How long can voice memos be on iphone

Sometimes you need to record a thought quickly or, perhaps, you're interviewing someone and only have your iPhone on hand. 

In either case, the iPhone has a great built-in app for this: Voice Memos. 

Using the Voice Memos app, you can not only record voice notes, as the name suggests, but also edit and share them with whomever you'd like.

If you are concerned that the Voice Memos app is too low quality or unprofessional, think again. Taylor Swift, Adele, and Mick Jagger have used the Voice Memos app on their iPhones to share song ideas or demo recordings with their collaborators. Sometimes these snippets even make it into finished songs.

Here's how to record and edit using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone.

Quick tip: While the Voice Memos app is quite good, it won't let you record a phone call. There are several quality paid apps you can use to record calls on an iPhone should you need to.

How to record audio on iPhone with the Voice Memos app

1. Locate the Voice Memos app, which may be in your phone's Extras or Utilities folder; it says "Voice Memos" under it and has an image of an audio graph.

Screenshot of the iPhone folder containing the Voice Memos app with the app highlighted.

Tap the "Voice Memos" app.Steven John/Insider

2. Launch the app, and note the large red circle at the bottom. When you tap that, a new recording will start.

Screenshot of the Voice Memos app.

Tap the red circle to begin a new recording.Kyle Wilson/Insider

3. To stop recording, tap the red square at the bottom of the screen.

Screenshot of the Voice Memos app actively recording.

Tap the red square to stop your recording.Kyle Wilson/Insider

And as far as the basics go, that's it — that's how you record audio on your phone. But there are a few other things to explore within the Voice Memos app.

Quick tip: For more advanced audio recordings, particularly those geared toward the production of music, podcasts, and the like, you might try GarageBand for iPhone, which singer-producer Steve Lacy famously used to record a track for Kendrick Lamar's Grammy-winning 2017 album "DAMN."  

How to edit and export an audio file on Voice Memos

To rename a recording, tap the word "New Recording 1" (assuming this is your first) and type in a name.

To add more to your recording after you stopped it, tap the three blue dots beside it, then hit Edit Recording. Scroll to the end of the timeline, hit Resume to recommence the recording. Just be sure you scrolled to the end, or you will be replacing audio rather than adding more to the end.

Quick tip: You can also crop the edges of the audio file through the same Edit Recording feature. Just tap on the square icon with two vertical lines at opposite corners (of the square) on the top right of the window.

Screenshot of the Voice Memos app edit options with the crop button highlighted.

Tap the crop button to trim the recording.Kyle Wilson/Insider

To share an audio recording, exporting it to apps or sending it to others, again tap the three blue dots beside a recording and click Share to open sharing options. 

Screenshot of the Voice Memo app options with both edit and share options visible.

Choose an editing option or export your audio file with "Share...".Kyle Wilson/Insider

Steven John

Freelance Writer

Steven John is a freelance writer living near New York City by way of 12 years in Los Angeles, four in Boston, and the first 18 near DC. When not writing or spending time with his wife and kids, he can occasionally be found climbing mountains. His writing is spread across the web, and his books can be found at www.stevenjohnbooks.com.

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Kyle Wilson

Kyle Wilson is an editor for the Reference team, based in British Columbia, Canada. Outside of Insider, his work has also appeared in publications like The Verge, VICE, Kotaku, and more. He periodically guest co-hosts the Saturday tech show "Tech Talk" on the iHeartRadio station C-FAX 1070. Feel free to reach out to him on Twitter, where he can be found most of the time, @KWilsonMG.

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Do you want to know how to use the Voice Memos app or record audio on an iPhone? Perhaps you’re a student who wants to document lectures for future study, a journalist who wants to record an interview, or a musician who wants to lay down some demos without the fuss of using dedicated music software. Regardless of the particular purpose you have in mind, using Voice Memos and recording audio on an iPhone is painlessly easy. It may not get all the attention other iPhone apps receive, but it’s certainly one of Apple’s unsung heroes.

