Apple brings ‘Layered Recordings’ to Voice Memos app in iOS 18.2 update

Alongside the release of a host of new AI features, Apple is also updating the Voice Memos app in iOS 18.2. On Wednesday, the iPhone maker announced that iPhone 16 Pro users will be able to layer a vocal track on top of an existing instrumental recording in the Voice Memos app, without needing to use headphones. Instead, users will be able to record their instruments using the iPhone’s speaker while simultaneously recording their vocals with microphones on the 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max.

The update was first announced at Apple’s event back in September, offering an alternative to the company’s long-shuttered Music Memos iPhone app, which was officially discontinued back in 2021 much to musicians’ dismay. As a result, artists turned to third-party apps like Tape It and others to fill the void.

With iOS 18.2 and Apple’s A18 Pro chip, Voice Memos is able to leverage machine learning to enable the new feature. The app can create two individual tracks, which can then be further mixed and produced in professional apps like Logic Pro. The first layer can include a variety of background instrumentals, like piano or acoustic guitar, for instance. Alternatively, musicians and producers can choose to send an existing instrumental mix directly into the Voice Memos app, allowing them to easily record a vocal layer on top.

These “Layered Recordings,” as they’re called, are also synced from Voice Memos on Mac across devices, Apple says. They’re available on Mac to drag and drop into a Logic session, too.

Apple is demonstrating the feature at launch with a new holiday track from Michael Bublé, country star Carly Pearce, and record producer Greg Wells called “Maybe This Christmas.” A behind-the-scenes video shows how the artists used the Voice Memos app to separately record their vocals on an iPhone 16 Pro.

The Voice Memos app upgrade is launching on iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max for users running iOS 18.2. Sharing to Voice Memos and importing a Layered Recording is available on Logic Pro for Mac 11.1 with macOS Sequoia 15.2, and Logic Pro for iPad 2.1 with iPadOS 18.2.

Subscribe for the industry’s biggest tech news