If you’re the kind of person who finds it hard to remember things, keep reading. This handy little device from Plaud.ai could be the lifesaver your brain needs.
My Favorite Things
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Small and lightweight
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Can be used with the app or the physical device
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Good conversation summaries
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Useful notes
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Good battery life and storage
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Base plan: 300 minutes/mo
Annoyances
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Didn’t merge things exactly the way I wanted (but close)
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Learning curve is a bit steep
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Subscription required for many features (starts @ $99)
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Proprietary charging cable
A magnetic ring lets you attach the Plaud Note to your phone.
Plaud.ai
Key Features and Findings
I have a large household, demanding job, and a forgetful husband to manage so remembering everything I need to do is sometimes a monumental task. I wanted to try Plaud Note to see if it could help me with personal types of things, like keeping track of appointments or making to-do lists that were easy to reference.
Some features mentioned require a subscription. I signed up for the Pro plan.
Here’s what I found:
Notetaking, transcripts, and summaries: Once I got the set up completed and started playing with the device, it felt very easy to record with. There’s a button for recording phone conversations; when it’s off, you can speak directly into the device or the app. A written transcription will go to the app, where you can read word-for-word what the conversation or meeting entailed. From there you can generate a summary using one of four options depending on your needs: Autopilot, Task Assignment, Consulting, or Report.
- I think the summaries of my conversations were pretty accurate overall; it sometimes misunderstood me (I tend to mumble sometimes) but gave it the ole’ college try when trying to decipher what I said. Each summary is clearly organized into appropriate sections, such as ‘Themes’, ‘Takeaways’, or ‘Keypoints’. However, summaries can take a little while to generate, even when a short recording is involved. The screen does tell you when the summary is ready, though, so you’re not left guessing.
- Each summary typically also offers an AI Suggestion, which I found to be pretty useful. It might tell you that there seem to be unresolved issues from say, a meeting, or that there weren’t clear action items. Mind maps are also automatically generated for each summary, so if you’re more of a visual person you can reference those instead of written notes. Hit Full Screen and they are very easy to read on most smartphones.
Merging files is easy to do in Plaud Note.
SE Slack/Lifewire
App: To use the app, the device must be turned on. Once that’s ready, you just press the Start Recording button and yak away. When recordings are stored in the app, your generate the summary needed. Once you get the hang of it, it’s fairly easy to read, listen to or edit files.
- You can merge files using the app. If, for instance, you forgot something for your to-do list, you can make another recording and merge the two files together. The only issue I found there was that it didn’t always add things where I expected them to so sometimes it was tricky to find things. I found using the Pause button for recording an easy way to keep things organized for a single summary; I did use this feature frequently when making to-do lists rather than using the merge function because … forgetful, remember? The merged file will show up as a new file clearly marked ‘merged’ and you always have the original files as well until you delete them.
- There are additional features in the app that can make your life a little easier, such as AutoFlow where you can set custom rules in this area to simplify your workflow. Take the time to dig through them as you practice with the device to find options that best fit your needs.
- You can integrate Plaud with a limited number of apps at this time but a variety of integrations are promised for release in 2025. The desktop site allows you to make integration requests and offer suggested features, too.
Artificial Intelligence: Plaud Note relies on AI to do what it does. It’s taken a combination of PT-4.1, o3-mini, Claude Sonnet 4, Gemini 2.5 Pro, and other AI options to generate the transcriptions and summaries you see. It also has a help function that lets you ‘Ask AI anything’. It’s not voice-activated but it does give you specific help answers like ‘How do I merge files?’ so you aren’t traipsing around the app for answers.
Plaud Note generates mind maps for every conversation.
SE Slack/Lifewire
Important Specs to Know
Recordings
Dual recording engine with VCS
Exterior
Aluminum alloy
Size
0.12″D x 2.13″W x 3.43″H
Weight
30 Grams
Warranty
12 months
Memory
64 GB
Battery
30 hours
Languages
112
Cloud storage
Unlimited
Includes:
Plaud Note, base, magnetic ring, charging cable
The Bottom Line
For a recording and transcription device, Plaud Note can handle a lot. Priced at $159, it’s right in the cost mix with competitors. It offers easy-to-read and customizable summaries, phone recording or voice options, a related app that’s not terribly hard to figure out, and a variety of app integrations are in development so you will be able to use it with your favorites in the near future.
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