Use the Voice Memos app

: June 7, 2024
: Apple

Table of Contents

Use the Voice Memos app

Use the Voice Memos app

Record voice memos on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac. Then edit and share your recording.

Voice Memos uses the built-in microphone on your device to record. For a higher-quality stereo recording, use an external stereo microphone.

How to record a voice memo

Open the Voice Memos app or ask Siri to open it.
To record, tap or click . To stop, tap . On your iPad or Mac1, tap or click .
When you tap , your memo is saved automatically with your current location as the title.2 On your iPad or Mac, click Done when you’re finished recording.

All your memos are available on every device that’s signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID. Just turn on Voice Memos in the iCloud settings of each device.

After you record a voice memo, you can edit it.

Edit a voice memo

After you record a voice memo, it’s easy to replace a section, trim the recording, or delete part of it.

How to replace part of a voice memo

Tap the memo that you want to edit. Tap , then tap Edit Recording. On your iPad or Mac, select the memo, then tap or click Edit.
Swipe the waveform left or right until the blue playhead is positioned at the beginning of the part that you want to replace. On your Mac, position the blue playhead on the recording overview at the bottom of the app to select a starting place.
Tap Replace to re-record over the existing memo.
Tap when you finish recording.
Tap Done to save.

How to trim from the beginning or end of a memo

Tap the memo that you want to trim. Tap , then tap Edit Recording. On your iPad or Mac, select the memo, then click Edit.
Tap . Yellow handles with arrows appear on each end of the memo in the lower recording graph.
To trim from the beginning, drag the yellow arrow on the left to where you want the memo to begin. To trim from the end, drag the yellow arrow on the right to where you want the memo to end.
Tap Trim.
Tap Save. If you’re finished editing the memo, tap Done.

How to delete part of a memo

Tap the memo that you want to trim. Tap , then tap Edit Recording. On your iPad or Mac, select the memo, then click Edit.
Tap . Yellow handles with arrows appear on each end of the memo in the lower recording graph.
Drag the left and right yellow arrows so that they surround the part of the memo that you want to delete.
Tap Delete.
Tap Save. If you’re finished editing the memo, tap Done.

Want to share your voice memo with a friend or save it to a second location? Tap a memo in the list, tap , then tap Share. On your iPad or Mac, select a memo, then tap or click the share button .

Choose a way to share, such as Messages or a social media app. Or save your memo to another location with an option like iCloud Drive or Mail.

How to delete a voice memo

Tap or click to select the memo that you want to delete.
Tap . On your Mac, press the Delete key or choose Edit > Delete. The memo is moved to the Recently Deleted folder.

Voice memos stay in the Recently Deleted folder for 30 days and then are deleted permanently. You can recover a voice memo if it’s still in the Recently Deleted folder: