Engadget Guide Explains How to Record Audio on iPhone With Voice Memos

Engadget’s guide says Voice Memos comes built into iOS. Users can open the app, identified by a black icon with sound waves, from the Home Screen or by searching for it. If it was uninstalled, it can be reinstalled free from the App Store. To start recording, tap the red button; tapping it again stops and saves the recording.

The guide describes additional controls available during recording. Swiping up from the recording card opens a full-screen interface with pause and rewind controls. Rewinding can be used not only to revisit a key point but also to replace a prior section with new audio, so a misspoken phrase or sudden background noise can be re-recorded. A Plus button enables multitrack audio recording, though Engadget says this requires an iPhone 16 Pro or newer.

Before making many recordings, Engadget recommends changing an important option under Settings > Apps > Voice Memos. Under Recording Mode, users can choose Mono, Stereo or Spatial on supported models. Engadget describes Spatial as “3D audio” that sounds like it comes from all around the listener.

On the recording page, four buttons appear in the corners. The three-dot button at the top-left offers Copy Transcript, which allows pasted text in apps such as Notes or Messages, and Trim, which cuts unnecessary parts of an audio clip. The bottom-left speech bubble button shows the full transcript, updates it in real time as speech continues and lets users tap a word to jump back to that part of the audio.

The bottom-right button with three sliders adjusts playback speed. For mono or stereo recordings, Engadget says there is a Skip Silence toggle and an Enhance Recording option to “reduce background noise and echo.” For spatial recordings, users instead see a Studio Sound option and a slider to control its intensity, making a voice “sound more like it was recorded in a studio.” The blue button applies chosen settings; tapping it again saves the voice recording. If location services are enabled, the memo is named after the current location, and selecting the name allows it to be changed.

Engadget says the app’s listening and management interface is also straightforward. Recordings are sorted by recording order, with the most recent at the top. Tapping one plays it, while the three-dot button offers options such as sharing to another app, renaming, adding to favorites or viewing the transcript. The Search icon can find matches within transcripts. An arrow at the top-left lets users browse recordings by type, and folders can be created for organization.

Voice memos are synced across Apple devices through iCloud, according to the guide. Users can confirm this by going to Settings > [Your name] > iCloud > Saved to iCloud and checking that Voice Memos is enabled. Engadget also notes that iOS has a native feature for recording calls that is much smoother than using Voice Memos on another device.