Guide · Voice Memos
Where to find voice memos on Mac, and how to download or save them
Voice Memos on a Mac hides its files. Here is where your recordings are, how to get your iPhone memos onto the Mac, and how to save them as ordinary audio files you can use anywhere.
1. Open Voice Memos on your Mac
It is in your Applications folder, or press Cmd+Space and type Voice Memos. Every recording synced from your iPhone shows up in its list.
2. Turn on iCloud so your iPhone memos appear
On your iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, then iCloud, and turn on Voice Memos. On your Mac, open System Settings, click your name, then iCloud, and turn on Voice Memos there too. Use the same Apple ID on both, and give long recordings a few minutes to arrive.
3. Download a memo as a file
Drag a recording out of the Voice Memos list onto your Desktop or into any Finder folder. You get a normal .m4a audio file, and the memo stays in Voice Memos as well.
4. Save lots of memos at once
Click the memos you want (Cmd+A selects all of them), then drag them into a new folder on your Desktop. Let iCloud finish syncing first, or you will copy a half list.
5. Where the files actually live
Voice Memos keeps its recordings in a hidden Library folder: ~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.apple.VoiceMemos.shared/Recordings. In Finder, choose Go, then Go to Folder, and paste that path. It is safer to drag memos out of the app than to move or rename files in that folder.
6. Keep them where you will find them again
A folder of files called New Recording is still a pile. Name each one as you go, or put them on a songwriting board so every take of a song sits together.
Questions
Why are my iPhone voice memos not showing on my Mac?
Voice Memos has to be turned on in iCloud settings on both devices, signed in to the same Apple ID. Check you have iCloud storage free, then give it time: long memos sync slowly.
Can I save voice memos to iCloud Drive on Mac?
Yes. Drag them from Voice Memos into the iCloud Drive folder in Finder. That makes a copy; the memo stays in Voice Memos too.
What format are voice memos on Mac?
They are .m4a audio files, which play in Music and QuickTime and open in most audio apps and recording software.
Related guides
- How to move voice memos from iPhone to Mac
- How to save voice memos on iPhone
- How to organise your voice memos as a songwriter
Want this done for you? songdrafts is a board for your voice memos: every take stacked on one card, songs that move across stages, merging half songs, and one share link with comments pinned to the second. Works offline, and nothing you upload trains AI. What is songdrafts?