How To Record Audio On An Android Phone

Being able to record audio on your smartphone is a wonderful convenience. Whether you’re using it to record an important story or your newest song, knowing how to record audio on an Andriod Phone can be very useful.

How to record audio on an Android phone: To record audio on an Android device, use the phone’s built-in voice recorder app. It is normally simple and easy to use. If one wants an audio recording app with more capabilities, like audio editing, plenty of apps are available, such as Easy Voice Recorder or Hi-Q mp3 Voice Recorder.

In this article, we’ll discuss how to record audio on an Android phone along with the other considerations while recording, including background noise, audio quality, and where to store the audio clip.

Mục lục

Many phones have a built-in voice recording app, and Android is no exception. Every Android phone will have a voice recording app already installed on it called Recorder. The appearance and quality of the app may vary depending on the model of the phone and the version of Android you have, but it is easy to use.

How to record audio on an Android phone:

Open the Recorder app. A message will appear in notifications
Click on the record button.
Start recording the desired audio
To stop the audio, press the pause button.
Click Save or Delete
Name the recording for easy access.

Naming the recording, even if it’s something simple, will make it much easier to locate it later, especially if you have several voice recordings.

Of course, before you can record anything, the app needs to be granted permission to use your phone’s microphone and store files on your phone. You will be asked to grant those permissions when you open the Recorder app for the first time.

Although the Android Recorder app is great, it is somewhat limited in its abilities. There are many other voice recording apps that you can install on your Android phone that expand what you can do with them.

Other Voice Recording Android Apps

While the built-in voice recording app might work wonderfully for some, others might be interesting in a recording app with more capabilities. You can easily find a variety of voice recording apps compatible with your Android phone by going to the Google Play Store.

Here are some of the best audio recording apps available for Andriod phones:

Easy Voice Recorder (Also Pro)

The first audio recording app we will talk about is Easy Voice Recorder, which currently has a 4.7-star rating on the Google play store. This app is free but has ads, and some features have to be purchased. It records PCM and MP4, or AMR. Also, this app can run in the background as you continue to use your device.

There is also a pro (paid) version of this app, which also has a 4.7-star rating on the Google play store (link to check the price).

The paid version of the app has more features than the free version. The perks of the pro version are that it can record in more formats, automatically saves recordings to your dropbox or google drive, has an edit mode, and more. Also, you won’t have to deal with ads like you do with the free version. If these things appeal to you, you should consider buying the pro version instead of settling for the free app.

Smart Recorder

Next up, we have the Smart Recorder app. This app currently has 4.6 stars on the Google Play Store. The app is free, but there are ads, and some features cost money to use.

This app is fun because it offers a skip silence setting, which will cut out moments of silence, making your audio recording more compact. It also can record in the background, and the only limit to how much you can record is the amount of storage you have available.

RecForge II

This next app we will mention has a slightly lower rating of 3.9 stars on the Google Play Store.

Even though RecForge ll doesn’t have the same number of glowing reviews as the other apps mentioned, it is still a great app for those who want to do more with their audio recordings, like editing. This app allows you to edit your recordings, like converting them to different file types, extracting audio from videos, and skipping silences. This app fits the needs of musicians or singers who want to edit and post their audio recordings.

Rev Voice Recorder

Another audio recording app for Android devices is Rev Voice Recorder. This is only rated at 2.9 stars on the Google Play Store, but it offers something the others do not: audio transcription.

Audio transcription is a fun, useful feature that few audio recording apps offer. Transcribing is when the app uses an AI or other method to write out what is being said in the voice recording. This can be immensely useful for many people, and it saves time as you won’t have to listen to the recording later to transcribe what was said.

While it might not be as highly rated as the others, this app is one to look into if you want transcription capability.

Hi-Q mp3 Voice Recorder

The final audio recording app on this list is Hi-Q mp3 Voice Recorder. This app has a 4.4-star rating on the Google Play Store.

Like it says in the name, the audio recordings taken by this app are stored as mp3 files. It also boasts adjustable audio quality. A final perk of this app is that it will automatically save your audio recordings to your dropbox or google drive. However, this version only can record up to 10 minutes.

There is also a Pro version available for this app. The Hi-Q mp3 Voice Recorder Pro had a 4.5-star rating on the Google Play Store (link to check the price). This allows you to have an unlimited recording length and.

To learn about digital audio formats in much more detail, check out my article Complete Guide To Digital Audio Formats (MP3, WAV, & More).

Which Android App Is The Best For Recording Audio?

