Compared · 2 October 2026
A private Otter alternative for iPhone.
Quern does what you use Otter for, on your iPhone: who said what, what was decided and who does what next. Nothing is uploaded, there are no minutes to count, and you pay once.
I make Quern. Everything about Otter is from Otter's own website on 2 October 2026, linked on this page. For Notta and Granola too, see Quern and cloud notetakers.
Why people switch to Quern.
For meetings, interviews and lectures, where the recording should stay yours.
Nothing is uploaded
Apple's on-device speech recognition writes the transcript, speaker models that come with Quern tell the voices apart, and Apple Intelligence summarises it, all on the iPhone. There's no account.
No minutes to count
Record for as long as the meeting runs. Your iPhone does the work, so there's no monthly allowance to run out of.
Paid once
$19.99 once in the US (£19.99 in the UK), against $99.96 a year for Otter Pro. Five years, side by side
Summaries you can check
What was decided, what's still open, and actions with who took them on. Each point has the time it was said: tap it to hear it.
Side by side.
Otter's cheapest paid plan, Pro, against Quern. Prices change: follow the links for today's.
| Compared | Quern | Otter |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $19.99 once (£19.99 in the UK), after 30 days free | $99.96 a year for Pro, or $16.99 a month |
| Recording time | No limit | Pro: 1,200 minutes a month, 90 per meeting |
| Importing files | No limit, several at once | Pro: 10 a month |
| Where recordings go | Nowhere: made on your iPhone | Otter’s servers, on Amazon Web Services |
| Video calls | No bot. Quern for Mac, coming soon | A bot can join from your calendar |
Otter's side is from its own pages on 2 October 2026: pricing, privacy and security, meeting agent.
Otter also says it trains its models on user data once it has been de-identified (Otter's privacy and security page). Quern has no server, so it has nothing to train on.
If you use Otter for calls.
Quern for Mac is coming soon: it records the call app's sound and your microphone with no bot, and transcribes on the Mac. Join the waitlist
How the botless options differ, Otter's desktop app included: meeting notes without a bot.
Questions
Anything else: support, or [email protected]
Is there a free Otter alternative for iPhone?
Voice Memos, which comes with the iPhone, writes a transcript of what it records, but it doesn't tell speakers apart. Quern is free for 30 days, then £19.99 once. How to record a meeting on iPhone covers both, step by step.
Does Quern work with Zoom or Teams calls?
Quern records the meetings you're in, with no bot joining. On the iPhone it records the room. Quern for Mac, coming soon, records your Zoom, Teams and Meet calls on the Mac itself, so nobody sees a notetaker arrive.
Can I bring my old recordings into Quern?
Any audio or video file you have, yes: tap Import in the recordings list, or share the file to Quern from another app. It's transcribed, labelled and summarised the same way as a recording made in Quern. How to transcribe a voice memo shows how.
Can I share notes with my team?
Yes: share a PDF or plain text, or export Markdown with the audio, or subtitles with speaker names, and send it to anyone. The recording itself stays on your iPhone until you choose to share it.
Which iPhones does Quern work on?
IPhone 15 Pro or later, which have Apple Intelligence on board for the summary.
- 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