Hindi Voice to Text: Free Ways on Phone, WhatsApp and PC

Typing Hindi on a phone keyboard is slow, and most people who search for a Hindi voice to text converter want one of three things: to speak a message instead of typing it, to read a Hindi voice note someone sent them, or to turn a recording into text. Each has a free answer, but not always where people look first.

We checked every method below against the maker's own help pages on 2 November 2026. Where a page doesn't say Hindi is supported, we say so rather than repeat what blogs claim.

Hindi voice to text on your phone

Android: Gboard's microphone. Hindi voice input was already available in August 2017, when Google's India blog announced voice typing in Gboard for eight more Indian languages: Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. To set it up, add Hindi as a language in Gboard's settings, then tap the microphone at the top of the keyboard and speak when you see "Speak now". It works in any app where you can type, including WhatsApp, Gmail and Google Docs. Google's current help page adds one warning: "Talk-to-text doesn't work with all languages", and it doesn't document offline Hindi voice typing, so expect to need a connection.

iPhone: dictation. Apple's feature availability page lists "Hindi (India)" for Dictation, alongside English (India); no other Indian language is listed. Add a Hindi keyboard in Settings, switch to it, and tap the microphone key. Apple doesn't list Hindi for on-device dictation, so expect it to need an internet connection.

Can WhatsApp convert Hindi voice messages to text?

Not officially. WhatsApp's voice message transcripts, which it launched in November 2024, turn a received voice note into text on your phone. But WhatsApp's own help pages don't include Hindi:

• On Android, the help page lists "only English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian" (as archived in December 2025).
• On iPhone, it says languages "depend on your OS". The iOS 17 list runs from English and Arabic to Thai and Turkish, with no Indian language (as archived in July 2026).

Some users report seeing Hindi in the language list, but WhatsApp doesn't document it, so don't count on it. If it does appear for you, turn it on under Settings → Chats → Voice message transcripts, choose the language, then tap and hold a voice note and tap Transcribe. WhatsApp says transcripts are generated on your device, so no one else, including WhatsApp, can read them.

Two workarounds that do work today:

1. To send Hindi as text, dictate it. In a WhatsApp chat, tap the microphone on your keyboard (Gboard or the iPhone keyboard), not WhatsApp's own voice-note button. You speak, and Hindi text appears in the message box.
2. To read a Hindi voice note, share or save the audio and run it through one of the transcription tools in the next sections.

Hindi voice to text on a PC

Google Docs voice typing (free). Open a document, click Tools → Voice typing, choose the language and click the microphone. Google's help page lists Hindi along with Bengali (India), Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil (India), Urdu (India) and English (India); Telugu, Punjabi and Odia aren't on the list. It works in recent versions of Chrome, Edge and Safari. The catch: spoken punctuation commands work only in English, so you'll add full stops and commas by hand afterwards.

Windows 11 voice typing (free). Press Windows key + H in any text box. Microsoft lists Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil (India), Telugu and English (India) among the languages that support voice typing in Windows 11. It uses Microsoft's online speech service, so you need to be connected to the internet.

Microsoft Word Dictate (paid). Word lists Hindi as a fully supported dictation language, with Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu in preview, which Microsoft says "may have lower accuracy or limited punctuation support". Microsoft says dictation is "only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers", so this one isn't free.

How to convert a Hindi audio recording to text for free

Live dictation doesn't help with a recording you already have: a lecture, an interview, or a voice note. These tools take an audio file.

Bhashini (Government of India). The free BHASHINI app from the Ministry of Electronics and IT, on Android and iPhone, says users can "Convert their voice to text", translate between Indian languages and generate speech. It is labelled a beta, and an update note says speech-to-text clips were raised to 1 minute, so it suits short messages rather than long recordings. On Google Play it had over 10 lakh downloads and a 4.0 rating from 3,900 reviews when we checked.

Sarvam (Indian AI company). Sarvam's speech-to-text page offers a "Free playground below, no signup needed" and says its model "supports all 22 scheduled Indian languages". Developers get ₹100 of free credits on sign-up, and the API costs ₹0.49 a minute after that, according to Sarvam's pricing page. Sarvam also makes the Indus chat app; our Sarvam AI app guide covers it.

TurboScribe. This web tool transcribes 3 files a day for free, each up to 30 minutes, and lists Hindi among the languages where it gets "the best results"; free files wait longer in the queue. It runs on OpenAI's Whisper models. Its unlimited plan is $10 a month billed yearly. We read its site as archived in July 2026, because the live site blocks automated checks.

Whisper (free, on your own computer). OpenAI's open-source Whisper supports Hindi along with Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kannada, Malayalam and Urdu. It's free and your audio never leaves your laptop, but it needs some setup, and the project itself warns that "performance varies widely depending on the language". Our guide to transcribing audio to text for free explains how to run it.

One tool to skip for Hindi: Otter.ai. Its help centre says it "currently only supports English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and Chinese (Simplified)."

Which Hindi voice to text method should you use?

You want to	Use	Cost	Catch
Type a Hindi message by speaking (Android)	Gboard microphone	Free	Needs a connection
Type a Hindi message by speaking (iPhone)	iPhone dictation	Free	Not on-device
Read a Hindi WhatsApp voice note	Share it to TurboScribe or Bhashini	Free	WhatsApp's own transcripts don't list Hindi
Write a Hindi document on a PC	Google Docs voice typing	Free	Punctuation commands in English only
Dictate into any Windows app	Windows 11, Windows key + H	Free	Needs internet
Transcribe a long Hindi recording	TurboScribe or Whisper	Free (3 files a day, or unlimited on your PC)	Whisper needs setup
Transcribe in other Indian languages	Sarvam playground	Free to try	API is ₹0.49 a minute

Tips for cleaner Hindi transcripts

• Pick the right language first. Set Hindi before you start; a keyboard or document left on English will mangle Hindi words.
• Speak in short sentences and pause between them. It gives you natural points to add punctuation by hand.
• Check names, numbers and English words. Mixed Hindi-English speech is where errors cluster, so read those parts before you send or publish anything.
• Use a quiet room for recordings. For noisy audio, clean it up first; our guide to removing background noise from audio covers free options.

If you want the opposite, turning Hindi text into speech, see our Hindi AI voice generator comparison.

FAQ

How can I convert Hindi voice to text for free?

On a phone, use the microphone on Gboard (Android) or iPhone dictation, both of which support Hindi. On a PC, use Google Docs voice typing or Windows 11's voice typing with Windows key + H. For recordings, TurboScribe transcribes 3 files a day free, and Whisper is free with no limit on your own computer.

Does WhatsApp transcribe Hindi voice messages?

Not officially. WhatsApp's help pages list only English, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian on Android, and iOS-dependent languages without Hindi on iPhone. To send Hindi as text, dictate with your keyboard's microphone instead of recording a voice note.

Which app is best for Hindi voice to text?

For everyday typing, Gboard on Android, because it works in every app, including WhatsApp, and also covers eight other Indian languages. For long recordings, TurboScribe or Whisper.

Can I type in Hindi by voice on a laptop?

Yes. Google Docs voice typing supports Hindi in Chrome, Edge and Safari, and Windows 11's voice typing (Windows key + H) supports Hindi in any app. Word's Dictate supports Hindi too, but needs a Microsoft 365 subscription.

Does Otter.ai support Hindi?

No. Otter's help centre lists only English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese (Simplified).

Cover image: Victorgrigas, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.