Otter Voice Meeting Notes records conversations on a phone, tablet or web browser and within minutes transforms the recording into a transcript with searchable notes, text, audio, and even images. These audio files and transcripts can be saved, exported and shared with others.

Otter is marketed as an efficient and accessible way to turn conversations into smart notes that are searchable. Cool tool! There are many possible uses for a tool like this from a productivity standpoint, including Otter for Education. https://otter.ai/edu

However, this reviewer, who is also a parent of a child with an intellectual disability, used the free version of Otter to record and save a transcription – basically a written word for word document - of two separate IEP meetings for their student with a disability. The free version offers 300 minutes per month (5 hours of recording and transcription). This amount of time was perfect for the purpose of documenting lengthy IEP meetings with multiple attendees. There is a saying among parents and advocates within special education – if it is not written down, it didn’t happen. Let Otter empower you to document what happens during these critical meetings. A new feature, Otter Assistant, makes this even easier as it can be set to automatically join meeting links from your calendar to take and share notes in real time. Additionally, the automated outline feature will make remembering key points easier as it provides you with a summary after your discussion that can be displayed as an outline.

Set up: Downloading the app onto an iPhone 8 and set up from start to finish took about 5 minutes with another 10 spent on understanding the privacy policy and data security statement. One could easily start out of the gate by simply tapping on the Microphone icon at the bottom right of the screen to begin recording. For those who like a quick start guide and visual support to walk through features of how it works, there are two helpful short tutorials within the settings menu.

How it works: 1. Tap the microphone to start recording and use pause to take a break or hit stop to finish. Once stop is tapped, the Otter magic begins to transform the audio file into a word for word transcript with the notification “processing”. 2. Once complete, “Note is ready” will appear complete with the length of recorded time. 3. Tap on the Note. Date & time stamp appear at the header along with length of recording and keywords. The text reads like a script in a play with speakers assigned. If there are multiple speakers, each speaker is assigned a number, speaker 1, speaker 2, speaker 3, and so on. These can be corrected to speakers’ actual names in edit mode at any time. 4. The top navigation includes exporting, sharing options, editing and deleting options. 5. The bottom navigation has a “play” button, 5 second rewind and 5 second jump ahead, and playback speed options.

Once the raw transcript is exported into a text file, users can copy and paste it into a Word document or Pages or virtually any word processing software to edit and make corrections. For those who attend IEP meetings, there are many acronyms such as IEP, IDEA, PT, OT, etc. These can be corrected within edit mode so that the document can be used as a reference later. All in all, Otter’s accuracy is quite impressive.

Helpful features: Siri shortcuts can be enabled to begin and end recordings hands free using only one’s voice. There are a few settings with the free version that includes dark and light mode, enable Touch ID, sync photos while recording and preventing iOS Auto-Lock.

There is also the option to teach Otter custom 5 words, phrases, acronyms and names that come up in conversation frequently, such as IEP or proper names (the Pro Version increases unique vocabulary to 100). Users can share recordings, set up meetings with calendar integration and import contacts.

The subscription version of Otter also integrates nicely with Zoom meetings.

Privacy and data security: The privacy policy goes into detail on information and data collected, stored and used. One reassuring aspect regarding recorded material is stated here: “We train our proprietary artificial intelligence technology an aggregated, deidentified audio recordings. Only with your explicit permission will we manually review certain audio recordings to further refine our model training data.” Otter discloses information on storage that includes using Amazon Web Services, based in the United States. Also included is information about how to request erasing or deleting personal information as well as withdrawing consent for using data. It includes information about how Otter AI complies with the Eu-US Privacy Shield Frameworks and provides a link to learn more: https://www.privacyshield.gov/. It is also COPPA compliant and does not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13. Privacy Shield Notice updated as of April 8, 2020 and the Privacy Policy updated on May 20, 2020. Questions and support are available: support@otter.ai.

Please note: This reviewer is evaluating the free version of Otter AI, not the subscription version. As of the writing of this review in September 2022, Otter Pro is $16.99/month and Otter Business is $30/month.

Users with ADHD, Autism, individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, learning disability, dyslexia, physical disability, individuals who need help with note-taking, parents of students with disabilities, students with disabilities.

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