Record audio on your Pixel phone

You can record and save audio, turn your speech into searchable words on your screen and search through recorded audio files. The Recorder app works on Pixel 3 and later Pixel phones.

Available languages for real-time transcription

  • Pixel 3 to Pixel 5a: US English, British English, Singaporean English, Irish English, Australian English, Japanese, German, French
  • Pixel 6 and later, including Fold: US English, British English, Singaporean English, Irish English, Australian English, Japanese, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Latin American Spanish, Canadian French, Indian English, Mandarin Chinese and Hindi.
Record audio | Pixel

Create or delete a recording on your phone

  1. On your device, open the Recorder app Recorder app .
  2. Tap Record Record .
    • Your device will record, even if the screen goes to sleep.
    • While recording, you'll see a 'Currently recording' message in your notifications.
    • You can record up to 18 hours on a single recording.
  3. When you've finished, tap Pause Pause .
  4. Tap Save or Delete.
  5. To name a recording, tap on the recording and then Menu More and then Rename.
Edit a recording
You can trim your recording through its audio or through the transcript.

Save a section

  1. Tap the recording that you want to edit and then Edit .
  2. Select the audio or transcript that you want to keep.
  3. Tap Crop and then Save copy.
  4. Name the file.
  5. Tap OK.

Remove a section

  1. Tap the recording that you want to edit and then Edit .
  2. Select the audio or transcript that you want to remove.
  3. Tap Remove and then Save copy.
  4. Name the file.
  5. Tap OK.
Label when different individuals are speaking in a recording (Pixel 6 and later, including Fold)
Important: Speaker labels are available only in English.
You can label when different people are speaking in a recording transcript. The Recorder app will auto-detect different speakers and label them as Speaker 1, 2, 3, etc.

Turn speaker labels on and off

  1. On your device, open the Recorder app Recorder app.
  2. Tap your account profile photo or initial.
  3. Tap Recorder settings and then Speaker labels.
  4. Tap Yes, enable when prompted.
  5. You can go back and turn off Speaker labels in "Recorder settings."

Update speaker labels

  1. From ‘Transcript view’, select Edit speaker labels edit note.
  2. Select the drop-down menu beside the speaker label you want to modify.
  3. To apply changes for the current paragraph, tap Rename, Create a new speaker or other labels.
  4. Tap Save to make the change.
Tip: If you modify a speaker label for an individual paragraph in the transcript, the same speaker labels in other paragraphs will not change.

Split a paragraph to update speaker labels

  1. For any recording, tap Edit edit note and then Split from here.
  2. You can create two sections from a single paragraph and make further changes to speaker labels.

Search for speaker labels

You can search for people in a transcript by using the search function on the Recorder home screen:

  1. Tap Search .
  2. Type the name of the person you're looking for.
  3. Scroll through the list of all search results.

You can also search for speaker names in a specific recording:

  1. Tap on an existing recording.
  2. Near the bottom right, tap Transcript.
  3. Tap Search .
  4. Type the name of the person you're looking for.

Share speaker labels along with transcript

Speaker labels are visible when you share your recording transcript through a video clip, text file or a Google Doc. Learn how to share your recordings.

How Recorder handles your data for speaker labels

If you enable speaker labels, Recorder will analyse your audio recordings to detect and label distinct speakers within your transcripts. To do this, Recorder:

  • Computes models of the voices detected in the recording on the device.
  • Gives each voice detected a generic text label (such as Speaker 1, Speaker 2).
  • Compares the voices throughout the recording so the transcript can reflect what each voice said and when.

The above steps happen on your phone or tablet and the generated speaker text labels will then be saved in your transcript. Note, the voice models referenced above may be considered biometric data in some countries or regions.

Voice models' retention and deletion policy

The voice models used to generate speaker labels are stored temporarily on-device until speaker labelling of a transcript is completed, and then deleted (usually within a few minutes).

Search within recordings or read transcripts

You can search for words, phrases or sounds, like music or applause. You can also find the exact time that the word was spoken, or the sound occurred.

To search within a recording:

  • Tap a recording and then Search Search.

To read the transcript of a recording:

  • Tap the recording and then tap Transcript.
Get a summary of your transcribed recordings

You can get a summary of your recorded conversations, interviews and presentations. This summary is AI-generated. Learn more about Google's GenAI policies.

Important: 

  • This feature is available for Pixel 8 Pro and English transcriptions only.
  • This feature uses a large language model to summarise your transcript content; you will be prompted to 'Download model to continue'.
  1. Once you have a saved recording, the 'Summarise' button appears within the transcript section.
  2. Follow the on-screen instructions to opt in.
  3. Tap Summarise.
  4. To expand or minimise the summary, tap Expand .
  5. If you receive an error message, follow the error to try with a different recording. The feature works best on medium-length recordings and uses restrictions included in safety features to block harmful content.

