How to record Spatial Audio on iPhone

What Spatial Audio recording captures

A regular stereo recording keeps left and right. Spatial Audio keeps the direction of sound around the iPhone — in front, behind, and to the sides — using its microphone array. When you play it back with compatible headphones, the place opens up around you instead of sitting between your ears.

Check which iPhones record Spatial Audio

1. Record video with Spatial Audio in the Camera app

On supported iPhones, the Camera app can record the sound of a video in Spatial Audio. You can review the sound recording options in Settings › Camera › Record Sound. Video is the right choice when movement matters, but it produces large files and is easy to lose among thousands of clips in your photo library.

2. Record Spatial Audio in Voice Memos

Voice Memos supports Spatial Audio recording on the same iPhone models. It is excellent for lectures, rehearsals, and ideas. Recordings are organized by name and date, so a memo is easy to make but harder to connect to a place or a picture years later.

Compare Aunori with Voice Memos and Journal

3. Keep a photo and its Spatial Audio together with Aunori

Aunori is made for moments you want to return to. Every Moment starts with one cover photo, then keeps the sound around it.

1. Take the cover photo. Open Capture — or say “Capture a Moment” to Siri, or use the shortcut on the Action button — and take one photo.
2. Record the place. Aunori records the sound around you with a live waveform. On Spatial Audio iPhones, it saves a 360° recording plus a stereo fallback.
3. Review and save. Listen, rename the Moment, add an optional memory note or place, and check the sound tags Aunori detected on your iPhone.

Later, you find the Moment again in your library, on the calendar, on the map, or when an Echo brings it back.

Tips for a clean recording

• Hold still. Hand movement and fabric rustle are louder to the microphones than you think.
• Mind the wind. Turn your back to it or shelter the iPhone with your body; strong wind overwhelms any small microphone.
• Do not cover the microphones. Hold the iPhone by its edges, especially near the bottom and the camera bump.
• Let it breathe. A few seconds of silence before the interesting part make the recording feel like a place, not a clip.
• Stay quiet yourself. Voices close to the iPhone dominate a Spatial Audio recording.
• Respect people around you. Only record conversations and people when you are allowed to.

How to listen back

Use headphones with Spatial Audio support for the most immersive playback. In Aunori, Relive plays the original recording; with Aunori Pro, Relive Studio can focus compatible recordings on People or World, and Stay keeps a Moment looping in the background.

Questions