ReferatHow to record a lecture on iPhone
Check that recording is allowed, sit near the front, turn on Do Not Disturb and start recording before the lecture begins. Voice Memos works, and the recording continues when the screen locks. To find things again later, record with an app that transcribes the lecture, so you can search it and jump to the moment something was said.
Ask first
Many universities and schools have rules about recording teaching, and some lecturers allow it for personal study only. Ask the lecturer, check your course or university rules, and don't share a recording of other people without their permission. If you need recordings because of a disability or for another reason, student support can usually arrange it.
Get clear sound
- Sit near the front, ideally facing the lecturer. In a big hall, distance and echo cost more accuracy than anything else.
- Put the phone on the desk, screen up, with the bottom edge free: that's where the microphones are. Keep it away from your laptop keyboard and from a rustling bag.
- Silence it. Turn on Do Not Disturb or another Focus so notifications don't buzz on the desk.
- Power and space. A full day of lectures drains the battery, so charge in the break or turn on Low Power Mode. Speech takes little space: in Referat an hour is about 30 MB.
- Questions from the room are often too far away to be picked up well. Write the question down, or ask the lecturer to repeat it.
With Voice Memos
- Open Voice Memos (in the Utilities folder).
- Tap the red Record button before the lecture starts. You can lock the screen; the recording continues.
- Tap the stop button at the end, then tap the recording's name and rename it after the course and the date.
On iPhone 12 or later, Voice Memos also makes a plain transcript in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Korean and a few other languages. Apple's guide · How to get the transcript
With Referat: lecture notes you can search
- Open Referat and tap Record. Lock the phone if you like: the timer shows on the Lock Screen and the recording continues.
- When the lecturer says something you'll need again, like what's on the exam, tap Mark this moment.
- After the lecture, Referat transcribes it on the phone. Tap a word to play from there, and change the speed (0.5× to 2×) to take a hard part slowly or skim the rest.
- Search the transcript for a term, or use Search all recordings to find the lecture where it came up.
- Read the summary of the main points, or export the transcript as text, Markdown or PDF for your notes.
Nothing is uploaded, so the recording of your lecturer stays on your phone. There's no account or minute limit. Referat understands English, Danish, German, French, Spanish, Japanese and Korean, which helps on an exchange semester too. Summaries need iOS 26 and an iPhone with Apple Intelligence (iPhone 15 Pro or newer); recording and transcripts work from iOS 17.
Already have a recording?
Open it in Referat with Import audio file, or share it from Voice Memos or Files. Read how to transcribe an audio file on iPhone.