SimpleMic vs Voice Memo Recorder
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SimpleMic
Capture high-quality audio with this elegant iPhone recorder. Features gesture-based controls, multiple recording modes like sound-activated and no-motion activated, and seamless iCloud sync for easy access across devices. Manage, tag, and share your recordings effortlessly.
- Gesture-based user interface
- Sound Activated recording mode
- No Motion Activated recording mode
- Record on Start option
- iCloud Drive sync
- Tagging and notes for recordings
- Comprehensive sharing and uploading
Read full descriptionHide full description
The best audio and voice recorder for iPhone just got better! All new for iOS 12, support for Siri Shortcuts! SimpleMic is the fast and elegant audio recorder that makes capturing sound on your iOS device a delightful experience. Now featuring iCloud Drive sync, it has never been easier to collect all your audio on all of your devices! Completely redesigned from the ground up for iOS 12 and with usability in mind, SimpleMic takes advantage of the entire screen to provide gesture based controls atop a beautifully presented user interface. Swipe left or right to start recording and you'll instantly be treated to a vivid glowing level meter as the microphone captures crystal clear audio. Swipe up or down to reveal three different recording modes, each taylor made for specific real-world situations. Ever needed to start recording as soon as the band starts playing or the lecturer speaks? "Sound Activated" mode will quietly wait until the microphone picks up enough sound, then will quickly start recording, even capturing audio from a few seconds prior to make sure you get a perfect recording every time. How about that annoying rattling sound you used to get at the start of every audio recording, you know, that familiar sound of your device being set on the desk after you tap the "record" button and place it down? We hate that too, which is why we also built a "No Motion Activated" mode. Just swipe and place your device where you need to, SimpleMic will wait for it to be completely still for a few moments before starting your recording. No more click-clacks or thuds, just the sweet sounds of your beautiful voice. Finally, if you can't waste even a split second, enable the "Record on Start" option to start recording automatically when you launch the app. But the awesomeness doesn't stop once you're done recording, SimpleMic is as functional under the hood as it is above. Dive in to the recordings list to access and manage all your audio in one place. Every recording gets tagged by date and geo location, but you can easily choose your own label and add notes. And most importantly, SimpleMic offers some of the most comprehensive sharing and uploading functionality of any such app on the market today. Every recording is stored in iCloud and thus backed up and secure. If you need to get audio files off of your device, we have you covered there as well, all of your recordings will be available on your Mac running OS X Yosemite in iCloud Drive. Or, upload/open the audio files directly to Email, SoundCloud, Dropbox, Evernote, or any other app on your device that supports opening audio files. All these great features and much much more… FEATURES • Beautifully designed, gesture-based user interface makes it a breeze to effortlessly record audio. • Gorgeous glowing level meter gives a dazzling realtime representation of your audio. • 3 recording modes help you capture great sounding audio anytime, anywhere. • "Record on Start" option to start recording automatically when app launches. • Support for "Start Recording" and "Show Last Recording" via Siri shortcuts. • Includes Apple Watch app, record directly on your watch, recordings automatically synced to your device and iCloud. • Record any device audio, including audio produced by other apps. • Automatic geo-tagging as well as custom labels and notes. • iCloud Drive syncing. • Upload directly to Email, SoundCloud or Dropbox • Send recorded audio to other apps installed on your device (including Evernote, GDrive, and MS Sky Drive). • Multiple app color themes included, with the ability to unlock even more. • Fully optimized for VoiceOver users. We truly believe we've created the most efficient, functional, yet beautiful audio recorder for iOS and sincerely hope you'll agree. Get SimpleMic today! SimpleMic: Fast, Elegant, Audio Recording
Voice Memo Recorder
This app offers professional audio recording and transcription with advanced organization tools. It allows for easy management of recordings through custom colors, albums, and favorites. Users can edit audio, transcribe in over 30 languages, and sync recordings between devices.
