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Voice memo stuck downloading

I just got my new iPhone 11 pro max and downloaded my backup from the cloud. Well most of my voice memos came through but the most recent ones are stuck saying downloading and have been for hours with no progress. How to I force them to finish downloading?

iPhone

Posted on Sep 21, 2019 11:59 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 9, 2019 2:29 PM

Apple Please help!!!!! I did the update last night and all voice memos are stuck on downloading. These are all stories my Dad told before he passed away. Went to start transcribing today and I can’t download them. Were there before the update.

92 replies

Oct 21, 2019 4:21 PM in response to Peachez82

i have the same problem after purchasing iPhone 11 Pro Max. Then they all disappeared. However, I could see them on my older devices and when I do a recording on the new one, it shows up everywhere. Apple needs to fix this, ASAP.


Solution found by accident:

  1. I deleted the Voice App and Reinstalled It.
  2. Accept the Terms again and it should show downloading again.
  3. Press the record button, record for a few seconds and stop.
  4. Wait a second and all your recording should be there like normal.

* I was on WiFi when doing all of this. And I also notice that my voice recordings was showing 4 gigs of storage space before I proceeded. It seems they were downloaded but couldn’t be recognised. Hope this works for everyone.

Oct 15, 2019 7:32 PM in response to Mutulix

I spent a long while on the phone with by far the most helpful Apple rep I have ever dealt with in my 15 years as an Apple user. Christian checked in with me often throughout the day. Eventually, he determined that the 13.1.3 update may take up to 48 hours to redownload your voice memos. I was fortunate that my original memos were still on my iPhone X (pre-iOS 13 update and I was able to save the files AND airdrop them to another device. I will update here if anything changes.

Oct 15, 2019 2:41 PM in response to Peachez82

Just updated to iOS 13.1.3.


Unfortunately, the voice memo stuck downloading bug has not been fixed.


In my case, it just constantly has a memo that says "downloading" named after my address. It's not a real voice memo, BTW. There was no memo to download.


Here is a screenshot of the bug on my phone (iPhone 11 Pro Max), just now taken after updating to 13.1.3. Note that I edited out my location with a white rectangle:


Dec 23, 2019 2:35 AM in response to Peachez82

The fix:

1.) must be using the latest version of iOS i.e. 13.2 or later.

2.) it is essential that you backup to iTunes, not just iCloud.

3.) delete voice memos after completing iTunes backup.

4.) turn iPhone off then back on, no need to force shut down.

5.) ensure after powering on that your plugged in and connected to WiFi.

6.) go to App Store and download voice memos again.

7.) open memos app and record for 3 seconds.

8.) allow an hour or two depending on the size of data store in voice memos.

9.) success, you now have all of your memos back!

Oct 10, 2019 12:24 PM in response to Ssspharmacist

Wow, I am so sorry to hear that. I hope you can get those recordings soon. C'mon Apple, get these bugs fixed.

Ssspharmacist wrote:

Apple Please help!!!!! I did the update last night and all voice memos are stuck on downloading. These are all stories my Dad told before he passed away. Went to start transcribing today and I can’t download them. Were there before the update.


Oct 22, 2019 11:20 AM in response to Peachez82

Hi - this issue happened to me too. I did the latest software update on my iPhone XS Max today (after I performed an iPhone back up) and all my Voice Memos got stuck on Downloading. So as in above last few posts I uninstalled the VoiceMemo app, reinstalled it and recorded a new voice memo for a few seconds. BUT I seem to have lost all my past voice memos going over last 3 years or so.


So - any ideas how I can get them back??


Thanks all

Voice memo stuck downloading

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