(Newswire.net — November 18, 2018) — Apple released iOS 12 on September 15, a big update to its mobile operating system used by iPads, iPhones, iPods and Apple TVs. The update introduced many few features and redesigned parts of iOS, one of which being its Voice Memos app.
The Voice Memos app in iOS has been a built-in app that debuted in 2009 and has been included in all versions of iOS from 3.0 onwards (known as iPhone OS 3.0 at the time). It was designed as a simple app to record short voice snippets, and has remained the same ever since.
In iOS 12 Apple has redesigned the Voice Memos app and transformed it into a more comprehensive audio recorder and editor. The goal appears to be to expand its use and allow it to be a far more suitable tool to record interviews and music alongside voice memos.
Among the changes in the updated Voice Memos app are several new settings. In iOS 12 the Voice Memos settings will enable users to select the audio quality between its ‘Compressed’ default, and ‘Lossless’ for better quality audio if recording music, interviews, or anything other than short voice memos.
Users will also be able to now select the duration before the Voice Memos trash is emptied, and set the naming convention for new files to either use location-based filenames or numbered filenames.
The Voice Memos app itself has been revamped as well and now features support for 3D Touch. Users with devices that support 3D Touch can quickly start a new recording or play the most recently recorded audio files by using it on the app icon. Another way to quickly start recording is to add a shortcut to the Control Center.
The interface of the Voice Memos app consists of a simple red button to start recording alongside a list of previous recordings. After a recording begins there are additional controls in the revamped app that weren’t there in the past, including the option to pause, scroll the waveform of audio that has already been recorded, and replace any audio already recorded by recording over it.
On iPads the additional recording options are visible as soon as the recording begins. However on iPhones it will require a light swipe upwards to reveal partial information and the waveform, and a full swipe to reveal the expanded controls.
Existing voice memos that have been recorded and saved can be edited in the Voice Memos app with several options to Trim, Replace, or Insert audio. While there is no option to use it as a MP3 merger or to join audio files, additional audio can be recorded into the memos.
It should be noted that the Insert feature is currently not available on all devices, and it is unknown what Apple’s plans for it are. Overall however the updated Voice Memos in iOS 12 is still much improved, and far more useful than its predecessor ever was at recording voice notes of all kinds.