Recording stopped, is shorter, or won't open.

The recording is shorter than it should be

Check Skip silence first

Skip silence leaves out the pauses when no one is speaking, and only the parts with sound are saved. A meeting with long pauses can become a much shorter file. The skipped parts are not in the file, so they can't be restored afterwards.

• Android: while recording, tap the settings icon in the top-right corner and set Skip silence to Off. It's also in Settings → Advanced Settings → Effects.
• iPhone and iPad: while recording, tap the wand icon in the top-right corner to open Recording settings and turn off Skip silence.

Your choice is remembered for future recordings.

A phone call came in

• iPhone: a call pauses the recording. If iOS doesn't let it continue automatically after the call, the recording stays paused until you tap resume.
• Android: the system silences the microphone during a call, so that part of the recording is silent. You may see "Unable to retrieve any audio from microphone."

For important recordings, turn on Do Not Disturb or Airplane mode.

The phone stopped the app in the background

To save battery, many phones limit apps running in the background, especially with the screen off for a long time. See Turn off battery optimization.

Turn off battery optimization

Android

1. Open your phone's Settings → Apps → Voice Recorder → Battery.
2. Choose Unrestricted (or Don't optimize).
3. On Samsung, also make sure Voice Recorder isn't in Sleeping apps or Deep sleeping apps (Settings → Battery → Background usage limits).

Menu names differ between phone brands. Search your settings for "battery optimization".

iPhone and iPad

Don't swipe the app away from the app switcher while recording. Turn off Low Power Mode for long recordings, and keep enough free storage. The app won't start recording with less than about 30 MB free, and it stops when space runs out.

The recording won't open

A recording file is complete only after the recording is stopped and saved. If that never happens, the file can be unreadable. The app shows "Unable to open this recording", and other apps on a Mac or iPhone may show error 1685348671. Typical causes:

• the battery ran out or the phone restarted during recording,
• the app was closed, or the system stopped it, while recording or saving,
• storage ran out during the recording.

The app tries to recover interrupted recordings the next time it starts. A file that was never finished saving may still not play, so try the steps below.

What to try

1. Don't delete the file. Even a damaged file can often be repaired.
2. Update the app to the latest version and restart your phone.
3. Try opening the file in another player, such as VLC.
4. Copy the file to a computer (how) and follow Repair a damaged recording file.

The recording is silent

• Microphone permission: check that the app is allowed to use the microphone in your phone's settings.
• Another app is using the microphone: calls, voice assistants and video apps can take over the microphone.
• Bluetooth microphone (Android): if a headset was selected and then disconnected, the recording can be silent. Open Settings → Sound Quality → Advanced Settings → Audio Source and choose System Default.

Checklist for long or important recordings