This updated list of the 5 best audio recording apps for Android is back after popular demand.
A lot of our clients have asked us to suggest the best voice or audio recording apps for Google’s popular Android OS.
With Apple’s walled garden approach and bizarre decisions lately, more people are migrating to Android than ever before.
Not surprisingly, these stats show that Android is now on 87% of the smartphones around the world as per the last study done in 2019-2020.
Expect that to increase even further in 2021.
Best Pre-Installed Voice Recorder Apps
Any half-decent smartphone or tablet today comes with pre-loaded audio recording apps and built-in high quality microphones.
In fact most modern smartphones now come with two microphones.
That’s often more than good enough to record interviews, speeches, meetings, lectures or even podcasts if you’re just starting out.
In some cases, these audio recording apps are even good enough to record music at concerts.
If you’re an iPhone user, please take a look at our article for the 5 Best Voice Recording Apps for iPhone.
Much like the Voice Memos app that comes pre-installed on iOS for iPhones and iPads, Android has pre-installed audio recording apps on its devices too.
You will see the same basic voice-recorder app from manufacturers like Samsung, Huawei, Sony, HTC etc. with slight variations.
Samsung Voice Recorder
Features:
- Comes pre-loaded and absolutely free on Samsung’s Android devices.
- Playback and editing capabilities to help you trim recordings.
- Speech to text feature to convert your voice recordings into text.
- Interview recording mode uses both top and bottom microphones of your device.
- Save your recordings to SD card.
- Reject incoming calls while recording.
- Background recording by pressing the home button.
- No ads the last time we checked.
This pre-loaded app surprisingly takes care of all the basic recording needs.
Furthermore, you can save your recordings on an SD card to avoid using your phone’s internal storage.
In addition to that, you can save the recordings to Google Drive, Dropbox, add them to Notes or Todoist, copy them to Slack, or share them on other apps like WhatsApp.
Best Audio Recording Apps on Google Play Store
A lot of these voice-recording apps are free to use with super basic features that will get the job done.
For more features however, you will have to buy their premium or “pro” versions.
1. ASR Voice Recorder
Free to use (with ads).
Works on:
- Smartphone
- Tablet
- Smartwatch
This is an easy-to-use, competent and free voice recorder app.
One of the reasons this app made the top of our list is because, out of the box, it offers recording into popular formats like MP3, FLAC, WAV, OGG, and M4A.
Pro version offers cloud upload integration with Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box, Yandex Disk, FTP, WebDav, Auto Email etc.
Free version allows you to record via Bluetooth microphones.
2. Hi-Q MP3 Voice Recorder
Free to use. Pro version costs $3.89 or £2.99
Works on:
- Smartphone
- Tablet
- Smartwatch
One of the more powerful audio recording apps out there.
This also records into MP3.
MP3 recordings are a must-have for any audio recording app, mainly because of their compatibility with virtually everything.
As a transcription service provider, our clients have had the least amount of difficulties with MP3.
Mainly because they’re quick to upload, without compromising too much on sound quality.
This audio recording app can upload your recorded MP3s automatically to Dropbox.
Widget support comes as standard, along with the ability to choose which mic on your device you want to use.
It also offers Wi-Fi transfer, gain control, and more.
3. RecForge II – Audio Recorder
Free to use. Pro version costs $4.42 or £3.39.
Works on:
- Smartphone
- Tablet
- Smartwatch
RecForge II is a worthy successor to the original RecForge as a versatile audio recording app with powerful editing capabilities, which also includes:
- Cloud integration
- Multiple formats
- Adjustable quality levels
- Playback speed adjustments
- Manual and automatic gain control
Furthermore, it records in mono or stereo, lets you skip silences, start recording at a scheduled time, convert to several file formats, and export to a variety of cloud storage services.
The app also allows you to extract audio from videos.
It can be used for interviews, recording keynotes/panels at events, and also recording music.
The app consistently produces great recordings, especially if you plug in an external microphone.
Pro version gives you more granular control over editing.
4. Easy Voice Recorder
Free to use. Pro version costs $3.99 or £3.49
Works on:
- Smartphone
- Tablet
- Smartwatch
The free version offers recordings in PCM, MP4 & AMR.
In the old post, this app was number 1, but has dropped to no. 4 on the updated list because it doesn’t include MP3 recordings in the free version.
Pro version offers MP3 & AAC recordings which can be automatically uploaded to Google Drive or Dropbox.
You can add a widget to your home-screen that acts as a one-tap record button.
And it packs all these features in an easy-to-use interface.
Pro version also allows you to record in stereo using a Bluetooth microphone.
5. Evernote
Works on:
- Smartphone
- Tablet
- Smartwatch
- PC
Evernote is really useful for taking notes and syncing them across devices.
Many don’t know this, but Evernote allows you to take audio notes.
You can do this by opening a note and tapping on the microphone icon.
It’s not as prolific as the other audio recording apps listed in this article, and nowhere near as advanced.
But you can make short recordings up to 25 MB note on the free plan.
And with a premium account that goes up to 200 MB per note.
Unfortunately, the app doesn’t allow you to edit or send your recordings.
Which is a shame, especially if you need to transcribe your notes.
Importance of Good Quality Audio Recording Apps
Whether you’re recording an interview for research, journalism, podcasting, Youtube or anything else, it helps if you take care of recording quality.
Especially if you’re going to be transcribing your interviews afterwards, audio quality is paramount.
Audio quality directly affects transcription accuracy along with how much time and money you’ll be spending.
And if you’re a doctoral candidate, the outcome of your research thesis could depend on the quality of your recordings.
The following post may help if you’re working from home:
The audio recording apps featured in this article allow you to tweak, trim, edit and manage the quality of your recordings.
Do you need specialized equipment to record audio?
Not really.
Gone are the days of handheld digital recorders.
If your aim is to record a face to face interview or a phone interview, any decent, modern smartphone, tablet or smart watch will do.
In addition, if you want to record podcasts on a budget, even then a smartphone with an external microphone and audio recording apps is adequate.
Who is this article for?
- Researchers
- Journalists
- Students
- Lecturers
- Podcasters
- Private Investigators
- Audio Note Takers
If you’re a musician, a radio show host, or a podcaster who’s interested in studio quality recordings, the audio recording apps featured in this article probably won’t cut it.
Conclusion
In most cases, pre-installed audio recording apps on your device will do the super basic voice recordings efficiently.
Samsung’s voice recorder app even utilizes two microphones to record interviews. You no longer have to move the device!
For more specific features, you can look at premium versions of the audio recording apps featured in this article.
Do make sure to read the fine print carefully to see what you’ll be getting for your money.
If you think this post was helpful, please share it with your friends and leave comments below if you think we missed something.
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