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This long-anticipated Google Recorder feature is live for Pixel users
Sep 28, 2026 — 9:08 AM ET
- The Google Recorder app’s “Allow recordings in other apps” toggle is now rolling out to Pixel users.
- This toggle is enabled by default, and all your existing audio files will appear in a folder named Recordings in the file manager app of your choice.
- We first discovered this toggle last week, and it’s already appearing in the latest version of the audio recording app.
When it comes to audio recording apps, the Pixel-exclusive Google Recorder covers all the bases. It can automatically transcribe your audio files and cleverly sync them to the cloud for easier access across devices. However, because recordings are sandboxed away from the rest of your storage, file manager apps can’t access them. Fortunately, we knew this could change soon, and that day is finally here.
With the release of Recorder version 4.2.20260823 last week, Google appears to have quietly enabled the “Allow recordings in other apps” toggle within the app’s settings page.
The toggle is on by default, but you can turn it off if you want to keep recordings out of file manager apps. Your existing recordings are automatically saved to a folder named Recordings as soon as this update is live.
To be clear, you could always access audio files from your preferred file manager app. However, it was a multi-step process that required sharing the file(s) first. This new toggle changes that and leaves the choice up to users.
We’re seeing the new toggle across multiple Pixel devices, including the Pixel 9 and the Pixel 6a. If you’re on this app version and don’t see the toggle, clearing the cache in storage settings and force-stopping the Recorder app should help.
Meanwhile, if you don’t see an update for this app version on the Play Store, sideloading it from APKMirror should help.
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