Contents

  • How to use Voice Memos and record audio on an iPhone
  • How to optimize recording quality
  • How to use Voice Memos to edit or delete recorded audio
  • Deleting recordings
  • How to use Voice Memos to share recorded audio

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

15 minutes

What You Need

  • iPhone

This article will explain how to use Voice Memos to record audio on your iPhone. It will also run through some of the extra functionality offered by the Voice Memos app, such as the ability to edit and delete your recordings, as well as the ability to share them.

Voice Memos on Home screen

Voice Memos in Utilities

Voice Memos recordings

How to use Voice Memos and record audio on an iPhone

Usually, you’ll find Voice Memos in the Utilities folder on your iPhone’s Home screen. Once you open it, you’ll be taken straight to its main interface.

Step 1: At the bottom of the screen, you’ll see a circular red button. This is the Record button. Select it to begin recording.

Step 2: When you want to stop recording, select the Record button again. This finishes the recording and adds it to your saved Voice Memos. You’ll see an entry for it on the main Voice Memos screen. It will usually be named after the location in which it was recorded (e.g. “Digital Trends Street” or “Home”). You can change it by selecting the name of the file.

How to optimize recording quality

Obviously, it helps to know beforehand what you want to record and how best to position your iPhone to get the best recording results. Generally, placing the iPhone on a flat surface is better than holding it in your hand, since it avoids the kinds of wobbles and scuffs that can create unwanted noise. Also, it’s worth noting the microphone is at the bottom of your iPhone — so point it toward the source of your recording.

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How to use Voice Memos to edit or delete recorded audio

Once you’ve recorded something, Voice Memos lets you do a number of things with your recording.

Step 1: By selecting the More icon (which looks like three horizontally aligned dots) below your recording, you can bring up a menu that presents various options.

Step 2: Once on this menu, select Edit recording to edit what you’ve just recorded.

Step 3: Doing this brings up another screen with an audio wave graph of your recording. Just above this graph, in the top-right corner, is the Trim icon. Select this to trim your recording. You do this by dragging one of the yellow lines at either the beginning or the end of the audio.

Step 4: Drag it to the desired point, press the Play button to hear how it will sound, and then choose the Trim button to complete the trim.

Step 5: Select the Save option in the top-right corner of the screen to save the edit, and then select Done.

Deleting recordings

If you’re looking to free up space or eliminate an embarrassing or unnecessary recording, you can quickly delete voice recordings whenever you like.

Step 1: To do this, go to the main Voice Memos screen, choose the recording in question, and then select the Trash icon underneath it. Even after you’ve deleted them, recordings remain in the Deleted folder for a month before disappearing entirely.

Step 2: Access them by scrolling down to Recently deleted. Selecting this gives you the option of restoring a deleted recording.

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How to use Voice Memos to share recorded audio

After you’ve altered your recording to your liking, you can then share it to a platform or send it to personal contacts.

Step 1: Select the More button underneath the recording. Here, you’ll be able to copy and duplicate the recording or save it to Files.

Step 2: To share it, select the Share option.

Step 3: Select the app through which you want to share the recording. Another option to share recordings is to use Messages or AirDrop to send them directly to selected friends on your contact list or other Apple users.

How do I record a long voice memo on my iPhone?

How to record audio on iPhone with the Voice Memos app.
Open the app on your device..
To begin recording, press the red 'Record' button..
Press the 'Stop' or 'Pause' button to stop recording..
While the audio is recording, drag the small handle in the middle of the record box to maximise the screen size..

Is there a time limit on voice memo recordings?

No, there is no limit in Voice memos app. Just a 1 thing, it indepandeds in how much you have free storage on your device. It records when the screen is locked. The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list.

Can Voice Memo record for 2 hours?

While recording, you'll see a "Currently recording" message in your notifications. You can record up to 18 hours on a single recording.

How do I send a 1 hour voice memo from my iPhone?

Share a recording.
In your Voice Memos list, tap a saved recording, then tap ..
Tap Share, choose a sharing option, select or enter a recipient, then tap Done or ..