FAQ

Plain answers about RecordLog — price and the one-time unlock, recording, noise reduction, two-mic recording, Boom Mic, sound formats, transcripts, cloud backups, privacy, and what version 1 does and doesn't do.

RecordLog FAQ

Price, trial, and the unlock

How much does RecordLog cost? Nothing to download. RecordLog is free on the App Store and comes with a 7-day trial where everything works. After the trial, a one-time $5.99 purchase unlocks making new things, forever. No subscription, no monthly or yearly fee.

What happens when the 7-day trial ends? Everything you already have stays yours and usable. You can always open your library, play, skip around, change playback speed, rename, star, organize, delete and recover from Recently Deleted, export and download your recordings, make backup copies, bring backups back, and recover interrupted recordings. The lock is only on making anything new: starting a new recording, saving a trim, running a transcript, changing recording settings, and starting Boom Mic. When you try one of those after the trial, the app asks for the one-time unlock. Your recordings are never held hostage — saying no never hides, deletes, or damages them.

Why charge for recording instead of the whole app? Because a recorder has to be tryable. A student mid-semester needs to record this week; paying up front feels like a gamble. Real user evidence backs this up: reviewers consistently complain about subscriptions, paywalls, or price — people hate paying before they know the recorder works for them. Free to download, a full trial, and one honest payment at the moment making something new matters: that's the no-subscription model.

Will I lose my recordings if I don't pay? No, never. They stay playable, exportable, searchable, and organizable. The one-time unlock only re-enables new work on top of them.

I reinstalled the app — do I pay again? No. RecordLog is a free download tied to your Apple ID. If you bought the unlock, Restore Purchases (Settings → Restore Purchases) brings it back. Re-downloading never costs anything. Once restored, it works offline.

Can my family use my purchase? Family Sharing is turned on for the unlock wherever Apple allows it, so family members can download RecordLog and restore it on their own devices with their own Apple ID.

Can I get a refund? Apple handles all purchases. Ask for a refund at reportaproblem.apple.com. Contact us if you get stuck and we'll point you the right way.

Recording

Is there a recording time limit? No. The app sets no artificial limit — a recording runs as long as your phone storage allows, and the app shows estimated time remaining before and during recording. If space runs low, the app warns you and stops gracefully to save a valid file rather than making a broken one.

Does it keep recording when the screen locks or I switch apps? Yes. Recording continues through normal backgrounding and screen lock.

What happens if a call or Siri interrupts my recording? The app safely saves the audio it has. Nothing disappears silently. To keep going, tap Continue Recording — it starts a new linked entry named Part 2 instead of pretending nothing happened.

What if the app is closed mid-recording? On next launch, the app looks for recoverable unfinished audio, checks how much is readable, and offers to recover it. It never overwrites finished recordings, and unrecoverable fragments stay set aside until you export a support report or delete them.

Can I stop a recording by accident? Not while the transport is locked. One tap locks the pause and stop buttons during recording; unlocking needs an explicit confirmation (pre-set to Cancel). The lock never changes the audio.

Do I need an account? No. No account, no login, no profile, no server. Open the app and record.

Do I need permission to record people? The app asks you to confirm recording responsibility on first launch, because recording laws and venue rules are different everywhere and the app can't know what applies to you. It never declares your recording lawful — that's your call — and the guidance stays available any time.

Formats and quality

What format does RecordLog record in? The default is High Quality: AAC sound in an M4A file, mono (one channel), at broadcast quality (48 kHz). Nine presets total across four sound formats — AAC, ALAC, FLAC, and PCM — all at 48 kHz. The full table is on the Formats & Codecs page.

Can I pick an exact quality number? Version 1 offers ready-made presets with storage estimates instead of free-form sliders — the goal is a recorder you can trust under time pressure, not a studio control board. Each preset shows what it costs in space.

Why is there no MP3? MP3 isn't in version 1 — no recording preset, no export. AAC (in M4A) is the small-file format the app uses: smaller and playable everywhere. Export WAV or M4A and convert with any computer tool if some destination insists on MP3.

