- Starting price
- 3 recordings free; Plus $6.99/month
- Free tier
- Yes
- Platforms
- iPhone · iPad compatibility mode
- Developer
- Artur Subbotkin
- Launched
- 2026
- Updated
- Aug 16, 2026
The verdict
Sermon Keeper’s best feature is concrete: record a permitted sermon, type a note, and later tap that note to replay the matching moment. AI transcription, summaries, key points, KJV reference completion, folders, export, and a camera-to-SOAP workflow add value without turning the app into a sermon generator. The first three recordings are free; Plus is $6.99 monthly or $64.99 yearly. Audio stays on-device except for temporary transcription processing, and transcript text goes to an unnamed AI service. The app is new, iPhone-only, and its website and App Store disagree about whether the annual trial is three or seven days. Get recording consent, verify checkout, and never assume a private worship service is automatically lawful or appropriate to capture.
Try Sermon Keeper ↗Opens sermonkeeper.app
Sermon Keeper is an iPhone note-taking app built around recorded sermons. Instead of forcing the listener to write a manual timestamp, it associates each note with the current point in the recording. Tapping later returns to that exact moment, making a brief observation useful even when the speaker’s surrounding words matter.
Paid AI tools can produce a transcript, summary, and key points. The editor also completes recognized Bible references with King James Version text, folders organize messages, and notes can be exported as email or plain text. A separate camera workflow scans a Bible or page into a SOAP-style study entry, though scanning and generated structure still require checking against the source.
The free allowance is three recordings in total, not three per month. Plus unlocks unlimited recording at $6.99 monthly or $64.99 annually. The marketing site says the annual plan has a three-day trial, while recent App Store notes say seven days, so the purchase sheet is the authority at the moment of subscription.
We reviewed the product site, privacy policy, terms, App Store metadata, and faith.tools listing without recording a live service or purchasing Plus. The privacy policy says recordings are primarily local, audio is uploaded temporarily for transcription and then deleted, and transcript text goes to a third-party AI processor that does not retain it after processing. The processor is not named, limiting independent assessment.
✓ The good
- Timestamped notes - one tap returns to the exact recorded moment behind an observation
- Useful free evaluation - three complete recordings reveal the core workflow before payment
- AI after the sermon - transcription and summaries organize received teaching rather than generating a message for the preacher
- Local-first audio - source recordings remain on the device outside temporary transcription processing
- Bible reference help - recognized citations can expand into KJV text inside notes
- Simple export - notes can leave the app through email or plain text
- Explicit consent warning - the terms place responsibility for lawful and permitted recording on the user
✗ Watch out
- iPhone-only - no native Android, web, Windows, or Mac workspace is listed
- Recording permission required - pastors, venues, congregants, musicians, minors, and local law may all matter
- Unnamed AI vendors - the policy describes processing but does not identify transcription and summary providers
- Trial conflict - official surfaces disagree between three and seven days for the annual trial
- Limited translation choice - Bible autocomplete is tied to the KJV rather than a selectable library
- Young product - long-term export, support, pricing, and platform stability are not yet proven
Best for
- iPhone users who have explicit permission to record sermons or lectures
- Listeners who want notes connected to audio rather than a complete church archive
- Students who benefit from transcript, summary, folders, and replay during review
- Users comfortable verifying AI text and managing local recordings and iCloud data
Avoid if
- Your church, speaker, venue, jurisdiction, or safeguarding policy does not permit recording
- You need Android, desktop editing, team sharing, church administration, or a public sermon library
- Named AI subprocessors, formal data terms, regional hosting, or enterprise controls are required
- A selectable licensed Bible library, robust cross-platform export, or mature support history is essential
What Sermon Keeper is
Sermon Keeper is a personal recorded-sermon notebook. It is not a church livestream platform, licensed sermon publisher, confidential counseling recorder, guaranteed verbatim transcript, theological fact-checker, or permission to capture every voice heard in a worship service.
The app’s AI output is derivative convenience. A summary can omit qualifications, a transcript can mishear names and Scripture, and a scanned SOAP entry can misread a page. Preserve the recording when permitted, compare text with the speaker and Bible, and correct before quoting or sharing.
Why a note that jumps back to the sermon matters
Ordinary notes preserve what the listener managed to type. Sermon Keeper preserves a route back to the surrounding words. That is valuable when a short phrase depends on the speaker’s explanation, tone, Scripture citation, or transition and can reduce accidental quotation out of context.
The feature also raises the stakes of capture. A recording may include music, prayer, testimony, children, room conversation, or a sensitive response. Start after permission is clear, stop when the message ends, avoid confidential settings, and do not distribute audio merely because export is technically possible.
Recording-linked notes: the reason to choose the app
The recorder runs while the listener types, and each note retains its place on the timeline. Playback can return directly to the relevant segment rather than requiring manual scrubbing.
Use headphones when reviewing in public, label the speaker and date, and export important written notes. Device loss, app removal, or local-storage failure should not erase the only copy of a valuable study record.
Transcripts and summaries: fast review with verification
Plus can upload audio temporarily for transcription and pass transcript text to AI for summaries and key points. The policy says uploaded audio is deleted after processing and the vendor does not keep transcript text afterward.
Check proper names, original-language terms, numbers, quotations, and Bible references. Never attribute a generated summary to the preacher without review, and do not upload a recording whose consent or confidentiality conditions prohibit cloud processing.
