How to Record a Podcast on iPhone

The phone is a better recorder than its reputation. What actually ruins the take is the room, the grip and a remote co-host.

You can record a podcast on iPhone and end up with audio people will happily listen to. The microphone is better than its reputation; what ruins phone recordings is the room and the way the phone is held, and both of those are free to fix. Set the recorder to its highest quality option rather than the compressed default, put the phone in airplane mode so nothing interrupts a good answer, keep it about a hand's width from your mouth and off any hard surface. That is most of the job. The part that catches people out is the remote co-host: a phone cannot run live noise cancellation on a call, so whatever their kitchen is doing goes into the file with them.

Settings and setup before you press record

Two settings and one physical decision do most of the work. In the recorder's own settings there is an audio quality option; move it off the compressed default so you are not editing a file that was already thrown away once. Then airplane mode, because a notification landing in the middle of a good answer is the one thing you genuinely cannot fix afterwards. Storage next: an hour at full quality is not small, so clear space before rather than during.

• Highest quality setting in the recorder's own preferences, checked before every session rather than once.
• Airplane mode on, do not disturb on, and the watch on the desk rather than the wrist.
• A hand's width from the mouth, slightly off-axis so plosives pass by instead of into the capsule.
• Off hard surfaces. A table transmits every tap; a folded towel under the phone kills most of it.
• A 20-second test recording, listened to on headphones, before you commit to a full hour.

The off-axis point is the one that surprises people. Speaking straight into a phone at close range gives you a strong signal and a burst of air on every p and b, and there is no plugin that unmakes that. Angle it slightly, keep the distance consistent, and stop moving it between answers. Consistency is worth more than perfection here: a slightly dull recording that never changes is far easier to work with than a bright one that swings around the whole time.

The room does more damage than the phone

Hold a phone up in a bathroom and you will hear exactly what a hard room does. A phone microphone is effectively omnidirectional, so it takes the whole room in along with your voice, and reflections arrive as a smear you cannot separate out later. Soft surfaces fix this cheaply. A bed, a hanging coat, a closet full of clothes, a rug, a duvet draped over a table — all of them work, and they work better than anything you can buy for the same money.

Handling noise is the other half

Every adjustment of your grip goes into the file as a thump. Skin on glass is loud at close range, and it lands in the same low frequencies as your voice, which is exactly why it is so hard to remove afterwards. Set the phone down, or hold it still in one position and accept a slightly worse angle. Where this turns into a real problem is at the other end of an interview: your guest is on a phone, in their kitchen, and nothing you do locally changes what their file sounds like.

The session, start to finish

Ten minutes before: quality setting checked, airplane mode on, phone on a towel, everyone either in the same soft room or on their own local recorder. Record 20 seconds, listen on headphones, fix what you hear. Our recording walkthrough covers the wider version of this checklist, and the free recording software page covers what to run if you would rather not use the phone's own app.

During: leave 10 seconds of silence at the top with nobody talking. That is your room tone, and it is the most useful thing you can hand your future self — plenty of cleanup tools want a sample of the noise, and the ones that do not still benefit from having it. Clap once at the start if you are syncing two devices. If the interview happens over a call rather than in the room, our remote recording notes explain why each person records locally instead of trusting the call itself.

After: get the file off the phone at full quality — AirDrop or a cable, never a messaging app, which will re-compress it on the way past. Then the cleanup pass. The practical order is noise first, then levels, then the cut, and our noise removal guide walks through it. For remote guests the better answer is upstream: the Krisp remote interview workflow is about cleaning their microphone while they talk instead of repairing it for an hour afterwards.

Edge cases on a phone recording

Can you record two people on one phone?

You can, and it costs you the ability to fix one voice without touching the other. Sit at 90 degrees to each other with the phone between you, a little closer to the quieter person. If either of you leans in when you get excited, decide now who moves and who does not. Two phones recording separately is better whenever it is possible.

Should you plug a microphone into the phone?

It helps, but not as much as the room does. A wired lavalier or a small dynamic microphone with the right adapter gets you closer to the source and further from the reflections, which is most of the benefit. Do that after you have dealt with the space, not before, or you will simply be recording a hard room more accurately.

What about editing on the phone?

Fine for a rough cut, painful for anything precise. Move the files to a computer for the real pass, because small screens and fine gain adjustments are a bad combination. Our cost worksheet assumes a laptop for the edit, and every free tool worth using in that pass runs there rather than on a handset.

Common questions

Can you record a podcast on iPhone properly?

Yes. The built-in recorder handles a talk show fine once you switch it off the compressed quality setting and keep it about a hand's width from your mouth. The limits are the room and the handling, not the hardware. Where it genuinely falls short is a live remote interview, because a phone cannot clean incoming audio.

What is the best app for it?

The built-in voice recorder is enough for a solo episode or an in-person interview, and it is one less thing to fail mid-take. Reach for a third-party recorder when you need multitrack, a level meter you can watch while you talk, or a backup running at the same time. Test whichever you pick on a throwaway session first.

How do I stop background noise on a phone?

Before: soft room, windows closed, appliances off, phone on a folded towel. During: keep still and keep the distance constant. After: a noise pass using the room tone you recorded. In that order, because the earlier the fix, the less it costs you in quality — repair always removes a little of the voice along with the noise.

Can my remote guest use their phone?

They can, and you should assume the file will need work. A phone will not run live noise cancellation on a call, so their room comes along with them. If they own a laptop, ask for that instead: a laptop call can be cleaned before it is ever recorded, which is far cheaper than fixing it in post.

Do I need to record video too?

Only if you plan to publish it. Video multiplies file sizes and slows every transfer off the phone, and a 500 MB ceiling on a browser cleanup tool arrives quickly. If you do record it, capture the audio separately as well and sync the two, so a compressed video track never ends up being your master.