Record a voice note

Start a voice note

On iPhone there are two places to speak. The microphone beside the note box, under More details on Log pain, fills in that episode's note, and Write or speak a daily note on the Today screen opens the daily note, where Speak starts recording. Android has the same two places: the microphone beside the note box on Log pain fills in that episode's note, and Write or speak a daily note in the Daily note card on Today opens the daily note, where Speak starts recording.

On iPhone and Android one control starts and stops: it turns into a stop control while recording, and tapping it again keeps what was heard. On iPhone, a separate Discard throws a running recording away instead. On Android, the daily note shows Discard take while it records, and on Log pain you long-press the microphone to throw the recording away. Nothing ends when you lift your finger — this is not a press-and-hold control on either.

The web app has no voice note at launch. It shows no microphone control, so on the web app type the note instead, as described below.

Recording can finish on its own on Android, and this is worth knowing before you start there. It ends the session once it decides you have stopped speaking, so a pause mid-thought can settle the recording before you tap anything. What was heard up to that point is kept — nothing is discarded when it ends this way. On iPhone, a pause does not end the recording — it keeps listening and picks the note back up when you resume, so a mid-thought pause does not need a second note there.

On both iPhone and Android there is also a two-minute ceiling, so a long note can end even while you are still talking. On Android, if you had more to say, start recording again rather than assuming the first recording is still listening.

What is kept

Only the transcript is kept. The recording itself is discarded once the transcript is written, so nothing is stored that a transcript does not already say.

Where the words go depends on where you spoke.

On iPhone, words spoken into the note box on Log pain become that episode's note when you save it, exactly as if you had typed them.

A daily note on iPhone asks what the note is: Today's summary, Something earlier or After an episode. Each is filed against a day — today's, or an earlier day you pick with Something earlier. Choosing After an episode does not attach the note to an episode you already logged. Find details in this note then suggests records from it — such as a pain episode or a medication or action you mentioned — for you to review one at a time, and nothing is added to your entries until you accept it. A suggested episode is a new entry; the note is not attached to an episode you already logged.

On Android, words spoken into the note box on Log pain are added to that form's note, and they become the episode's note when you save it, just as typed words do. When you are signed in, the same words are also sent as a note about today as soon as the recording stops, whether or not you then save the episode, and any records suggested from it — such as a pain episode or a medication you mentioned — come to you for review before anything is added to your entries.

A daily note on Android asks what the note is: Today's summary, Something earlier — with a date you pick — or After an episode. Find details then sends it, filed against today or the day you picked, and any records suggested from it come to you for review before anything is added to your entries. Choosing After an episode does not attach the note to an episode you already logged. If you are not signed in, Find details keeps the note on the phone as a saved draft and asks you to sign in instead.

Type the note instead

Typing is always available. On iPhone it reaches the same places speaking does: type into the note box on Log pain, or into the daily note. On Android you can type into the same two places, with one difference: a typed note on Log pain becomes the episode's note only, and is not also sent as a note about today the way spoken words there are. On the web app, the Pain check-in card under Logging has its own notes box for the episode, and the Daily note card on the same page takes a typed note and suggests records from it when you choose Review candidates.

An episode's own notes field is the way to put words on that episode. On iPhone you can change that note later with Edit entry on the episode in Timeline. On Android a saved episode cannot be edited, so type the note when you log the episode.

Edit a transcript

Open the note and edit it as text. Correcting a transcript does not re-run the recording; the corrected version is the one shown from then on.

The first transcript is kept as well. Your correction replaces what is displayed, and the originally captured text stays on the record beside it. Repeated corrections do not overwrite it — the original is the first capture, not the previous one.

Whether you can see it depends on the app. On iPhone and Android the review sheet shows the original alongside your correction when the two differ. The web app does not display it at all, so a web reader sees only the corrected text — which does not mean the original is gone; it is kept either way.

Editing a transcript is therefore not a way to remove something that was misheard or that you would rather not keep. On iPhone, you can delete a whole note instead: open Saved notes from the daily note, choose the note, then Delete note. Suggestions from it that you have not reviewed are withdrawn, and a note whose saved records are still in your entries is not deleted until you remove those records first. The web app and Android offer no way to delete a submitted note, so there a correction is the only change you can make to one.