Show HN: Voiceliner – Capture structured braindumps on the go

Hey HN! A few months ago, all I wanted was a voice memos where I could hold-to-record. Holding and releasing lets me “burst” quick chains of thoughts together. It’s especially useful when walking with friends, to capture stray references and ideas.

After testing the initial burst interaction, I realized I wanted to transcribe them, and relate notes together into a hierarchy. Other features came naturally, like geotagging each note and swiping during recording to change the “temperature” (importance) of a note.

The app is open source and written in Flutter.

I built a similar product for myself sometimes back - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.ashishb.vo... (Android only)

This is brilliant - simple, novel, local, open source. Love it.

I had a dream at the beginning of the pandemic that people who spend all day in Zoom calls might be able to spend all day hiking as well. I tried quite hard to make it work a couple of times - big USB battery in the backpack - but LTE signal was never good enough up in the hills here.

You could integrate vosk for local on-device private transcription. https://github.com/alphacep/vosk-api

Thank you, I was just thinking today that I needed a tool exactly like this.

My go-to brain dumping tool is simple note but it's too much separation between an ephemeral thought and the process of recording it.

Especially clever because I think all the tools to do this have existed for basically as long as Android has existed, but this is a very good application of those tools.

Okay, this is super cool. When I started taking walks I found I was thinking through a lot of things but didn't have a way to remember all the things. So I started using the voice transcription notepad (so nice that people these days are less hostile to someone walking down the street mumbling about things :-)). In my case I was stuck taking the document and then re-editing/moving it over to Evernote manually which I didn't always want to do. This looks like it will replace my workflow with a single tool. That is super awesome.

One feature request would be 'activate by airpod tap' so I wouldn't even have to hold my phone, just tap my airpods to make a note.

Super clean setup on iOS! Can’t wait to try it out, the concept is lovely.

I use notion a TON but it’s not great for the most immediate time sensitive notes.

Do you think you could integrate google calendar / reminders in some way? A lot of the kind of notes I would record on this kind of app have some form of either deadline, or are only relevant after a certain date or time. For example, “check in on this thread Monday morning”. I use google calendar reminders for this right now as they stack up but it’s not a great solution.

If this would support a bluetooth PTT microphone, it would be perfect. Then I could leave the phone in my pocket and have tangible, physical buttons to record with. I don't like messing with a touchscreen when out and about.

Curious what API limitations are preventing you from doing the transcription device-local on Android?

This looks really cool. I'v been looking for something like this for a while. Is there an APK download? I don't use the google store and the github page didn't seem to have an obvious link?

Cool concept. Looking forward to trying it out.

I've thought about taking voice notes before, though I've imagined that as more of a private hands-free thing. I'm curious what your experience of using it in public or with others around (the walks with friends, but also family or colleagues?) is like?

(I sometimes go on a walk while I talk myself through a problem; I've noticed I almost always stop speaking while someone else is in earshot. I suspect I'd also be inclined to avoid taking voice notes with others around.)

I think this is exactly what I've been looking for. I like going for walks and listening to audiobooks and podcasts, and I've been using Google's recorder as a way to "highlight" my findings, but it doesn't let me add to existing recordings so I can't collate sessions together.

I'll be trying this on as a replacement.

If this had automagical sorting / hierarchy of my recordings based on key words, or allowed me to "shuffle" my entire collection of recordings according to a few pre-set algorithms, this would be interesting.

Example: I spend 5 weeks recording 200 sound bites about real estate development in PR. I do no organization. I click a button in the app marked "Organize by opportunity". It sorts my recordings into 4 folders with 2-3 nested with titles like "The Tulum project" and "Evan's group".

I don't particularly need transcription because I don't want to do any of the work implementing the feature I just described ...

As it is, it looks neat but I'll stick with iOS built-in recorder.

Awesome!!! I have had it in the back of my mind for years to do something like this. I am so glad that you have stepped up. Very, very much needed. Now I just need to figure out how best to bulk transcribe the hours and years of audio recording...

Was looking for something like this just today. Does it support hands-free operation (or while we're at it, does someone else know something that does)?

This is currently my main criterion. I want something that captures my thoughts while hiking without seeing or touching the screen. Currently dabbling with Siri shortcuts, but they're pretty buggy and lacking.

So if Voiceliner could either support the Shortcuts API and/or switch into a mode that's press-to-record / or start-stop, but somehow works on the connected Airpods only, that would be awesome.

Bonus points for re-reading the transcription to me and very light editing on top (like document switching).

Is there something like that?

Congrats on launching!

I've wanted exactly-this for years. I've sketched a few versions but it stayed on the back-burner for me, partly because friends/etc didn't see the appeal.

I'm really excited to try it out.

This sounds great to take quick but organized notes for my use case - researching and prototyping, but when the notes need to be converted into a more formal 'report' later.

Amazing! I’ve been looking for a way to put down my thoughts for a while, tried carrying a pocket notebook.. the notes app.. zen journal .. but writing is so much friction .. I used voice notes for a while but couldn’t search them for later so it was difficult.. I hope this is the one ^^

What do you use for the transcription part? Paid library or something open? More curious on accuracy.

Oh this is great. Just tried it out. A couple feature wishes:

- Sync the audio + text somewhere (although maybe this can be done with SyncThing already?) - Add a widget / app action to support one-tap voice notes from the home screen

Crikey - my Xmas present has just arrived!! I have never gone from seeing something on hn and having it installed and loved so quickly!

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

And open sourcing it too - can't love you more ;)

Super cool! I’ve been slowly getting over the self consciousness of using Siri in public. Maybe I’ll start with around the house first…

Great app! And this comes from a guy who has _very_ few apps installed on his phone! Would it be difficult to have it recognize a different language? (german)

Interesting. I've mostly achieved this with BlitzMail (basically, one button to an open textbox that emails to yourself.) But I might check this out as well.

Suggestion: a play button for the hole outline folder you are in… for example: I want to listen to everything outlined in that folder while running

Installed. Been need something like this for a while!

Love the initial setup wizard. Great way to teach the user, clarifying what various permissions are for.

I've wanted this for a while – thanks so much!

cool. but on Android, wouldn't Gboard speech input, which also works offline, suffice for the speech input and transcription part?

Great idea! I've been trying for a while to find the best way to take notes when on the go, just installed to test it.

This is perfect! Any chance to be able to select the target language for translation? Portuguese - Brazil for example :)

I love really niche but really useful gems like this! Could anyone recommend any others?

This looks pretty awesome! Is there a way to export them? I’d like to push them into Trello or another tool

Keeping it all local is brill. There’s def “signup fatigue” with apps like this. This is perfect.

This is the first instant download I have done from HN. Can't wait to try it out later. Great job!

Fantastic! I love that it is all local.

Love that first item on your first App Store screenshot: “Re-watch the mother of all demos”.

Well done! Love that you can create outlines from voice recordings - super cool.

Love it! Can't wait to see how this evolves over time.

Is it possible to change transcription language on iOS?

Is there a way to just type instead of speaking?

Is there a direct .apk download?