Introducing SMEAN 2.0: a new workspace, a consistent design, and full cross-device support
Today we’re opening the beta for SMEAN 2.0.
This is the biggest release we’ve shipped since launching in early 2025. It isn’t a model update - the transcription engine you already know is still doing the heavy lifting underneath. What’s new is everything around it. The workspace, the visual identity, and the way SMEAN behaves across your devices have all been rebuilt to live in one consistent standard.
What’s new in the beta
A redesigned workspace
For a long time, SMEAN was a list of transcripts. That worked when most people had ten files. It stops working at a hundred, and it stops working entirely when a team is involved. The 2.0 Workspace is built as a real working surface:
- Organize files into folders and tags
- Pin the documents you return to most
- Search across every spoken word in your account, then jump from a quote straight to that moment in the audio
- Share workspaces with your team, with role-based permissions and audit logs for clients who need them
The audit log piece matters for the ministries, NGOs, and healthcare organizations we work with - we built it because they asked for it.
A consistent design system
2.0 runs on a single design system across every surface: sign-in, workspace, settings, the marketing site, and the mobile app. Matched typography in both Khmer and English, an 8px layout grid, color tokens that switch cleanly between light and dark mode, and proper touch targets on mobile. The goal is that moving between pages doesn’t feel like moving between products.
The new identity leans into a Celadon Blue palette with warm oat tones - serious and trustworthy, but with room to breathe. If you’re curious about the thinking behind it, we’ll publish a separate post on the rebrand soon.
Full responsiveness across every device
SMEAN 2.0 works the same way on phone, tablet, and desktop. A lot of our users record on a phone in the field, review on a tablet on the way back, and edit on a desktop at the office. The product is built for that flow now - not retrofitted into it.
Everything else, refreshed
- More reliable speaker identification, with cleaner handling of Khmer–English code-switching
- AI summaries with citations back to the original audio
- Export to Word, PDF, Markdown, and SRT
- Background uploads from mobile so you don’t have to wait
How to join the beta
If you already have a SMEAN account, beta access is rolling out this week - keep an eye on your inbox.
If you’re new, sign up at smean.ai. The first 15 minutes are on us.
We’d love to hear what works and what doesn’t. The team reads every piece of feedback that comes through.