Can I use an outside microphone? Yes. Pick the iPhone-reported mic before recording and see its real connection, channel count, and quality. Lower-quality Bluetooth headset mics get a warning, and combinations the connection can't support are disabled with a reason instead of failing mid-recording.

Can I turn the mic gain up or down? With an outside microphone that supports it, yes — a Mic Gain slider appears before recording and the level applies when you release it. With the built-in iPhone mic there is no slider, and that's Apple's doing, not ours: iOS sets the built-in mic's level itself and doesn't let any app change it. If your built-in-mic recordings come out soft, the fixes are physical, not digital — get closer to the sound, point the bottom mic at the speaker, or switch to an outside mic where the gain slider is available.

Is a perfect-copy format better? It keeps exactly what your mic captured — no more. It can't add detail the mic never picked up, and the built-in iPhone mic is not a studio mic. Choose a perfect-copy format (ALAC, FLAC, PCM) when you're feeding the app from a good outside mic.

What can I export? The original file exactly as recorded, a 16-bit WAV copy for compatibility, a Broadcast WAV (BWF) with the start timecode embedded for editors, separate 24-bit WAV files per mic for multi-mic recordings, an editing-data file (JSON), transcript text or captions, and a spreadsheet list (CSV) for several recordings. No MP3 and no built-in PDF — for a PDF of a transcript, share the text and use the iPhone's own Make PDF option.

Noise Reduction

What is Noise Reduction? A while-you-record cleanup that quiets background noise as you record — best for speech. It's off by default, runs entirely on your iPhone, and never sends audio anywhere. The full story is on the Noise Reduction page.

When is it used? When it's on and your setup is supported: the built-in iPhone mic with a one-channel (mono) preset (Apple's speech cleanup), or an outside one-channel mic with a mono preset (the app's own per-channel cleanup). Stereo, Dual Mono, multi-channel mics, and Bluetooth phone-call mics are refused with a clear reason rather than quietly doing worse.

Does it work with two lapel mics? Not yet. The per-mic cleanup is built and lab-tested on two-channel audio, but the final real-hardware check hasn't passed yet, so Noise Reduction plus Dual Mono stays blocked for now. Every one-mic use works today. This answer will change the day the hardware check passes.

Is my audio sent anywhere for noise reduction? No. It runs entirely on your iPhone.

Dual Mono (two mics)

How do I record two people each with their own mic? Connect a two-channel mic setup (USB interface or two-lapel-mic receiver in stereo/split mode), check the line on the Recorder screen shows 2 channel(s), turn on Dual Mono (isolated channels), and record. One file, two separate channels, never blended — then export Separate Tracks for the two 24-bit WAVs. Full steps: Dual Mono Mics.

Why is Dual Mono grayed out on my phone? Your connected mic isn't delivering two channels. The built-in iPhone mic always delivers one, and a Bluetooth headset delivers one. You need hardware that delivers two channels (or a receiver in split mode).

Dual Mono gives me one file, not two — is that right? Yes. One two-channel recording. Use Export As… → Separate Tracks whenever you want the two separate files.

Boom Mic

What is Boom Mic? A live-announcement mode: your voice amplified almost immediately through a Bluetooth speaker — small rooms, classrooms, rehearsals. See Boom Mic for setup, refused combinations, and honest limits.

Can I record while using Boom Mic? Yes, with the per-session Also Record switch. It records every live mic channel and saves a normal Library entry when you stop or the speaker disconnects.

Why is Noise Reduction off in Boom Mic? Design: the low-delay Bluetooth path has no room for the cleanup step. It's always off for the session and anything recorded — the screen tells you if your saved setting is on, and your setting is never changed.

Transcription (speech to text)

Is transcription included? Yes — Apple's speech-to-text is part of the free download and the trial. There's no separate transcription purchase in version 1.

