How to permanently delete voice memos from iPhone 4s?

I don't see an "on this phone" tab... are you using a Windows version of iTunes? Or am I not looking in the right place? I have dozens and dozens of voice memos that I really want to delete from my phone but can't seem to see how.

I am not willing to bet my first born female chile on this, but I think what guillerms solution is doing is preventing the voice memos from residing on your iDevice but those voice memos are still alive and well in iTunes. In other words, when you manual manage "music" you are manually managing what gets put on your iDevice and what doesn't. But, you are not deleting that "music" from iTunes. I think the original question in this discussion was how do I permanently delete these nasty voice memos forever. Not just prevent them from habitating on your iDevice. True?

If so...let's see if this helps.

It does sound like so far everyone has been unsuccessful at accessing your iPhone's file structure at a deeper level than iTunes allows. That's why you can't get at those voice memos and delete them from within iTunes and your iDevice. There is a 3rd party app (among others) called iFunbox that gives you that access. iFunbox is free. If you are using a Mac, iFunbox has recently released a new version for Mac and it is really a quite lovely and user friendly application. There is also a version for PC's.

v1.2 for Mac just came out in April of 2013. You can download both the Mac and PC versions at:

http://dl.i-funbox.com

After you download the appropriate version for your computer, connect your iDevice to your computer via USB and get iTunes running. Click on the "Summary" tab for your iDevice so you can monitor all the activity going on within your iDevice. Then start iFunBox. Your iDevice should appear at the top of the menu bar with a Finder type list of folders on the left. You should see one of the folders named "Voice Memo". Double click on that folder and if everything is going good for you a list of music files (your voice memos) should appear. Assuming you want to delete all of these from your iDevice and iTUnes FOREVER highlight all of these files and then "right click", "Control-Click", "Two Finger Clickon your Mac Trackpad"...Whatever! and a list of options will appear. One will be "Delete." You will be asked if you really want to delete all these files. Click "yes." Disappear they will (as Yoda would say). At that point the Voice Memo list under your iDevice name in iTunes should disappear since there is no longer any voice memos.

The key to iFunbox is this deeper access to the file structure of itunes and your iDevice. Normally you can't get at this stuff and that is the problem if you want to delete it. But, BE CAREFUL! Just delete the voice memo files and nothing else unless you really know what you're doing. iFunbox gives you access to things that you do NOT want to remove. I don't want to get you paranoid. I just want you to be careful. This is all quite obvious and clear. For example, I had 16 orphaned voice memos on my iPhone 4S and I could not remove them no matter what I tried. I mean REALLY delete them from my iPhone and iTunes. The only way I could get at them was through iFunbox. And it was clear I had the right files because when I clicked on Voice Memos there were 16 media files in there...a perfect match to the 16 voice memo files I was trying to remove.

Another application that gives you similar access is Diskaid. But, the full Diskaid application cost money. What you get for free is enough to get this job done, but it appears folks find iFunbox more user friendly.

Well, that's it. I hope I didn't make this too scary sounding. It really is not. iFunbox is a very small application and when you run it if it makes you nervous...just don't do anything. But, I think some of you may find this is just the ticket you're looking for.

I felt my post above was not clear enough in sections so I've included some remarks below to hopefully address this:

1) Follow the directions I gave for removing the voice memos using iFunbox in my previous post and then resync your iDevice to iTunes with your iDevice still connected to your compurter via USB. That will remove the voice memos from your iDevice. BUT, it does NOT remove them from anywhere in the iTunes application or in your iTunes Media folder in the "Music" folder in your Finder (we're talking Macs here).

2. So, first, if you want to remove those voice memos from the voice memo playlist (that iTunes creates) you must manually delete them. Not really a big deal. You just have to remember to go to the voice memo playlist, click on it, and delete the voice memos.

3. The voice memos are also not deleted from your music library in iTunes. Usually iTunes names your voice memos using the scheme..."Name of your iDevice" + date. Or, you can just use the search function after clicking on "music" in iTunes and it should find all your voice memos. If you want to delete all those voice memos from your music library AND DELETE THEM FROM YOUR ITUNES MEDIA FOLDER IN THE FINDER highlight all the voice memos you want to remove then "Right Click", "Control Click", "Two finger click on your track pad" and hit delete. When it asks if you want to discard the file to the trash click "yes." If you don't click yes, the voice memos will still be stored as .m4a sound files in your iTunes media folder in the Finder.

