Cleft Is an AI-Powered Voice Memo App for Your IPhone and Mac.
Apple has made huge strides with the Notes app in iOS 18 . One of its best features is the ability to record and transcribe voice notes in English . While I like this feature, it doesn’t help people who speak other languages, at least for now. This is where Cleft comes in. Cleft allows you to quickly record voice notes and uses artificial intelligence to transcribe them into multiple languages, not just English. It can also intelligently add subheadings and other small tweaks. It has one of the smoothest workflows I’ve ever seen, from jotting down an idea to a beautifully formatted transcript.
Getting started with Cleft
At the time of writing, the Cleft Mac app is fully functional, but the iPhone app is only available through TestFlight . It’s still usable, but since it’s in beta, it’s not on the App Store yet. According to Cleft’s roadmap , this will change ” in the next few weeks .”
If you don’t want to deal with the beta version, the Mac app is easy to set up. Just use your email address to sign in, grant a couple of permissions (microphone and accessibility), and you’re good to go. I also tried the iOS app and the installation process is similar.
After installing the application, go to its settings and select the language. This way, the app will be able to better transcribe your notes. You can also let the app automatically detect your language, although this introduces some ambiguity.
Write down your thoughts
Cleft’s best feature is its speed. It takes just one tap to start recording a note on iPhone, or two on Mac. This is because in the Mac app you first choose between text and voice notes, while the iPhone defaults to voice notes (you can still use text for notes on mobile, but you’ll have to edit the voice note first, and don’t start with just text).
I love how Cleft can automatically transcribe and format my voice recordings. I just hit the record button to make a quick to-do list for the day. When I wrote down the example for this article, I talked about my plans for the evening – to write articles, join a meditation, and get ready for the upcoming trip. Kleft wrote all this down and instantly created three headings: “Writing Tasks,” “Meditation,” and “Travel,” with subtasks correctly displayed under each of them. The note was called “To Do List,” which is a useful label. This is truly a great use of AI tools to make your life easier.
However, there are some problems with the app taking such liberties. When I recorded a voice note with thoughts about living a slower life, Kleft transcribed it perfectly but added two new headings: “Ideas to Slow Down” and “The Benefits of Slower Living.” Both of these headers contained AI-generated list items related to the headers, showing information that I had not requested. I didn’t like it at all. I made a voice note with a blog post in mind, but adding generated text to my notes is completely useless unless I explicitly ask the app to do so. Luckily, after this experience, I started asking Cleft not to add AI-generated text to my notes (I simply said, “Don’t add AI-generated text to this note” before finishing the recording), and he was able to follow my instructions. I hope the developer will reconsider this and tweak the app to be a little less aggressive when generating AI text.
Going forward, I see myself using Cleft for quick notes on tasks that I keep thinking about at odd hours. It’s a good way to remind myself to do the semi-important things that I somehow always forget to do, like writing down a story idea that popped into my head while walking, or picking up that grocery item I always forget to order (usually rice ).
Advantages of Cleft over Apple Notes
Many people are very happy with Apple Notes, and for good reason. The application is free, reliable and multifunctional. However, Cleft does a couple of things better. First, it supports almost 60 transcription languages, making it much more useful for voice memos. Secondly, Cleft works on both iOS 17 and iOS 18, making it more accessible. Finally, Cleft also supports paid subscriber automation. You can automate using Zapier or Obsidian (one of the best note-taking apps) .
Cleft has a generous free tier that allows you to record up to five minutes of voice memos per recording. The premium tier costs $8 per month and allows you to record up to 30 minutes of each voice memo, access Zapier and Obsidian integration, and attach images and documents.