Quick Links
Whether you just want to organize your thoughts or are looking to record an interview, lecture, or podcast, you need a good voice recording app. Here are some handpicked recommendations to get you started.
How We Picked the Best Voice Recording Apps
App stores are filled with dozens, if not hundreds, of voice-recording apps. However, not all audio recording apps are created equal. Sound quality, feature set, price, and overall user experience vary widely between apps.
That's why one of the first things we looked for while picking our recommendations was the user interface and general ease of use. A good voice recording app shouldn't require a big learning curve. And having a record button right on the app home screen is always a good idea.
But not everyone needs the same features. So our recommendations include everything from apps with basic recording and editing skills to apps that can tweak file formats, sample rates, and bit rates. And if you need a good audio recorder app with basic video-capturing capabilities, we have an option for that as well.
Finally, as most smartphones have a built-in audio recorder, most people don't and shouldn't need to pay for one. Unless, of course, you need a very specialized set of features. This is why all our recommendations are free to use. But that also means you may have to deal with ads with certain apps or pay to remove them if you want.
Best for Voice Recorder for iPhone: Voice Memos
Pre-installed on every iPhone, the Voice Memos is a great app for casual voice recording. In typical Apple fashion, it has a clear and simple interface that puts the record button front and center for quick access.
There aren't many features, but you can still increase or decrease the pace of the recorded audio and remove silences. Apple also includes an "Enhance" function that eliminates any background noise to improve the quality of the recorded audio further. Plus, you get basic editing controls to trim or replace parts of the recorded audio. And you can share the recordings with anyone you want.
In terms of audio input, both the iPhone's built-in mic and external microphones are supported. And the recorded audio is clear and crisp as long as you are in a reasonably quiet environment. So you'll have no troubles with the Voice Memos as long as you don't want to do too much within the app itself.
As you can expect, the Voice Memos is only available on Apple devices.
Best Voice Recorder App for Android: Google Recorder
Google has made numerous advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, many of which have shown up in apps freely available to you. Google Recorder is one such app that has benefited from the company's AI prowess. Apart from being an excellent voice recording app for Android, it features impressive automatic transcription capabilities. So it can automatically transcribe everything you are recording. It even attempts to visualize sounds in the transcription and can differentiate between speakers. The latter can come in handy when recording an interview or a panel of people.
Notably, the app doesn't need an active internet connection for transcription as it happens locally on your device.
In other features, the app also supports search and basic editing and allows you to share the whole or part of the recording with other people.
Unfortunately, the Google Recorder app is officially only available on Pixel phones. But if you have experience sideloading Android apps or are willing to get your hands dirty, it can work on many non-Pixel Android phones. You can download the app installer for sideloading from APKMirror.com.
More Than Your Typical Voice Recording App: Dolby On
From the house of audio giant Dolby, the Dolby On is a professional-grade audio recording app. It's feature-rich and includes a ton of options to fine-tune your recordings. In addition, it's free to use and doesn't require any accounts or sign-in.
One of the app's highlights is its auto enhancement of your recordings by reducing noise, stereo widening, de-essing, normalization, easy fades, and more. So the resulting recording is clean and clear.
You can also tweak the tone of the recording by applying one of the preset styles, increase or decrease noise reduction, or trim the recording. Plus, sharing and export support are available.
Although the app records in M4A file format by default, you can choose to record in WAV format by enabling lossless audio in the settings.
Interestingly, besides audio recording, the app also supports video recording and live-streaming to Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube. You'll also be happy to know that unlike Apple's Voice Memos and Google's Recorder, Dolby On is available on both Android and iOS platforms.
Features Galore: Awesome Voice Recorder
Awesome Voice Recorder (AVR) is another solid audio recording app that works on both Android and iOS. While its user interface doesn't look as clean as some of our other recommendations, it offers several customization options while recording. For example, you can choose to save your recordings in MP3, M4A, or WAV file formats. Similarly, there are options for encode quality, sample rate, and bit rate. You can also choose to record in mono or stereo.
In other features, sharing options are robust. For example, you can share the file over an HTTP server, via email, to a cloud storage service, and more. Moreover, the app allows you to trim, combine, or change the file format of an audio recording.
One of the most exciting and useful features AVR offers is "restart voice recording," which pauses a recording when you receive a phone call and resumes it once disconnected. But it only supports up to a three-minute pause, which is enough time to tell the person on the other end that you're in the middle of recording something.
Unfortunately, the advertisements on the app can quickly become annoying. However, there is a Pro version that costs $4.99 and removes ads.
Simple and Efficient: Smart Voice Recorder
Smart Voice Recorder is a high-quality audio recording app for Android that sports a clean interface and several helpful features. All recordings are saved in the WAV file format, but you can select the sample rate to adjust the sound quality and the resulting file size.
Like Awesome Voice Recorder, Smart Voice Recorder can also pause the recording in case your phone receives a call. Other features include an option to hide audio recordings from media players on your phone, mic gain control, and the ability to switch the phone to silent mode during the recording process.
While Smart Voice Recorder is ad-supported, the advertisements aren't overbearing and can be removed with an in-app purchase of $1.99. Moreover, as the app is part of the Google Play Pass subscription, the Play Pass subscribers don't need to pay for any in-app purchases to eliminate the ads.
Sadly, one major drawback of the app is the lack of editing tools. So you'll have to export the recording file to another app or your computer for any changes.
If you're looking for other software recommendations, check out our picks for the best to-do apps, the best note-taking apps, and the best alternatives to built-in Windows apps.