An hour of audio is a file you will never listen to again. Pithflow turns it into a transcript you can search and notes you can study from, written on the phone in the lecture hall.
To record a lecture on iPhone, open Pithflow, pick the language of the class and tap Record; you can lock the screen and the recording keeps going. The transcript is written on the phone while the professor talks, and when you tap Stop you get a summary and the key points ranked by how often they came up. The first 2 minutes are free; full lectures come with the Notes plan.
The free way is already on your phone. Voice Memos records for as long as you like, and on an iPhone 12 or later set to a supported language it shows a transcript while you record, which you can copy afterwards. For one class, that may be enough.
Where it runs out is the part that matters before an exam. Voice Memos gives you the words, not the notes, and you get them out by copying text, not as a file. A lecture recorder built for studying should leave you with something shorter than the lecture.
| For a lecture | Voice Memos (built in) | Pithflow |
|---|---|---|
| Transcript while you record | Yes | Yes |
| Notes from the lecture | A summary with Apple Intelligence (iPhone 15 Pro or later) | Summary and key points ranked by how often they came up, plus decisions and action items |
| The professor and the questions told apart | Not mentioned by Apple | Yes, speakers labeled after you stop |
| Folders per course, search across lectures | Search in titles and transcripts | Folders and search |
| Get it into your notes app | Copy the text | Markdown with the notes, text, SRT or audio (Notes plan) |
| Cost | Free | 2 min of every recording free; $4.99/mo, $29.99/yr or $49.99 once |
Voice Memos per Apple's iPhone User Guide for iOS 27, read November 8, 2026.
As close to the voice as you can get, with the bottom edge of the phone — where the microphones are — pointing at it. In a small room that means the front row. In a big hall with a sound system, a seat near one of the loudspeakers often hears the professor more clearly than the front row does, because that is where the microphone's sound comes out.
Lay the phone on a jacket or a notebook rather than the bare desk, which carries every tap, zip and laptop key straight into the recording. Never record from a pocket or a bag. And do one two-minute test on Wi-Fi before the first class: that downloads the language once, so in the hall the phone needs no signal.
Yes. Pithflow keeps recording with the screen locked, and you can start it from the Lock Screen widget or Control Center without opening the app; a Live Activity shows the clock while it runs. Locking the screen is also the simplest way to save battery during a long class.
For back-to-back lectures, start with a charged phone or bring a small power bank. Since the work happens on the phone, airplane mode is fine once the language has been downloaded, and it means no phone call can interrupt the recording.
Ask first. Many universities have a policy on recording classes, many professors say yes when asked, and students with an accommodation often have it in writing. In the US, some states require the consent of everyone recorded; here is how the consent rules work. Pithflow asks you to confirm that everyone agreed before each recording. This is not legal advice.
With iCloud sync on, the transcripts and notes from your iPhone are waiting on your iPad when you sit down to study; the audio stays on the phone that recorded it.
The recording does not stop. On the free plan the first 2 minutes are transcribed and the rest of the audio is kept on the phone until you unlock it. With the Notes plan or Pro, every lecture is transcribed in full, however long.
The iPhone can record the class from a speaker in the room, for example a laptop playing it nearby. It cannot capture the sound of another app on the same iPhone. For online classes on a Windows PC, the Pithflow desktop app records what the computer plays, with nothing joining the session.
Yes. Choose the language of the lecture before you tap Record, from the ones your iPhone offers. Each recording is transcribed in one language.
Yes, with the Notes plan: tap Import audio in the Notes library and choose the file. Audio and video both work; from a video, Pithflow keeps the sound.
There is no separate student plan. The yearly Notes plan is $29.99, about $2.50 a month, and $49.99 once keeps Notes for good, through every semester.
Download Pithflow free and try it on the first two minutes of your next lecture. No account, nothing uploaded.
