Lectures and talks
Listen in the lecture. Read it later.
Put your iPhone on the desk and give the lecturer your attention. Quern writes down every word as it's said, splits a long recording into titled chapters and summarises it, all on the phone. Nothing is uploaded, and it's paid for once.
Free for 30 days, then £19.99 once. No subscription. Requires iPhone 15 Pro or later.
When you sit down to revise.
The recording, the words and a summary, arranged so you can find the ten minutes you need.
Hear the bit you missed
Tap any word and the recording plays from there. Useful for the sentence you only half caught, or the name you couldn't spell.
A summary with times
The main points, the figures and dates, and what else came up, each with the time it was said so you can go back and hear it in full.
Search the whole term
Every title and every transcript is searchable, so the lecture where a term first came up is a few letters away. Folders and tags keep each module apart.
Into your own notes.
Quern isn't where your notes have to live. Export a lecture and carry on in the app you already use.
Markdown, for Obsidian and friends
The transcript with its chapters, the summary and the audio, as a Markdown file with the recording beside it. Drop it into your notes and link it to the rest of the module.
- MDCoastal processes.md
- M4ACoastal processes.m4a
A PDF to print or annotate
The summary, the chapters and the transcript on A4, ready to print, mark up with a pencil, or open in whatever you annotate with.
- PDFCoastal processes.pdf
No Wi-Fi needed.
Lecture halls are known for bad signal. Quern doesn't need any: once it's set up, the transcript, the chapters and the summary are all made on your iPhone, in Aeroplane Mode if you like. Nothing is uploaded to a server, so nobody else has your lectures.
- Works offline
- No account
- No monthly fee
Offline transcription apps, comparedAgainst cloud notetakers
Before the lecture starts.
Three small things that make the recording worth having.
Check the rules
Know your university's policy on recording lectures, and ask the lecturer if it isn't clear.
Sit where you can hear
Within a few rows of the lecturer, or near a speaker. The iPhone hears about as well as you do.
Then put it down
Start recording and lock the phone. Quern keeps going, and shows on the Lock Screen so you can see it's working.
Questions
Anything else: support, or [email protected]
Can it record a whole lecture?
It saves the audio as it records, so a long lecture isn't at risk if something goes wrong, and anything over six minutes is split into titled chapters. You can lock the iPhone while it records; it shows on the Lock Screen.
Will it work from the back of a lecture hall?
It records through the iPhone's microphone, so it does best within a few rows of the lecturer, or near a speaker if there's a microphone and PA. From the back of a big hall, expect more mistakes in the transcript.
Am I allowed to record lectures?
It depends on your university. Many let students record for their own study, some only with the lecturer's permission, and recording is often part of disability support. Check the policy, and ask if you're not sure.
What about lectures in another language?
Choose the lecture's language in Quern before you start. It transcribes wherever Apple's on-device speech recognition supports that language, and writes the summary in it where Apple Intelligence does.
Can I share notes with classmates?
Yes, as a PDF or a Markdown file, and they don't need Quern to read them. Share the lecturer's words only as far as your university's rules allow.
Is there a student price?
No, but there's no subscription either: everything works free for 30 days, then it's £19.99 once, and Family Sharing is included. It needs iPhone 15 Pro or later.
Free for 30 days.
Then £19.99, once.
Out 19 October on the App Store
- First 30 days
- Free, everything works
- Then
- £19.99, once
- Subscription
- None
- Family Sharing
- Included
- If you don't unlock it
- Your recordings stay yours to play, read and export