KJV completion and SOAP scanning: helpful, narrow study aids
Recognized references can populate KJV text, and a photographed Bible page can become a structured Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer entry. Folders and export complete the personal-study workflow.
A camera or parser can select the wrong verse and an application is not automatically faithful because it appears under a SOAP heading. Compare the text, read its context, and write the observation and response in your own words.
Pricing
Free
$0
Record and organize up to three sermons in total before the recording limit is reached.
Plus monthly
$6.99/month
Unlimited recordings and the paid workflow on a flexible monthly subscription.
Plus annual
$64.99/year
Unlimited use at a lower effective monthly rate; the displayed trial length should be checked at purchase.
Three recordings are available free. That is a lifetime-style cap for evaluating the workflow, not an ongoing monthly allocation.
Plus costs $6.99 per month or $64.99 per year through Apple’s in-app purchase system.
The annual plan saves about nineteen dollars relative to twelve monthly payments, but only if the app becomes a sustained habit.
Because official surfaces conflict on trial length, read the Apple purchase confirmation for duration, renewal date, and price before accepting.
Where Sermon Keeper falls behind
Name every transcription, AI, storage, analytics, authentication, and support processor, with data locations, retention, training terms, and deletion behavior.
Resolve the three-day versus seven-day annual trial conflict across the website, App Store, purchase sheet, and support documentation.
Add Android, desktop or web review, structured export with timestamps, backup restore, and a clear iCloud deletion guide.
Offer selectable Bible editions with visible licensing and a way to disable cloud AI while retaining manual recording and notes.
Publish accessibility details, recording-consent education, support response expectations, and a product-change history beyond store notes.
Sermon Keeper vs. Pastor Notes vs. a voice memo
A voice memo records well but does not connect typed notes to moments or produce sermon-specific structure. Pastor Notes and general note apps can organize written material across devices but may not provide linked playback. Sermon Keeper combines those two personal workflows on iPhone.
Choose it when timestamped replay is the decisive feature and recording is permitted. Choose a normal notes app when you do not need audio, or the church’s official sermon archive when you want an authorized recording without capturing the room yourself.
A responsible routine asks permission, records only the message, notes the official source URL, verifies the transcript, exports the useful written record, and deletes raw audio when it no longer serves a clear purpose.
The bottom line
Sermon Keeper is a focused young app with a genuinely better way to revisit a message: notes retain the moment that made them meaningful. The free three-recording test is fair, and Plus pricing is reasonable for frequent use. Its limits are equally clear—iPhone only, conflicting trial copy, KJV-only verse completion, unnamed AI processors, and the legal and pastoral complexity of recording a room. With explicit consent and careful transcript review, it can be an excellent personal study tool. Without consent, the clever timeline is irrelevant.
Alternatives to Sermon Keeper
Pastor NotesA sermon and ministry note organizer for users who prioritize written structure.Apple Notes and Voice MemosBuilt-in tools with strong device integration but no automatic note-to-timestamp relationship.
NotebirdPastoral follow-up and people-centered notes rather than listener-side sermon capture.
SermonlyA preacher-facing sermon writing and organization product rather than a listener notebook.Official church archiveThe safest source for authorized sermon audio or video when a church publishes one.Frequently asked questions
Is Sermon Keeper free?
You can record up to three sermons free. Unlimited recording requires Plus.
How much is Sermon Keeper Plus?
The listed U.S. prices are $6.99 monthly or $64.99 annually, subject to App Store region and tax.
Does the app record sermons?
Yes. Notes are associated with the recording timeline so they can reopen the matching moment.
Do I need permission to record?
Yes. The terms require appropriate consent, and laws, church policy, copyright, safeguarding, and bystander privacy may also apply.
Where is the audio stored?
The policy says recordings are normally local. Audio is temporarily uploaded for transcription and automatically deleted after processing.
Does AI train on my sermon?
The policy says providers process transcript text to generate results and do not retain it afterward, but providers are not named. Ask for current contractual details if this matters.
Is there an Android version?
No Android app was listed during review. The current product is designed for iPhone.
Sources & further reading
More Focus, Habit & Productivity Apps
EpistleEpistle brings missionary updates, partner responses and ministry-partner-development records into one thoughtful workflow—powerful for ordinary communication, but sensitive stories, donor data and AI coaching demand much clearer boundaries than a newsletter tool alone.
The GAPPThe GAPP gives mission teams a configurable system for recording activity, groups, churches and people-group context across offline fieldwork—capable operational software whose location-rich spiritual records require a threat model before a rollout.
Disciple.ToolsDisciple.Tools is a free open-source CRM for contacts, groups, churches, coaching and movement maps that organizations can control on their own WordPress infrastructure—an unusually capable system whose freedom transfers security and governance to the operator.
GlossaGlossa sends live sermon captions and translated audio in more than 100 languages to ordinary phones, with church-specific vocabulary and optional voice cloning—but leaders must test accuracy, consent, latency, privacy and fallback plans before Sunday dependence.
AtomsAtoms turns James Clear’s Atomic Habits framework into reminders, repetitions, identity cues, lessons, and progress tracking—an elegant aid for consistent practices, but a religiously neutral tracker whose privacy disclosures and cross-platform quality need scrutiny.
StelloA free desktop tool that sends each recipient an encrypted, interactive web letter from your own email account—thoughtful privacy engineering with deliberate collaboration and scale limits.