There are many situations in which you may need to record audio on an iPhone. You may wish to record a class lecture, a conference talk, a personal voice memo, or ideas for a song. You may even need to record a conversation on your iPhone for future reference. Regardless of your reasons, it is easy to learn how to record sound on iPhone with either a pre-installed or third-party app.
Every iPhone comes with a pre-installed Voice Memos app that you can use to audio record on iPhone. In this article, we will cover how to record audio on the iPhone Voice Memos app. However, this app comes with relatively basic features. If you want to record multiple audio tracks or add notes or transcriptions to your recordings, you will need to download a third-party app. Fortunately, the iOS app store includes many iPhone record audio apps. Later in the article, we will go over the 5 best of these apps so that you can pick the one that works best for your recording, sound editing, and audio sharing needs.
Here’s How to Record Audio on an iPhone Quickly
You can use your iPhone to record audio from the Voice Memos app. After you open the Voice Memos app, click the recording button to start a new recording. You can pause the recording at any time by clicking the pause button. To stop the recording, click on the stop button.
How to Name a Voice Memo on iPhone
Your memo’s title will be saved as the name of your current location, though you can edit the title later from the editing screen. You can also turn off location-based naming by going to Settings > Voice Memos.
Editing Your Voice Memo
After you record your memo, you can edit it by replacing or deleting a section of it. To edit a recording, click on it, then tap “…” and select “Edit Recording”. To replace a section, simply swipe through the recording until the blue playhead is positioned over the beginning of the part you want to replace. Then, click on the red “replace” button to re-record that section. Tap the red button again when you want to stop, then click “Done” to save the edits.
How to Trim a Voice Memo on iPhone
To trim or delete a section of your recording, click on the blue crosshairs in the top right. Yellow handles with arrows will appear on each end of the memo. You can trim from the beginning of the memo by dragging the yellow arrow on the left to the part where you want your memo to begin, then selecting “trim”. To trim from the end, do the same for the yellow arrow on the right. If you want to delete a section in the middle of your recording, you can drag the two arrows to the beginning and end of that section, then tap “delete”. Tap “save” or “done” to save your edits and finish editing.
Once you’re finished editing, you can share your recording by tapping “…” and then selecting “Share”. From here, you can share your memo with another app or save it to another location such as your iCloud drive.
Top Voice Recorder Apps on iPhone
If you need more features than those provided by the Voice Memos app, you can also download a third-party app from the app store to record audio on your iPhone. These voice recorder iPhone apps can provide more options for better audio quality, merging voice memos, multiple voice tracks, professional editing features, and more! Each app is best for a specific use case, so consider why you need an audio app before selecting one.
Finally, if none of the below apps work for you or you want to try audio recording with your computer instead, you can check out our article on the best audio recording software.
MultiTrack DAW is the perfect audio recording app for musicians. You can include up to 32 audio tracks on one recording. Audio can be recorded from a variety of input devices including the built-in iPhone mic, headset mics, and USB interfaces. You can have up to 16 inputs recording simultaneously! After recording, you can add sound mixing, trim the beginning and end, and move tracks around to achieve the perfect sound.
When you’re ready to share your recording, you can upload them to iTunes, export them to your Music Library or Files app, or share them over WiFi or Airdrop. You can also copy and paste files or drag & drop them into another app. Files can be imported using the same methods, so you can create tracks with prerecorded music and sounds. MultiTrack DAW costs $4.99, with additional purchases available in-app.
Awesome Voice Recorder is the next step up from the Voice Memos app, with additional features and higher audio quality. You can record audio on iPhone up to 48,000KHz in quality and for an unlimited amount of time. You can also record in the background while using other apps, so you can record a conversation on iPhone without leaving the call. Best of all, Awesome Voice Recorder includes noise reduction so you don’t have to worry about background noise getting in the way of your recording. Audio can be recorded in MP3, WAV, and M4A formats. As a bonus, you can even record using your Apple Watch!
After recording, you can edit your files by trimming or cutting them, adding sound tags, and combining multiple files. So, you can use Awesome Voice Recorder to merge voice memos on iPhone. You can also sort files into different folders for easy organization. When you’re ready to share a file, you can send it via AirDrop, email, or WiFi or upload it to iTunes or a file storage app like Dropbox or iCloud Drive. Awesome Voice Recorder is free to download, though some features require in-app purchases.
TapMedia’s Voice Recorder and Audio Editor app provides all of the same features as the Voice Memos app for free. However, what makes the app special are its premium features: transcriptions, text notes, and call recording. You can purchase transcriptions and notes as an in-app purchase. This feature transcribes audio recordings into text and lets you add text notes to your recordings. The call recording feature requires a monthly fee and lets you automatically record all incoming and outgoing calls.
Other exciting features of this app include the ability to password protect recordings, change playback speed, and add recordings to your favorites. When you’re ready to share a recording, you can share it via email, Messages, or a social media app or upload it to cloud storage.
Voice Recorder Pro provides everything you need to personalize and contextualize your recordings. You can record audio of unlimited length and with adjustable sound quality. After recording, you can add text notes and even photos to individual recordings. This is a great way to take notes for a class or work conference. You can also trim recordings, merge them, and add sound effects like echo and distortion.
Voice Recorder Pro also includes a multitude of sharing options. You can export recordings to a variety of apps including Google Drive, Dropbox, SoundCloud, and iCloud Drive. You can even export recordings to an FTP server or any web-based script. Recordings can also be sent to other devices over Bluetooth or WiFi. On your iPhone, you can share recordings with others over iMessages or email. Finally, you can convert recordings into movie clips and upload them to YouTube! Voice Record Pro is free to download but includes in-app purchases.
LiveBird’s Voice Recorder – Audio Record app is great for recording talks or class lectures. This is because it can record sounds up to 100 meters away! You can create high-quality recordings in WAV, CAF, and M4A formats. Recordings will pause during a call or other interruption and then resume afterwards. After finishing, you can trim your recordings down to the perfect length.
To share your recording, you can email or AirDrop them or upload them to Dropbox, iCloud Drive, or iTunes. The app costs $3.99 on the app store and includes all features.
iOS Recording 101
If you want to record your screen as well as audio, then you’re in luck. Check out our articles on How to Screen Record on iPhone, How to Screen Record on iPad, and How to Screen Record on Mac for all of your Apple recording needs.