Transferring voice memos from iPhone to mac in Catalina

Hi,

It is about syncing not sharing.

Cannot find the option of "Include voice memos" as stated in step 4 in this link:

https://support.apple.com/en-hk/guide/mac-help/mchlbf6a1fab/mac

I have updated all my devices to the latest OS, still no help.

Please fix

Thanks!

This is useless

because you can transfer only 1 file at a moment. Catalina is bullshit! There

is no option how to transfer many voice records neither via USB cable nor by

AirDrop. WTF? This is bullshit!

Hi ashkanK75!

I understand that you’d like to know how to share Voice Memos to your Mac from your iPhone, and I'm happy to help. You can follow these instructions:

Share a recording in Voice Memos on iPhone

Cheers!

I was just able to sync voice memos to my Mac - via iCloud. Not individually (I have hundreds) but the whole group at once.

https://support.apple.com/guide/voice-memos/see-your-voice-memos-on-all-your-devices-vma6cc4d0571/2.1/mac/10.15.3

I followed these instructions on my iPhone XR and on my iMac - I had to fiddle around a bit, I may have signed out and then back in to iCloud on my iMac before it loaded - but I can confirm they're all in now. It seems Voice Memos is now functioning similarly to the Notes app, which was unnerving for a moment - that file sync is reassuring to us music/songwriter types - but I think I will actually appreciate this in the end. Whew.

Try this... all my voice memos showed up on iCloud and my Mac.

https://support.apple.com/guide/voice-memos/see-your-voice-memos-on-all-your-devices-vma6cc4d0571/2.0/mac/10.14

On your iPhone, go to Settings/ Apple ID / iCloud / etc

Touch iCloud

Make sure "Voice Memos" is turned on to sync with iCloud. All of your voice memos should be available on all your devices.

------------------------

On your Mac:

Go to Applications folder, open "Voice Memos".

All your voice memos (recordings) should be there. If Voice Memos is syncing with iCloud, it will no longer sync with iTunes. Bit confusing this, but at least I know they are all there, and already on my computer.

Hope it helps.

Same issue here, this is the 3. major issue i run into with Catalina!! Common Apple did you fire all your testers? This is embarrassing. I have 50+ memos so your current solution i'll have a fun weekend sharing single files. Please fix this stuff, and test things before you release. Apple software quality is falling alot lately, not sure why.

Add me to the mix too. All I can say is I learned there's a Voice Memos app on MacOS, which I never knew about. But that app doesn't enable me to mount what would be files on my iPhone like "Music" (FKA iTunes) does. Annoying.

Same problem. I saw no option for voice memos when using the new Finder synch (MacOS 10.15.2 and iOS 13.3). I have over 500 voice memos, so one by one is not possible.

I managed to back them all up on iTunes on my old Mac (MacOS 10.13.2 High Sierra), luckily forcing the machine to start a new iTunes library, and finding the voice memos tick box there, and letting it go, after turning off Apple Music on the phone. As a new library, the library just had the voice memos. They come through as a folder full of .m4a files deep in <user>/music/Voice Memos/Offload VoiceMemos/iTunes Media/Voice Memos. Of course I copied this folder somewhere else for backup, happily having my memos safe (including those I recently made). The item count was the same as showed up in iTunes.

iOS said I had 6 GB of voice memos including the app, but the target folder ended up with just 3GB.

When I dismounted and disconnected the phone, the voice memos still played in iTunes on the old machine, so they are still there.

Now my quandary is: how to get space on my phone by deleting them without deleting the app, and how to get future voice memos off. I am still with you all on this need. I for one am happy that the conduits are in Finder: that makes much more sense. Voice memos should have their own category, as do podcasts, etc.

Have any of you tried turning on iCloud for Voice Memos? Perhaps that is the way Apple expects us to get them across...

Same exact problem. No clear way to export Voice Memos from iPhone in Catalina. I've looked for solutions in Finder, Music, and Voice Memos. I Googled. Nobody seems to have a way. Apple, please answer this question! Having the matter outstanding since October seems like an excessive oversight.

In my case, I've been using Voice Memos to record interviews and other important events for professional research. The Voice Memos are critical for my job. I hope Apple isn't assuming the function can just be done away with....

The problem is size of voice records. If I have e.g. 3 GB of voice records and my wi-fi has approx. 2 MB/s, this is solution for nothing. This is why I do not you sync via iCloud.

I would really appreciate if there was the same possibility of sync via USB as via iCloud.

I had the same question and found this article useful:

https://www.macworld.com/article/3446800/where-did-that-go-find-the-parts-of-itunes-now-spread-throughout-different-apps-in-macos-catalina.html

As stated, "For whatever reason deemed appropriate, Voice Memos used to be part of iTunes, and were no longer

seen as the right thing to be associated with the new Music or Podcasts. There’s a new Voice Memos app that will be quite familiar to anyone who has used it in iOS. It’s both where you’ll find synced voice memos and where you can record new ones."

If you check Applications, there is indeed a Voice Memos app.

I have this issue as well. The voice memos does not appear in my desktop voice memos app. I want to be able to batch import them, just like I would with images using Image Capture. I have 500+ memos so doing it one by one is out of the question. Why can't these just be regarded as normal audio files, together with video and image files?

I figured it out!!

Apparently once you transfer voice memos from an iOS device to your mac, you cannot transfer those voice memos back from a mac to another another device. They can only transfer one time. The solution is a little convoluted, but if you just want the files back on your iOS device, this will definitely work:

What you need to do is select all the voice memos in your iTunes Library and convert them from AAC files into WAV/MP3 files, this can be done directly in itunes. I used the following link to make the conversion:

https://transverseaudio.com/posts/how-to-convert-voice-memos-to-mp3-wav-in-itunes#:~:text=Summary%20of%20How%20to%20Convert%20Voice%20Memos%20To%20MP3&text=then%20click%20sync.-,Go%20to%20the%20top%20left%20menu%20and%20select%20Edit%20%3E%20Preferences,then%20create%20a%20new%20version.&text=Drag%20and%20drop%20the%20MP3,any%20folder%20you%20would%20like.

Step 1) Open iTunes

Step 2) Music > Preferences (on the link it says Edit > Preferences, but it is different on catalina)

Step 3) Import Settings > Import Using MP3 Encoder

Step 4) Select Voice Memos > File > Convert > MP3

Step 5) Sync newly converted voice memos onto iPhone

Once converted into MP3 files, you can sync them onto your iPhone like you would any other music file. The catch is that they will show up in your music app as opposed to your voice memo app, but like I said if you just want them on your device, this will do the trick.

Let me know if this was helpful!

Hello,

I also need to offload all my Voice Memos as my iPhone is full. Doing it one by one would be ridiculously time consuming.

If anyone finds a solution please let me know!

Thanks