Support

Using MERA

Start and stop

Open MERA and tap the record button.
The first time, read the notice and tap Start listening. Then allow the microphone.
Allow notifications if you want MERA’s status and its “not recording” alerts.
Leave the app if you want. Stop from the app, or from MERA’s notification when it is showing.

The Record screen has four lines. Microphone says whether the mic is in use. Audio says whether the samples contain sound, or only silence. Heartbeat is MERA’s own check that the recorder is still running. If that check goes quiet, MERA treats the recording as stopped. Saving says whether the file is growing.

Permissions

Settings says when the microphone is denied. Open App settings on that screen and allow it.
If another app has the microphone, MERA says so. Leave that app and start again.
Silence in the samples can be a dead input, or another app holding the mic. On Android 8 and 9, that is the only sign MERA gets.
Notifications are separate. If they are denied, MERA says alerts cannot be shown. Allow them if you want the status and the restart reminder.

If recording stops

MERA does not start the microphone after a restart or an update. If it was set to record, it posts an alert that it is not recording. Open the app and tap Resume.

Force-stopping MERA in system settings leaves it stopped. Open the app yourself to use it again.

A battery restriction can stop the recording. Settings links to the system battery screen. Unrestricted makes a stop less likely. It is not a guarantee.

MERA warns when free space is under about 1 GB. A full disk stops the file from growing, and the Saving line says the file is not growing.

Transcription

Transcription stays off until a model is on the phone. In Settings, under Speech model, pick one. Nothing downloads until you do.

Small, about 43 MB. The lightest. Trained on people reading aloud. It can miss words, and it can write words that were not said.
Clear, about 70 MB. Trained on read speech, and aimed at clearer audio. Noise can make the text wrong. It uses more of the phone than Small, and the phone can run warmer.
Room, about 181 MB. Trained on read speech and on messier audio, including podcasts. It uses more storage, memory, and battery. It can miss words, and it can write words that were not said.

English only. The download is the model file, from Hugging Face, and it needs a connection. If the file does not match its checksum, MERA rejects it. Try the same model again. A larger file uses more storage, memory, and battery. File size is not a measure of how accurate the text will be. You can hide the live text without turning the engine off. Recording does not wait on transcription.

Storage and export

New recordings go to the app’s private storage unless you choose a folder in Settings. Choosing a folder moves closed recordings into it. The open file stays private until that hour is packed. If a move fails, the recording stays where it was and MERA says so.

After the last chunk of an hour is transcribed, those closed files and their transcripts are packed into one zip. The chunk length is 5, 10, 30, or 60 minutes. The default is 10. AAC is already compressed, so the zip is a bundle, not a smaller recording. If the phone cannot encode that AAC, MERA writes WAV instead.

Export is on each recording in the library. You pick the app that receives the file. MERA does not upload it, and the copy on the phone stays until you delete it. Search looks through the transcripts and notes of the recordings in the library.

Delete

In the library, delete the recording. The confirmation says the audio and its transcript are removed from the phone, and that this cannot be undone. If the delete does not finish, MERA tells you the recording is still there.

Uninstalling MERA removes private copies. A folder you chose keeps its copies.

Contact

Email me@mikewhob.com. Include the MERA version from the phone’s app info, the Android version, the phone model, and the steps that led there. Do not attach a recording unless you intend to share that audio.

The privacy policy is on this site.