Qualitative analysis for Mac and Windows

Transcribe, analyse,
reflect, export.

One private place for your whole study. Transcription runs on your computer, and your interviews never leave it.

Free for 14 days · No card · Mac and Windows

QualBuddy in 25 seconds · Read the film’s words

Tired of your interpretative phenomenological analysis? Your reflexive thematic analysis, framework analysis, grounded theory, narrative analysis, qualitative content analysis? QualBuddy’s got you. Tired of transcribing? Tired of coding in Word? Losing your notes? Centralised. Project-driven. Methodologically aligned. Locally transcribed. QualBuddy. Free for 14 days. No card.

Built for your method.

Private by design

Your interviews
never leave your computer.

Transcribed on your computer

Transcription and speaker labels run on your computer. There is nothing to upload and no server to wait for.

Never uploaded

QualBuddy never sends your recordings or their words. They stay where you keep them.

Kept with your study

Recordings, transcripts, notes and pseudonym maps are stored on your computer, together, in one study.

How QualBuddy handles your data

A one-stop shop for your analysis

One study.
Every step.

  1. QualBuddy creating a transcript of an interview, with the note "Working locally on this Mac".

    01Transcribe

    Recordings into transcripts, on your computer.

    Speaker labels included. Listen back as each word lights up, and put right anything misheard.

  2. A reflexive thematic analysis map in QualBuddy: theme cards with their central ideas, codes beneath them.

    02Analyse

    Stay close
    to the words.

    Code, note and build themes in a workspace made for your method, with every passage a click away.

  3. The reflexive diary in QualBuddy, with saved reflections linked to interviews.

    03Reflect

    Keep your thinking in view.

    A reflexive diary and memos sit beside the analysis, linked to the interviews they are about.

  4. The first page of findings exported from QualBuddy to Word, with quotations and their sources.

    04Export

    Write up with your evidence.

    Draft your findings with chosen quotations in place, then export to Word or Markdown.

Actual app screens. Fictional interviews and prewritten analysis.

A little space to think

Ideas, connected.

Drag a bubble. Explore a quote.
Give an ES a theme—or leave it open.

Alex · Returning to studyIPA · fictional example

PETESUnassigned ES
About this example & full text

This is a simplified browser example using fictional interview material. It is not a screenshot of the desktop app. PETs group experiential statements; unassigned statements remain open for interpretation. No GETs are shown for this single participant.

Drag to arrange. Select an ES to change its theme. Keyboard: Enter selects; arrow keys move. List view offers the same relationships and quotes. Changes stay in this example and Reset restores the starting arrangement.

ES 1 · Holding back questions to protect a fragile sense of competence

“I had a question ready, but I kept thinking everyone else would find it obvious, so I stayed quiet.”

P01 · line 2 · Initial theme: Trying to belong without exposing uncertainty

ES 2 · Experiencing others’ silence as a challenge to belonging

“When nobody answered my comment, I went home wondering whether I belonged there at all.”

P01 · line 3 · Initial theme: Trying to belong without exposing uncertainty

ES 3 · Making preparation an anchor before entering the group

“Reading my notes on the bus gave me something to hold on to before I walked into the room.”

P01 · line 5 · Initial theme: Finding steadiness through preparation and recognition

ES 4 · Feeling recognised makes speaking feel more possible

“The tutor remembered what I had said the week before. After that, I found it easier to speak.”

P01 · line 6 · Initial theme: Finding steadiness through preparation and recognition

ES 5 · Feeling caught between familiar routines and a new student identity

“At home I knew exactly what was expected of me. At university I was still working out who I could be.”

P01 · line 7 · Initial theme: Unassigned

ES 6 · Making space for study feels like claiming something for oneself

“That hour in the library was the first bit of the week that felt like it belonged to me.”

P01 · line 8 · Initial theme: Unassigned

The details that support the work

Listen closely.
Find your own rhythm.

Qualitative work takes time and attention. From a recognisable voice to a quieter page, QualBuddy gives you choices about how you spend that time.

QualBuddy’s audio player with Rowan’s chosen avatar in front of the interviewer’s initials, a speaking indicator and coloured marks along the recording.
Speaker avatars, a voice that lights the player, and moments you can return to. Actual app screen with a fictional interview. View full size ↗

Speaker avatars

Keep each voice recognisable.

Choose or customise a pixel avatar, or keep initials. Participant and interviewer avatars come forward as their turn plays, with a gentle ring around the speaker — a familiar point of reference as you move between accounts.

Focus mode

Give the passage more room.

Let the navigation step away and bring the interview into focus. Read, annotate and keep listening with the controls you need close by, so more of the screen belongs to the work in front of you.

Follow the voice

See the connection light up.

As the recording plays, spoken words become more prominent and linked annotations gently light up. Point to an annotation to see its passage. Move between the voice, the words and your interpretation without losing the connection.

Pomodoro-style focus

Make time for a manageable session.

Start a 25-minute session in Focus Harvest, choose 50 minutes or set your own length. Pause or resume when you need to, then take a break at your own pace. Finish a planned session to collect a honey jar for each 25-minute block.

Again & Note a moment

Return to what caught your attention.

Replay the sentence with Again, or save a thought at its place in the recording with Note a moment. Come back to an observation while keeping the surrounding voice and context within reach.

A quiet way to listen

Let the voice come to the foreground.

Choose a quieter listening view in IPA or reflexive TA. Other turns and existing marks recede during playback and return when you pause, giving you space to listen again before adding to your interpretation.

Audio-follow features use the recording and available timing information. Focus Harvest is an optional personal timer; you choose when to work and when to take a break.

Start now.
Free for 14 days.

No card and no automatic charges. Everything is open for the full 14 days, with 3 hours of transcription.