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Voice Memos Corrupted After Restoring from PC Backup

Hi. I had to replace my iPhone X last week. After restoring the new iPhone x from a PC backup, all of my voice memos are unplayable. I can still see the names and duration of each memo, but when I press the play button it stays at 0:00. Can't drag the slider, it just goes back to 0:00 and doesn't play.


After some quick research, it seems iOS 12 is infamous for corrupting voice memos. Currently I'm running iOS 12.3.1 ...


I can see I have 3GB worth of iCloud storage full of voice memos, so surely they're stored somewhere. Yet, I have tried restoring the phone 3 times now but the voice memos were corrupt each time. Is there any way I can access/play the voice memos via iCloud on a PC, to see if the raw files are corrupt? Is there any way to recover the voice memos that display on my phone using only my phone?


These files mean a lot to me. I was sure to backup my phone before I got it replaced for just this reason. If these files are corrupted, despite the fact I backed them up to iCloud and my PC via iTunes, I may be done with Apple forever. This is not good at all.


edit: also I can't share the files via message or email. If I try to do that, I am prompted with a blank iMessage or email.

iPhone X

Posted on Aug 18, 2019 6:53 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 18, 2019 6:57 PM

About your Messages and Voice Memos data

With Messages in iCloud and Voice Memos in iCloud*, your text messages and voice recordings automatically upload to iCloud. They aren’t included in your backup. After you restore your device from iCloud Backup, stay connected to Wi-Fi so that your text messages and voice recordings can download.

If you turn off Messages in iCloud, your text messages and attachments no longer upload automatically, but they save in your next iCloud Backup and download in the background when you restore. Stay connected to Wi-Fi until the process finishes. The time it takes to restore depends on the size of your backup and the speed of your Wi-Fi.

Sometimes, if you restore a device from a backup of another kind of device, your Messages and Voice Memos won’t restore. For example, if you use an iPad backup to restore an iPhone, your Messages and Voice Memos may not appear on the iPhone.

If your information is still missing after you restore, you can try to restore from a different iCloud or iTunes backup. Always back up your current data in iTunes before you try to restore from iCloud Backup.


About missing information after you restore your iOS device with ...

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203768

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1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 18, 2019 6:57 PM in response to __hugh

About your Messages and Voice Memos data

With Messages in iCloud and Voice Memos in iCloud*, your text messages and voice recordings automatically upload to iCloud. They aren’t included in your backup. After you restore your device from iCloud Backup, stay connected to Wi-Fi so that your text messages and voice recordings can download.

If you turn off Messages in iCloud, your text messages and attachments no longer upload automatically, but they save in your next iCloud Backup and download in the background when you restore. Stay connected to Wi-Fi until the process finishes. The time it takes to restore depends on the size of your backup and the speed of your Wi-Fi.

Sometimes, if you restore a device from a backup of another kind of device, your Messages and Voice Memos won’t restore. For example, if you use an iPad backup to restore an iPhone, your Messages and Voice Memos may not appear on the iPhone.

If your information is still missing after you restore, you can try to restore from a different iCloud or iTunes backup. Always back up your current data in iTunes before you try to restore from iCloud Backup.


About missing information after you restore your iOS device with ...

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203768

Voice Memos Corrupted After Restoring from PC Backup

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