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How to use the Recorder app on Google Pixel phones

Forget about taking notes manually!
By
April 29, 2023

Taking notes manually is a thing of the past, especially if you have a Pixel device. Google’s Recorder app can record audio and transcribe whatever you say into text. It’s an impressively simple application that will save you time and stress. You’ve come to the right place if you’re trying to learn how to use the Recorder app on Google Pixel phones. Let’s walk you through the process.

QUICK ANSWER

To use the Recorder app on Google Pixel phones, open the Recorder application and tap on the red Record button. The app will start recording audio. When done, press Pause. You can go into the Transcript section to read the speaker's transcription. When done, you can hit Save to store the audio and transcript.


JUMP TO KEY SECTIONS

Which devices support the Recorder app?

The Recorder app has been available on all Google smartphones since the Pixel 3. There are differences in supported languages depending on your model, though.

Pixel 3 to Pixel 5a:

  • US English
  • British English
  • Singaporean English
  • Irish English
  • Australian English
  • Japanese
  • German
  • French

Pixel 6 and newer:

  • US English
  • British English
  • Singaporean English
  • Irish English
  • Australian English
  • Japanese
  • German
  • French
  • Italian
  • Spanish
  • Latin American Spanish
  • Canadian French
  • Indian English

Keep in mind that you can still record unsupported languages. The only downside is that transcriptions won’t work.

How to record audio on the Google Pixel

If your device is graced by the Recorder app, recording audio is a breeze.

  1. Open the Recorder app.
  2. Tap on the red Record button to start recording audio.
  3. Hit the red Pause button to stop the recording.
  4. You can now hit Resume if you want to continue recording.
  5. You can also hit Delete and confirm the action by tapping Delete again.
  6. If you’re done, hit Save.

The recording will be displayed on the Recorder app’s main page.

How to edit your audio recording

Once you save an audio recording, you can do some light editing to get rid of unwanted sections.

  1. Open the Recorder app.
  2. Tap on the recording you want to edit.
  3. Hit the scissors icon.
  4. Drag the recording bar and sliders to select a section.
  5. You can either keep the selected area by choosing Crop, or get rid of it by hitting Remove.
  6. Hit Save copy to keep the edited version.
  7. Name the copy and tap on OK.

See a transcript of your audio recording

Now it’s time for the fun part. You don’t need to listen to the audio to see what you recorded! Recorder will save a transcript. Here’s how to access it.

  1. Launch the Recorder app.
  2. The transcript will become available as soon as you record. If you’re in the middle of recording a speaker, hit the Transcript button to read the text.
  3. You can also open a recording and tap on Transcript to achieve the same.

You can also edit your transcript

Did Google make any transcribing errors? You can help it out by editing the text. Here’s how!

  1. Launch the Recorder app.
  2. Tap on the recording you want to edit.
  3. Hit Transcript.
  4. Tap and hold on to the word you want to edit.
  5. Select Edit word.
  6. Make the changes and hit Save.

How to share your audio recording

  1. Launch the Recorder app.
  2. Open the recording you want to share with others.
  3. Tap on the Share button.
  4. Select File.
  5. Pick between Audio or Transcript. Tap Next.
  6. Select how you want to share the file.

How to search within a recording

Recordings can get long, so Google has added a way to search within a recording. Here’s how to do it.

  1. Launch the Recorder app.
  2. Open the recording you want to share with others.
  3. Tap on the Search icon, which looks like a magnifying glass.
  4. Type in the word or sentence you want to find.
  5. Hit Search.
  6. The app will highlight the audio section or text you’re looking for. If you switch to the Transcript section, what you searched for should also be highlighted.

Back up and sync your audio recordings

Because the Recorder app comes from Google, it integrates perfectly into the company’s cloud services. You can easily sync recordings with your Google account. Here’s how to enable this feature.

  1. Launch the Recorder app.
  2. Tap on the avatar icon in the top-right corner.
  3. Go into Recorder settings.
  4. Hit Back up & sync.
  5. Toggle Back up & sync on.
  6. You might be asked to select the Google account you want to sync to, if you haven’t yet.
  7. Pick Back up recordings.

How to delete your Google Pixel audio recordings

You can get rid of audio recordings just as quickly as you created them.

  1. Launch the Recorder app.
  2. Slide the recording to the left or right.
  3. Confirm by selecting Delete.

FAQs

Yes! To store the recording’s location, simply tap on the Avatar icon and go to Recorder settings > Google Location settings. Toggle Use location on.

The Recorder app is available for Pixel 3 and newer phones.

It depends on your Pixel model. Pixel 3 to Pixel 5a phones support US English, British English, Singaporean English, Irish English, Australian English, Japanese, German, and French. Pixel 6 and newer devices support all those languages, as well as Italian and Spanish.

Sharing your audio recordings and transcripts from the Recorder app is simple. Simply open the recording, tap on the three-dot menu icon, and select Share. Follow the instructions to customize what you want to send.

You can back up Recorder clips and transcripts to the cloud using your Google account.

Are you looking for other voice recorder alternatives? There are plenty of options, and we have a list of the best voice recorder apps for you. You might also want to check out our list of the best Pixel-only features to learn how to take full advantage of your Google phone.