Start recording from the Lock Screen and Control Center
The recordings you miss are the ones where finding the app took too long. A control in Control Center turns that into one tap from anywhere.
Add the control to Control Center
- Swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen to open Control Center.
- Tap the + at the top left, then Add a Control.
- Search for Voice Recorder and choose Record, or Recordings to open the list.
- Drag it where you want it and tap Done.
On the Lock Screen or the Action button
- Lock Screen: touch and hold the Lock Screen, tap Customize, choose the Lock Screen, and replace one of the two bottom buttons with the Record control.
- Action button (iPhone 15 Pro and later): Settings › Action Button, swipe to Controls, choose the Record control. One press starts a take.
- Both open the app and start recording — no app can hold the microphone from outside itself, which is why the app has to come to the front for a moment.
While a recording is running
The Lock Screen and the Dynamic Island show the elapsed time with three buttons: add a mark, pause or resume, and save. The time counts up on its own, so the banner stays accurate without the phone doing any work.
FAQ
- Why does the app open when I tap the control?
- iOS lets no process outside an app hold the microphone. The control leaves an instruction, the app opens and carries it out — which takes about a second.
- Can I record without unlocking?
- The Lock Screen button starts the app, which needs the phone unlocked once. Controlling a take already in progress — mark, pause, save — works from the Lock Screen without unlocking.
- My Control Center has no + button.
- The editable Control Center arrived in iOS 18. The app requires iOS 18, so if you can run it you have the + button.
Record it properly next time
Voice Recorder — Novaz records meetings, lectures and ideas in M4A or WAV, marks the moments that matter, trims and merges, and turns speech into searchable text — all on your iPhone.
Download on the App Store