Letterly
Turn speech into polished text for notes, emails, messages, and more.
Letterly delivers on its promise: speak and get clean text anywhere you type. Unlimited rewrites and language flexibility are real strengths, but the lack of team features and API means it's best for individual productivity, not enterprise workflows.
- Busy professionals who need to write emails and messages faster
- Students recording lectures and getting summaries
- Journalers and note-takers who prefer speaking over typing
- Content creators brainstorming ideas or drafting posts
- Users needing advanced transcription editing with timestamps
- Teams requiring real-time collaboration on transcripts
- People who prefer typing over voice input
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In short
Letterly — Turn speech into polished text for notes, emails, messages, and more. Best for Busy professionals who need to write emails and messages faster, Students recording lectures and getting summaries, Journalers and note-takers who prefer speaking over typing. Free to start; paid plans from $4/mo.
What's new in Letterly
Checked 2 days agoAcross the latest 8 updates: 5 feature updates and 3 news mentions.
Windows 1.0.9: Dictionary, Text Replacements, smarter note search, longer Dictation for Pro, faster start
Windows gets Dictionary and Text Replacements. Pro dictation session extended to 15 min. Searches match partial words.
How to Set Up Dictation on Android
Blog post: guide for setting up Letterly dictation on Android devices.
iOS 2.7.0 / macOS 2.7.0: Dictionary and Keyboard Update — new languages, smarter search
Dictionary launched on mobile. Keyboard adds English, German, French, Spanish, Russian layouts. UI now in Dutch and Japanese.
Web 2.4.0: Dictionary, Text Replacements, smarter note search
Web gets Dictionary and Text Replacements. Searches match partial words.
How to Set Up Letterly Dictation on Mac and Dictation Keyboard
Blog posts: setup guides for Mac and dictation keyboard.
How to Use Dictionary in Letterly
Blog: guide for using the Dictionary feature in Letterly.
Web 2.3.10: Merge Notes on Web
Merge multiple notes into one from the web interface.
iOS 2.6.5: Letterly Keyboard gets Rewrite options
Keyboard adds rewrite options for dictated or selected text.
What independent users actually report about Letterly
We ran a structured research pass across product reviews, community discussions, and post-purchase forum threads to surface the patterns vendors won't publish themselves. Below: the recurring strengths, the hidden costs people mention most, and the cohort that consistently regrets adopting this tool.
63 mentions across 4 sources (YouTube, Product Hunt, App Store, Bluesky).
- +Accurate speech-to-text across multiple apps via keyboard.
- +Unlimited recording sessions up to 90 minutes each.
- +No limits on AI rewrites or transcriptions.
- +Auto-detects 90+ languages, switching mid-sentence.
- +Excellent customer support response within hours.
- −Long recordings may glitch and lose all content.
- −Orange light stuck after stopping dictation.
- −AI rewrites are not polished, need manual edits.
- −Requires manual app reopening after some sessions.
- −Not ideal for team collaboration or meeting sharing.
- • Lifetime deal availability is erratic; no subscription tier for short-term
- • Some advanced features may require additional in-app purchases
Viability Score
How likely is Letterly to still be operational in 12 months? Based on 4 signals — momentum (how recently it shipped), wrapper dependency, revenue model, and web presence.
Last calculated: July 2026
How we score →Key Features
- Dictate in any app via system keyboard
- Record up to 90 minutes per session
- Speaker-separated transcripts for meetings
- AI-generated meeting summaries
- Auto-detect 90+ languages with mid-sentence switching
- AI rewrites to transform speech into notes, emails, summaries
- Unlimited recordings and AI rewrites
- Offline recording
- Dictionary for custom words (improve accuracy)
- Text Replacement shortcuts (expand abbreviations)
- Merge notes on web
- Widget and shortcuts for quick recording
- Apple Watch recording
- Audio upload for transcription
- Translation into 90+ languages
About Letterly
Letterly is a mobile-first AI speech-to-text app that transforms your voice into ready-to-use text for notes, messages, emails, meeting summaries, journal entries, social media posts, and more. It's for people who'd rather tap record than struggle with typing or editing. You can dictate directly into any input field (Gmail, Slack, Notion) to get text right where you need it, record thoughts inside the app, or capture longer talks (meetings, lectures, interviews) and receive a speaker-separated transcript with an AI-generated summary. The app supports recordings up to 90 minutes, has no limits on recordings or AI rewrites, and automatically detects 90+ languages—even switching mid-sentence. Recent updates added a Dictionary for custom words, Text Replacements (expand abbreviations), longer dictation on Windows (15 min), and the ability to merge notes on web. It works on iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows, and Web with live sync. Privacy is a cornerstone: your words are never used to train AI. Compared to alternatives like Otter.ai or Rev, Letterly focuses on individual productivity rather than team collaboration, offering unlimited rewrites and deep keyboard integration that make it a daily driver for solo voice dictation.
Behind the Verdict
Letterly is one of the few dictation tools that actually feels faster than typing — because it is. Talking is roughly 5× faster, and Letterly removes friction by putting a keyboard into any text field. The new Dictionary and Text Replacements are small but meaningful improvements: you can teach it industry jargon or expand 'myemail' into your full address. For solo users — busy professionals, students, journalers — it's hard to beat. Where Letterly falls short is collaboration. There are no shared workspaces, no real-time co-editing, and no API for custom integrations. If you need team transcriptions with speaker ID at scale, Otter.ai offers that. But for personal productivity, Letterly wins on simplicity and unlimited use. The free tier is surprisingly generous; most users won't need to upgrade. Just be aware that formatting controls are minimal and offline recording relies on device storage.
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Use Cases
- Dictate an email reply directly in Gmail without opening the app.
- Record a lecture and get a speaker-separated transcript plus summary.
- Jot down shopping lists, to-dos, or journal entries by speaking aloud.
- Capture a brainstorming session and convert it into a structured note.
- Write a social media post by speaking the idea and letting AI polish it.
- Take meeting notes hands-free and share a clean summary afterward.
Limitations
- Recordings are limited to 90 minutes per session, which may not cover very long meetings or lectures.
- The app does not provide an API for custom integrations.
- While the free plan offers unlimited recordings and rewrites, some features may require a Pro subscription.
12-month cost
Project the real annual outlay, including the implied monthly cost when only an annual tier is published.
Vendor list price only. Add-on usage, seat overages, and contract minimums are surfaced under Hidden costs & gotchas.
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