Potok turns speech into text in 33 languages, including English and Russian.
In WeChat you can transcribe a voice message with the built-in feature: while recording, swipe up and to the right, and for a finished message hold it and choose “Convert to text”. It recognizes only Mandarin, English and Cantonese, with no Russian. For Russian speech you need the bot @potok_now_bot, 60 minutes per month for free, and replying with text instead of a voice message can be done with Potok (potok.now).
A voice message was sent to you in WeChat, and it is inconvenient to listen to it right now: you just want to read the text at once. WeChat has a built-in feature for this, but it understands far from every language.
How WeChat transcribes a voice message itself
WeChat has built-in voice-to-text conversion, and it can be turned on in two ways. During the recording itself, swipe from the record button up and to the right and release in that position, and then the recording immediately starts turning into text. For a voice message that has already been received, hold it with your finger and choose the “Convert to text” item in the menu. Both ways do the same thing: they turn the recording into text right in the chat. There is one limitation, but a fundamental one: the conversion supports only Mandarin, English and Cantonese. Russian speech is not among them, and a voice message from a Russian-speaking correspondent cannot be transcribed with this feature. This is exactly a transcript of what has already been said, not dictation: WeChat works on Windows and macOS, and text in the message input field is typed in the usual way; a separate feature for dictating it by voice is not described in the documentation.
Third-party ways for Russian speech
Since the built-in WeChat conversion does not take Russian speech, the text from such a recording is obtained differently, through the Telegram bot @potok_now_bot: it can recognize specifically Russian in voice messages, audio and video recordings. The recording from WeChat has to be saved first as an audio file, if that works out, and sent to the bot as a document, or the voice message forwarded if it has already ended up in Telegram. A recording of up to two minutes of sound arrives right away as text, and a longer one with time markup. The result is saved in the bot in “My recordings” and is available for export in different formats, from TXT and DOCX to SRT and VTT. Every month 60 minutes of such transcription are given for free. A general overview of transcribing voice messages in other messengers is collected here, and about voice input in Telegram itself, see the separate article.
| Task | Characters | Typing (200 chars/min) | Voice (900 chars/min) |
|---|---|---|---|
| chat reply | 300 | 2 min | 0.5 min |
| 1500 | 8 min | 1.7 min | |
| post or meeting minutes | 4000 | 20 min | 4.4 min |
| article | 10000 | 50 min | 11.1 min |
Where Potok will not help
Potok has its own task: it turns your speech into text on a computer and does not process other people's audio recordings. It is cloud-based and does not work without an internet connection; its recognition servers are in Russia. It has no voice commands and no smartphone version. Getting text specifically out of a received voice message is a job for the bot, not for Potok itself, and the bot has its own limit: 60 minutes per month without payment.
Frequently asked questions
No. Voice-to-text conversion in WeChat supports only Mandarin, English and Cantonese, with no Russian.
While recording, swipe up and to the right so that conversion starts right away; for a message that has already been received, hold it and choose “Convert to text” in the menu.
No. Potok is an app for dictation on a computer, not for transcribing other people's audio recordings. Voice messages, audio and video in 100+ languages are transcribed by the bot @potok_now_bot.
How to transcribe a voice message in WeChat. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. Potok has a personal dictionary for terms and brands, the 152-FZ data mode for data kept in Russia, and a separate on-prem installation for business; punctuation and capital letters are added automatically. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For How to transcribe a voice message in WeChat you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
How to transcribe a voice message in WeChat. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. Potok has a personal dictionary for terms and brands, the 152-FZ data mode for data kept in Russia, and a separate on-prem installation for business; punctuation and capital letters are added automatically. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For How to transcribe a voice message in WeChat you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
How to transcribe a voice message in WeChat. Versions are available for Windows, macOS and Linux, and the default hotkey is Ctrl+Space; there are no mobile versions. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. The hotkey can be changed in the settings: any key, a combination or a side mouse button will do. Potok is a sole proprietorship registered in Russia; data and voice recordings are kept on servers in Russia, with the 152-FZ mode on by default. For How to transcribe a voice message in WeChat you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Transcribe your own recording
Forward a voice message, or send a file or a YouTube, VK Video, RuTube, Instagram or TikTok link to Potok's Telegram bot, and the text arrives in the same chat. 60 minutes per month for free.
Open @potok_now_bot in TelegramBuilt-in dictation and Potok
| Tool | Where it works | Russian language | Where speech is recognized |
|---|---|---|---|
| Potok | Windows, macOS, Linux | primary language | cloud, servers in Russia, does not work offline |
| Windows voice typing (Win+H) | Windows 10 and 11 | Windows 11 only | Microsoft cloud, does not work offline |
| macOS Dictation | macOS | yes | on the device or on Apple servers |
Primary sources: www.wechat.com · cs.help.wechat.com
Transcribe a recording in Telegram
Voice messages, video notes, audio and video are transcribed by Potok's Telegram bot @potok_now_bot: forward it a voice message from any chat, or send a file or a YouTube, VK Video, RuTube, Instagram or TikTok link. A short recording comes back as text in the chat, a long one as a file; timestamps and speaker labels can be turned on. The buttons give a short summary, tasks and deadlines, an answer to a question about the recording and export to TXT, DOCX, PDF or SRT. Large files, up to 2 GB, are easier to upload in the bot's mini app, via the Upload button next to the input field. The bot recognizes 100+ languages (the language is detected automatically); 60 minutes per month are free.