ReferatHow to record a meeting on iPhone
Tell everyone you're recording, put the iPhone in the middle of the table with the screen up, open Voice Memos and tap the red Record button. Recording keeps going when the screen locks. If you also want a transcript with who said what and a summary of decisions and action items, record with a meeting app like Referat instead.
Before you start
- Ask first. Tell everyone the meeting is being recorded. Rules differ between countries and workplaces, and getting consent is your responsibility.
- Place the phone well. Put it on the table between the people talking, screen up, with the bottom edge free: that's where the microphones are. Not on top of a laptop or next to a projector.
- Silence it. Turn on Do Not Disturb or another Focus so notifications don't buzz on the table.
- Power and space. Plug in for long meetings. Speech doesn't take much space: in Referat an hour is about 30 MB.
With Voice Memos
- Open Voice Memos (in the Utilities folder).
- Tap the red Record button. You can lock the screen; the recording continues.
- Tap the stop button when the meeting ends. The recording is saved as New Recording or with the name of your location. Tap the name to rename it.
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: transcript, speakers and summary
- Open Referat and tap Record. Lock the phone if you like: the timer shows on the Lock Screen and the recording continues.
- If a call comes in, the recording pauses during the call and picks up again afterwards.
- Stop when the meeting ends. Referat transcribes on the phone and splits the text by speaker. Tap Rename speakers to give them names.
- Read the summary, the decisions and the action items, and copy them into an email or export as text, PDF or subtitles.
Nothing is uploaded, and there's no account or minute limit. Referat understands English, Danish, German, French, Spanish, Japanese and Korean. Summaries need iOS 26 and an iPhone with Apple Intelligence (iPhone 15 Pro or newer); recording and transcripts work from iOS 17.