retrieve files from iTalk Recorder

There is some good news! (hopefully)

Your audio files will still be present on your device (though unaccessible) because iTalk can no longer be loaded. The solution is to download an app that allows you to backup your device and then browse the "raw" files. Today, I used the paid version of 'iMazing'. There are others as well, but as long as you haven't deleted the app, you still have a chance to recover.

• Plug in your phone to your computer
• Download iMazing
• Use iMazing to download and make a backup of all your devices data (this allows you to browse the content on your device)
• Once downloaded, you'll need to get a paid plan to 'Export Raw Files'
• Choose where on your computer to transfer the whole download of the raw files
• Once you're done, you can browse all the apps that have a folder from your device. You'll want to search that folder for 'italk' or 'griffin'.
• Once there, you can go to the files directory and you'll see all your .aif audio files.
• Simples copy them over to iCloud files drive or onto your documents folder.
• Fin

My understanding is as long as you don't delete the talk app on your device that directory will continue to exist in your backups. Good luck! This was a big shock to our family who's been using iTalk to record all the best moments of our relationship/marriage/kids from 2014 and with some effort we recovered everything. It was a stressful thanksgiving thinking we had lost everything but now we have our audio and are happy again.

Griffin was helpful in letting us know how to access or move files off an active version of the app, but since we got a new device (iPhone) downloading the app from iCloud didn't work. After some digging we found this solution and it worked!

Good luck, everyone!

Thank you all for your efforts towards this - you lead me to finding another solution.

I tried all of the above solutions and none seemed to work for me.

How I ended up retrieving my recordings is as follows:

1. Download and install and run the free version of iMazing.
2. Plug in your device and select it in the left pane of the iMazing window.
3. Select manage apps - 2 panes to the right. (iMazing will gather the info and display all your apps).
4. Near the top of the window, select library.
5. Scroll down to the iTalk app, right click, select export .IPA and drop it on your desktop.
6. Now select device at the top of the window again and scroll down to iTalk.
7. Right click and select install .IPA.
8. Navigate to your saved .IPA file on the desktop and select it. iMazing is now reinstalling the app onto your device.
9. Open a new finder window and select your phone in the side bar.
10. Select files tab, scroll down to (the now installed) iTalk app.
11. toggle the arrow to display your files.
12. Drag and drop the .aiff files to a new location.

Hope this helps someone.

It saved priceless recordings at no cost.

Good luck.

Thank you so much! iMazing worked for me too. As long as you don’t delete the italk app from your iPhone, all the audio files should be there, allowing you to export them and extract the data. I saved them to a folder on my desktop (8gb) and everything was alphabetized. I’m using an iPhone 11 Pro Max and running Big Sur on my MacBook Pro FYI. I also did some research just to be sure iMazing was legit. You can find many solid reviews out there. Also happy that I now have a good backup for my iPhone + 2 other devices. With Apple’s switch to M1 I’m guessing there will be other apps discontinuing. I’ve also decided to start using Apple “Voice Memos” as a replacement for iTalk. Voice memos will allow me to sync across all my apple devices. You can even record ideas onto an Apple Watch on the fly which is killer. For a higher quality recording I use “AudioShare” which records .wav files and has the best sounding microphone capture that I’ve found.

Okay this is similar to what other have posted. But I had to do different steps

Get the free iMazing app on your mac.

In the app open the "Manage apps" on the right column.

Under the device tab scroll down to the iTalk app, right click and select "restore App data". Not sure what this does it puts a file on your desk top but after it is complete you can use the iTalk app on your iphone again.

To get the files off your iphone you follow the standard download from iphone to Mac. Go to finder on your Mac if you go the files tab you will see the Italk app again.

From there you can expand and see all your audio recordings.

You can simply drag and drop from that folder to your desktop and save.

Get them off your phone soon not sure how long you'll be able to do this trick. you can play the audio files on the music app.

Any questions i might be able to help more.

Hi!

I posted earlier in the chat. I decided to message Griffin, the app developer… I haven’t tried this yet as I’m not too “techy”, so need some time to work out properly what they’re suggesting.

I wanted to share what they’ve suggested with you in the hope that it works. I know how frustrating it is to loose all my material.

Good luck!

(their message below the line)

———

Hello,

With major changes to iOS with iOS 11/12 we have decided to discontinue support for iTalk. With the switch to a full 64 bit iOS many of the old features of iTalk are now broken and would require rewriting the entire program. 

Due to this we have discontinued iTalk support. Also all standard features of iTalk may only sometimes work such as email, playback and storing or deleting files. Most files will delete but than need to be completely removed using iTunes as iOS 12 does not know how to read iTalk files correctly. 

If you continue to use iTalk you should also know iOS no longer allows our app to continue recording or playing back when the iOS device is locked or asleep, as iOS considers this background recording or Background playback. You can prevent this by turning off your screen lock feature. 

