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The built-in Voice Memos app on the iPhone allows users to conveniently record voice and other external audio without downloading a third-party app. People use it to create homemade podcasts, make personal notes, prepare for lectures, and much more. If you’re a regular user of the app, you may have a lot of recordings stored already, and sometimes, you may have deleted unwanted recordings off your iPhone too.
Deleting a voice memo within the app is pretty easy. One accidental press, and it’s gone. Since there are no confirmation prompts, accidental deletions are bound to happen. More often than not, you may have deleted some recordings that you later regretted. The good news is that you can easily recover deleted voice memos on your iPhone.
Whether you deleted a voice memo by accident or you changed your mind regarding a particular audio recording and want to reuse it, you can take a look at the various methods we’ll be covering on how to recover deleted voice memos on an iPhone:
Method 1: Recover Deleted Voice Memos from Recently Deleted Folder
We’ll start with the easiest way to retrieve deleted voice memos on iPhone, provided they were accidental. You can recover these recordings right from the Voice Memos app. So, let’s see what you need to do:
Step 1. Launch the Voice Memos app on your iPhone. By default, this should take you to the All Recordings section, where you’ll find your voice recordings. Here, tap on the ‘<‘ at the top-left corner of your screen.
Step 2. Now, you’ll see the list of all folders used to store your voice recordings. Here, tap on ‘Recently Deleted.’
Step 3. It will show you all the voice memos that you’ve accidentally deleted. Tap on ‘Edit’ located at the top-right corner of the menu.
Step 4. Next, tap and select the audio recordings that you want to recover or restore. Once you’re done with the selection, tap on the ‘Recover’ option at the bottom-left, as shown below.
These recordings will now be restored to their original location, meaning you’ll be able to find them within the folder you initially recorded the voice memo. Note that the Recently Deleted folder only houses voice recordings deleted in the last 30 days, after which they’re permanently deleted.
Method 2: Recover Deleted Voice Memos with an iPhone Voice Memos Recovery Software
This method requires you to have access to a computer, whether it’s a Windows PC or Mac. We’ll use a third-party iPhone voice memos recovery software called UltData, developed by Tenorshare, a reputed company focusing on data recovery tools. Take a look at the steps to recover deleted voice memos on iPhone:
Step 1. First, you’ll need to download and install UltData on your Mac or Windows machine. Next, connect your iPhone to the computer using the included Lightning cable. Launch the software and choose ‘Recover Data from iOS Devices’ from the main menu.
Step 2. In the next screen, you can manually select the type of data you wish to recover. Since you want to recover audio recordings, check the box next to Voice Memos under System Data and leave everything else unchecked. Click on ‘Scan.’
Step 3. Wait a few seconds for the scan to complete. Once finished, you’ll see the list of deleted voice recordings that can be retrieved using UltData. Select the necessary files and click on ‘Recover to PC.’
The voice memos you accidentally deleted will now be recovered to your computer. This method will not restore the voice recordings to their original location. However, you can manually transfer the recovered voice memos to your iPhone. You can use any of these iPhone Manager software to get this done.
Also Read: Best iPhone Data Recovery Software in 2024 | Tenorshare UltData Review
Method 3: Recover Deleted Voice Memos from iCloud Backup
You can use this procedure to retrieve deleted voice memos on your iPhone without using a computer. However, this method requires you to completely erase your iPhone, which may be inconvenient for some users. If you had backed up your iPhone before the voice recordings were deleted, restoring from an iCloud backup will restore the deleted voice memos. Do follow these steps only if you use iCloud for backing up your iPhone data:
Step 1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone. Scroll down and tap on ‘General’ from the settings menu.
Step 2. Next, scroll down to the bottom of the menu and tap on ‘Reset.’
Step 3. Now, choose ‘Erase All Content and Settings.’ Confirm your action when prompted.
Step 4. Once the data wipe is complete, your device will reboot and take you to the welcome screen as if you’re setting up a new iPhone. Follow the onscreen instructions and once you get to the ‘Apps and Data’ screen, choose ‘Restore from iCloud Backup.’
Wait several minutes for the restoration process to complete. One important thing to note here is that all data stored and changes made to the iPhone post your last iCloud backup will be permanently lost.
Method 4. Recover Deleted Voice Memos from iTunes Backup
Not everyone uses iCloud to back up their devices. Most people who don’t pay for iCloud rely on iTunes and their computers for locally backing up their iPhones. Similar to the iCloud restoration process, this method will only restore the voice memos if a backup was made before the deletion. Unlike the iCloud method, you don’t need to erase your iPhone before restoring it with iTunes.
Step 1. Connect your iPhone to the computer using the included USB to Lightning cable and launch iTunes. Click on the iPhone icon located below the menu bar as shown below.
Step 2. Under the Backups section on the right pane, click on ‘Restore Backup.’
Step 3. Now, you will be prompted to choose the backup from which you want to restore your iPhone. Make the selection and click on ‘Restore.’
Leave your iPhone connected to the computer and wait for iTunes to restore your device. Once complete, you’ll find all your voice recordings where you last stored them. If you have Find My enabled, you will be prompted by iTunes to turn it off before you’re able to restore your iPhone. You can disable it temporarily by going to Settings -> Apple ID -> Find My. Once again, all the data stored after the backup will be lost permanently after the restoration process.
Summing Up
As you can see, there’s no need to panic if you accidentally remove your recordings since there are multiple ways to retrieve deleted voice memos. Which one of these methods worked for you? Do you know any additional way to retrieve iPhone recordings? Feel free to share your ideas and tips in the comments below.