This the only way I know to truly get rid of these voice memos...not just hide them. You would have to perform the same steps if you wanted to remove a song from your music library. The iFunbox part of all this is necessary if you are not able to "get at" and delete voice memos you KNOW are still really on your iDevice but are orphaned and "hiding."

If all these steps necessary to make the native Voice Memo App not populate your iTunes music library seem way too cumbersome. But, you DO want to have a permanent copy of certain voice memos on your computer for furure reference you might want to consider using a 3rd party voice memo app that allows you to store your voice memos somewhere other than your music library on iTunes. In other words, take iTunes completely out of the equation.

But first, one nice feature of the native Voice Memo App:

One advantage of the native Voice Memo App is that is lets you record a Voice memo and send it as a VOICE MESSAGE via the native Message App. Just record the voice memo...hit Share...hit Message. That's it. Your voice memo will be sent to the recipient of your choice. I LOVE this about the native Voice Memo App as I hate typing! BUT! Now you have a dreaded Voice Memo in your Voice Memo App and if you sync your iDevice to your computer that voice memo will sync into iTunes with all the complications I have already explained. SOLUTION...Delete the voice memo BEFORE YOU SYNC. Delete it right after you send the Voice Message! It will never get into your iTunes music library that way. Downside...you have lost your voice memo and if you wanted to keep it, it's gone. So, this is a good solution for sending Voice Messages. But, maybe nothing else.

Now, for my solution to this problem....as I said, bag the native Voice Memo App (except for sending those Voice Messages described above) and use a 3rd party app. This is just an example, and a normally expensive one (I got it free on promo and that is why I use it).

HT-Professional Recorder

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ht-professional-recorder/id292413948?mt=8

Again, I got this app for free. But, I really like it. It allows you to export a Voice Memo to many different locations. E-Mail or course. But for me Dropbox is it's big selling point. If I create a Voice Memo that I know I want to keep I chose "export to Dropbox." I have a folder in my Dropbox called "Voice Memos." That is where I send all voice memos I create with this app for permanent storage. The app lets you rename your voice memos so it is easy to identify them in your Voice Memo Dropbox folder. Another advantage of exporting them to your Dropbox is that they are on your computer in your Dropbox folder AND they are backed up to Dropbox's servers. So, if your computer explodes your precious voice memos are safe and sound. And, of course, if you are away from your computer you can still access those voice memos by going to the Dropbox website on any computer and logging into your account. Or, use your iDevice and the Dropbox app to access the voice memos.

BIG ADVANTAGE! You have kept all your voice memos away from iTunes and all the problems we've discussed with that.

If you don't have Dropbox, you may know you can get 2 GB of free storage by joining. That is a lot of voice memos! And if you get a friend who has a Dropbox account to invite you, you will get an additional 0.5 GB of free storage for 2.5 GB of total storage (so will your friend for inviting you). Now you can swim in voice memos.

So, there you have it. Another way to address this Voice Memo situation.

Hope this helps some of you.

Cheers.

iFunBox did the trick for me. Thanks! A couple of clicks and the job's done. Freed up memory on my phone and got rid of years' worth of useless recordings.

Hi Eric,

Glad it helped you!

Cheers, Mr. Luigi

Many thanks for those tips!!

Probably too late for this, but you delete voice memos from the voice recording application. In iOS 7, make sure the recording is finished by touching the word "Done" if you see it. You will get a list of voice memos. Those you don't want, swipe to the left to reveal a "Delete" option. Touch it and the voice memo goes away.

Haven't checked to see if they come back when I sync to iTunes, yet.

Thanks Revearti your suggestion removed voice memos completely from my ipod.

Note to self : don't record risque voice memos when testing out something new 😊

This really worked, Thanks a Lot now I havemore empty space needed 🙂

Guillerms, your solution worked for me. After changing to "manual" I had to also click on "apply", then I could go back and delete them.

You can create a folder on your desktop and drag all of the conent of iTunes to that folder, delete the content from iTunes, and still retrieve the songs/voice memos from the folder as needed.

This worked for me. Quick search for this prob, then found this thread, tried some some suggestions, but only yours worked.

Cheers!

Thank you and well done for that solution