Google Recorder is sneakily one of the search giant's coolest apps on Pixel smartphones. Can transcribe audio recordings to text, which makes them easy to search, and you can have access to those recordings and shared from cloud, what's more. We will show you how.
If you are not familiar with Google Recorder, is an exclusive app for Pixel phones. The application has some powerful features hidden behind a simple interface. If enabled, your recordings, along with the transcripts, can be stored in recorder.google.com. Here it is a recording example I made.
RELATED: Google Pixel Recorder app can now backup audio to cloud for sharing
To start, open the Recorder app on your Google Pixel device. You will need a Pixel 3 or newer to take advantage of cloud features.
If this is the first time you open the application, you will see a splash screen with information on what you can do. Touch “Start”.
The app will now ask you if you want to backup your recordings to the cloud. Touch “Recording backup” to continue.
To make an audio recording, just tap the red button at the bottom of the screen.
Tap the pause button when done to stop recording.
You can choose to add your location to the recording, to be used when searching through recordings. Do it by selecting the button “Add location”.
Thereafter, you can add a title to the recording file and touch “Keep” to end.
There are two alternatives to share a recording: from the application or from the web portal. We will start with the application. Long press a recording from the list.
The recording will now be highlighted (as indicated by the check mark). Select any other recording to share and then tap the share icon on the top bar.
The share menu will give you four options (only the first two if you select multiple recordings):
- Audio: Share the .m4a audio file.
- Transcription: Share the transcript as a .txt file or via Google Docs.
- Link: Get a link to cloud recording.
- video clip: Create a video clip with waveform animation or transcription text.
Select one of the sharing methods and then you can select an application to share it with.
For the second method, go to recorder.google.com in a web browser such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. Make sure you are logged in with your Google account.
You will see your recordings listed on the left sidebar. Select the one you want to share.
Next, tap the three-dot menu icon next to your profile icon in the upper right corner.
Please select “Share” on the menu.
In the web, you only have the option to share the link. Choose “private for me” O “shared link” and then select “copy link”.
Now you can paste the link anywhere you want and, according to your privacy choice, people will be able to replay the recording and view the transcript in real time. Using the link means they won't need the Recorder app to listen to it.
