A good voice-recorder app is essential for students, journalists, podcasters, private investigators, list makers, and sometimes even the just plain paranoid. Even if you're not on this list, having one on your home screen can come in handy. I usually have two or three, since I rely on them for interviews and transcription.
When you search "voice recorders" in an app store, it can be hard to sort through all of the choices to find one that has exactly the features you need. We've done that for you here. I put in my own recommendations, talked to my colleagues at PCMag about what they use, and researched what else is out there. These apps range from basic, easy-to-operate choices to ones with a full range of features, including AI-based transcription, that pros will appreciate. Many of the apps are free, and the rest are relatively low-cost compared with purchasing a digital recorder.
One thing to note: For any apps that also handle transcription, there are privacy concerns—so proceed with caution when recording anything that you want to remain confidential.
If we missed your favorite, let us know in the comments.
Alice
Free; transcription services have pricing plans (iOSiOS)Alice is made for journalists but can be used by anybody. It's the best app for when you might have to record ASAP: As soon as you turn it on, it begins a three-second countdown to start a recording. You can tap the screen during a recording bookmark a spot and can swipe right to pause. Once a recording is done, the file is automatically sent to the email associated with your account. Since it's an app meant for journalists, transcription is key. AI auto-transcription is free for the first 119 minutes; after that, it offers three levels of pricing plans.
Easy Voice Recorder Pro
Otter Voice Notes
Free; Premium, $12.99 monthly or $99.99 yearly (iOSiOS, AndroidAndroid)Otters are adorable creatures. Otter is an app that transcribes live recordings, which makes it unique. I've used it for interviews, and it would be a valuable tool for those with accessibility needs. You get 600 minutes free every month; choose the Premium plan for 6,000 minutes, which lets you record Zoom meetings and get a transcription after it ends. And Otter's $20-per-month business plan can live-transcribe meetings, whether you're using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Cisco Webex.
Otter Voice Notes ReviewOtter Voice Notes Review
RecForge II
Free (AndroidAndroid)RecForge II records in mono or stereo. It lets you skip silences, start recording at a scheduled time, convert to several file formats, and export to a variety of cloud storage services. You can also use the app to extract sound from videos.
Rev
Rev App
Free (iOSiOS, AndroidAndroid)Transcribing interviews is awful, especially listening to your own voice. Rev offers a low-cost and reliable transcription service that's handled by humans, but it also has a recording app. The app can record in the background, which is especially handy. You can trim and append recordings. And when it comes to sharing, there are lots of options, including texting, emailing, or sending to Slack. It's easy to save a recording in Dropbox, Evernote, iCloud Drive, and Google Drive. For those who use Rev's transcription services, the best feature is that you simply press the Transcribe button to submit your file.
Say&Go
$2.99 (iOSiOS)If you just want an app that can handle a few quick notes to self, Say&Go is the way to go. The second you open the app, it starts recording. You can set it to capture messages from 4 to 75 seconds long, which can automatically save to Dropbox or Evernote or get emailed to you. You can manually send files to Google Drive, Microsoft OneNote, and other cloud services. And it lets you set up a recording as a voice reminder.
Tape-a-Talk
Free (AndroidAndroid)Tape-a-Talk has a widget that lets you record right from your home screen. You can save your recordings to Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, or Box Cloud. Frivolous but fun features include the ability to change up the color scheme of the app and to set a recording as your ringtone.
Voice Memos App
Free (iOSiOS)Yep, we're talking about the built-in Voice Memos app that comes with iOS. It's used by many on staff at PCMag. Although it's super basic, you can trim recordings, replace parts of them, and enhance them, while saving the original. It also lets you send files through AirDrop, text, and email; save them to your iCloud Drive, Google Drive, or Dropbox; add them to Notes or Todoist; copy them to Slack; or share them through other apps such as Signal and WhatsApp.
Voice Recorder & Audio Editor
Free, Premium $4.99 (iOSiOS)Voice Recorder & Audio Editor in its free version is a basic voice recorder with as much storage as your device allows. You can share recordings via email, text, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat, and upload them to cloud services including iCloud Drive, Dropbox, GoogleDrive, OneDrive, and Box. One thing that sets this app apart is that you can keep your recordings secure with a passcode. The premium version offers transcription using speech-to-text technology; you can test the feature for free. It also lets you add notes to recordings and gives you an ad-free experience.
Voice Record Pro
Free, Premium $6.99 (iOSiOS)This is the app to get if you're a podcaster, as there are a lot of pro features in Voice Record Pro. You can record in and convert to most audio formats; edit recordings; apply effects including echo, volume gain, pitch, speed, reverb, and distortion; and export and import to Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Box Cloud, and iCloud Drive, as well as export to SoundCloud and FTP servers. The premium version has the same features without the ads.