Tip: Once you've opted in, to generate a summary of your transcript, tap Summarise. You can expand or minimise the summary at any time.

Share recordings
Your recordings will only be available on your Pixel phone or tablet unless you choose to:
  • Turn on backup.
  • Share the recordings.
  • Copy the recordings to another app.
  • Save them elsewhere, like in Google Drive.

Tip: If you turn on permissions, other apps can use your recordings. Learn how to control app permissions.

Share a recording link with a different audience

Important: By default, recordings and links that are backed up are private to your Google Account. If you choose to share a recording with the public, anyone with the link can access it.

  1. On your device, open Recorder Recorder app .
  2. Touch and hold a recording.
  3. Tap Share Share and then Link.
  4. Select the audience you want to share the link with:
    • Public
    • Share with specific people
    • Stay private to your account

Tips:

  • You can only share a recording with email addresses associated with a Google account.
  • When you share a recording with someone, they will receive an email notification.

Share a recording file with another app or share it as a text file

  1. On your device, open Recorder Recorder app.
  2. Touch and hold a recording.
  3. Tap Share Share and then File.
  4. Choose an option:
    • Audio
    • Transcript
  5. Choose the app you want to use to share the file.

Generate a video clip for your recording

From the recording, you can create a video clip up to five minutes long.

  1. On your device, open Recorder Recorder app .
  2. Tap the recording you would like to share.
  3. Tap More More and then Create video clip.
  4. To customise a video clip, tap:
    • Content and then Transcript and waveform or Waveform.
    • Layout and then Square, Portrait or Landscape.
    • Theme and then Dark theme or Light theme.
  5. When you're finished, tap Create.
  6. To save the video clip, tap Save to device.
  7. To share the video clip, tap Share and select the app you want to use.
  8. If you don't want to save or share, tap Done.

Share or save a transcript to Google docs

  1. On your device, open Recorder Recorder app .
  2. Tap a recording you would like to copy.
  3. Tap More More and then Copy transcript to Google Docs.
  4. Select the Google Account you want to copy a transcription to.

Tip: To adjust your share settings, tap Share and then Change.

Share or save a transcript as a text file

  1. On your device, open Recorder Recorder app.
  2. Touch and hold a recording.
  3. Tap Share Share and then Transcript (.txt).
Detect language for transcription (Pixel 6 and later)

You can set Recorder to recognise and transcribe a language.

  1. On your device, open the Recorder app Recorder app.
  2. Press your account profile photo or initial.
  3. Tap Recorder settings.
  4. Select your transcription language.
  5. Press Detect language.

When you start a recording, recorder automatically recognises the language you chose. 

Tips: 

  • To change from “Audio” to “Transcript,” tap Transcript. On your transcript screen, you’ll find the message “ Auto detect” and your chosen language.
  • If you record more than one language in a session, Recorder transcribes the most-spoken language.
Transcribe a recording again

You can use the Recorder app to re-transcribe an existing recording.

  1. On your device, open the Recorder app Recorder app .
  2. Tap the recording that you want to re-transcribe.
  3. Tap More More and then Transcribe again.
  4. Choose a language.

Tip: Re-transcribe can process audio files on Google servers.

Languages that you can choose

The languages that Recorder currently supports are:

  • Bengali (Bangladesh)
  • Bulgarian (Bulgaria)
  • Chinese, Mandarin (Simplified, China)
  • Chinese, Mandarin (Traditional, Taiwan)
  • Czech (Czechia)
  • Danish (Denmark)
  • Dutch (Netherlands)
  • English (Australia)
  • English (India)
  • English (Singapore)
  • English (United Kingdom)
  • English (United States)
  • Finnish (Finland)
  • French (Canada)
  • French (France)
  • German (Germany)
  • Hindi (India)
  • Hungarian (Hungary)
  • Indonesian (Indonesia)
  • Italian (Italy)
  • Japanese (Japan)
  • Kannada (India)
  • Khmer (Cambodia)
  • Korean (South Korea)
  • Malayalam (India)
  • Marathi (India)
  • Portuguese (Brazil)
  • Russian (Russia)
  • Kinyarwanda (Rwanda)
  • Swati (South Africa)
  • Southern Sotho (South Africa)
  • Spanish (Spain)
  • Spanish (United States)
  • Swedish (Sweden)
  • Tamil (India)
  • Telugu (India)
  • Setswana (South Africa)
  • Turkish (Turkey)
  • Tsonga (South Africa)
  • Venda (South Africa)
  • Vietnamese (Vietnam)
  • isiXhosa (South Africa)
Pin favourite recordings

To find your favourite recordings more easily, you can pin them to the top of your recorder home screen.

  1. On your device, open the recorder app Recorder app.
  2. Tap a recording.
  3. At the top of the screen, tap Favourite.
    Tip: At the bottom of the recording, you’ll find the message “ Favourited.”
  4. At the top of your Recorder home screen, “Favourites” are grouped in a folder.
    Tip: You can find the total number of favourite recordings to the right of this folder.

