Many transcription apps upload your lecture to a server. You wait for the result and trust the service with your data. 5cut transcribes on your iPhone. Your recordings never leave your iPhone.
How offline transcription works
5cut uses AI models that run on the Neural Engine of your iPhone. The first time you use an engine, its model downloads one time. The size is from about 40 MB to 1.5 GB, by engine. After that, transcription works in Airplane Mode, on the subway or in a lecture hall with bad Wi-Fi.
Six transcription engines
5cut has six engines. Each engine has a different balance of speed, accuracy and model size:
| Engine | Languages | Model size | Best for |
|---|
| Apple SpeechAnalyzer | 40+ locales | Built-in | Quick transcription, many regional variants |
| WhisperKit | 30+ | 39 MB – 1.5 GB | High accuracy, word-level timestamps — imported files only, not available in the live recorder |
| Parakeet Ultra | 25 European | ~600 MB | European languages, auto-detection |
| Parakeet Lite | English | ~220 MB | Faster and lighter — good for older iPhones |
| Moonshine Tiny Streaming | English | ~49 MB | Low-latency streaming transcription |
| Phonon-2 | English | ~360 MB | Compact English model tuned for iPhone, requires iOS 18+ |
WhisperKit is for imported files only. The live recorder does not offer it.
Why offline matters
- Your recordings never leave your iPhone: every engine runs on the device.
- No mobile data: after the model download, hours of transcription use no mobile data.
- Works with a bad connection: in campus basements, on trains, on planes and in libraries with blocked Wi-Fi.
- No cost per minute: many cloud services charge for each minute. 5cut does not.
- No upload wait: transcription starts on the iPhone, with no upload first.
Supported languages
Together, the six engines transcribe more than 30 languages. The exact list depends on the engine and on the language models for your iPhone.
Remove the silence too
5cut also cuts the silence. A typical workflow is:
- Record or import a lecture.
- Cut the silence.
- Transcribe the shorter version offline.
- Export a video with subtitles, an SRT file or a text transcript.
Silence removal also works in Airplane Mode. It needs no download, because its voice detector is in the app.
Speaker identification
With Premium, 5cut finds up to 4 speakers in a recording and gives each a color in the transcript. The speaker model downloads one time, and then this also works offline. It helps with lectures with questions, seminars and group presentations.
Free to start
5cut is free to download. The free version includes the recorder, silence removal and 5 exports each month. Recordings that you make in 5cut get a full transcript. Imported files get a transcript of the first 5 minutes. Premium adds unlimited exports, full transcripts of imported files, speaker identification, AI notes and search in all transcripts.
Frequently asked questions
Does 5cut need the internet to transcribe?
Only for the first model download. Each engine downloads its model the first time you use it. After that, transcription works in Airplane Mode.
How can I check that transcription is offline?
Download a transcription model one time. Then turn on Airplane Mode and transcribe a recording. 5cut works the same.
Which engines work offline?
All six engines run on the iPhone. Each one works offline after its first download. Apple SpeechAnalyzer needs iOS 26 or later and downloads its language files from Apple.
How much storage do the models need?
From about 40 MB to 1.5 GB for each engine. You can see and delete each model in Settings › Storage.
