How To Extract Voice Memos From Iphone

Voice recording on iPhone and transferring audio files to the computer

The Voice Memos program

In this instruction, we will discuss voice recording and transferring audio files to a computer with the Voice Memos program.

This program is part of the pre-installed software set for iPhone. This is the program icon on the iPhone desktop:

Voice recording

Open the Voice Memos program.

To begin, tap the red button 1.

Voice recording will start. As you record, you will see the changing audio level meter and the working time counter.

For recording, you can use either the built-in microphone or an external microphone or headset. Control the recording level. You can control it by changing the distance between you and the microphone and the volume of your voice.

You can stop the recording by tapping the red button a second time. After you finish recording, you will be able to use the Trim function. 2. It enables you to trim the unwanted fragments from the start and end of the recording.

Tap that function. The diagram on the screen will change to show the entire recording. On both sides of it, there will be red vertical lines with little circles. 3, marking the start and end points of the final recording.

Tap one of the circles and move it to cut off the empty space on the diagram. After you have finished cutting off the unwanted parts of the diagram, tap the Trim button 4 and confirm the action 5.

To save the audio file, tap the Done button 6, in the new window, enter its name 7 and tap Save. The newly recorded file will appear in the voice memos list.

Now you need to transfer this file to your computer

Transferring a recorded file to a computer

The audio files recorded in Voice Memos can be transferred to a computer in the following ways:

Sync your iPhone data to iTunes
Use the AirDrop service
Use the iMessage service
Send the files by e-mail.

Transferring audio files by syncing data to iTunes

In order to sync audio files recorded via Voice Memos to iTunes, make sure this option is set up in iTunes.
To set up the Voice Memos syncing, do the following:

Connect the iPhone to the computer and open the iTunes app.
Tap the iPhone button 1 in the iTunes menu. This button appears in iTunes when you connect the iPhone to the computer.
Go to the Music section 2 and check the boxes for "Sync Music"3 and "Include voice memos" 4.

Then start syncing by tapping the Sync button 5, located in the lower right corner of the iTunes window.

When syncing iPhone and iTunes, the audio files recorded via Voice Memos are placed in a playlist by the same name. Tap the Music button. 6, to go to the iTunes music library, then select the "Voice Memos" playlist from the side menu 7. In the list of audio files, you will see an entry with the name of the audio file 8, which you have recorded using Voice Memos.

This is how the saved file appears in iTunes. However, the file is saved under an entirely different name in the file system. To see this file in the file system, select its line in iTunes 8, right-click on the mouse, and select the "Show in Finder" command from the contextual menu 9.

The file manager window will open, with the selected file 10. The file name reflects the time when it was created but not the file name it was given in Voice Memos.
Using the standard operating system means, rename the file so it will be easy for you to find it in the file manager later on. You can also move it to a special folder created for the audio files of a virtual museum or tour.

Sending the audio file by e-mail.

Select the entry with the audio file you want to transfer to the computer, and, in the newly opened panel, tap the Share icon 1.

From the available sending options, select the e-mail icon 2.

A new message window will open, containing the selected audio file as an attachment. The "From" field will contain your e-mail address, and the "Subject" field will contain the audio file's name.

In the "To" field, enter the recipient's e-mail address 3. This can be the same e-mail address if you use the same address on both the computer and the smartphone. Or it can be a different e-mail address. Make sure the message can be opened on the computer and the attached file can be saved.

Tap the Send button 4.

After you open the e-mail message on your computer, save the attached audio file in the prepared folder.

Sending an audio file via iMessage

The iMessage service works only on Apple devices. Therefore, it can be used only if you have a Mac OS X computer in addition to the iPhone.

You can read about iMessage settings here: https://www.apple.com/ios/messages/

To send an audio file using the iMessage service, tap on the entry containing its name, and, in the newly opened panel, select the Share icon 1.
From the available file sending options, select Message 2.