is why the download is about half a gigabyte. You can install it, switch on Airplane Mode before opening it, and record and transcribe straight away in any of its 25 languages. Audio files imported from On My iPhone or shared in from other apps transcribe offline too (ScribeKit imports audio only, not video). A file still in iCloud Drive that hasn't been downloaded can't be read offline; the app says so and asks you to open it in Files first.
Two things need the internet, and both are your choice:
- Downloading a Whisper model (ScribeKit Pro), from Hugging Face's public file host. Once a model is downloaded, it transcribes offline like the built-in one.
- Buying or restoring Pro, through Apple's purchase flow.
What App Privacy Report will show. When you're online, ScribeKit contacts RevenueCat (domains such as api.revenuecat.com) when it starts, to check whether you have Pro and to load prices for the upgrade screen. That carries an anonymous, randomly generated ID and your purchase history; it's the one data type on ScribeKit's App Privacy label ("Purchases", not linked to you). If you download a Whisper model you'll also see huggingface.co. You shouldn't see anything that lines up with transcribing, because there's no transcription server. There's no analytics or crash reporting library in the app.
Two honest footnotes. The test uses two of the free tier's 10 transcriptions for the month. And "never leaves the device" describes ScribeKit, not your whole phone: recordings and transcripts are part of the app's data, which is included in your iPhone backup like other app data, including iCloud Backup if you use it.
What doesn't the Airplane Mode test prove?
It proves one thing well: whether transcription can happen without a network. It doesn't prove everything about privacy.
- An app could upload later. Working offline doesn't stop an app from sending something once you reconnect. That's what App Privacy Report's seven-day view is for: use the app online for a while and see what it contacts.
- Your phone has its own copies. iCloud Backup, a synced Files folder, or sharing a transcript to a cloud notes app all move data off the device. That's your phone's settings, not the transcription app.
- Results can change with updates. Re-run the test after a major update, or when an app adds an AI feature. It takes five minutes.
- It's not a security audit. It can't tell you how well an app protects data on the device, or whether a recording is safe if the phone is lost or seized. A passcode does more for that than any app.
For what else to weigh once an app passes, such as languages, file import, length limits and price, see the guide to offline transcription on iPhone.