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HOW TO: Get your Voice Memos onto a Mac

DrumsOfGrohl

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voice-memos.png

I like to record my band practices using Voice Memos on my iPhone 6, and I’ve tried a bunch of different ways, all with their pros and cons. The best way I’ve found to do this is using iTunes and syncing your phone. Other ways you can transfer your voice memos are via text or email, or using other apps, like Evernote. There are probably more ways, but none that I have tried. If you have a better way, or just another way, please don’t hesitate to comment on this thread. But for now, let me show you my process.

iTunes

This will only work if you’re using your primary computer that you have paired with your iPhone. You’ll have to sync your phone with your computer, so if you’re not using your primary computer, you’ll end up having to delete a bunch of stuff (music, photos, etc) from your iPhone.

Assuming you are using your primary computer, first thing to do is

1. Plug your iPhone into the Mac (you can also use wifi-sync) and open iTunes (if it doesn’t automatically open).
2. Once your iPhone is recognized, click the iPhone icon in the top left corner of iTunes.

iPhoneIcon.png

3. On the left hand side bar, click ‘Music’ under the ‘Settings’ section.

SettingsMusic.png

4. Click the checkbox that reads “Sync Voice Memos”

SyncVoiceMemos1.png

5. Click ‘Sync’ to synch your iPhone with your Mac.

Sync.png

After the sync is complete, all of your voice memos are now on your Mac. This is how you locate them:

6. Go to the music section of iTunes by clicking the Music icon in the top left bar.

MusicIcon.png

7. If you’re not already in the ‘My Music’ screen, click ‘My Music,’ located in the middle top of your screen.

MyMusic.png

8. View your library by genre by clicking the dropdown menu at the top right of your page. If you’re having trouble finding it, it probably says “Songs,” “Artists,” “Albums,” or “Genres.”

Genres.png

9. Scroll through your list of genres on the left of the screen to the bottom and click the genre called “Voice Memo”.

VoiceMemoGenre.png

10. You will now see all of your voice memos displayed here!


Text/Email/Evernote

The big issue with this one is that you can not send large files this way. I’ve found that any voice memo around 20 minutes or less works fine. If you have longer voice memos that need to make it to your computer, you’ll have to break them up into smaller segments (I’ll show you how to do this, as well**).

1. Open the Voice Memos app on your iPhone.

voice-memos.png

2. Tap the name of the voice memo you’d like transferred. (**If you need to cut up your voice memo because the file is too large, skip to the next section and then come back after you’ve completed those steps.)
3. Tap the Share icon on the left side, just under the Play icon.

VoiceMemoShare1.png

4. You have the option to select Message, Mail, Notes, or possibly Evernote (if you’ve downloaded the app). You might also have some other options here that I won’t go into, but for example, I have the options to use either Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp as well.

VoiceMemoShare.PNG

5. If you’ve selected Message, text yourself the voice memo, and open the Messages app on your computer to receive it, and then drag the file onto your desktop (or anywhere you want to store it). The same idea works if you opted to use Mail. You can use Evernote to the same effect, and open Evernote on your Mac.

**If you need to cut up your voice memo because the file is too large, here’s how you do it:

1.
After you’ve selected the voice memo, click “Edit.”

VoiceMemoEdit2.png

2. Click the Trim icon on the right.

VoiceMemoTrim.PNG

3. Drag the red vertical markers (I usually start with the ending marker on the right) so that the selection you’re highlighting is around or shorter than 20 minutes. Keep in mind you’ll probably want to make sure the cut off point isn’t in middle of a thought (or in my case, a song). Also, 20 minutes isn’t an official measure, it’s just a marker that has worked well for me. Your experience may differ.

VoiceMemoTrim1.PNG

4. Click “Trim.
5. Click “Save As New Recording.
6. You now have a new voice memo that is called “[Voice Memo Name] Copy.” If you do this multiple times, your iPhone will add a number (2,3) to the end of the name.
7. Tap the new shorter copy of your voice memo.
8. Return to number 3 above.
 
Last edited:
I transferring my Voice Memos onto Mac by "iExplorer App" it's awesome and easy too :)



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I transferring my Voice Memos onto Mac by "iExplorer App" it's awesome and easy too :)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I just looked at the app (btw, is it 'iExplorer Mobile' that you use?) and it seems like you have to use the app to record messages. Meaning, you cant use the native Voice Memos app, you have to record the voice memo using iExplorer.

That being said, this looks like a great alternative.
 
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