Review Insights · App Store
Otter Transcribe Voice Notes
Otter.ai, Inc. · 50,786 ratings · ★ 4.7
4.7
★★★★★
50,786 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 54 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"subscription"
10 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "NO REFUNDS - BEWARE. The app makes it extremely difficult to cancel the free trial. I missed the cancel trial deadline by a few minutes and was charged a $89.99 fee. The company is not allowing any refunds and now I am stuck with a subscription I do not need fo…" - Jackson.Heights
2
"record"
9 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Such a huge waste of money and broken. Great concept. Absolute trash execution. The idea of a recorder that instantly uploads audio, transcribes it, and lets you access it from anywhere on the web is amazing . Too bad this app can barely record audio reliably. Processing audi…" - gneilkumar
3
"otter"
9 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Issues with otter. Hello Otter Support, I’m very disappointed with the app’s recent performance. It started out strong, but lately it has become unreliable. When I press “record,” it sometimes does not start recording, or it becomes unresponsive. As a result…" - jasbanda
4
"recording"
9 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Issues with otter. Hello Otter Support, I’m very disappointed with the app’s recent performance. It started out strong, but lately it has become unreliable. When I press “record,” it sometimes does not start recording, or it becomes unresponsive. As a result…" - jasbanda
5
"cancel"
9 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "NO REFUNDS - BEWARE. The app makes it extremely difficult to cancel the free trial. I missed the cancel trial deadline by a few minutes and was charged a $89.99 fee. The company is not allowing any refunds and now I am stuck with a subscription I do not need fo…" - Jackson.Heights
6
"free"
9 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "NO REFUNDS - BEWARE. The app makes it extremely difficult to cancel the free trial. I missed the cancel trial deadline by a few minutes and was charged a $89.99 fee. The company is not allowing any refunds and now I am stuck with a subscription I do not need fo…" - Jackson.Heights
7
"minutes"
8 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Such a huge waste of money and broken. Great concept. Absolute trash execution. The idea of a recorder that instantly uploads audio, transcribes it, and lets you access it from anywhere on the web is amazing . Too bad this app can barely record audio reliably. Processing audi…" - gneilkumar
8
"work"
8 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Absolutely trash.. Horrible, doesn’t work as advertised, complete garage, waste of money and overpriced!" - Crashthemachine
9
"money"
7 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Such a huge waste of money and broken. Great concept. Absolute trash execution. The idea of a recorder that instantly uploads audio, transcribes it, and lets you access it from anywhere on the web is amazing . Too bad this app can barely record audio reliably. Processing audi…" - gneilkumar
10
"does"
7 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Issues with otter. Hello Otter Support, I’m very disappointed with the app’s recent performance. It started out strong, but lately it has become unreliable. When I press “record,” it sometimes does not start recording, or it becomes unresponsive. As a result…" - jasbanda
11
"doesn"
7 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Absolutely trash.. Horrible, doesn’t work as advertised, complete garage, waste of money and overpriced!" - Crashthemachine
12
"takes"
6 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Such a huge waste of money and broken. Great concept. Absolute trash execution. The idea of a recorder that instantly uploads audio, transcribes it, and lets you access it from anywhere on the web is amazing . Too bad this app can barely record audio reliably. Processing audi…" - gneilkumar
📋 All 54 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
Such a huge waste of money and broken
Great concept. Absolute trash execution.
The idea of a recorder that instantly uploads audio, transcribes it, and lets you access it from anywhere on the web is amazing . Too bad this app can barely record audio reliably.
Processing audio takes several minutes or worse, the AI transcription is laughably bad, especially for anything technical in nature. And now this dumb app lost an entire meeting I recorded to help write notes.
Customer support? Good luck! Apparently there support strategy is to provide an email to nowhere that I guess I might get a response to. The point is this type of product is designed to be used and retrieved quickly and routinely and this app simply can’t do that accurately or , for me right now, not at all. This thing is less reliable or useful that the voice memo app on iPhone and given I have to use ChatGPT on the audio anyway to get accurate transcript, that’s one my headache that really makes me question if it is a huge livability to get it
The idea of a recorder that instantly uploads audio, transcribes it, and lets you access it from anywhere on the web is amazing . Too bad this app can barely record audio reliably.
