Phonetic Formatter is an offline iOS/iPadOS app that converts full English passages into structured IPA using the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, with sentence or word-by-word layouts and export to TXT, DOCX, or PDF.
Works fully offline on iPhone and iPad. No data leaves your device.
Choose the layout that best fits your teaching or study materials.
See how Phonetic Formatter converts full English passages into structured IPA phonetic transcription in seconds.
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system for representing the sounds of spoken language. It shows how words are actually pronounced, rather than how they are spelled.
Example: through /θruː/ · thought /θɔːt/
Each IPA symbol corresponds to a specific sound, making pronunciation clear and consistent across languages.
An English to IPA converter transforms written text into phonetic transcription, helping learners, teachers, and linguists study pronunciation more effectively.
This tool uses the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary and works fully offline.
Designed for working with real English text — not just isolated word lookups.
This section explains what each capability does, why it matters, and where it fits in real teaching, learning, and linguistic analysis workflows.
Converts full sentences and paragraphs into structured IPA while preserving punctuation, spacing, and natural sentence boundaries.
Unlike word-by-word lookup tools, this feature processes continuous text as a whole, which keeps real language flow intact in longer passages.
It handles abbreviations, numbers, percentages, and mixed punctuation without requiring manual cleanup before transcription. For real passages with names, numbers, abbreviations, or unfamiliar words, see how unknown words are handled in IPA conversion →
This makes it useful when working with real classroom materials, reading passages, or linguistic datasets rather than isolated words.
Each word is paired with its IPA transcription in a side-by-side format, making spelling-to-pronunciation relationships immediately visible.
This aligned view helps users understand pronunciation at the word level while still preserving full sentence context.
It is particularly useful for teaching pronunciation patterns, creating worksheets, and analyzing stress and syllable structure in context.
It also supports detailed word-level review while keeping each word anchored to the original sentence. Guide: why word-by-word IPA layout helps teachers →
Produces clean, structured IPA output that is ready for reading, annotation, and teaching use.
Consistent spacing, stress markers, and punctuation preservation keep even long passages visually clear and easy to interpret.
The format is optimized for study materials, lecture notes, and linguistic documentation rather than raw transcription output.
This ensures IPA remains usable for both educators and learners, not just phonetics specialists.
All transcription runs entirely on-device, with no cloud processing or external API calls.
This ensures that user input never leaves the device, making it suitable for privacy-sensitive or institutional environments.
Offline operation also provides consistent performance and instant response time, even without internet access.
It is ideal for classrooms, field research, and professional workflows that require reliability and data independence.
Convert English text into structured IPA in seconds.
Start your first conversion in seconds.
Download for iOS Get on iOSCreate clean, professional pronunciation handouts in seconds without fighting Word fonts.
Transcribe long-form text for phonetic analysis with 100% offline accuracy.
Understand the flow of real English sentences by visualizing the connected speech via IPA.
| Plan Details | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Daily Generations | 1 per day | Unlimited |
| Maximum Text Length | Up to 400 words | Up to 6,000 words |
| Display Formats | Sentence-based | Sentence + Word-by-word |
| Copy Results | Included | Included |
| Export (TXT / DOCX / PDF) |
— | Included |
| Lifetime Access | — | Included |
| Price | Free |
Open Phonetic Formatter, paste your paragraph into the text field, and tap Convert. The app transcribes the whole passage at once using the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. You can choose sentence-level output or, with Pro, word-by-word alignment. Results can be copied or exported to TXT, DOCX, or PDF.
Yes. Phonetic Formatter runs fully offline on your iPhone or iPad. All phonetic conversion happens on device—no internet required and no data is sent to servers. It works anywhere: in the classroom, on the go, or in areas with poor connectivity.
Absolutely! The app is fully optimized for iPad. If you have already purchased the Pro version on your iPhone, simply log in with the same Apple ID on your iPad and use "Restore Purchase" to activate Pro features at no extra cost.
Note: To protect your privacy, the app does not store any transcription history. All processing is done instantly and locally.
Yes, our tool is powered by the CMU Pronunciation Dictionary, widely considered a gold standard in North American English NLP. However, we've enhanced it with custom logic for better sentence-level transcription and stress marking.
Online IPA tools are ideal for quick lookups and flexible phonetic options. Offline apps like Phonetic Formatter are better suited for working with full passages, structured formatting, and privacy-focused workflows. See our comparison of Phonetic Formatter vs online IPA tools.
If you regularly prepare classroom materials from full passages, an offline app with structured output is usually the best fit. Phonetic Formatter is built for this workflow on iPhone and iPad, with on-device processing and export options. Read our practical guide for teachers.
Most IPA tools focus on single-word transcription. Learn how to work with full sentences, teaching materials, and real learning scenarios.
Work with full English passages privately on iPhone and iPad, even without internet access.
Read guide →Compare offline structured workflows with online IPA tools for quick checks and flexible options.
Read more →Turn full passages into printable pronunciation worksheets with By Sentence and Word-by-Word layouts.
Read guide →Learn linking, weak forms, reductions, and natural sentence rhythm through IPA examples.
Read guide →"I built this tool because I was frustrated with manual IPA formatting.
No tracking, no ads, just a tool that works." — Louis, Developer