How to Create Voice Memos on iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch

To take advantage of all the new features in the Voice Memos app, make sure you are running the most up-to-date version of iOS and iPadOS. On iPhone, go to Settings > General > Software Update. If you have iOS 13.1 or higher, you're good to go. If not, install the latest version.

On iPad, go to Settings > General > Software Update. If you have iPadOS 13.1 or higher, you're set. If not, install the latest version.

Open the Voice Memos app on your iPhone and tap the record button to start the recording. The recording kicks off with a graph showing the audio levels. When you're done, tap the record button to stop and save the recording. Alternatively, you can tap the recording to display it in full screen. In this mode, you can pause the recording and then resume it, or tap Done to stop and save the recording.

The recording is saved as a voice memo. From here, you can play and pause the recording as well as skip ahead or go back 15 seconds. To give the recording a specific name, tap the default title of New Recording and rename it.

If you don't want to keep the recording, tap the trash can icon to delete it. If you change your mind and want it back, open the entry for Recently Deleted and tap the recording. Tap Recover and then select Recover Recording. Don't wait too long, though. By default, any deleted recordings are purged after 30 days.

Maybe you want to keep the recording but would like to edit parts of it. Tap the recording and then tap the ellipsis icon () at the left. From the menu, tap the command to Edit Recording. To replace parts of the recording with new content, move the recording to the area you'd like to replace. Tap the Replace button and record the new audio portion.

After you've finished recording the replacement audio, tap Pause to stop the recording. You can then move back to the start of the section you replaced and tap Play to hear the new audio. Tap Done if finished.

To remove certain portions of a recording, tap the crop icon in the upper-right corner of the editing screen. You now have two options. Trim removes the sections of the audio before the left yellow marker and after the right yellow marker. Delete removes all the audio within the two yellow markers.

On the lower yellow graph, move the left marker to the starting position and move the right marker to the ending position. Then tap either Trim or Delete, depending on whether you want to remove the sections outside or inside the two markers.

Play the audio to make sure you removed the right section. If not, just tap Cancel on the upper-left corner and try again. If you're happy with your changes, tap the Save button and then tap Done.

After you've finalized the recording, you can copy, share, or duplicate it, and perform other actions. Tap the ellipsis icon () for that recording to see your sharing options. Tap the Copy icon to create an M4A file of your recording and Share to send the recording via email or messaging app.

The file can also be copied to Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, or another storage site. Tap Duplicate to create another copy of the recording. Tap Save to Files to save it to any service set up through the iOS Files app, such as Box, DropBox, OneDrive, or iCloud.

Finally, tap the link to Edit Actions, and you can enable or disable certain actions accessible from the menu, including Save to Files and Save to Dropbox. You can also change the order in which the actions appear. By default, actions tagged as Favorites appear at the top of the list. Add all the actions to your Favorites and then press and hold on its hamburger icon () to raise or lower it in the list.

At the Voice Memos screen, tap the record button to start the recording. On an iPad, the recording displays full screen with the necessary buttons to control it: Pause, Resume, and Done.

The recording is saved as a voice memo. From here, you can play and pause the recording and skip ahead or go back 15 seconds. To give the recording a different name, tap the default title of New Recording and rename it.

To delete the recording, tap the trash can icon. To recover it, open the entry for Recently Deleted and tap the recording. Tap Recover and then select Recover Recording.

To edit the recording, tap the Edit link in the upper right. At the editing screen, move to the start of an area you want to replace. Tap the Replace button and record a new audio portion. After you've finished recording the replacement audio, tap Pause to stop the recording. You can then move to the start of the section you replaced and tap Play to hear the new audio. Tap Done if finished.

You can also remove portions of the recording. At the editing screen, tap the crop icon in the upper-right corner. Trim removes the sections of the audio before the left yellow marker and after the right yellow marker. Delete removes all the audio within the two yellow markers.

On the lower yellow graph, move the left marker to the starting position and move the right marker to the ending position. Tap either Trim or Delete, depending on what you want to remove.

Play the audio to make sure you removed the correct section. If not, just tap Cancel on the upper-left corner and try again. If you like the changes, tap the Save button and then tap Done.

After you've finished the recording, you can copy, share it, duplicate it, and perform other actions. Tap the Share icon for that recording. You can then share it as an M4A file with a specific person or through a service or app such as AirDrop, Messages, Mail, or Notes.

Copy the recording as a file to attach it to a message or document. Or edit the recording, duplicate it, and save it to Dropbox or to a specific online service via the Files app.

Tap the link to Edit Actions where you can enable or disable certain actions and change the order in which the actions appear.

You can change certain settings for the Voice Memos app by opening Settings > Voice Memos on iPhone or iPad. Review the type of access you want give to Voice Memos and make any necessary changes.

Tap the setting for Clear Deleted if you want to change how long deleted files will be available to restore within the Voice Memos app. Choose to remove your files immediately, after one day, seven days, or never. If you do nothing, the default is 30 days.

Tap Audio Quality to tweak those settings. Keeping a recording as Compressed uses a lower audio quality but a smaller file size. Changing it to Lossless beefs up the quality but bumps up the size of each recording. You can also turn off location-based naming if you don't want the location to be attached to your recordings.

Sync your voice memos through iCloud so that any recordings you make on one of your devices will appear on others, including an iPhone, iPad, and Mac. To do this on each of your mobile devices, go to Settings. Tap your name at the top of the screen and then tap the setting for iCloud. Swipe down the screen and turn on the switch for Voice Memos if it's off.

Voice Memos also now works on Apple Watch, but you must upgrade to watchOS 6 first. Open the Watch app on an iPhone running iOS 13 or higher. In the My Watch section, go to General > Software Update. The app will tell you if you're up to date. If not, let watchOS 6 download and install.

After watchOS 6 is installed and running, open the Voice Memos app on your watch. Tap the record button to start the recording. Press the record button again to stop it. Tap the recording to display it and tap the Play button to play it. You can jump ahead 15 seconds or go back 15 seconds.

To change the name, tap the default name and type your new name through either dictation or scribbling. Tap the ellipsis icon and you can delete the recording. Otherwise, the recording will sync to your other supported Apple devices via iCloud. You can always go back to the Recording screen and tap the Record button to create another voice memo.

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