When recording if you receive a phone call or text iOS will now shutdown iTalk and stop the recording to allow your iPhone to take back control of the microphone or speaker. Your file will not be saved when iOS does this. To prevent this you should put your phone in Airplane mode. 

All recordings made using the iTalk app are saved directly to your phone or tablet. We do not have a server that stores your files. Because of this, if your files are deleted from the app, we are not able to restore these for you. To prevent the loss of important files, we recommend backing up your recordings to your Mac or PC using iTunes.

To delete files in the iTalk app, click the "Edit" tab in the top left hand corner of your screen. Then, click the red circle on the left of the file you wish to delete and tap "Delete" to the right of the recording. When you are done selecting files to delete, tap "Done" in the top right hand corner. These files will then be stored in "Deleted Recordings". 

To permanently delete these files, tap "Deleted Recordings" and in the bottom right hand corner of this screen tap "Clear All". A screen will appear to confirm that you wish to permanently delete these. Tap "Clear All" to permanently delete. Once permanently deleted, these files cannot be retrieved. 

We apologize for any inconvenience this causes our users. This can also be prevented by transferring your audio to iTunes. Thank you for being loyal iTalk customers over the years and we are as sad as you to see iTalk go. You will find instructions for transferring your files to iTunes below.

First, ensure that both your phone is running the latest version of iOS and the iTalk app. Then be sure you are running the most current version of iTunes on your computer. Once you have verified the above, follow these steps:

1.With your iOS device plugged into your computer, open iTunes.

2.Select your iOS device by clicking on the iOS device icon at the top of the screen (just below the play/pause menu).

3. From the settings view, click on File Sharing (under summary in the column on the left).

4. You'll see a list of your apps on the Right.

5. Under File Sharing, select iTalk.

6. Your recordings will be on the right, under iTalk Documents. From here, you can drag and drop those files to your desktop or any other folder

7. If you click on "Save To" and choose a destination to save the file, it should preserve the date/time of the original recording.

If you are using Mac OS Catalina and Big Sur you have to use Finder to pull out iTalk files. You can find this process at the link below.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210598

Via imazing free version, I was able to simply click through the talk app icon into a documents folder and copy all the recordings over to my desktop.

Thank you sea hostler!

Hmm, iTalk Recorder still runs on my iPhone 11, but I don't see it in the store any longer. In other circumstances you might have been able to remove the download of the app while retaining its data, and then reinstall. I suspect in this case you are out of luck. Another approach might be to see if you can locate the recordings with the raw storage tool in iFunbox.

tt2

Understood. Seems odd that it is displayed at all in that case. I don't suppose you've got an archived copy of the .ipa file from the days when apps were downloaded to iTunes? Failing that I can only go back to my earlier suggestion to try iFunBox or something similar. Some alternatives are listed here: https://www.ultfone.com/blog/top-free-ifunbox-alternative.html.

tt2

I've used iFunBox on a number of occasions. It is currently installed on my Mac mini and Malwarebytes doesn't appear to object to it. I've posted a third party page above with some alternatives, though that isn't likely to be unbiased reviews. Best I could do at short notice and all that. What you're after is something that gives you access to the raw file system so you can copy off the iTalk Recorder files. Any software that gives you such access could potentially be misused in the wrong hands, which might be why some have cautioned against such tools.

tt2

That's a developer issue, not Apple. But try what the developer wrote: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253253497?answerId=256366696022#256366696022

Hi time115,

Thanks for posting in Apple Support Communities.

We understand that you're unable to open a few files that were created with a specific app that is no longer available. With the app no longer being available, it would be best to reach out to the app developer on accessing the files. Use How to contact an app developer.

Regards.

Hi bjc42

You could try this to retrieve the files:

• With your device connected to your PC open iTunes
• Select your iPod, iPhone or iPad under devices
• Select in the left menu File Sharing
• Select iTalk under File Sharing
• Your recordings will be on the right
• Select the recording you would like to save on your computer
• Scroll to below and click on save
• Select the map you would like to save it in

If it is a very small file (less than 2 mb you can open it and click on the "i" and then on the send button (square with an arrow pointing to above) and you can send it directly from Italk to your emailddress.

I hope this will help you to retrieve the files from your daughter.

Good luck!

Thank you seaholster for your detailed information about using imazing for iTalk audio. I followed your instructions, downloaded imazing, paid the $49.99 for it, and proceeded on with it working. Saved me a ton of time and frustration. I needed audio recordings for a legal matter. Also, imazing made it simple to download text message into a PDF. Best $50 spent and will continue to use imazing...like it better than iTunes. Thanks again for your post!

Same problem here app is no longer active and no longer supported but I still have 1,71gb of precious recordings somewhere in a hidden corner of my iphone .... help us retrieve the data.

What happens if you tap that cloud download symbol in your screenshot for iTalk recorder?

tt2