While some of these apps can get expensive, they are worth the money if you use them often. This is because of the extra perks you get, whether it be audio saving to your google drive, unlimited audio length, or audio editors. This might be a good investment for those who use audio recordings for serious hobbies or jobs, such as interviewers or musicians.

Also, many of the free apps have ads, which many find annoying. Another thing to know is that there may be hidden costs in the free apps. Certain features might only be available if you pay for them, even though the app itself was free.

In the end, it’s really up to you which voice recording app you get. It will all depend on your preferences, what you’re using it for, and what you are willing to pay for it.

Factors That May Interfere With Audio Recordings

Even if you have a great voice recording app, you might not be able to record great audio recordings. Sometimes the distance from the speaker will affect quality. Other times it’s just a low-quality app. Many other facts can negatively affect your audio recording’s quality.

Microphone Issues

If your audio is distorted or quiet, it might be because of microphone issues. One reason your mic might not be working is that it’s dirty. If dust and dirt have built up over your microphone, it will interfere with the sound quality of the recording.

Fortunately, this is an easy fix. All you need to do is clean your phone, using something small, like a toothbrush or paintbrush or something similar.

However, there are many other reasons why your mic might not be working correctly. It might be that the app is not up-to-date or the microphone is broken.

Background Noise

Another thing that will affect your audio recordings is background noise. If people make noise in the background, the sounds will be picked up by your phone and recorded. This might make it harder to understand the recording. This might not be a problem, but consider doing it in a quiet room with minimal background noise if the audio recording is important.

The App You Are Using

Some voice recording apps might not be the best quality or have problems that affect the quality of your voice recording. Another thing that might affect it is whether the app you’re using can run in the background and still be recording, even when navigating to another app and using the phone for something else. Many apps can do this, but not all.

External Audio Vs. Internal Audio

One of the first things to figure out when recording audio on an Android phone is whether you are recording external audio or internal audio. The difference between the two is rather simple.

External Audio

External Audio is sounds and voices from outside the phone, typically with the phone’s internal microphone or connected microphone. So, a child singing a song would be external audio, the same as recording part of a speech you were giving.

External audio is rather easy to record; there are typically built-in apps on your phone for this purpose. There are also a variety of other apps available on the Google Play Store that you can install.

Related article: Top 4 Best External Microphones For Android Smartphones

Internal Audio

Then there is Internal Audio. Internal audio is the audio from the device itself, like music. This audio is much harder to record because most audio recording apps are unable to do it. However, screen recording apps have the ability to record internal audio if your phone allows it.

Many newer phones have started to have built-in screen record functions or apps that allow you to record internal audio. Android 10 is a version of the Android operating system that came out in 2019. It allows for internal audio recording, so you don’t have to get an app to screen-record.

But what if you have an older Android phone? Well, you have a few options, but they are more complicated. A big reason for this is that Andriod 7-9 made it so apps couldn’t record internal audio, so if your phone uses those operating systems, then most apps won’t be able to record your phone’s internal audio because of the outdated software.

You could still try a few options, like routing your phone to a separate record (which sort of defeats the purpose of recording audio on the phone itself) or buying Mobizen Pass-Through Earphones (link to check the price on Amazon). However, these sometimes won’t work for your phone or have the best quality sound. If you really want to record clear internal audio, your best bet is to get a phone that runs Android 10 or a newer operating system.

Storing Audio Recordings

Now that you have your audio recording, you must store it somewhere. Some apps will store the recording on your phone, using your phone’s storage space. This is normally fine unless you run out of storage or your phone becomes lost or damaged.

If your phone gets lost or damaged, the recordings may be lost forever. This happens to many people and can result in lost audio recordings that can’t be replaced. Luckily, there are ways to prevent losses like this, other than just being very careful while using your phone.

A good way to prevent the loss of your audio recordings is to save your audio recordings to Google Drive or Dropbox. Then, they will be accessible even if you lose or break your phone. Some apps automatically back up recordings through Google Drive or Dropbox after inputting your account information.

When deciding which app to use, take their storage capabilities into account. This doesn’t mean that apps that save the audio recordings to your phone are bad, but you need to be aware that if you really want to keep your recordings safe, you need to find another place to store them and back them up periodically.

Of the apps mentioned earlier, Hi-Q mp3 Voice Recorder and Easy Voice Recorder Pro will automatically save your recordings to Google Drive or Dropbox if your device supports it. Another benefit to apps that automatically save these recordings to your Google Drive or Dropbox is that this frees up space on your phone.

This article has been approved in accordance with the My New Microphone Editorial Policy.