How to use the Recorder app on the Google Pixel 4 and Google Pixel 4 XL

The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL have just launched, and with them comes a new recorder app with some pretty slick features.

How does this differ from a normal recorder app? Google is using its existing speech recognition prowess and search capabilities to enable searchable transcriptions. This means you can record something and immediately search for words, phrases, or even locations where you said something. Think of this as Google photos search, but for audio.

So how do you use the new Pixel 4 recorder app? Let me take you through it step by step.

Jump into the app

Launch the Pixel 4 recorder app. When you open it for the first time, it will ask you if you want to enable location tags for recordings. I hit accept because being able to search by location is really useful for me. After this, you’re ready to start recording.

Record some audio

Hit the big red button to start recording audio. Unfortunately, you can’t import external audio at this time.

Listen to or view a transcription

Save your transcription and tap to view it. You can play it back or jump to the transcript by hitting the Transcript button at the bottom.

Search your recordings

Use the search button at the top to search for specific words in your recording. If you want, you can also search from the recording selection page to find words throughout all your recordings.

Save to Google Drive or share

At this point, you’ll want to do something with your recording. If you tap the top right-hand corner, you’ll have the option to share or save to Google Drive. If you choose the share option, you’ll be able to select if you want to share just the audio, the transcription, or both.

That’s it!

The new recorder app is pretty darn cool,  but I’ve been using an App called Otter.ai for about a year now. That app can do everything this app does, but you can also import external audio or video, edit transcripts and more. You’ll have 600 free minutes a month you can use for recordings, and I’ve really enjoyed my time with it so far. Of course the Google Pixel 4 recorder app is built in and doesn’t have any fees involved, so it’s up to you on which one is the better fit.

Interested in any other Pixel 4 content? Make sure you stay tuned to AA for more tips and tricks!