Do I need a connection to transcribe?

You need one for the first download of the AI that writes the summary (3.1 GB) and, for some languages, their components. After that, transcription and the summary happen on the iPhone.

Is my recording sent to Nokosazu?

No. Your recordings, their texts and the summaries stay on your iPhone: the publisher does not receive them unless you send them yourself, for example by writing to us. By default, nothing leaves the iPhone; if you turn on iCloud backup in the settings, recordings go into your iPhone's iCloud backup (Apple holds the key, except with Advanced Data Protection).

Do I need an account?

No. Nokosazu does not ask you to create an account.

Transcribe an interview without the cloud on iPhone

Reviewed on November 4, 2026

In short. Transcribing without the cloud means the recording and its text stay on the iPhone. You need to plan for a first download, some free space, and a read-through of the text.

What “without the cloud” means

With cloud transcription, the recording is sent to a service's servers, which send the text back. Without the cloud, the work is done on the device: the recording does not have to leave the iPhone to become text.

For an interview, this is often the reason for the choice: a source speaking in confidence, a sensitive subject, research bound by confidentiality rules. You decide what leaves the device, and when.

How Nokosazu does it

Nokosazu records on the iPhone and transcribes with Apple's speech recognition, which runs on the device. Each voice is picked out (Speaker 1, Speaker 2…) and you give it a first name. The text keeps the timestamps.

The summary is written by an AI that is downloaded once onto the iPhone. Nothing from your recordings is sent during that download. There is no account to create.

What to plan for

An iPhone 12 or later, with iOS 26.
Wi-Fi and free space for the first summary: the AI that writes it takes up 3.1 GB.
For some languages, a download the first time (provided by Apple).
A read-through: a text written by a machine can contain mistakes, especially with proper names and rare words. Play the important passages back before quoting them.

Your recordings stay on your iPhone. By default, they go nowhere. If you turn on iCloud backup in the settings, they go into your iPhone's iCloud backup: Apple holds the key (except with Advanced Data Protection). Without this option, if you change iPhone, they are not recovered: export whatever you want to keep.

For a two-hour interview

Put the iPhone between you and the other person, start recording, and talk. Afterwards you get the full text, with timestamps and speakers, in which you can search for a word. When you share or export a text, it goes where you choose in the iOS share sheet.

Depending on the country, recording a conversation may require the consent of everyone who speaks: it is up to you to ask for it when the law requires it.

Questions

Do I need a connection to transcribe?: You need one for the first download of the AI that writes the summary (3.1 GB) and, for some languages, their components. After that, transcription and the summary happen on the iPhone.
Is my recording sent to Nokosazu?: No. Your recordings, their texts and the summaries stay on your iPhone: the publisher does not receive them unless you send them yourself, for example by writing to us. By default, nothing leaves the iPhone; if you turn on iCloud backup in the settings, recordings go into your iPhone's iCloud backup (Apple holds the key, except with Advanced Data Protection).
Do I need an account?: No. Nokosazu does not ask you to create an account.

Sources

What this page says about Nokosazu comes from the privacy policy, the support page and the app's App Store listing (plans and trial). This page is written by the publisher of Nokosazu: it is not an independent third-party review, and it is not an accuracy test.

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