How to Record Audio on iPhone and Android

Gone are the days when you had to spend fortunes on fancy equipment or rent a recording studio to get high-quality audio for your project! Smartphones have changed the way we record and share audios. Whether you are recording a podcast, an interview, or a voiceover for your video, your smartphone, and the right recording app are more than enough to get a decent-quality recording.

To help you effectively record audio, we’ve made a list of some of the most accessible and effective recording apps you can use for Android and iPhone devices. Some of the apps offer basic recording tools, while others come with features as advanced as transcribing. 

But before we dive into the list of apps, we made a short video with some additional tips to maximize the quality of your recording. In this video, we cover everything you need to know to record high-quality audio on a budget, from echo-proofing the room to dealing with the wind noise. 

How to Record an Audio on iPhone?

If you are using an iPhone, it comes with a built-in recording app. The app is called “Voice Memos,” and it offers all the functionalities you may need to quickly record audio with high quality, and then edit the audio recorder. 

Recording with the recorder app Voice Memos is surprisingly straightforward and intuitive to use. All you need to do is master several steps, and you’ll find yourself recording with the app in no time.

To begin recording, locate the app in the menu. The location of the recorder app may slightly differ depending on your iPhone model. In this tutorial, we are using the iPhone 11. The app is located in the “Utilities” folder.

Once you open the app, you’ll see a red circle button at the bottom. Press it to start the recording, then press it again to pause. 

Your voice recording will then appear in the list of audio recordings of the Voice Memos. Click the three-dot button in the bottom-left to edit the settings of the audio file. Here, you can copy or share the recording, duplicate it, or edit it.

In the editing section, you have the tools to trim the recording and remove or replace unnecessary parts, as well as add sound filters. 

You can then export your audio file to your device files or access it anytime from the Voice Memos app. 

In case you need more advanced recording features than Voice Memo offers, there are many other recording applications available for iPhone that you can try. Here are some of them: 

• Awesome Voice Recorder - Awesome Voice Recorder is one of the best voice recorder tools for iPhone. You can use it to record high-quality audio files in a variety of formats. The tool offers basic editing options, such as an audio trimmer. The application offers a background recording option, noise reduction, mono/stereo recording, and a large selection of other functions.  

• Voice Recorder and Audio Editor - This app does exactly what the name suggests - it records and edits audio files. The free version of the app includes high-quality unlimited recordings in multiple formats, cloud support, and sharing options. The paid version of the app unlocks transcription options and text notes. 
  
• HT Professional Recorder - HT Professional Recorder is a perfect app to use for business purposes. The app comes with Dropbox integration, sharing options, audio bookmarks, different levels of microphone sensibility. Another feature that stands out is the rewrite option, in case there are mistakes that you want to correct. The auto-amplify option lets you record conversations even in large and crowded rooms.
  

How to Record an Audio on Android?

Similar to the iPhone, Android comes with a pre-built voice recording app of its own. The app is easy to use and has a selection of basic functionalities such as cropping and editing. You can use it to get a decent-quality recording on the go without investing much time and resources.

In this tutorial, we give a walk-through of the Android built-in recording tool. Depending on your device, the application may slightly differ. We are using the recording app of Android 11.

To start the recording, find the “Recorder” app in the menu of your device. If you don’t immediately find the app, it may be in one of the default folders. If you are using Android 11, you can find the app in the “Tools” folder. 

If this is your first time using the app, you may want to tweak the settings to adjust them to your needs. The default quality for the recording is the “Standard quality.” To change the quality to high or low, go to the recorder settings from the upper-right side menu.

You can also choose the format of your recording. The default format is MP3, but you can change it to WAV or AAC. 

After you’ve edited the settings, go back to the recorder. Click the red record button at the bottom to begin recording. Before starting the recording, ensure that the microphone is close to the sound source and is not covered. Click the pause button whenever you need to pause the recording, and push it again to resume.

To end the recording session, select the grey circle on the right of the red circle. It'll save the recording and you will then be redirected to the list of your recordings, from where you can listen, share, or edit them.

The Android built-in recording app is an effective way to quickly get a quality recording. However, if you need more advanced functionalities, there is a large number of recording apps you can use. We’ve tried some of the more popular ones, and here is our top-three pick. 

• ASR voice recorder - ASR Voice Recorder is one of the most versatile and powerful voice recorded Android apps currently available in the market. The app supports a variety of sound formats such as MP3, M4A WAV, OGG, and FLAC. The app offers Bluetooth recording and features such as playback speed control, cloud upload integration, 32 bits audio depth, and audio converter.
  
• Dolby On - Dolby On is a powerful voice recorder app and is one of the market newcomers. Incorporating Dolby audio technology, it is an effective app to record studio-quality audios with your smartphone on the go. Some of the features Dolby On comes with is noise reduction, spatial audio, audio trimmer, filters, and many more. 
  
• Easy Voice Recorder - As the name suggests, this app is a simple tool to record high-quality audio on your phone easily. The free version offers various output formats, sharing settings, and recording presets for lectures, notes, interviews, and many others. Purchasing the Pro version will allow Bluetooth and stereo recording.
  

Conclusion

Whether you want to record a podcast, a video voiceover, or are simply saving a thought for later, make sure that you record high-quality audio. This will save you time and effort much later and ensure the success of your project.

In this article, we've collected a list of effective voice recording apps for Android and iPhone. Hopefully, they will save you additional work next time you are recording audio.