How to record audio on an iPhone using the Voice Memos app, and quickly edit or export your recordings

The Voice Memos app is easy to use and makes sharing recorded audio simple as well, making it an excellent tool for collaboration or sharing with friends.
There are also myriad iPhone apps available for purchase that offer even more advanced audio recording and sound edition features.
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A couple weeks back, I interviewed the host of a nationally syndicated radio show and podcast (Francis Lam of American Public Media's "The Splendid Table"). We had a two-hour lunch in a restaurant where music and noisy chatter filled the space, yet still I could hear every word he and I had spoken with perfect clarity on the recording I used to help me write a profile on the host.

The recording equipment I used? Nothing more than my iPhone and the Voice Memos app that came preloaded on it.

If you're wondering how to use the Voice Memos app on an iPhone to record notes, meetings, yourself singing in the bathroom, or any other audio, you'll have it mastered in just a few minutes. The app is straightforward and easy to use once you know the few steps.

Just a quick note before we dive in: while the Voice Memos app lets you make surprisingly high quality recordings of the sounds around the phone, what the Voice Memos app won't let you do is record a phone call. But that may be a blessing in disguise, as recording conversations can lead to a litany of legal issues, though there are several quality paid apps you can use to record calls on an iPhone should you need to.

And 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 record audio on iPhone with the Voice Memos app

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

how to record audio on iphone voice memos Steven John/Business Insider

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

how to record audio on iphone voice memos Steven John/Business Insider

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

how to record audio on iphone Steven John/Business 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.

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. You can also crop the edges of the audio file through the same "Edit Recording" feature.

how to record audio on iphone Steven John/Business 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.