Processing audio takes several minutes or worse, the AI transcription is laughably bad, especially for anything technical in nature. And now this dumb app lost an entire meeting I recorded to help write notes.
Customer support? Good luck! Apparently there support strategy is to provide an email to nowhere that I guess I might get a response to. The point is this type of product is designed to be used and retrieved quickly and routinely and this app simply can’t do that accurately or , for me right now, not at all. This thing is less reliable or useful that the voice memo app on iPhone and given I have to use ChatGPT on the audio anyway to get accurate transcript, that’s one my headache that really makes me question if it is a huge livability to get it
Bad
Caught nothing …usually good
Issues with otter
Hello Otter Support,
I’m very disappointed with the app’s recent performance. It started out strong, but lately it has become unreliable. When I press “record,” it sometimes does not start recording, or it becomes unresponsive. As a result, I have missed important meeting notes and manual recordings.
I also noticed that since the pause/stop button began appearing on the screen, the recording issues have become much worse.
Please resolve this issue immediately or provide a refund.
Thank you.
I’m very disappointed with the app’s recent performance. It started out strong, but lately it has become unreliable. When I press “record,” it sometimes does not start recording, or it becomes unresponsive. As a result, I have missed important meeting notes and manual recordings.
I also noticed that since the pause/stop button began appearing on the screen, the recording issues have become much worse.
Please resolve this issue immediately or provide a refund.
Thank you.
Absolutely trash.
Horrible, doesn’t work as advertised, complete garage, waste of money and overpriced!
NO REFUNDS - BEWARE
The app makes it extremely difficult to cancel the free trial. I missed the cancel trial deadline by a few minutes and was charged a $89.99 fee. The company is not allowing any refunds and now I am stuck with a subscription I do not need for a whole year. BEWARE! They offer zero flexibility.
🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
I have a testé on Monday. Yesterday did not record my class!!!! They said , no worries is recording and transcripts appear later!! False!!!!
This app is terrible
I have had Otter since February 2025, but the big problem it is so terrible. I had to get rid of it. I tried to solve it multiple times and I still got the exact same issues. So for example It takes so long to make a one minute video and when it does it my video crashes mid upload. Why does it take so long to upload a one minute video? I don’t know. I also struggle to login. When I tried to login otter I was freaking rejected. You’re absolutely messed up. Please update the app. I tried to buy a plan multiple times and failed. This app is the worst.
Issues since November
I have had issues since at least November maybe longer with the ability to edit my conversations on my iPhone and iPad. I have submitted several requests and only told they are working on it. I’ve been paying for another year and have had nothing but issues. It’s frustrating when I pay for the pro version. When will there be sustaining solution?!?
SKIPS COMPLETE SENTENCES & PARAGRAPH STATEMENTS
I’ve been using otter for 2 years now 2026.serious decline in transcription quality with my subscription. When I first began using the service, it accurately captured nearly all spoken content, including very subtle speech, and reliably identified speakers. I relied on it heavily for SPECIAL EDUCATION ARD IEP SCHOOL MEETINGS. Recently, however, I’ve noticed a significant drop in performance. Entire sentences and even full paragraphs are being skipped or omitted from transcripts. Speaker identification is also no longer functioning consistently.i have resumed using the service this year for ADVOCACY meetings, and unfortunately, the current output does not reflect the level of accuracy expected from a $100 annual paid subscription. At this point, the performance is comparable to what I would expect from a free-tier service.I have tried canceling and WEB/app tells me “OTTER REFUSED TO CONNECT“ I have also tried using their IA chat to communicate my whats going on and it just keeps going into loops and does not resolve my issue! I have already documented multiple recent meetings where key content was missing from the transcript. This impacts usability and reliability for recordkeeping purposes.
I need a HUMAN to contact ME TO HELP RESOLVE MY ISSUE, TO CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION and FOR A REFUND OF MY UNUSED SUBSCRIPTION.
