voice memos not showing up in itunes

'Tascam Method'

This method of extracting recordings was given to me by Tascam. It apparently works with the Tascam PCM recorder and Griffin's iTalk apps — both of which are free.

1. Connect your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad to your computer and launch iTunes

2. Select your iOS device in the left column of iTunes, then click on the Apps tab

3. Scroll down to File Sharing and select PCM Recorder in the list

4. Select your recording in the PCM Recorder Documents window and click "Save To..."

5. Find a location on your computer and click Choose

6. Open your mix in an audio editor or drag it into your iTunes library to convert to an MP3 file and share online.

This works for me and I hope for other people.

[I have the same problem as all you. I went ahead and unchecked "include voice memos. Then synced the iphone. all my voice memos showed up and synced, weird, really weird.]

Vukodlak75, I'm so glad I read this post. I had tried so many complicated solutions, but no go. I took your advice and--voila!--finally a solution.

I am using a MacBook with 10.4.11, the iPhone 3 (really starting to show it's age at this point....) with 4.0.2, and iTunes 9.2.1. Like everyone else, my problems started suddenly.

In reading these posts, I tried the unchecking of the Voice Memo checkboxes and finally got a combination of checked and unchecked boxes that worked. It seems that the "tag" is reversed in their program. But here is what is important to notice...

There are 3 Voice Memos checkboxes in iTunes that can be checked (under Music tab):

a. The top box where it says Include memos -- leave that one checked

b. Playlists / Voice Memos -- that is the one to be unchecked

c. Genres / Voice Memo -- leave that one checked

Doing this worked for me... most of my voice memos appeared under the Voice Memos app, not under the Music app.

I say "most" of them, because before, when all Voice Memo boxes were checked, I could search the Music app for Voice Memos, and have a Voice Memo playlist appear, which it is not visible under Playlists, only when searched. A few of my very old voice memos appeared under this weird, invisible Playlist. Now with the above combination of checkboxes, the weird Playlist is still there, but my old recordings have disappeared from it and do not appear in the Voice Memos app.

Hope this is helpful and makes sense. Thanks everyone who has posted trying to help!!!

I simply tried 80% of these solutions before i got annoyed. So in the end I just uninstalled itunes and downloaded it again from the apple site and now everything works. Not sure if this will work, but it did for me so goodluck with everyone.

No, that is not why. They are not synching because this software and this app is %$#@$#ed. Any longer files -- I would say longer than 40 mins or so? -- seem to be saved by the Apple recorder as a .MOV (or Quicktime) file, which will not sync to itunes. If you really want to be able to get to your recordings, you need to download iexplorer, a third party app that lets you go into your iphone and fish out the file manually. you can save it to your desktop, then import it into Itunes (which will happen.) You can listen to it there, or to be on the safe side, convert it to an MP3 version under the "Advanced" menu of Itunes.

Or at least, this is what used to work. I just recorded two different 30 minute recordings yesterday on my iphone 3, and --- drum roll -- they didn't even record. NOT AT ALL. They don't exist in Voice Memos on the iphone, they didn't sync (obviouskly) and they don't exist in the recordings folder as seen in Iexplorer. I don't know if this latest issue -- which is far more serious a problem than the original nightmare -- is a problem with iphone 4, but as far as I am concerned, no one should record anything valuable with an iphone 3.

It really beggars belief that after ALL the posting on this issue, Apple still cannot come up wtih a fix for this. Not only that, but now this app is actually LESS trustworthy than ever. The other recording apps that used to be so great, on the other hand, can't sync easily, rendering them less desirable.

Are there ANY more reliable options out there for people who want to record with an iphone? This thing is just a total joke. If the camera were this bad, Apple would be issuing a recall.

Hey.....

So I just used Sophia B's method, above.

This means opening Itunes, connecting your phone, going to your phones sync preferences (under the music tab) and:

UNCHECKING the "Include Voice Memos" box

CHECKING the "Voice Memos" box under Playlists

UNCHECKING the "Voice Memos" box under Genres

It worked!! I was able to sync a 3:08 (3 hour 8 minute) audio file, with no problem -- no trimming, no custom label, no iexplorer, no nothing.

HOWEVER: I opened the phone with iexplorer and saw that the file existed there as an M4A file -- NOT a MOV.file, and I suspect if it were a MOV file it would not have synced. SO, what I suggest (because I did this before trying this experiment) is deleting all voice memos from your phone (after you are sure you have downloaded them), and restarting. Not sure why this time my phone recorded a M4A instead of a MOV -- still TBD.

