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Voice notes to Obsidian on Android (2026): 7 ways compared

Checked by the Murlivo team.

Quick answer

If you want spoken notes to land in your vault as text, with the audio kept on your phone and no internet needed, use an app that transcribes on the phone and writes Markdown into the vault folder. Murlivo does this. If a sound file in the note is enough, Obsidian's own Audio recorder plugin does it with no extra app, and if you already pay for an OpenAI API key, a community plugin such as Scribe transcribes inside Obsidian through the cloud. If you only want to dictate a few clean sentences into a note, an on-device voice keyboard such as Yaps types them, and its maker says your voice is not uploaded.

There are seven common ways to turn speech into a note in an Obsidian vault on an Android phone. They differ in three things: whether you get text or only audio, whether the audio leaves your phone, and how many steps it takes each time.

Which way fits your job?

Compared on an Android phone, checked ; Yaps checked .
WayYou getWorks offlineSetupWhere the audio goes
MurlivoText and audio in the vaultYes, after one model downloadInstall, pick the vault folder onceStays on the phone, in the vault
Obsidian Audio recorderAudio file onlyYes, it records on the phoneTurn on a core pluginStays in the vault
Cloud transcription pluginText, inside ObsidianNoInstall a plugin, add a paid API keyUploaded to the API provider
Gboard voice typingText only, no audioNot stated by GoogleNoneSent to Google, except advanced voice typing on Pixel 6 or newer
On-device voice keyboard (Yaps)Cleaned-up text, typed into the noteYes, once its models are installedInstall, turn it on as a keyboardStays on the phone, its maker says
Phone recorder, then copyDepends on the recorderDepends on the recorder3 or more steps per noteDepends on the recorder
Cloud service, then exportTextNoAccount, then 3 or more steps per noteUploaded to the service

Murlivo: text and audio, all on the phone

Best for: spoken notes, dictations and meetings that should land in the vault as text.

You pick your vault folder once. Each recording is transcribed on the phone, offline after a one-time speech model download, and added to one Markdown note per day in an Inbox folder, with the audio kept in a subfolder. Murlivo does not need the Obsidian app: it writes plain files that Obsidian reads like any other note. A Wear OS watch can start a recording, but the phone alone is enough.11 Audio, transcripts and notes stay on your devices.12

One thing to know: on Android, Obsidian can keep a vault in its own private app storage or in device storage, where other apps can reach it.3 Murlivo can only write into a vault in device storage.

Obsidian Audio recorder: the sound file only

Best for: short clips you will listen to again, not read.

Obsidian has a core plugin that records audio, saves the file in your vault and embeds it at the end of the open note. Its help page does not mention turning speech into text.1 Obsidian plays the common audio formats, such as .m4a, .mp3, .ogg and .wav, inside a note.2

Cloud transcription plugins: text inside Obsidian

Best for: people who already use an OpenAI API key and are fine with uploading audio.

Several community plugins record or pick up audio in Obsidian and send it to a speech service for a transcript. Scribe uses OpenAI or AssemblyAI and needs an OpenAI API key.4 Smart Memos uses OpenAI's online models with your own OpenAI API key and lists both desktop and mobile.5 The services charge for their API, and the audio leaves your phone. Community plugins are third-party code: you install them from Obsidian's settings after turning off Restricted mode.10

Gboard voice typing: dictate straight into a note

Best for: a few sentences typed by voice, when you do not need the recording.

You can open a note and use the microphone key on the Gboard keyboard. Google says that with talk-to-text your voice is sent to Google for transcription.6 On a Pixel 6 or newer, advanced voice typing keeps the text you speak on the device, except when you use its “Fix it” or detailed edit features.7 No audio file is kept, so you cannot listen again.

An on-device voice keyboard: Yaps

Best for: dictating text with filler words removed, processed on the phone by default, when you do not need the recording.

On Android, Yaps is a full keyboard with voice-to-text built in: you press or hold its button, speak, and polished text lands where you are typing.13 Its Play listing says it removes filler words such as "um" and adds punctuation, and names Obsidian among the apps it is tested with.15 Its maker says dictation and notes run on the phone and work offline once its local models are installed, and its privacy policy says it does not send that content to a cloud AI service.13, 14 Its website says Yaps is free on Android with no account; the Play listing shows in-app purchases and a 7-day free trial.13, 15 Its Play listing says it supports English at launch.15

What Yaps does better: the text appears right at the cursor in any app, already cleaned up, and the same keyboard works for messages and email too. Yaps says itself that it is a keyboard, not a recorder-only app.13 Pick Murlivo if you want the recording kept next to the text, long recordings, or notes written into the vault without opening Obsidian.

A phone recorder, then copy the file

Best for: people who already like their recorder app.

Record with any recorder app, then share or copy the audio file, or its transcript if the app makes one, into the vault folder. It works with any app, but it takes several steps for every note, and whether the audio leaves the phone depends on the recorder.

A cloud transcription service, then export

Best for: meetings you want shared with others or summarized in the cloud.

Services such as Otter transcribe in the cloud and export to TXT, DOCX, PDF and SRT.8 Otter lists Amazon Web Services as its cloud and customer data storage provider.9 You then copy the text into a note in your vault. This needs an account and an internet connection, and the audio is stored by the service.

How we compared

We make Murlivo and wrote this page, so read it knowing that. We compared seven ways to get voice notes into Obsidian, Murlivo among them, from the public help pages, plugin pages and product pages of each tool, checked on (Yaps on ), and every claim about another app links to its source in the References. We did not install and test every app, so where a listing does not say something (for example, whether speech is turned into text on the device or on a server), this page says it is not stated instead of guessing. If anything here is wrong or out of date, write to support@murlivo.com and we will fix it.

Questions

Does Murlivo need the Obsidian app?

No. Murlivo writes plain Markdown files into the folder you choose. Obsidian reads them like any other note.

Does it work without internet?

Yes, after a one-time download of the speech model. Recording and transcription then work offline.

Does Obsidian transcribe voice notes by itself?

Not that its help page says. The core Audio recorder plugin saves an audio file in the vault and embeds it in the note. Community plugins add transcription by sending the audio to a cloud service.

Can Murlivo write into any Obsidian vault on Android?

Only into a vault in device storage. A vault in Obsidian's private app storage cannot be reached by other apps.

References

  1. Obsidian Help: Audio recorder, checked .
  2. Obsidian Help: Accepted file formats, checked .
  3. Obsidian Help: Obsidian for Android, checked .
  4. Scribe plugin for Obsidian, checked .
  5. Smart Memos, Obsidian community plugin, checked .
  6. Gboard Help: Fix problems with Gboard (What Gboard sends to Google), checked .
  7. Gboard Help: Use advanced voice typing features, checked .
  8. Otter.ai: Transcribe all conversations, checked .
  9. Otter.ai: Subprocessors, checked .
  10. Obsidian Help: Community plugins, checked .
  11. Murlivo product facts, checked .
  12. Murlivo privacy policy, checked .
  13. Yaps for Android, checked .
  14. Yaps privacy policy, checked .
  15. Yaps: AI Voice Typing Keyboard on Google Play, checked .