Does transcription happen on my phone? The app always tries on-device recognition first — nothing leaves your phone on that path. If on-device recognition isn't available for your phone and setup, you can choose the Apple-server path, which needs a setting you turn on plus a confirmation each time. There is no silent switch, and every job shows which path it used.

What languages are supported? Version 1 writes out en-US English. You can record, play, and export audio in any language, but there's no automatic language detection or translation in version 1.

Is there live transcription? No. Transcription runs on a finished recording when you start it — no automatic mode, no meeting-bot behavior.

Can I edit the transcript? Yes. Read it as plain paragraphs or with timestamps and make corrections; your edits are kept on top and never quietly overwritten.

How do I export a transcript? As TXT (plain visible text) or SRT (text with timestamps for captions). For PDF, share the text and use the iPhone's own Make PDF option.

Cloud archive and backup

Does RecordLog back up to the cloud? Only if you set it up. You pick a destination through the Files app — iCloud Drive, OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, or any other Files provider — and the app archives finished recordings automatically with visible status. If you never pick one, nothing is archived anywhere.

Can I record straight to the cloud? No. Recordings always finish on your phone first. A cloud destination is a backup copy, never a live recording target — that's a deliberate reliability choice.

If I delete a recording from my iPhone, does my cloud backup disappear? No. Backup copies are permanent. The app never overwrites, moves, or deletes a backup file — not when you delete the phone copy, not when you delete the app. You manage backup files yourself.

What does "Remove from iPhone" do? It frees phone space by removing only the large audio, keeping a small cloud-only entry you can restore later. It's only offered when the backup can be opened and checked, and its confirmation says plainly that the app can't prove your storage provider's own servers synced.

Can I bring my backups back? Yes. Import RecordLog backups from Files, one at a time or in a batch. Exact duplicates are skipped, and a same-ID-but-different-content conflict needs your explicit Import as New choice — existing recordings are never overwritten.

Privacy and data

Does RecordLog collect my data? No. No account, no RecordLog server, no usage tracking, no ads. Your recordings, names, folders, trims, and transcripts live in the app's on-phone storage.

Does my audio ever leave my phone? Only when you make it happen: sharing an exported file, archiving to a cloud folder you picked, or approving an Apple-server transcript for one recording. On-phone transcription, noise reduction, and all core recording stay local. The app never uploads anything by itself.

Does RecordLog need internet? No — recording, noise reduction, library, playback, trim, and normal export work fully offline, even in airplane mode. Only cloud backups and the optional Apple-server transcript path need a connection, and only when you use them.

Is my data backed up? Your app data is part of a normal iCloud device backup if you have backups turned on, and comes back when you restore a whole device from that backup. There is no live sync between devices and no RecordLog cloud account — use the cloud archive feature for an explicit copy in your own storage.

What happens to my data if I delete the app? Phone data is removed from the phone. Backup copies you made are untouched — they're in your storage, and the app never deletes them.

What version 1 doesn't do

Is RecordLog on iPad? Not in version 1 — iPhone in portrait. iPad support is under consideration.

Can I edit the audio — cut, split, fade, mix? Version 1 trims the start and end only — no cutting from the middle, splitting, fading, or mixing. That's studio-app territory; RecordLog is a recorder. What it does do is capture well: two-mic interviews, multi-channel interfaces, and timecode are supported.

Are there tags, widgets, notifications, or reminders? Not in version 1.

Can RecordLog tell who spoke or summarize my recording? No. Telling speakers apart, summaries, and translation are not in version 1 — the app gives you audio, a raw transcript you can edit, and honest facts about the recording. Nothing invents meaning you didn't record.

What's the minimum iOS version? iOS 17.0, iPhone.

Feedback

How do I request a feature or report a problem? From inside the app: Settings (or About) → Feedback — it opens the RecordLog feedback page (tlcdesigns.com/feedback/recordlog). From the web: the Feedback button on the RecordLog site. Or email recordlog@tlcdesigns.com. The no-subscription pricing, the no-time-limit recording, the format honesty, and the included transcription all trace to complaints and requests from real recorder users. Every message is read.

FAQ