The Best Voice Memo Apps for Productivity
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One of my favorite productivity tips is using audio messages. I leave short voice memos all the time for my vendors and the people I collaborate with. Plus, I use it with friends too! It’s a huge time saver — so many meetings can just be quick audio messages!
Think about all the time that goes into planning even a short phone call or Zoom meeting. Emails back and forth about what time works, blocking off the time in your calendar, setting up your laptop, camera, and microphone — it adds up!
Voice memos are also great for capturing your ideas quickly on the go, so you never forget another great idea.
Here’s the big key to voice memos: keep it short and concise! You’re not saving any time if you ramble on for half an hour. Have a couple of bullet points in mind of what you actually need to get across and stick to those. Sometimes I will also say what the memo is about right up front so the person listening knows right away before listening to the whole thing — almost like an audible subject line. (If you need media training to keep it tight…I can help!)
Here are some of the benefits of voice memos:
- It’s great for working with people across different time zones, since you can work asynchronously.
- You might forget what was said in a meeting — but you can always go back and listen to a voice memo and jog your memory.
- Hearing people’s voices forms the same connections as a phone call.
- There’s less of a chance of misinterpretation if you can hear the person’s tone of voice.
- It eliminates the need for coordinating busy schedules for a quick chat.
- It’s easy to leave a short voice memo for yourself, too, so you can remember ideas and inspiration that pop up when you’re on the move.
Luckily, it seems like voice memos are catching on. There are so many new apps out there that make leaving voice memos even easier. A big part of that is having apps that can turn your audio messages into a transcript if you’d like.
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Here are a few voice memo apps I suggest:
Apple Voice Memos: If you’re an Apple user, the voice memos function that’s built into your phone is easy to use and seamless. You can record a voice memo and email or text it instantly. That convenience factor is huge and it’s why I often use this one! If transcription is your focus, though, another app might be a better fit. Apple Voice Memos does have a transcription feature, but other apps do it better and integrate with your laptop and productivity apps more easily.
Wispr Flow: This app is great if you want to turn your voice memos into transcripts easily. The transcripts are super-accurate and fast. They also have a meeting notetaker, which is another great feature for creating accurate notes of meetings, including to-dos and follow-ups.
Whisper Memos: I love this app for turning voice memos into emails. You can record from your phone (or even your Apple Watch!) and get a nicely formatted email with a transcript of your recording. Whisper Memos integrates with productivity apps like Notion and Trello, which is an extra bonus. I love Notion (I use it for my editorial calendar), so this is a great choice if you’re looking to use voice memos alongside other productivity tools.
Voxer: Voxer is great for leaving and listening to voice memos because you can actually start listening while the person is still leaving the message. If you’re in the middle of something and need to pop on to hear what someone is saying, it’s a great tool. Also you can text as well so you’re able to use multiple ways to communicate.
Have you started using voice memos yet?
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BONUS FREEBIE: Want even more ways to stay organized, productive and less stressed? CLICK HERE to get access to my List-Making Starter Kit. It will boost your efficiency and get you back to doing more of the things you love.
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