Guide · Windows

How to get iPhone voice memos on a Windows PC

Apple does not make Voice Memos for Windows, so your recordings will not just appear on a PC the way they do on a Mac. They are ordinary audio files though, and getting them across takes a few minutes. Here is the most reliable route, and two quicker ones for a handful of memos.

The reliable route: iCloud Drive

1. Save the recordings to iCloud Drive

On the iPhone open Voice Memos, tap Edit (or Select), tick the recordings you want, tap Share, then Save to Files. Choose a folder in iCloud Drive, for example a new folder called Voice Memos.

2. Get iCloud Drive on the PC

Install iCloud for Windows from the Microsoft Store and sign in with the same Apple Account. iCloud Drive then shows up in File Explorer. No install? Go to icloud.com in your browser, open Drive, select the recordings and download them.

3. Copy the folder somewhere you will find it

Copy the folder out of iCloud Drive to your Desktop or Music folder. Each recording is an .m4a file named after the memo, and Windows plays it in Media Player.

4. Bring the folder into songdrafts

Open songdrafts in Chrome or Edge and drag the folder onto the Songwriting board. Anything that is not audio is ignored, and each recording becomes a card in the Inbox, named as it was in Voice Memos.

A few memos: OneDrive or Google Drive

If the OneDrive or Google Drive app is on your iPhone, tick the recordings in Voice Memos, tap Share, and save them there. They appear on the PC in the same app or in the browser. Good for a dozen or so at a time.

One or two: email them to yourself

Tap Share on a recording and choose Mail. Fine for one or two short memos; long ones can be too big to attach.

Keep the originals

Nothing here deletes anything. Leave your recordings in Voice Memos and sort the copies. songdrafts remembers the last recording you brought in, so next time you only bring in what is newer.

Skip the PC: do it on the phone

songdrafts also runs on iPhone. Open songdrafts.com in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen, and it opens like an app. Save your recordings to Files as in step 1, then tap Import audio in songdrafts and pick them.

Questions

Is there a Voice Memos app for Windows?

No. Apple makes Voice Memos for its own devices only, so on a Windows PC you move the recordings across as audio files, using one of the routes above.

What format are iPhone voice memos?

.m4a audio files. Windows opens them in Media Player, and most music software reads them too.

Does this delete anything from my iPhone?

No. Sharing makes copies. Your recordings stay in Voice Memos on the phone.