I need a HUMAN to contact ME TO HELP RESOLVE MY ISSUE, TO CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION and FOR A REFUND OF MY UNUSED SUBSCRIPTION.
Terrible to get started
This app doesn’t even let you login. I chose Google. I chose Microsoft. It makes it way too difficult to access your account to login. It would be much better suited if it just simply worked.
Misleading bad
Paid for the pro version so I could use it only to have them tell me there is a 90 min limit that is not clearly communicated in the upgrade screen on the app.
Terrible
Takes so long to load a 1 minute video this app is a joke
App doesn't record
Doesn't record anymore even when it says recording at the top. Unusable at this point.
Emphasis awful!!!
I just wrote a highly negative review of this program. The program is so horrible I wanted to leave another an emphatic negative rating about it for emphasis.
Not getting transcripts
I am a longtime user and I feel the service is getting worse. It takes a year and a day to get transcripts. Very disappointed.
Scammy
Guys has hidden the unsubscribe button very far and even made an effort so my phone won’t scroll to the button… this must be illegal.
Money Hustled
Most greedy, misleading app I’ve ever used! Act all great to get you in the door then every 30 minutes says you need to upgrade to this plan then the next plan to do another 30 minutes!! Do Not Fall for it!!
There’s really no direction on how to use it
Trying to figure out how it works, but it didn’t happen yet
Doesn’t work
We all can hear the chime go in and out of the meeting . It keeps dropping in and out 3 times and then never comes back.. have to keep putting the link.. we go back and there’s no transcript. Worthless!
Tried again today and didn’t work. And I tried deleting account it didn’t work. I tried unsubscribing and that didn’t work either it just runs through a loop between the app and logging into the website… doesn’t seem like this experience is for everyone with it having 5 starts; though it does not work at all for me.
Nothing. Calling the bank for stop payment.
Tried again today and didn’t work. And I tried deleting account it didn’t work. I tried unsubscribing and that didn’t work either it just runs through a loop between the app and logging into the website… doesn’t seem like this experience is for everyone with it having 5 starts; though it does not work at all for me.
Nothing. Calling the bank for stop payment.
Scam
This app seems to be great. I signed up for the free trial. I attempted to cancel via my app subscription settings on my phone but that didn’t work. I had to go back to the Otter app which told me to open it in a webpage which took forever to load. It also took many steps to actually cancel. And when I first canceled it said that there was an error. The second cancellation went through. This just seems like a shady way to do things and I desperately Wis I could get my money back.
If I could give this zero stars, I would
This app did NONE of the advertised functions that I needed. When I went to cancel my plan, they made it extremely difficult to cancel it, which is in extremely shady business practice. Do better.
Highly difficult to cancel subscription
It’s very difficult to cancel your subscription. Cannot do it through the app, cannot do it online, and now I’m forced to put a stop payment order on this through my bank. Highly unprofessional and very offensive.
Scam
This app does work well for transcribe in notes, but you cannot cancel the free trial because it says you need to log into the Otter AI website even though you can manage your subscription directly from the app especially if you use an iPhone and you hide your email you can’t log into that website because you’ve done it from the app complete rip off if you don’t want to continue with the free trial.
Pure evil
Do not download this app whatever you do. It is not an app. It is a virus. It will wreck your phone.
Auto subscribtion is bad
It autobsubscribe. $99.99. Bad
Difficulty Canceling
The application did not perform as expected or as needed. As a result, I am attempting to cancel my subscription. However, when I tried to cancel through the mobile app, I was redirected to the website, and once there, I was still unable to complete the cancellation process.
This inability to cancel through the provided channels is concerning.
This inability to cancel through the provided channels is concerning.
good transcripts but no playback
It can’t play files 🤦
Impossible to unsubscribe
If you subscribe through Apple, it’s almost impossible to unsubscribe. They make you go through so many hoops. Super shady! Stay away!
Does its job well… but be aware the limitations before you purchase.
30 minutes into a continuing ed class, the app requested I upgrade to continue using, so I quickly plopped down $100 to finish today’s classes…. Only to find out in the next one that “Pro” won’t let me record more than 90 minutes at a time.
