On my macbook, when I make an edit to a recording QuickTime saves it as it's own file. On my iPad, I was editing a voice memo in the Voice Memos app, trimmed it, and there was no save as so I just clicked done thinking I would get a prompt to save as. Instead, it overwrote the original recording. Is there any way I can undo that?
iPad Pro 12.9-inch Wi-Fi
If it's important it’s possible to use a third-party Mac app such as iExplorer to recover the original recording and AirDrop it back into the Voice Memos app on your iPad. First make a current full backup of your iPad on your Mac.
To test I create a 01:04 long recording in Voice Memos. I then trim it to 00:30 and save it. The user perspective from Voice Memos is that the original recording no longer exists.
Quit all apps on iPad. Connect iPad by cable to your Mac. In iExplorer on Mac navigate to where the original recording exists on iPad. It will be in the /Media/Recordings folder. Locate it by date and approximate time; it will have a .m4a extension. Quick Look the file to listen that it is the right one and confirm its length. Don’t manipulate any files or folders, just Air Drop a copy of the selected file to iPad from the Share menu. Quit iExplorer.
On iPad select Voice Memos to open it. If the trimmed video still has the same name, the system will add a digit to the filename of the recovered file.
If you go this route, don't make a habit of it. A better approach is to duplicate the recording from the Share menu, then edit the copy and leave the original untouched.
If it's important it’s possible to use a third-party Mac app such as iExplorer to recover the original recording and AirDrop it back into the Voice Memos app on your iPad. First make a current full backup of your iPad on your Mac.
To test I create a 01:04 long recording in Voice Memos. I then trim it to 00:30 and save it. The user perspective from Voice Memos is that the original recording no longer exists.
Quit all apps on iPad. Connect iPad by cable to your Mac. In iExplorer on Mac navigate to where the original recording exists on iPad. It will be in the /Media/Recordings folder. Locate it by date and approximate time; it will have a .m4a extension. Quick Look the file to listen that it is the right one and confirm its length. Don’t manipulate any files or folders, just Air Drop a copy of the selected file to iPad from the Share menu. Quit iExplorer.
On iPad select Voice Memos to open it. If the trimmed video still has the same name, the system will add a digit to the filename of the recovered file.
If you go this route, don't make a habit of it. A better approach is to duplicate the recording from the Share menu, then edit the copy and leave the original untouched.
Unfortunately no. It appears that once you click Trim and then Done, it saves it and overwrites the original file and does not keep a version history that I can find. Even if I have the app synced to iCloud. Sad! I'm so used to iMovie and QuickTime keeping the original files while editing.
See if this section from the iPadOS User Guide helps:
https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/ipad/ipadcba66e18/ipados
Sorry it did’t help.
Given the marketing bombardment, sometimes we forget that iOS is NOT the “full featured” MacOS.
Have a great weekend!
How do I undo an edit on a voice memo on iOS?
