Guide

How to record and transcribe a phone call on iPhone

iOS can record a call and transcribe it for you. Here is how that works, where it falls short, and what to do with the recording when it does.

10 October 2026

For years, recording a call on an iPhone meant a third-party app, a three-way call to a recording line, and a transcript produced on someone else's server. Recent versions of iOS changed that: the Phone app can now record a call itself and, in some languages, transcribe it on the spot.

That covers a lot of people. This guide explains how it works, where it stops being enough, and how to transcribe the recording yourself — on the phone, without uploading it — when it does.

First: get consent #

Recording laws differ by country, and in the US by state. Some places require only one person on the call to agree; many require everyone to. Apple's own advice is to make sure the other person is willing and has given explicit consent before you start.

iOS also plays an audible notice to everyone on the call when recording starts, and repeats it during the call. You cannot turn it off. Treat that as a reminder, not as consent — say it out loud at the start of the call, and ideally get the yes on the recording itself.

Step 1: Record the call #

1. Start or answer a call in the Phone app.
2. Tap the record button on the call screen. Depending on your iOS version it is either at the top left of the screen or under More as Call Recording.
3. Both of you hear the recording notice.
4. Tap stop to end the recording, or just hang up. The audio is kept either way.

Call recording is not available in every country or region. If you do not see the button, that is usually why — see the last section for the alternatives.

Step 2: Find the recording and Apple's transcript #

When the call ends, the recording is saved to the Notes app, in a folder called Call Recordings. Open the note and tap the recording.

In supported languages, a transcript appears beside the audio. It labels the speakers using your contacts or caller ID, shows you as "You", lets you search, and jumps the audio to any line you tap. Devices with Apple Intelligence can also show a summary.

For a two-person call in a supported language, this is probably all you need. It runs on the device, it costs nothing, and the speaker labels are genuinely useful — they are something most transcription tools, including ours, do not do.

Where Apple's transcript falls short #

Apple's transcript is good at the common case and has hard limits outside it.

Language. Transcripts are only offered in a short list of languages and regions, which Apple publishes on its iOS feature availability page. If your call was in a language that is not on it, the note shows a waveform and no text.

Exports. You can copy the text or add it to the note. There is no subtitle file, no CSV, and no timestamps you can carry into another tool. If the transcript is going into a report, a case file or a research project, that matters.

Checking the quote. Apple itself warns that the transcript may not be a perfect record of the conversation. If you need to quote someone, you want to listen to the exact moment again, and a timestamp on every line makes that quick.

Recordings made any other way. The transcript only exists for calls recorded by the Phone app. A call recorded with another app, on another device, or on a Mac gets nothing.

Step 3: Transcribe the recording yourself #

When Apple's transcript is not enough, take the audio out of Notes and transcribe it with a dedicated app.

Get the audio out of Notes:

1. Open the call recording in Notes.
2. Tap the ⋯ button.
3. Choose Save Audio to Files and pick a folder.

Some people have reported that very long recordings do not always export completely, so check the duration of the saved file against the call before you rely on it.

Transcribe it on the phone with Offline Transcription:

1. Open the app and tap Open Audio or Video File.
2. Pick the recording from Files.
3. Tap Transcribe. To choose the language yourself rather than letting it auto-detect, press and hold the Transcribe button. Setting it explicitly helps on short or noisy calls.
4. Tap the row to read the transcript, switch to Segments for timestamped lines, and tap any line to play the audio behind it.
5. Export as TXT, SRT, SBV, VTT, CSV, HTML or PDF.

It supports 99 languages and runs entirely on the phone, so the recording does not leave the device — which, for a call you just asked someone's permission to record, is the respectful default. It does not label speakers, so for a two-person call you will be adding the names yourself; our guide to recordings with multiple speakers has a quick way to do that.

If you have a lot of calls to get through, Notes syncs through iCloud, so the recordings are also on your Mac, where the Mac app can transcribe a whole folder at once.

A note on call audio quality #

Phone calls are hard audio. The network compresses each voice to a narrow band, the other person may be on speaker in a car, and both of you talk over each other. Expect a call transcript to need more correction than a recording made on a decent microphone.

Two things help more than anything else: set the language explicitly instead of relying on detection, and, if the call matters, ask the other person to use a headset rather than speakerphone. Our guide on improving transcription accuracy goes further.

If you cannot record calls on your iPhone #

If the record button is not there, the feature is probably not offered where you are. Your options:

• Put the call on speaker and record it with another device, such as a second phone or a Mac running Voice Memos. The quality is lower, but it works anywhere.
• Use the meeting tool instead. If the conversation can happen on Zoom, Teams or Google Meet, those record properly, and our guide to transcribing meeting recordings covers the rest.
• Third-party call recording apps exist, but most work by routing your call through their service, and many transcribe on their servers. Check where the audio goes before you use one.

The consent rules apply to every one of these, and the other person will not hear an automatic notice, so it is on you to tell them.

The short version #

Record the call with the button on the call screen, after asking first. For a two-person call in a supported language, Apple's transcript in Notes is quick and labels who said what. If your language is not supported, or you need timestamps, subtitles or a file you can hand to someone, use Save Audio to Files and transcribe the recording on the device yourself.