- Customizable recording organization (colors, albums, favorites)
- Background recording on iPhone and Apple Watch
- Audio editing (trim silence, fade in/out)
- Multi-language transcription
- Auto-sync between iPhone and Apple Watch
- Trash for deleted recordings
- Widget support
Read full descriptionHide full description
Voice Rec Pro is a simple yet powerful recording and transcription app with brand new interface and recordings organization tools. The app is free to try: all features are enabled, max of 1 recording. To unlock unlimited recordings, a lifetime in-app purchase is available. Get 50+ alternative app icons for free when unlocking unlimited in-app purchase. Main features: WIDGETS • Recently added recordings • Favorited recordings • More widgets coming soon! ORGANIZATION • Set a custom color to each recording, or set a global color to new recordings or let the app choose a random color for you. • Create Albums with custom icons and title and add your recordings to the Albums you create. • Set a sort option to each Album. There are six sort options for you to choose. • Mark a recording as Favorite to have quick access to it. • Delete a recording and it will be kept in Trash for 30 days so you can put it back if you change your mind. After that, it will be deleted permanently. • Create backups and restore them anytime. Backups are kept on your device even after you delete the app so you can restore them any time. If you don't want to keep the backups on your device, delete them before erasing the app. RECORD - PHONE • Use 3D Touch to start/stop recording from your home screen. • Recording time is limited to your device's storage capacity. • Record from the built-in mic, connected AirPods or any mic connected to your phone (wireless or direct to line in or lightning port). • Background recording. • Start - Pause - Resume - Stop recorder controls. RECORD - WATCH • Just tap once on complication to start and stop recording directly from watch face. • Recording time is limited to your device's storage capacity. • Record from the built-in mic or connected AirPods. • Background recording. EDIT • Trim silence or unwanted audio. • Add fade in or fade out, anywhere, as many as you want. • Edit the transcription in place. PLAYBACK • Seek backward and forward during playback. • Tap audio marks to skip playback directly to important segments. • Tap anywhere in the playback timeline to start playback from that point. • Play directly from your Apple Watch to your Bluetooth headphones. • Select different playback speeds. AUTO SYNC • Auto-sync between your Apple Watch and your iPhone: all recordings you do on your Apple Watch are automatically synced to your iPhone. And you can also sync a recording manually. • Disable and enable auto-sync between your Apple Watch and your iPhone any time. When auto sync is disabled, all new recordings will keep their "Queued" status until sync is re-enabled or manually synced. TRANSCRIBE • Support for over 30 languages, independent of your device's language setting. These are some of the languages supported: Cantonese (China), Chinese (China), Chinese (Hong Kong [China]), Chinese (Taiwan), Danish (Denmark), Dutch (Belgium), Dutch (Netherlands), English (Australia), English (Canada), English (India), English (Indonesia), English (Ireland), English (New Zealand), English (Philippines), English (Saudi Arabia), English (Singapore), English (South Africa), English (United Arab Emirates), English (United Kingdom), English (United States), Finnish (Finland), German (Austria), German (Germany), German (Switzerland) Japanese (Japan), Korean (South Korea), Russian (Russia), Shanghainese (China), Spanish (Chile), Spanish (Colombia), Spanish (Latin America), Spanish (Mexico), Spanish (Spain), Spanish (United States), Swedish (Sweden). • Format as you record with punctuation command recognition. SHARE • Share audio, transcription, audiomarks and ID3 tags to other apps on your device. • Share audio with MP3 file format. • Share to your Mac using Airdrop. ID3v2.3 SUPPORT • Add ID3 tags or edit existing ones. • Convert audio marks to ID3 chapter tags when exporting to MP3. We are open to enhancements requests and feedbacks. Send us your message from within the app! Thanks!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: SimpleMic at 80% against Voice Memo Recorder's 32%. SimpleMic also leads on rating (4.5 vs 3.3) and ratings volume (1.7K vs 10). Voice Memo Recorder's advantage is update cadence (every 11 days vs every 2 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. SimpleMic sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and Voice Memo Recorder sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
SimpleMic holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SimpleMic has 1.7K ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 80% of SimpleMic's written reviews are positive against 32% of Voice Memo Recorder's.
