Run optimized Whisper speech transcription models from the Arm AI Portal on Arm-powered Android devices
Introduction
Prepare the Android command-line tools for building Whisper Journal
Connect an Arm-based Android device and run Whisper Journal
Import and run Arm AI Portal speech recognition models on Android
Understand the Whisper Journal Android application
(Optional) Use a model not currently supported by Whisper Journal
Next Steps

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Arm AI Portal

The Arm AI Portal is a catalog of AI models across different runtimes, use cases, and profiles that are optimized for Arm-based targets. The AI Portal provides benchmarking and compatibility data, code examples, and deployment methods.

You’ll use an example application called Whisper Journal to run optimized Whisper speech recognition models from the Arm AI Portal on an Arm-based Android device.

Check the host development tools

You’ll use a terminal and a physical Arm-based Android phone. The setup commands install the Android SDK and help you verify the development environment before you build the application.

Before you run the commands, ensure your development machine has the prerequisite tools installed.

Open a terminal. On Windows, use PowerShell.

    

        
        

git --version
java -version
javac -version
python3 --version
python3 -m pip --version
curl --version
unzip -v
  

    

    

        
        

git --version
java -version
javac -version
python --version
python -m pip --version
$PSVersionTable.PSVersion

Install any missing host tools before continuing. The Java compiler version should be 17 or later.

Note

You can open the cloned project in Android Studio and run it on a connected phone or an Android Virtual Device (AVD). If you use an AVD, select a recent system image that supports the application’s arm64-v8a native libraries. An emulator is useful for functional testing, but its microphone behavior and performance aren’t representative of a physical phone.

Install the Android command-line tools

The following commands download Google’s Android SDK Command-Line Tools , verify the pinned archive checksum, and place the tools under ANDROID_HOME:

    

        
        

if [ -z "${ANDROID_HOME:-}" ]; then
    case "$(uname -s)" in
        Darwin) export ANDROID_HOME="$HOME/Library/Android/sdk" ;;
        Linux) export ANDROID_HOME="$HOME/Android/Sdk" ;;
        *) printf 'Unsupported operating system.\n' >&2; false ;;
    esac
fi

case "$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" in
    Darwin-arm64)
        android_cli_archive="commandlinetools-mac_arm64-15859902_latest.zip"
        android_cli_sha256="835b62a26162b229b441d1f6d4680383815a270809eb33522c0d480fa5002c4e"
        ;;
    Darwin-x86_64)
        android_cli_archive="commandlinetools-mac_x86_64-15859902_latest.zip"
        android_cli_sha256="c5a6378ab5cf7e0d5701921405115befff13e9ff7417fb588389338f8bd050f3"
        ;;
    Linux-*)
        android_cli_archive="commandlinetools-linux-15859902_latest.zip"
        android_cli_sha256="4e4c464f145a7512b57d088ac6c278c03c9eea610886b35a5e0804e74eedf583"
        ;;
    *) printf 'No Android command-line archive is configured for this computer.\n' >&2; false ;;
esac

android_cli_temp="$(mktemp -d)"
curl --fail --location \
    "https://dl.google.com/android/repository/$android_cli_archive" \
    --output "$android_cli_temp/$android_cli_archive"

if command -v sha256sum >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    printf '%s  %s\n' "$android_cli_sha256" "$android_cli_temp/$android_cli_archive" |
        sha256sum --check
else
    printf '%s  %s\n' "$android_cli_sha256" "$android_cli_temp/$android_cli_archive" |
        shasum -a 256 -c
fi || {
    printf 'Android command-line tools checksum verification failed.\n' >&2
    exit 1
}

unzip -q "$android_cli_temp/$android_cli_archive" -d "$android_cli_temp"
mkdir -p "$ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/latest"
cp -R "$android_cli_temp/cmdline-tools/." "$ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/latest/"

export PATH="$ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/latest/bin:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools:$PATH"
  

    

    

        
        

if (-not $env:ANDROID_HOME) {
    $env:ANDROID_HOME = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Android\Sdk"
}

$androidCliArchive = "commandlinetools-win-15859902_latest.zip"
$androidCliSha256 = "90ae805d20434428bffcb699c290860f19bb5f66a67e6b330067e3de801fb04a"
$androidCliUrl = "https://dl.google.com/android/repository/$androidCliArchive"
$androidCliTemp = Join-Path $env:TEMP "android-cli-$([guid]::NewGuid())"
$androidCliZip = Join-Path $androidCliTemp $androidCliArchive

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $androidCliTemp | Out-Null

curl.exe -fL --retry 3 `
    --output $androidCliZip `
    $androidCliUrl

$actualSha256 = (Get-FileHash $androidCliZip -Algorithm SHA256).Hash.ToLower()
if ($actualSha256 -ne $androidCliSha256) {
    throw "Android command-line tools checksum verification failed."
}

Expand-Archive -Path $androidCliZip -DestinationPath $androidCliTemp
$latestTools = Join-Path $env:ANDROID_HOME "cmdline-tools\latest"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $latestTools | Out-Null
Copy-Item -Path "$androidCliTemp\cmdline-tools\*" `
    -Destination $latestTools -Recurse -Force

$env:Path = "$latestTools\bin;$env:ANDROID_HOME\platform-tools;$env:Path"

If you already have an SDK in ANDROID_HOME, the commands reuse that location.

The export commands and PowerShell environment assignments apply to the current terminal. Continue in the same terminal. If you use a new terminal, set ANDROID_HOME to the same directory and add cmdline-tools/latest/bin and platform-tools to PATH again.

Install and verify the required SDK packages

Review and accept the Android SDK licenses when prompted. Then install Platform-Tools, Android SDK Platform 35, and Build-Tools 34.0.0:

    

        
        

sdkmanager --sdk_root="$ANDROID_HOME" --licenses
sdkmanager --sdk_root="$ANDROID_HOME" \
    "platform-tools" \
    "platforms;android-35" \
    "build-tools;34.0.0"

sdkmanager --version
adb version
test -d "$ANDROID_HOME/platforms/android-35"
test -d "$ANDROID_HOME/build-tools/34.0.0"
  

    

    

        
        

sdkmanager.bat "--sdk_root=$env:ANDROID_HOME" --licenses
sdkmanager.bat "--sdk_root=$env:ANDROID_HOME" `
    "platform-tools" `
    "platforms;android-35" `
    "build-tools;34.0.0"

sdkmanager.bat --version
adb version
Test-Path "$env:ANDROID_HOME\platforms\android-35"
Test-Path "$env:ANDROID_HOME\build-tools\34.0.0"

The final two checks return no output on macOS or Linux when the directories exist. On Windows, both checks should return True. Resolve a missing directory before continuing.

What you’ve accomplished and what’s next

You’ve now installed the Android command-line tools and verified the required SDK packages.

Next, you’ll connect an Arm-based Android phone and build Whisper Journal.

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