Accessing Voice Memos backed up on iCloud from iPhone

Where do I find my individual Voice Memos that were automatically backed up on iCloud from my iPhone? Alternatively, how do I transfer my Voice Memos to my Mac without using the confusing "Sync" on iTunes, which is confusing and can lead to accidental deletion of Voice Memos. Thank you.

OBS iMac (20-inch Early 2008), OS 10.11.2

Posted on Dec 2, 2018 9:12 AM

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1 reply

Dec 3, 2018 6:25 PM in response to Bluhonsky

Hi Bluhonsky,

Thanks for reaching out in Apple Support Communities. I understand you're looking to restore individual voice memos and you'd like to know if there is an alternative method to transfer your voice memos to your Mac without using iTunes. I can see why you'd reach out for this information; I'd like to help. In iOS 11 and earlier, Voice Memos are included with iCloud backups and cannot be individually restored; you would need to restore the entire backup to see which information was available to recover and this would also overwrite any existing data on the device. If you're using iCloud to sync your Voice Memos, any memos stored in iCloud should be present on your device. If not, you can verify if you're syncing Voice Memos with iCloud from Settings > Your Name, then look to see if Voice Memos is enabled. If you've recently deleted a memo you'd like to recover, check out the steps below:

How to delete a voice memo

  1. Tap or click to select the memo that you want to delete.
  2. Tap User uploaded file. On your Mac, press the Delete key or choose Edit > Delete. The memo is moved to the Recently Deleted folder.

Voice memos stay in the Recently Deleted folder for 30 days and then are deleted permanently. You can recover a voice memo if it's still in the Recently Deleted folder:

  1. In Voice Memos, tap or click Recently Deleted.
  2. Tap or click the memo that you want to recover.
  3. Tap or click Recover, then tap or click Recover Recording.
Use the Voice Memos app

To have your voice memos on your Mac without using iTunes to transfer them, you can sync them using iCloud Drive:
  • On your Mac: Choose Apple menu User uploaded file > System Preferences, then click iCloud. Next to iCloud Drive (make sure it’s selected), click Options, then select Voice Memos.

  • On your iOS device: Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud, then turn on Voice Memos.

See your voice memos on all your devices


Best Regards.

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Accessing Voice Memos backed up on iCloud from iPhone

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