To display all your pinned favourites, tap Favourites.

Block email from someone who sent you a link to a recording

Block someone who sends you a recording

To block someone who sends you a recording, you need to block them from sending you emails to your Gmail account. Learn how to block users on Gmail.

What happens when you block someone

  • You won't receive email notifications from the blocked person.
  • The blocked person can only share recordings with you manually.
  • The blocked person won't be able to contact you through some of your other Google services, like Photos.

Find who you've blocked

You can review your blocked accounts in your block list.
To unblock someone:
  1. On your computer, open your Blocked users list.
  2. Next to the account that you want to unblock, click Remove Remove.
Back up and view recordings on your Google Account (Pixel 3 and later, including Fold)

Back up and sync automatically saves your recordings to your Google Account at recorder.google.com. If you log into your account, you can get your recordings from any device. You can choose to back up and sync some recordings and also choose for other recordings to stay private on your Pixel phone. Learn how to use Recorder without an account.

Important: Storage is shared across Photos, Drive, Gmail and other services. If you use all of your storage, you can’t back up new files. You can get more storage or clean up space with Google One. Learn how to buy more storage.

Turn back up and sync on or off

Important: If you choose to back up and sync, your recordings are backed up outside your device. By default, backed up recordings remain private to your Google Account. Learn more about Google Account privacy policies.

  1. On your device, open Recorder Recorder app.
  2. Press your account profile photo or initial.
    • Set the Google Account to back up recordings with: Select the account name.
      • Important: When you create a recording, the recording is associated with the chosen Google Account. You cannot change this account later.
  3. Tap Recorder settings and then Back up and sync.
  4. Turn Back up and sync on or off.

Change backup settings

View and sync backed up recordings

To find all the recordings backed up to your Google Account, visit recorder.google.com.

To sync recordings on your Google Account that aren’t on your device:

  1. On your device, open Recorder Recorder app.
  2. From anywhere on your screen, drag down to refresh.

If you use Recorder with different Google Accounts, you can switch between accounts to view the recording library saved to each account. You can only view the recording library of one Google Account at a time.

  1. On your device, open Recorder Recorder app.
  2. Tap your account profile photo or initial.
  3. Next to your Google Account information, tap Expand more Down arrow.
  4. Tap the Google Account with the recordings you want to view.

Find missing recordings

If a recording wasn't backed up to an account, it might have been created and saved before an account was added. To find a recording that wasn't backed up:

Important: You can't migrate recordings to another account.

  1. On your device, open Recorder Recorder app.
  2. Tap your account profile photo or initial.
  3. Next to your Google Account information, tap Expand more Down arrow.
  4. Tap Use without an account.
Correct text in a transcript
You can change or remove one word at a time in a transcript.
  1. Tap a recording you want to edit and then Transcript.
  2. Touch and hold the word that you want to change.
  3. Tap Edit word.
  4. Change the word to the one that you want to use.
  5. Tap Save.
Use Recorder without a Google Account (Pixel 3 and later, including Fold)

You can use Recorder without a Google Account so that certain recordings stay private on your device. If back up and sync is turned on, your device switches to and uses the Recorder app to store recordings, even if your device isn't connected to a Google Account.

To use Recorder without an account:

  1. On your device, open Recorder Recorder app.
  2. Tap your account profile photo or initial.
  3. Next to your Google Account information, tap Expand more Down arrow.
  4. Tap Use without an account.
Find and manage your recordings on browser

To find and manage your recordings in a web browser, go to recorder.google.com.

From a web browser, you can edit the recording title, play a recording back, and search within a recording.

Delete an audio file at recorder.google.com 

Important: Deleted recordings are permanently removed from recorder.google.com and all synced devices.

To delete a recording:

Visit recorder.google.com and sign into your Google account.

Select the recording you want to delete.

Select Delete Delete and then Delete.

Share a recording link with a different audience through recorder.google.com
Important: By default, backed-up recordings and their links are private to your Google Account. If you choose to share a recording with the public, anyone with the link can view and play it.
  1. Visit recorder.google.com and sign in to your Google Account.
  2. Tap Share Share .
  3. Choose the audience that you want to share a link to this file with:
    • Public
    • Share with specific people
    • Stay private to your account
    Tips:
    • You can type a contact's name in the search space.
    • You can only share a recording with email addresses associated with a Google Account.
    • When you share a recording with specific people, they will receive an email notification.

Learn how Recorder handles your data

Recorder sends audio to an on-device Google service or app to transcribe it. The audio never leaves your device. After the audio is transcribed, the Google service or app discards it.

Follow local rules when recording

Many places have rules or laws that prohibit or limit the recording of audio. These places could also decide whether you must get consent from others or the property owner before recording. Make sure to follow all applicable rules and laws, and get permission from others before recording them. Do not record copyrighted materials without permission.

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