Turn voice messages and audio files into text on Android

Messaging apps often offer both. “Forward” sends the message to another chat inside the same app, so it never reaches Tencia. “Share” opens Android’s list of apps, and that’s where you’ll find “Transcribe with Tencia”.

If there’s no “Share”, look for a way to save the message to your phone. You can share a saved file from your files app, or pick it in Tencia. If you don’t use Tencia Helper, the home screen offers “Pick a file” until you’ve added your first one or closed the tip.

• Telegram. Telegram keeps messages in its cloud, so a voice message may not be on your phone until it’s downloaded. Play it once, then press and hold it and look for “Share” or a save option. Its voice messages are .ogg files, which Tencia can take. On a computer, Telegram’s desktop app can export your chat data, with voice messages as .ogg files. Copy the one you need to your phone, then share it from your files app.
• KakaoTalk. On Samsung phones, files you download in KakaoTalk go to Download/KakaoTalk. Other phones may differ, and we haven’t confirmed that every version lets you save a voice message this way. If yours offers a save or share option, use it.
• Zalo. We haven’t confirmed a way to get a voice message out of Zalo as a file, so we aren’t listing steps. Press and hold the message and see what it offers. If all you get is forwarding to another chat, Tencia can’t reach that message.
• Your phone’s recorder. Recorder apps keep ordinary audio files, so this is the simplest case. Open the recording, use its share option, and choose “Transcribe with Tencia”.
• Email and cloud storage. Download the file first, then share it from your files app.

Tencia takes ogg, opus, m4a, mp3, wav, amr, flac and webm files, up to 4 hours and 512 MB, one at a time. It keeps m4a and amr files as they are when the server can take them, and converts the rest to m4a on your phone. Long files take a while, and closing the screen stops it.

Tencia shows up in the share list only for audio files. Some apps label a .webm file as video, and then Tencia won’t be in their list. Video isn’t accepted.

• “This phone can’t read that format.” Your phone can’t open this file. Unusual files, such as .wav at 96 kHz, end up here too. Send it as an m4a or mp3 file.
• “Couldn’t read this file.” The app it came from may have stopped letting Tencia read it. Share it again from that app.
• “Couldn’t find any sound in this file.” There’s no audio in it. Check that you picked the right file.
• “This file is over 4 hours” or “over 512 MB”. Those are the limits. Send a shorter or smaller file.
• “The phone is out of storage.” Tencia needs room for a copy of the file and for your next recording. Free up some storage and try again.

The file shows up in your recordings as “Voice file”, with the text, a summary and any to-dos. You can play it, search the text and back it up like any other recording.

The text stays in the language spoken, and it doesn’t label who said what. It can get names and numbers wrong, so check those against the audio.

If you’re on a call while a file is being added, Tencia carries on when the call ends. If you share the same file again, Tencia opens the one that’s already in your list.

Recordings Tencia already made don’t need any of this. Open one and tap “Transcribe”.

WhatsApp has its own guide. If you’d rather record calls in these apps, see Telegram, KakaoTalk (in Korean) and Zalo (in Vietnamese). Recording calls needs Tencia Helper.

Some countries only. AI features aren’t offered everywhere, and elsewhere Tencia doesn’t show up in the share list. Update Tencia and open it on or after November 8, 2026. If “Transcribe with Tencia” is in the list, it works where you are.

Whose voice. Transcribing sends the voices in the file to the server too. Outside Korea, Tencia asks for your consent first. If the law where you live requires the other person’s consent or notice, take care of that yourself before you transcribe.

The audio. Google’s AI (Gemini) turns it into text on Google Cloud in Singapore. It’s deleted right after transcription, within a day at most. The one exception is a request Google’s automated checks flag as possible abuse, which Google may keep for up to 90 days to review. If you connected a backup, the file is copied there like other recordings. The privacy policy has the details.

The cost. 30 minutes of transcription and 30 summaries are free every month, with more in your first 30 days. A file under a minute counts as one minute. The terms have the exact numbers.

Get Tencia from Google Play. To turn voice files into text, that’s all you need.