SimpleMic ships an update every 2 months, Voice Memo Recorder every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SimpleMic | Voice Memo Recorder |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (1.7K ratings) — better | 3.3 (10 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 79.6% of reviews — better | 32.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1.7K — better | 10 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 11 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 31 MB | 26 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Velocity Raptor Incorporated | Marcel Mendes Filho |
Customer experience
SimpleMic
Voice Memo Recorder
User reviews
SimpleMic
From 1.7K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Easy to use
- 👍 Great sound quality
- 📱 Seamless Apple Watch integration
- 🔒 Secure recordings
- 🎨 Simple and clean interface
Room to improve
- 💰 Limited features without paid upgrade
- 🔇 No stereo recording on iPhone
- 🤔 Unclear where recordings are stored
- 🤖 Unreliable watch app functionality
Voice Memo Recorder
From 10 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Simple and amazing for recording and transcribing
- 👍 Perfect for memo recording and meetings
- 👍 Beautifully designed interface
- 👍 Syncs to the cloud
- 👍 Handy for quick recordings
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes frequently
- 🐛 Recordings not playing back
- 🐛 App won't remember recording names
- 🐛 Paid version doesn't work with security settings
- 🐛 False advertising regarding transcription
Bugs and requests
SimpleMic
Reported bugs
3 issues- Recordings stop unexpectedly during calls
- Playback issues when device goes to sleep
- Renaming files in iCloud doesn't sync back to app
Requested features
4 requests- Add ability to record in layers or tracks
- Include audio waveform visualization
- Allow recordings to be shared without paid upgrade
- Implement a complication for quick access from Apple Watch
Voice Memo Recorder
Reported bugs
30 issues- Crashes when trying to upload longer recordings
- Crashes when trying to sync to phone
- Paid version stops working with Lockdown Mode and purchase protection
- App asks to purchase to unlock unlimited registration even after buying lifetime license
- Some recordings play, others don't and show duration but no playback
Show 25 moreShow fewer
- Important recordings will not play again after listening
- App won't remember file names
- No recording available after important meeting call
- Lost a critical recording, won't play, crashes on export
- Developer's website link doesn't work
- Unable to download recording to iPad from Apple Watch or transfer from iPhone to iPad
- Unable to delete any recording
- Malfunctions frequently for no apparent reason
- Could never playback high stakes interviews
- Customer support not immediately available
- Function to share files of recordings does not work
- App closes immediately or export screen is outside iPad screen
- Refuses to be installed on Apple Watch
- Voice transcriptions not working for long recordings
- App crashes on first test recording, cannot find transcription option, support crashes app
- App closes out after every click, cannot report issue
- App doesn't record phone calls
- Keeps crashing and closing for no apparent reason, lost recording
- Cannot sync app to Apple Watch
- Complication not appearing on watch face
- App froze all recordings, play button doesn't work, doesn't sync or share
- Says it's recording and saves, but nothing plays
- App timed out and recording stopped
- All recordings lost when app was deleted due to crashing
- App freezes after one day of use
Requested features
7 requests- Add save to iCloud Drive option
- Ability to crop or trim recordings
- Transcribe without playing recording back
- Option to block out background noise
- Improve transcription accuracy for long recordings
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Make recordings longer on Apple Watch
- Sync deleted data from Apple Watch immediately
In-app purchases
SimpleMic
- Finer Things Color Pack$0.99
- Planetary Color Pack$0.99
- Premium Upgrade$2.99
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Mega Bundle$3.99
Voice Memo Recorder
- Audio Visualizers - Fun Pack$0.99
- Unlimited recordings$4.99
Questions
Is SimpleMic free?
Is Voice Memo Recorder free?
Which has better reviews, SimpleMic or Voice Memo Recorder?
Do SimpleMic or Voice Memo Recorder have ads?
Which is updated more often, SimpleMic or Voice Memo Recorder?
Other comparisons















