Can the Photos app transcribe a video?

Not as far as Apple's guides show. There's no option in Photos to write out a transcript of the speech in your own clips. You need Live Captions, a workaround with Voice Memos, or an app.

Is my video uploaded anywhere when I use Linen?

No. Linen pulls the audio out of the video on your iPhone and transcribes it with Apple's on-device speech engine. Nothing is uploaded, and once the language is downloaded it works in airplane mode.

Can I transcribe a screen recording or a downloaded video?

If it's saved in your Photos library, yes. Pick it in Linen like any other video. If it's an audio file in Files, you can import that too.

How long does it take to transcribe a video?

With Live Captions, as long as the video itself, because it listens in real time. Linen works from the file, so it's usually well under a minute on a recent iPhone for a typical clip.

Can I turn the transcript into subtitles?

Yes. Linen Pro exports SRT subtitles you can load into YouTube, Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro and other editors. See our guide on making SRT subtitles on iPhone.

How to get a transcript from a video on your iPhone

We built Linen because people kept telling us the same story: they had a video on their phone, a talk, an interview, a lesson, and the only way to get the words out was to pay per minute or upload it to a website they didn’t know. That felt wrong for something so personal. We wanted the transcript made on the iPhone, private, with no minutes to buy.

Before you download anything, here’s what your iPhone can already do.

First, the honest answer

The Photos app is great for watching and trimming videos. But as far as Apple’s own guides show, there’s no button in Photos or Files that writes out a transcript of the speech in your own clips. So the built-in routes are workarounds. They work, with some trade-offs.

Option 1: Live Captions

Live Captions is an accessibility feature that transcribes spoken audio in real time, including audio playing on the iPhone itself. Apple lists it for iPhone 11 or later, and it isn’t available in every language, country or region.

1. Turn it on. Open Settings, tap Accessibility, tap Live Captions, then turn on Live Captions.

2. Choose iPhone audio. Tap the Live Captions window, then tap iPhone Audio, so it listens to what the phone plays rather than the room.

3. Play your video. Open it in Photos and let it run from start to finish. The words appear in the floating window. You can make the window full screen if you prefer.

4. Copy the captions. Tap the More button in the Live Captions window, then Copy Captions, and paste them into Notes or wherever you like.

What to expect: Live Captions works at the speed of the video, so a 30 minute talk takes 30 minutes. What you copy is the caption text, ready to paste. Apple also notes that accuracy may vary. For a short clip where you just need the gist, it’s a good free option.

Option 2: Play it into Voice Memos

This one is low tech but it works. On iPhone 12 or later with iOS 18 or newer, Voice Memos transcribes recordings in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean and Chinese (where Apple offers it).

1. Play the video on another device, like a laptop or tablet, with the volume up.

2. Record it in Voice Memos on your iPhone, held close to the speaker.

3. Open the recording, tap the More button, then View Transcript or Copy Transcript.

Because the sound travels through the air, room noise and echo creep in, and quality drops. It’s fine in a quiet room with clear speech, less so for music or several voices.

Option 3: Pull the audio straight from the video with Linen

Linen skips the workarounds. It takes the video file itself, pulls the audio out, and transcribes it on your iPhone with Apple’s on-device speech engine (SpeechAnalyzer, new in iOS 26). It needs iOS 26. Nothing is uploaded, and once a language is downloaded, it works in airplane mode.

1. Open Linen and tap import. Choose a video from Photos. (You can also pick an audio file from Files, or share a recording in from Voice Memos.)

2. Let it transcribe. Linen extracts the sound and turns it into text, usually well under a minute on a recent iPhone. The first time you use a language, it downloads once.

3. Read it in paragraphs. Each paragraph has a timestamp, so you can see exactly when something was said.

4. Tap to check. Tap any paragraph to play the audio from there. The playing paragraph is highlighted, and you can listen at 1x, 1.5x or 2x or skip 10 seconds.

5. Export it. Copy the text or save a TXT file for free. Linen Pro adds SRT subtitles and sharing the audio together with its text.

Because Linen reads the audio file directly instead of listening through a speaker, you skip the room noise and you don’t have to sit through the whole video.

Which option should you use?

A short clip, just the gist: Live Captions, then Copy Captions.
You have another device handy and a quiet room: play it into Voice Memos.
A long video, or you need timestamps, a file or subtitles: Linen.

Tips for better results

Clear speech wins. Interviews and talks transcribe far better than videos with loud music under the voice.
Check names and jargon. Any speech engine can stumble on unusual words. Tap the paragraph and listen to confirm.
Pick the right language. Linen supports English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and more, as supported by Apple’s on-device engine. Choose the one spoken in the video.

What it costs

Live Captions and Voice Memos are free. Linen is free for your first 3 transcripts, up to 5 minutes each, no card needed. Linen Pro gives you unlimited transcripts of any length for $29.99 a year with a 3-day free trial, or $4.99 a week.

Making a video for YouTube or Reels? Our guide to making SRT subtitles on iPhone picks up where this one ends. For recordings you’ve already made, see how to transcribe a voice memo on iPhone.