Voice notes on plans: the fastest flow on site

Voice notes on plans: the fastest flow on site

Documenting an issue by typing on your phone, in the middle of a site, with gloves on and in a hurry, is slow — and it comes out badly. That’s why most people end up taking a photo and leaving the explanation “for later”. And later, at the office, the detail is gone.

Voice notes solve exactly that: you speak the issue in the moment, pinned to the exact point on the plan, and keep walking. But a voice note is only truly useful if you can read it, search it, and copy it afterwards. That’s where the difference lies.

This page explains how to use voice notes on plans as the fastest way to document on site.

Why voice wins in the field

A construction site has conditions a keyboard can’t handle: gloves, dust, cold, noise, poor light. Typing accurately in those conditions is nearly impossible.

Voice solves that, and adds something text rarely manages: it keeps the tone, the urgency, and the intent. “This needs redoing” said in a hurry carries more than a half-written line. On a busy site, that’s often the difference between a comment that gets acted on and one that gets ignored.

The detail that changes everything: transcription

A loose voice note has a problem: you can’t search it or copy it. If it’s buried in a chat, six months from now nobody will find it.

In PinMy, every voice note transcribes automatically to text in more than 20 languages — including English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, Ukrainian, German, and Japanese. The transcription sits next to the audio, and you can:

• Read it without having to play the audio.
• Search it later by keywords.
• Copy it straight into your report or site minutes.
• Edit it by hand if the system misheard a technical term, a product code, or a tricky surname.

Voice stops being a message you have to listen to one by one, and becomes useful, searchable text.

And, above all, it’s nailed to the plan

Here’s the difference from a WhatsApp voice note. In a chat, the audio floats in the scroll: you don’t know what it refers to or where the problem is.

In PinMy, every voice note is pinned to the exact point on the plan: the corner, the joint, the specific element you’re talking about. Months later, it’s not “an audio somewhere in the chat” — it’s a note anchored to the precise corner of that bathroom tile, with its date and its author.

How to use it, step by step

1. Open the PDF plan or a photo on your phone.
2. Tap the exact point of the issue.
3. Record your voice comment — up to 30 seconds on the Free plan, 180 on Premium.
4. The pin is published with the audio and its transcription, ready to search and copy.

Voice works at every stage of a pin: as the first comment when you place it, as a reply inside an existing pin, or as the task you assign to a colleague.

What you can do today

Only features that are on the phone right now:

• Transcribed voice notes in 20+ languages, searchable and editable.
• Voice, photo, video, and text pins on PDF plans and site photos.
• Resizable area highlight to mark the extent.
• Kanban flow: assign by voice, follow, and close — with @mentions.
• Guest mode for subcontractors with no account.
• iOS, Android, web, and a Chrome extension. Hosted in the EU, GDPR-compliant.

Start with one issue

On your next site visit, instead of typing, speak. Drop a pin, say the issue, and let PinMy transcribe it. Compare how much faster you document and how much time you save copying the text into your report.

It’s free to start, no card needed. Also see how to document snagging walks step by step, or how it fits the day-to-day of site supervisors.

Try it free · Book a 20-minute demo