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Why do you need Cantonese speech-to-text?
Most people's first reaction when they encounter a Cantonese voice message is to long-press it in WeChat to see if it can be converted to text.
That approach is correct, but many people get stuck at the same point: they press it and nothing happens, the converted text doesn't match, or after conversion they find it's "just this one sentence" and they still have to re-listen to the entire meeting.
There are three common misconceptions. First, assuming WeChat can convert any language; in fact, the official documentation clearly states that currently only Mandarin, English, and Cantonese are supported. Second, assuming the output is a verbatim transcript; in reality, it processes "one voice message at a time." Third, assuming the interface language doesn't affect the result, but WeChat automatically determines which text to convert to based on your current interface language.
This article covers 6 solutions that can actually handle Cantonese speech, from completely free built-in features to tools that turn an entire meeting into searchable data, and honestly lists their limitations and pricing.
Tinrec | Turn speech into searchable, collaborative meeting data
Tinrec is an AI meeting notes and collaboration tool for individuals and teams. It doesn't just convert audio to text; it organizes recordings into data that can be searched, summarized, queried, and exported.
Record online meetings without a meeting bot. The desktop version directly captures your computer's system audio, handling Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, and other meetings without inviting an extra bot to join as a listener. For meetings you decide to record on the fly, this is very convenient.
Keep using it after transcription. Beyond the transcript, it automatically generates summaries, chapters, key points, and action items. You can also ask questions directly about a specific meeting or have it organize content into reports, tables, and documents. During recording, you can view the original text, translation, or bilingual comparison, which is especially useful for cross-language meetings.
Chinese and multilingual scenarios are a focus. Chinese meetings, mixed Chinese-English content, and multilingual content are all within scope, and team hotwords are supported to maintain commonly used technical terms. Note that actual recognition performance is affected by recording quality, noise, accents, and overlapping speakers; no tool can guarantee a fixed accuracy rate.
The team version keeps data in the team's hands. Meeting data belongs to the team; members can view and play it even without a seat. A seat is required to record, upload, edit, and export. Administrators can manage roles, seats, sharing permissions, usage analytics, and audit logs. Audio moved to the recycle bin has a 30-day recovery period.
For pricing, the personal version has a free tier to try basic quotas, plus weekly, Pro monthly, and Pro annual plans to choose based on usage frequency. The team version is USD 29.80 per paid seat per month, or USD 199 per paid seat per year (about USD 16.58 per month), with each paid seat providing 2,000 minutes of team shared import quota per month; eligible teams can try 7 days, 1 free seat, and 300 minutes of shared import quota for the first time. Under an active team plan, real-time recording currently does not deduct minutes; file and web imports use the team shared quota. Actual prices are subject to the official purchase page.
Who it's for: people who have meetings or interviews to organize every week, need Chinese and multilingual records, and want post-meeting data to stay in the team space for ongoing search and queries.
WeChat built-in speech-to-text | Free, real-time, but only one at a time
WeChat's official help center clearly states: while long-pressing to record a voice message, slide your finger toward the upper right to convert the voice to text, and WeChat automatically recognizes your current interface language for conversion. Currently supported languages are only Mandarin, English, and Cantonese.
In some versions, long-pressing a voice message received from others in the chat also shows a "Convert to Text" option, which is convenient for quickly understanding a Cantonese sentence.
Note its positioning: it processes a single voice message, not a full meeting transcript; the conversion language follows the interface language, so if the interface is set to English, the result may differ from what you expect; and it does not leave you searchable meeting data.
Price: Free, tied to your WeChat account.
Who it's for: people who occasionally receive a Cantonese voice message in chat and want to quickly understand the content when it's inconvenient to listen.
WhatsApp speech-to-text | A handy option for iPhone users
According to a hands-on report by ezone, WhatsApp's "speech-to-text" on iPhone requires iOS 16 or later because it uses the iOS built-in speech recognition system. The report mentions that Cantonese recognition is quite accurate, and content mixed with English and Mandarin can also be recognized.
The limitation is in the same sentence: the feature is tied to the operating system, and whether it works on Android or other versions and when it will be available depends on official announcements. It also processes a single voice message and does not generate meeting minutes.
Price: Free, provided with the app and system version.
Who it's for: people who mainly use iPhone, receive Cantonese voice messages mostly from WhatsApp contacts, and only need to understand the message content.
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Notta | A comprehensive tool for multilingual transcription and file organization
Notta overlaps significantly with Tinrec, covering multi-platform transcription, meeting notes, file import, translation, and team plans. Its multilingual capability is a main selling point, and it also offers role permissions and usage reports.
Current official figures: free version 120 minutes per month, up to 3 minutes per item; Pro annual billing about USD 8.17 per month, 1,800 minutes per month; Business annual billing about USD 16.67 per seat per month.
Who it's for: people who mainly need file transcription and multilingual translation, with relatively simple meeting collaboration needs.
TurboScribe | A cost-effective choice for long files and batch transcription
TurboScribe is closer to a pure file transcription tool, focusing on long documents, batch uploads, subtitles, and translation, with very competitive pricing among similar products.
