Speech-to-Text with SpeechAnalyzer

Overview

SpeechAnalyzer is Apple's new speech-to-text API introduced in iOS 26. It powers Notes, Voice Memos, Journal, and Call Summarization. The on-device model is faster, more accurate, and better for long-form/distant audio than SFSpeechRecognizer.

Key principle: SpeechAnalyzer is modular—add transcription modules to an analysis session. Results stream asynchronously using Swift's AsyncSequence.

Decision Tree - SpeechAnalyzer vs SFSpeechRecognizer

Need speech-to-text?
  ├─ iOS 26+ only?
  │   └─ Yes → SpeechAnalyzer (preferred)
  ├─ Need iOS 10-25 support?
  │   └─ Yes → SFSpeechRecognizer (or DictationTranscriber)
  ├─ Long-form audio (meetings, lectures)?
  │   └─ Yes → SpeechAnalyzer
  ├─ Distant audio (across room)?