Record
Record a Clip or a Memo on your iPhone, in your browser, or on a Sudo, Dex or Glyph.
You can record on the Italic app for iPhone, in the web app in any browser, or on a device. Each recording becomes a Clip or a Memo, and it appears in Home on every device signed in to your account.
Choose a Clip or a Memo
Pick the kind before you start. Italic never decides from length.
- Record a Clip for a quick thought or something you'll paste. It's kept as text, with no title or summary.
- Record a Memo for a meeting, a call or a longer thought. It gets a title and a summary.
Either way, only the text syncs to your account. On iPhone, the recorder also lets you choose when you finish: it has both Save as Clip and Save as Memo.
Picked the wrong one after saving? A Memo can become a Clip, but a Clip can't become a Memo. On iPhone, choose Convert to Clip from the Memo's menu; on the web, choose Move to Clips from the ⋯ menu on its page. Its text stays, but Italic asks first: it deletes the Memo's audio everywhere it's kept, including its copy in Files, and that can't be undone.
Record on your iPhone
Start recording
On Home, tap the microphone button (Record) at the bottom right, beside the tab bar. The recorder opens, reads New Recording and starts recording a Memo.
Speak
Pause and resume as you need. To throw the recording away, tap the trash button at the top right and confirm Discard; this deletes the audio you just recorded.
Save
Tap Save as Memo or Save as Clip; the button for the kind you started is highlighted. Italic transcribes the recording on your iPhone, then files it on Home.
Start a Clip or a Memo from anywhere
The Italic app adds Record Clip and Record Memo to Spotlight, Siri, the Shortcuts app and the Action button. Each one opens Italic on a recorder for that kind; a Clip's recorder reads New Clip.
- Spotlight: search "Italic". Record Clip, Record Memo and Copy Latest Clip appear beside the app icon.
- Siri: say "Record a Clip in Italic" or "Record a Memo in Italic".
- Action button: in iPhone Settings, set the Action button to a shortcut and choose Italic's Record Clip or Record Memo.
- Widgets: the Record Memo, Record Clip and Record widgets on your Home Screen or Lock Screen start one in a tap. See Widgets.
iOS only lets Italic use the microphone while the app is open, so these shortcuts and widgets always open Italic first.
Record in your browser
The web app, in any browser and in Italic for Mac's window, records Clips and Memos.
Open the recorder
Sign in at app.italic.com. On Home, choose Record, the round waveform button above the right end of the bar at the bottom. The mic inside the bar speaks a question to Chat instead.
Record
Choose Start recording and allow your browser to use the microphone. Choose Pause and Resume as you need; the pause is left out of the recording.
Save
Choose Save as Memo for a transcript, title and summary, or Save as Clip for just the words. It appears at the top of Home.
A browser recording can be up to 15 minutes, and there's no live transcript while you record. The recorder shows the time left, warns you for the last two minutes, and at the limit stops and saves what you have; the recording's page then says it stopped at the limit. Recording for longer needs the Italic app on iPhone.
The audio is sent to Italic to be transcribed. A Memo's audio is then kept only in that browser, and a Clip's is deleted once its words are saved; only the text syncs. A Memo's page in that browser has Export audio to keep a copy, Transcribe again for new words from the audio, and Delete audio, which keeps the Memo's text. Keep recordings under Dictation chooses how long a Memo's audio stays: 7 days, 30 days, 90 days or Forever, the default. It's set in each browser.
If saving fails, the recorder offers Try processing again, Keep for later and Discard recording. A recording that didn't finish waits on Home under a pill such as "1 recording to review", even if you close the page. Open it to play a recording, Retry it, or Export audio. Retry all retries them one at a time, and Clear all deletes them after asking. Nothing else deletes them: Keep recordings only reaches audio whose text was saved.
Record with a device
Sudo, Dex and Glyph record to their own storage. Your iPhone downloads each recording over Bluetooth, transcribes it and files it as a Clip or a Memo, depending on how you started it on the device. Devices connect only through the Italic app on iPhone. See Devices for Sudo, Dex and Glyph.
After you record
- A new Memo gets a title and a summary. On iPhone, Profile → Personalization → Titles & Summaries has Process with, which chooses where they're written: Automatic, Italic or Apple on-device. See iPhone.
- With Clean Up on, Italic removes filler words and false starts.
- If a workflow listens for a phrase you said, it runs. See Workflows.