iPhone & Obsidian

iPhone voice memos into Obsidian, without the plumbing

Every guide for this ends in the same place: an Apple Shortcut, a Mac folder action watching a sync directory, or a shell script on a cron job. All of them break the moment you're away from your Mac. SpeakPen records on your phone and the note lands in your vault as Markdown.

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iOS · Free plan included · Markdown & Obsidian export

Why this is harder than it should be

Apple's Voice Memos app doesn't transcribe to a file, and Obsidian plugins can't run while Obsidian is closed. So people build bridges.

Apple Shortcuts

Works until it doesn't. Shortcuts silently fail in the background, and the transcription quality is whatever iOS gives you.

Mac folder action

A watcher script on an iCloud folder. Fine while your Mac is awake — useless on a trip.

Whisper on a cron job

Accurate, and a genuinely good option if you enjoy maintaining it. Most people don't want a pipeline they have to babysit.

An Obsidian plugin

Plugins only run while Obsidian is open — even the popular Whisper plugin's own recorder needs the app launched before it can capture anything.

How it works

Three steps, no pipeline

01

Record on your phone

  • Tap once in the SpeakPen app — walking, driving, or right after a meeting.
  • Obsidian doesn't need to be open, or even installed on that device.
02

AI transcribes and structures

  • Automatic language detection across 99 languages.
  • Title, summary and clean paragraphs generated for you.
03

It appears in your vault

  • Markdown with YAML frontmatter — title, date, category, source.
  • Incremental sync via the SpeakPen Obsidian plugin. Only new and changed notes move.
FAQ

iPhone voice memos to Obsidian FAQ

How do I get iPhone voice memos into Obsidian automatically?
The common approaches are an Apple Shortcut, a folder action on a Mac watching an iCloud directory, or a Whisper script on a schedule. Each works, and each depends on something staying awake. SpeakPen replaces the chain: you record in the app and the transcribed Markdown note syncs into your vault.
Can I import voice memos I already recorded?
Yes. You can import existing audio files instead of recording fresh, so a backlog of memos can be transcribed and moved into your vault.
Does this need my Mac to be running?
No. Transcription happens server-side and syncing is handled by the SpeakPen Obsidian plugin, so nothing depends on a Mac being awake or on a particular machine being online.
Does it work if Obsidian isn't open?
Yes, and this is the main reason to use an app rather than a plugin. Obsidian plugins only run while Obsidian is running, which rules out capturing an idea mid-walk. SpeakPen captures first and syncs when your vault is next available.
What format do the notes arrive in?
Plain Markdown with YAML frontmatter containing the title, date, category and source, plus the summary and full transcript in the body. Nothing proprietary — the files are yours to move or export.

Stop maintaining a pipeline

Free plan includes 3 recordings a month. No Shortcut, no folder action, no cron job.

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