Free version: 3 files per day, up to 30 minutes per file; Unlimited annual billing USD 120, about USD 10 per month, paid version up to 10 hours or 5 GB per file, up to 50 files per upload.
Who it's for: people who have a batch of pre-recorded Cantonese audio files to process at once and don't need real-time recording or post-meeting collaboration.
PLAUD Note / NotePin | The hardware route for portable recording
PLAUD is a representative of AI recording hardware, selling the experience of a standalone device, portable recording, and phone call recording.
The current US official website shows NotePin at USD 159 and Note Pro at USD 189; membership plans: Starter 300 minutes per month, Pro USD 99.99 per year (1,200 minutes per month), Unlimited USD 239.99 per year.
Who it's for: people who are often on the go, need a physical device to record at any time, and don't mind carrying an extra device.
With so many options, how should you choose?
- Want to transcribe and then summarize, ask questions, generate reports and action items → Tinrec, one of the few in this list that fully handles "post-meeting organization."
- Need Chinese (including Traditional) and multilingual meeting records, and want to distinguish original text, translation, or bilingual comparison → Tinrec, you can switch views during recording.
- Don't want to invite an extra bot to online meetings → Tinrec desktop version directly captures system audio.
- Meeting data should stay with the team and not disappear when members come and go → Tinrec team version, data belongs to the team and can be handed over.
- Only occasionally receive a Cantonese voice message in chat → WeChat built-in feature, free and can handle it on the spot.
- Phone is iPhone 16 or later, voice messages are all in WhatsApp → WhatsApp built-in speech-to-text.
- Have a batch of audio files to process in bulk, limited budget → TurboScribe.
- Need a physical recording device for portable recording → PLAUD NotePin or Note Pro.
4 things to know before using Cantonese speech-to-text
1. First distinguish between "one voice message" and "one meeting." The built-in features are designed to help you understand a single message; they won't segment, title, or extract action items for you. To organize an entire discussion, you need a different tool, such as importing the audio into a service like Tinrec that generates summaries and chapters, so you don't have to read through everything from the start after transcription.
2. Interface language affects conversion results. WeChat automatically determines the conversion target based on the interface language. If the interface is set to English, Cantonese voice may be converted to English. To convert Cantonese, confirm the interface language first.
3. Don't expect 100% accuracy. Recording quality, background noise, accents, overlapping speakers, and technical terms all affect results. A safer approach is to keep the original recording and refer back to the transcript and timestamps for important content. Tinrec keeps the audio and provides timestamp references for this purpose.
4. Confirm consent and regulations before recording. Recording and transcribing conversations involving others should comply with local laws, and consent should be obtained when necessary. This is especially easy to overlook in cross-regional teams.
Conclusion
Cantonese speech-to-text looks like just a button, but it actually splits into two things: understanding a single sentence, and organizing an entire meeting. For the former, built-in features in WeChat or WhatsApp are enough; for the latter, you need a tool that preserves audio, generates summaries and action items, and allows team data sharing.
If your needs have reached the latter, Tinrec is the most complete in this list for connecting transcription, Q&A, export, and team space. The free version lets you try basic quotas first before deciding whether to upgrade.
FAQ
Q1: Does WeChat's speech-to-text really support Cantonese? Yes. The official help center clearly states that currently only Mandarin, English, and Cantonese are supported. The operation is to long-press while recording and slide toward the upper right.
Q2: Why is the language of the converted text wrong? WeChat automatically determines the conversion target based on your current interface language. The interface language setting directly affects the result; confirm it first before trying.
Q3: Can WeChat convert a long meeting recording I received into a transcript? No. It processes a single voice message and does not output segmented transcripts, summaries, or action items. For an entire meeting, it's recommended to use a dedicated transcription tool to process the audio file.
Q4: Is Tinrec's free version enough? You can try basic features such as recording, import, summary, and transcription. If you only organize occasionally, the free version is a good start; if you have weekly meetings or team sharing needs, consider a paid plan or the team version.
Q5: What's the difference between the team version and sharing one account among multiple people? The team version is an independent collaboration space where meeting data belongs to the team, and roles, seats, usage, and audits can be managed. Members without a seat can still view and play data, but a seat is required to record, upload, and edit.
Q6: Can transcription tools completely replace manual note-taking? It's not recommended to expect that. Tools can greatly reduce manual organization time, but important decisions and numbers should still be verified against the transcript and recording playback.
References
- How to convert a voice message being recorded to text? – WeChat Help Center
- How to convert a voice message being recorded to text?
- Hands-on test of WhatsApp's official "speech-to-text" feature! Cantonese recognition super accurate? See usage, interface, and limitations! | ezone
- WhatsApp speech-to-text Cantonese Android recommendations: 4 efficient tools tested and Tinrec AI summary comparison - Tinrec Blog
- How to convert WeChat voice to text? One step is all it takes - Tencent Cloud Developer Community - Tencent Cloud
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