Voice Memo Bug on iPod touch with iOS 4
Researching the iPod’s voice memo feature (with a mic, you can record memos, lectures, or anything else), I discovered that the iPod touch (the latest model) won’t record voice memos if it’s running iOS 4. The iPhone works fine, but I confirmed this bug with a friend who has the same problem on his iPod touch.
I didn’t see anything in Apple’s forums, but this suggests that not many people use this feature. Do any readers use voice memos, on any iPods? Does this feature work on your iPod touch?
I’m quite sure it worked before the upgrade, but now, after upgrading to iOS4, there are issues:
1. Can’t save. The needle moves, and record button changes to make it look like it’s recording, but I can’t save anything.
2. You used to be able to make the needle bounce by tapping on the microphone (the image, not just the actual microphone). This no longer works.
I wanted to record my kids laughing, but couldn’t :’(
Harry.
Yep, that’s exactly what I’m seeing too. Thanks.
It works on my 3rd gen iPod Touch with iOS4. I reset it earlier in the day to fix a problem I had with a Griffin iTrip. (Hold down home and sleep until it reboots, but you knew that).
A lot of people have had problems with audio accessories and the like in iOS4, and resetting seems to hit the spot.
Phew! Thanks for the tip, such an obvious solution that I never thought to try it. Actually, voice recording on my 3g iPod touch works fine now after a simple “Power Off”.
Huh, whaddya know… Resetting fixed it. Thanks for suggesting. I didn’t think that would do anything, since it was restarted during the update process.
Sweet! It worked! The first time I “reset,” it didn’t help because I didn’t hold the buttons down long enough. The second time I did, and after hitting the red record button, I could tell the difference right away. Thanks very much!
What’s cool is that it works in the background! You switch to another app, and a red strip appears at the top, telling you that you’re recording. To switch back to Memos, you just tap the red strip.
They make us wait, but they do get it right.
Thanks for the reminder to try a reset…been away from Windows so long I’ve forgotten BSOD and the cliched advice “when in doubt, reboot,” and I haven’t had a spinning wheel on my Mac in ages (since Leopard?).
I reset twice, but still would not work. Needle moves like it is recording, but after I’m finished, I cannot bring up the saved voice memo by touching the icon on the right. The mic works as my Dragon dictation app works. Any other ideas?
That’s very odd. Are you sure you did a full reset? I *thought* I did one, but it still didn’t work. I did it again by holding the two buttons down longer (no sliding the “power off” slider). It went down, and when it was up again, Voice Memo worked perfectly for me.
Allthis time, I was able to have conversations via Skype.
Looks like there may also be a problem with DHCP. Sometimes I get a 169.x.x.x address, which is one of those microsoft ideas, and obviously it doesn’t work. The only way to get rid of it (and I’ve tried forgetting network, turning off WiFi) is to do a reboot.
I just updated and found the same issue. Hoping the advice here to perform a full reset will resolve. Another issue that I didn’t have before upgrading is that the volume out of the headphones is lower until I click pause and then resume on playing music or any streaming audio. Hoping the reset will fix that as well. Not good to have it playing on the home stereo at a nice listening level, hit pause, then when I resume listening, it’s twice As loud.
Update** A FULL reset cures both issues.
same problem here… been recording for so long until IOS4 came along and some of my recordings can’t be played and can’t be sync anymore. any advise anyone?
Same problem, looking for a solution. It only does this now with the new iOS 4. It worked before the update, but with the new update it always tells me: Must attach microphone to record voice memos. When I have the Apple earbuds with the mic plugged in.
I did a reset and it did not solve the problem. It only worked after doing a reset AND deleting the memos that had been copied to iTunes.
I have been running voice memo in iTouch 3GS iOS4 for a couple of weeks successfully until I bought a new pair of identical headphones (Skullcandy 50/50) which do not seem to be working.
After a hard reboot though, everything is back to normal.
These kinds of answers is what makes the interwebs worthwhile. Thanks, and thanks to Blaine for turning me on to Dragon!
Resetting worked! thanks so much Marcus!
Ok. So I bought a 3rd generation iPod touch today and the Voice memos will work but the black button to stop recording/look at the saved memos is not working. HELP!
I had exactly the same problems as mentioned in this thread.
Resetting the ipod touch solves it all ! (hold home / sleep button for more than 10 seconds). And restart (I actually had to do it two times, before it worked). But it works now !!
Great, thanks for your help here !!!
I am having a problem with voice memos on my new ipod touch 4g- i think this is since the software update – the latest memos recorded do not sync. I tried the restart trick and attempted to sync again – everything looks like a full fledged sync but these three recordings from yesterday don’t show up in either my iTunes music folder or in the ipod list when attached via usb, but they are saved on the ipod itself. Any help would be most appreciated.
Update on ipod touch 4g. Restarted a second time and also deleted all the older saved voice memos from the ipod while not attached via usb. Then in Summary under Options I checked the box “sync only checked songs” before sync, checked apply, and the new voice memos are now safely transferred to my mac. Does this mean that there is a capacity issue with retaining stored voice memos on the ipod itself? I have the 64GB model and have 39 GB free.
I have to chime in with a big “thank you” for the note about this running in the background — I had no idea!
My big complaint about the voice memos, which I plan to use a LOT, is that it’s REALLY difficult (while driving) to find and hold the stop button well enough to actually stop recording. If anyone has any tips on this…
Thanks
I agree with Cara: I think the Voice Memo app is perfect except for the buttons. There’s a huge useless image of a microphone taking up most of the screen. If I’m holding my iPod in one hand, like while driving, I really wish I could tap the mic once to start recording and tap it again to stop. Finding the tiny buttons is murder, especially since they’re down in the bottom corners of the display. Aesthetically lovely design, but bad usability. The designers should have compared what they were making to a physical voice recorder, like my old Olympus.
I’ve started using Griffin’s iTalk, but the only thing I like better about it is the huge red Record/Pause button, right where Voice Memo’s microphone is displayed.
Many thanks for the info on Griffin iTalk. I didn’t know of its existence. For $2 I seem to have solved my intermittent Voice Memo operation.
Simon
Ok so I have an iTouch 3g and no matter what it will not work!!It seems like there’s not even a microphone in the thing!!Can somebody tell me why because it seems like it doesn’t even let me record at all!!It says I need to plug in an actual mic then record!!What the??I’m dissapointed because if I had that mic I could use it as a phone with my phone app!!Oh well…..
I am finding that the voice memo is not releasing the mic.
I can’t use voice search in google apps now
If you reset doesnt that delete Everything??