App now wants more money to make it functional for the 3 or 4 days out of the year I might use it. (Classes are always two hours.)
I’m back to taking my own notes. Cancelled.
App now wants more money to make it functional for the 3 or 4 days out of the year I might use it. (Classes are always two hours.)
I’m back to taking my own notes. Cancelled.
Shady company - can’t cancel on mobile
Force you to website where you can’t actually scroll to and click cancel button in mobile browser either.
Sound issues
Seriously how do you sleep at night charging for this? I can’t hear anything.
Don't Do It
Used solely for transcription, which was huge disappointment. Hides billing in web location exclusively to avoid visibility. Wasn't until a fee months in of billing and no use that I caught this.
Copy paste
I was not able to copy paste
Navigating
I am having trouble adding and saving my saved folder information. I could not figure out how to restart additional transcripts.
Not enough time
If you’re a student, the time restriction is not enough. 20 hours a month is pathetic
Man this was bad
Not even close.
BEWARE - adversarial design
Otter is a fine product, but a manipulative company. It is also incredibly overpriced with new entrants: wisprflow, superwhisper, etc.
They hold your information hostage, exporting costs significant money.
It is easy to record, but they DO NOT allow multi-file export for your recording. You must buy a business (!) subscription to get them out. This is ridiculous, pure manipulation/capture.
You do not control your data with this product. Beware.
They hold your information hostage, exporting costs significant money.
It is easy to record, but they DO NOT allow multi-file export for your recording. You must buy a business (!) subscription to get them out. This is ridiculous, pure manipulation/capture.
You do not control your data with this product. Beware.
Can’t export audio
Doesn’t seem to be a way to export audio from a call when using the app. There’s a way on the website though.
Spam
It downloads your contacts and then spams them until you download the dumb app. Really annoying
Records meetings, but no transcript
I resubscribe because I really enjoyed this app, but after resubscribing it’s recording my meetings, but not giving me any summary or transcript
Don’t even bother with this app!
After 30 minutes of using it, it will just stop recording your meeting unless you upgraded to a pain plan so if you’re looking for an app that can record meetings for free, this is not it.
Stay Away!
One of the worst ones out there. Plans are generally pricier than other AI note taker apps, and the quality of the notes is poor in general. They make it very difficult to cancel your subscription.
English Only!
Not multilingual! I lost entire conversation recording.
Nonfunctional
Can't upgrade. I don't understand why. They put these restrictions on the app for no reason. Stops the workflow. Even if I wanted to, I could not upgrade to business on my cell phone. Really stupid not happy dumb app.
Glitchy
Free works ok, but it keeps forgetting I have a paid subscription so it stops taking notes after 30 minutes and deletes recordings even though I’m still below the limit. Very frustrating.
Doesn’t record accurately, keep charging my account YEARS after I cancelled
I quit using otter because there were too many inaccuracies in the transcription. & it wasn’t easy to work with. I now have a great ai recorder. I cancelled otter in 2022- THEY STILL BILLED ME IN 2023- & I had to fight with them to get the charge off- now they charged me AGAIN in 2025 & I haven’t had the app for 3 years!!!! They apparently don’t want to make the app better just try to scam former clients into still paying for the worthless app.
I now have a plaid it is much more accurate less expensive & includes ai. It is what otter wishes it could be.
I now have a plaid it is much more accurate less expensive & includes ai. It is what otter wishes it could be.
No more free account available
Prices keep going up with less free options
Thieves with terrible customer service
App mistakenly charged me. Won’t refund me. Customer support absolutely nonexistent. Don’t bother plenty free options just as good
App does not work
App doesn’t work it keeps saying error and I could not record anything for the transcript
Used to be great but not now
I’ve been using Otter for years as a paid subscription but it’s so unreasonably priced now for someone who wants basic recordings and transcript but has to pay for a business plan to get the exact same functionally I had before when I’m already paying hundreds per year only to get repeatedly hit with limits that didn’t exist before.
+ 4 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
94%
Positive (4-5★)
3%
Neutral (3★)
4%
Negative (1-2★)