Google Recorder beats Samsung in one feature that actually matters for transcripts

Published Jul 20, 2026, 8:30 AM EDT Olivia is a project manager and podcast producer for a software company. She is known for her love of creativity, competitive board game playing and kindle obsession. Her diverse work history helps her bring a fresh perspective and unique point-of-view to her projects. Speaking to Olivia in person, it's immediately clear she has a strong opinion on almost everything. Audio transcription technology has become so good lately that I’m trying to incorporate it wherever I can. I knew I was going to use an app, so I turned to my phone’s native app to do the job. I don’t like sorting through third-party apps when I have stuff already on my phone that probably does the job better anyway. But if you’re planning to use this app often, you’ll want to use the app that gives you the clearest, most accurate, and accessible results possible. I tried the Samsung Voice Recorder and Google Recorder apps to determine which best fit my transcription needs. Spoiler: It was a really tough call. What’s the point of using a recorder transcript? There are more use cases than I thought What are some of the reasons you might want to use a voice recorder? I admit I didn’t see their value until I asked around and heard about some of the ways my friends and colleagues use them. The obvious first use is for work meetings or school classes. While my virtual meetings are usually covered by AI note-taking tools (that do a decent job, in my opinion), my in-person meetings can get a little messier. I struggle to take effective notes and participate at the same time. Occasionally, we have a human note-taker, but they often don’t catch everything or don’t have the context to take effective notes. So, recorder transcriptions are a great option here where I can let my phone record and view my notes later to review anything I might have missed. A few friends also mentioned using them (with permission) at their doctor’s appointments. I think this is a great use case. Many doctors are pressed for time and will either speak quickly or use words you might not immediately catch. There’s a lot of info I look back on the next day, like care instructions, where I am second-guessing what was told to me. Lastly, this is great for anyone who might have other underlying conditions that make understanding or recalling information difficult. Whether it’s a hearing impairment, ADHD, or anxiety, there are several conditions where having a transcript to review at a later time would be helpful. I think this would also be a huge help for people who might not have a strong grasp of conversational English. Upon first glance, neither app is better than the other Design and feel comparisons will come down to the nitpicks Visually, the Samsung and Google voice recorder apps are simple and clean. I found both apps to have a relatively intuitive UI, with both recorder buttons clearly featured. After finishing my test recordings on both apps, the Google app showed up with the transcribed text immediately, whereas the Samsung recorder had me click a large transcribe button. On the Samsung app, I liked the playback options featured at the bottom of the screen: skip silences, repeat, and playback speed. Though I will note that the summary or any other tools, such as trim audio, were hidden in the upper-right menu under the three-dot menu and the icon that looks like sparkles. I like the three-dot menu for other options. I wish Samsung had put the AI-tools options in that menu as well, instead of making it its own menu. I wasn’t sure what it would do if I clicked it. On the Google app, the playback options are simplified even further. Simple vertical and horizontal lines need to be clicked on to switch between the audio waveform and the transcription. Fewer options are available at the bottom of the screen (only play, pause, and skip by five-second increments), but all further options are behind the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner. Both apps are sleek. I don’t think I could call one or the other better in terms of design and feel. Though they differ in a few key features, this is where one pulls ahead of the other. It was tight, but there’s a clear winner in my eyes Both apps give you what you need, but the accessibility is what clinches the win for me When it came down to the transcript, both apps were neck and neck for the most useful transcription. Both struggled to separate speakers when the speaking was too quick or similar in tone. But both separated them when the speakers were more clearly defined. Both apps also have the option to create an AI summary of the provided text that I thought was acceptable. However, there were two features the Google Recorder had that Samsung unfortunately didn’t. First, the Google Recorder has the option to back up to your Google Drive automatically. Having these files easily accessible across all your connected devices is key when you are reviewing notes and switching between a computer and a phone. Second, the Google Recorder allows you to edit the names of your speakers in the app. I was disappointed that the Samsung Recorder didn’t allow me to change the default labels of Speaker 1 and 2. If you have a particularly long transcript or one with more than two speakers, having them named properly will make it much clearer. So for these reasons, Google Recorder’s transcription wins. The differences in recording were negligible, but the drive backup and label changes make a transcript more accessible and easier to read. Unexpected features from both recording apps I’d love to sit in on the brainstorming sessions for new app features There were two interesting features I found while playing around with these apps that do not change my verdict but are worth an honorable mention. The Samsung Recorder’s playback option to skip silences was helpful. While it doesn’t affect the transcription, the playback of your audio is automatically cut to exclude large pauses, especially those between speakers. If you record someone like a professor who pauses to adjust their slides, it would save a lot of time to cut out multiple large pauses. The Google Recorder had a hilariously bizarre option to create music from your recorded audio. Presumably for content creation, this reminded me a lot of the early 2010s fad of Autotune-the-news. You can choose your ideal song type and style, and it will remix your audio into a song. Again, this will not affect your transcription, but I thought it was a noteworthy feature if you really want a Reggae mix of your doctor’s aftercare instructions. Both apps do a great job at the end of the day It was tough to choose between the two apps. As I said, the differences were negligible. Anecdotally, other users online claim that Google Recorder is also better at separating multi-speaker audio and filtering out background noise. I couldn’t confirm this, but if it is true, that is more points for Google. Either way, if you choose Samsung over Google, you’re likely to end up with a useful and accurate transcription that will hopefully make note-taking a lot less tedious.