Also, FTR, I am talking about an iphone 3, running OS 4.2.1 (which, bizarrely, an Apple rep told me was impossible unless the phone was jail-broken, which it is not.)

Anyway -- three cheers for Sophia B! If this continues to work, it will be a godsend!

I've got an iPhone 4 and Tiger. I've had a ton of problems with this. I checked and unchecked boxes but it seemed random--could never tell when it would synch or not.

BUT I find that "trimming" the memo works--you don't really need to trim it at all, just hit the button without actually shortening the memo. This makes it seem to the computer that it's new and it comes over.

There could be a link between long and short memos becuase I had one 10-minute recording that came over immediately but the problem recording was over 70 minutes and only worked when I "trimmed" it. Interestingly, it also came over as a .m4a file--as if it were a movie.

Anyway, this is really a disappointing app. Apple needs to fix this--it really shouldn't be so hard.

I had same issue. Tried the above:

UNCHECKING the "Include Voice Memos" box

CHECKING the "Voice Memos" box under Playlists

UNCHECKING the "Voice Memos" box under Genres

but I had to CHECK the "Include Voice Memos" box, as well as CHECKING the "Voice Memos" box under Playlists.

Now it worked...finally...

I use iCloud for storage and in this latest update was not able to sync my voice memos that resided on my iPhone 4s. Nor did I see any of my voice memos, even when I looked at voice memos in my iPhone device within iTunes. However, when I looked in the voice memos app on the iPhone the memos were clearly there.

I then deselected sync by wifi in settings and did a sync with a cable. The new voice memos then synced and showed up in both iTunes and in my device within iTunes.

Luckily for me it was an easy fix, but this is a pretty important fix for Apple to address because I and probably others use these voice memos for work. There was no other way to transfer them to my computer for transcribing as the files were too large to be emailed.

Holy crap, trimming the memo actually WORKED for me.

I have a 2-hour long recording from a meeting that I have been needing to transfer over. I did just about everything on this thread, including restoring, syncing with and without voice memos included in the "music" tab, changing the voice memo title, etc. You name it.

Then I came across Xaero182's posted suggestion to I trim the memo. So, I trimmed it by just a few seconds from the end, synced and BINGO! It showed up in iTunes! And NO, I didn't even have to think about reinstalling iTunes.🙂

Really, Apple needs to develop a better way to handle files like this.😠

Oops. Spoke too soon. Now having all kinds of problems with getting anything to show up in the iPhone's list of voice memos AND the playlist. Different, sporadic and wildly varying results. What a effin' joke. Giving up. Going to download iExplorer (a third party file access utility) and use that.

This is how I solved this issue. I tried syncing voice memos that I have used on a different app (not the normal voice memo app that comes with the iphone). You have to manually outside of itunes.

1. Plug phone like you would normally sync

2. Go to itunes and click on your phone

3. Click on Apps tab

4. Go to bottom to the "file sharing list"

5. Click on the App

6. Highlight the files you want to save

7. Hit "Save As"

8. Pick the folder where you want it saved

9. Then you can manually drag them into itunes

Hope this helps.

I have used an old fashioned method, simply place the speaker of the iphone (ipod) to the microphone on the mac and recored into adobe audition or similar software. The results are brilliant and of good quality.

I just want to record a Voice Memo on my iPhone, and then play it in "Music" on that same iPhone.

Apparently, I cannot. I have tried every suggestion mentioned in this thread. With no success.

In iTunes on my Macbook Pro, it shows that my Voice Memos are on my iPhone. But they are not.

If it were 1999, or if the iPhone had just been released last year, I would cut Apple slack.

This problem is so surprising and embarrasing that I am no longer eager to talk about my iPhone or show it to friends. Sure, the iPhone does many amazing things, but this Voice Memo problem has soured the experience for me. This problem, and Apple's lack of response to it, has been a punch in the gut and has taken the wind out of my enthusiasm for Apple and their products. My iPhone is now just a device that does some things that are useful.

It is still more useful overall than any alternative I have been able to find. But it used to be thrilling and inspiring.

Hey there,

This sounds very promising -- but none of the non-native recording apps I have show up in the list of file-sharing apps. Which one or ones do you have? Which would you say are the best?

@Granthuhn, we've all been there. Apple will fix it, sooner or later, and it is even now not as bad as it was a year ago. Did you get iExplorer? What happened with that? What exact problem are you still having? And what version are you running on which phone?