How to take voice notes on android

Whether you want to make a quick memo, record a lecture, or listen back on your band practice, there are plenty of reasons to record audio on your phone. Most budget and top-of-the-line Android phones have a built-in option that can do the job, but they leave something to be desired. Be it the bland interface or lack of sound enhancement features.

You can download a third-party alternative, but you shouldn't have to sort through a sea of apps creatively named "voice recorder" to find the best one for you. There's no shortage of (well-named) powerful sound recording apps available. Some have features like sound enhancement, silence skipping, and real-time transcription.

With that in mind, here are some of the best Android apps that could replace the built-in recorder on your Android phone.

Otter

Otter is a powerful voice recorder that's laser-focused on productivity. It records with real-time transcription and transcribes imported audio and video. While most of the best features are locked behind a subscription, you still get access to five hours of transcribed recordings per month (with a 30-minute max transcription time per conversation) that can be exported as a TXT file for free. You can also join Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom meetings and capture and share notes with participants.

If you decide the subscription is worth it, you'll get a larger pool of up to 20 hours (90 minutes per conversation) of transcription time each month, along with the ability to export them as PDF, DOCX, or SRT files. You also get several playback speeds (from 0.5x to 3x) and silence skipping when listening to recordings, unlimited conversation history, and the ability to add 100 names and 100 other terms to improve the AI's understanding of names, acronyms, and jargon.

There are other useful features if your business or school uses Otter, like live notes and captions for Zoom meetings and automatic syncing of audio/video files from Dropbox and cloud recordings from Zoom. However, Otter is still worth a recommendation, even without those integrations.

If you need to get notes from audio or video quickly, Otter is the app you want. While it has no audio quality settings, that shouldn't be a huge issue, especially if you're turning the audio into text.

Monetization: free / no ads / IAPs from $9.99 to $99.99

Dolby On

Dolby On is targeted at amateur and professional musicians. What sets it apart from other apps is its built-in Dolby enhancement that makes your audio sound like you recorded it in a sound booth. It's also the only app on this list to record video and allow you to livestream, all with that same audio enhancement.

The app has a basic editing suite and the ability to upload directly to social media, as well as YouTube and Sound Cloud. If you want to take your music to the next level, Dolby On might be for you.

Monetization:free/ no ads / no IAPs

Easy Voice Recorder

Easy Voice Recorder gives you access to useful features, like noise and echo reduction, as well as tuned mic profiles for common recording scenarios. It even has a long-press shortcut to start a recording from the homescreen or app drawer.

While it doesn't have one singular thing that it's trying to be the best at, it doesn't do anything poorly and has a user-friendly interface. It feels like the blueprint for the next version of the built-in recording app.

Monetization:free / contains ads / IAPs from $1.49 to $3.99

Easy Voice Recorder Pro

In addition to the same features found in the free version, the paid version of Easy Voice Recorder Pro has plenty of quality of life and feature upgrades. Automatic cloud backup (Google Drive, Dropbox, and Microsoft OneDrive), silence skipping, gain adjustment, stereo recording, and an easy-to-use editor, to name a few.

Other recorder apps also have basic editing tools, but hardly any are as powerful, and even fewer are as easy to use. While the free version is good enough on its own to recommend, the pro version is worth buying.

Monetization: $3.99 / no ads / no IAPs

Voice Recorder & Audio Editor

Voice Recorder by J Labs is a joy to use. As far as user experience is concerned, no other recorder app was as simple or fun as this one. The UI is laid out like a vintage cassette recorder, complete with (optional) click noises when you use any of the controls. There are eight skins for the recorder, dozens of cassette skins, and the logo of the audio file matches the cassette skin you used in your recording. You also save by ejecting the tape.

Features outside the aesthetics are pretty spartan, only letting you change the recording quality (sampling rate), file type (MP3 or WAV), and save location. Don't expect much from the premium membership plan, which offers unlimited skins, an ad-free interface, and nothing else. However, this app is worth a try if you want something fun and aren't looking for any special features.

Monetization:free / contains ads / IAPs from $0.99 to $14.99

Pick an app and get recording

Whether your main interest is productivity, sound enhancement features, or just a quirky UI, our options have you covered. Download the one that tickles your fancy and get recording. It's one thing to tape your voice (or any external audio, for that matter), and it's another to record audio from installed apps on an Android phone.