When Sound Became a Memory

I’ve used Apple’s Voice Memos app for years. It’s simple, reliable, and always there when I need to capture an idea, a song, or a fleeting thought. But over time, I started to feel the growing friction of its limitations. It began to feel less like a personal archive and more like a box full of unlabeled cassette tapes.

When I open the app, I often find myself scrolling through endless “New Recording 1898” or “Recording 2037” files. It’s hard to find any memories when they’re all named like that. I wanted something that could help me remember what I’d captured — not just store it.

Turns out, I’m not the only one who feels this way. One user on the App Store summed it up perfectly:

“I had over a thousand recordings by 17... To organize them all is a monumental task.” 

—Philadelphia Jack, 1 Start. Jan

The sentiment is common. Many of us love what Voice Memos stands for — the idea of catching a thought before it disappears — but wish it helped us rediscover those thoughts later.

Still, it’s hard not to appreciate what Apple got right. The clarity of the recordings, the instant accessibility, and the minimal interface have made it a favorite for artists, students, and even journalists. One user wrote:

“I’ve been using this app for 7 years… I love everything that this has to offer. I can record things I want to remember and things I want to record for fun.” — Lilsister95, 5 starts, Sept 9, 2025

Another review said:

“Voice memos is a very good way to remember almost everything… I can also say something and then the next day remember it because of voice memos.” — Amelia Jamison, 5 stars, October 2025

That last line captures exactly how I’ve used the app — as a way to talk to my future self, to save the sound of my family’s voices, or to capture ideas that might turn into songs. There’s something deeply human about recording your own voice; it’s memory in its purest form.

What People Love About Voice Memos

Apple’s Voice Memos deserves credit. It’s one of the few pre-installed apps that people actually use — and many rely on it daily. Its minimalist design and instant accessibility have made it a quiet staple for creators, professionals, and families alike.

Musicians like Taylor Swift have used it to capture song ideas that later became hits. Students record lectures. Journalists capture interviews. Parents preserve the laughter of a child.

In hundreds of reviews, people praise Voice Memos for:

• Simplicity – “It just works. Press record and go.”

• Audio quality – The built-in mic captures surprisingly clear sound, even in noisy rooms.

• Reliability – “It’s always there when I need it — no setup, no login.”

• Integration – Seamlessly syncing across Apple devices and backing up to iCloud.
  
  

For many, those features made Voice Memos feel like a trusted old notebook — a simple, reliable place to store the sounds of their lives.

Where It Falls Short

But beneath that simplicity, a growing frustration has echoed through user reviews. Once the number of recordings grows, the cracks begin to show.

Many users describe losing recordings, struggling to organize content, and feeling overwhelmed by endless lists with no visual hierarchy. Some mention confusion between versions, as Apple introduces small changes that don’t actually improve usability.

Voice Memos’ strength — its simplicity — has become its greatest weakness. It’s great for a few recordings, but not for hundreds. Not for years of sound. As one reviewer put it, “It’s like having a pile of cassette tapes with no labels.”

Even though Apple has recently added features like Audio Layering and Spatial Recording for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, these updates cater to technical recording — not memory keeping. The emotional side, the rediscovery side, remains untouched.

The New Era of Voice Memos

With iOS 18 and the iPhone 16 Pro Max, Apple introduced two long-awaited features that push the app forward technologically: Spatial Audio Recording and Layered Audio Tracks.

• Spatial Audio gives recordings a sense of depth and direction — you can hear the room, not just the sound. It’s ideal for live music, ambient sound, or capturing moments that feel immersive.

• Layered Recording lets you record a new track over an existing one, something musicians and podcasters had wanted for years. It’s simple, elegant, and hints at what Voice Memos could become.

These are exciting improvements, especially for creative users. Yet despite these updates, the experience of browsing and finding recordings remains largely unchanged — still an endless scroll of lists. The heart of the problem isn’t the sound quality; it’s the lack of connection between those sounds and the memories they represent.

Why I Started Rethinking the Experience

I’ve often wondered what it would feel like if voice recordings were treated with the same care as photos — organized, surfaced intelligently, and easy to explore visually. What if sound memories were as scannable and recognizable as faces in a photo album?

That question became personal. I wanted a way to rediscover my old recordings — the voices of family members who are no longer here, the songs I started but never finished, the audio notes I left myself years ago.

Voice Memos is still a remarkable app for what it does. But I started to imagine what could come next — an app built not just for recording, but for remembering.

Closing Reflection

Apple’s Voice Memos will always have a special place for me. It’s one of the most intimate apps ever made — a quiet recorder of moments no one else hears. But after years of using it, I’ve realized how much potential is still untapped.

Apple has evolved the technology behind recording — with spatial audio, layered tracks, and better sound quality — but not the experience of revisiting those recordings.

It made me wonder: what could happen if we redesigned the way we relate to our audio memories? What if the next big leap isn’t a technical one, but an emotional one — a design that helps us see and hear our lives differently?

That thought is what eventually led me to begin designing Sound Library — my own way of reimagining how we organize and reconnect with sound.

In the next post, I’ll share more about what inspired that journey — and how I believe voice recording apps can become tools for rediscovery rather than just storage.