Apple during its iPhone event earlier this week unveiled a significant upgrade to its Voice Memos app, introducing multitrack recording capabilities that appear to be exclusively for the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max models. The new feature marks a notable advancement in mobile audio recording, but it appears it will be unavailable for older iPhones or the standard iPhone 16.
Essentially, the multitrack functionality allows iPhone 16 Pro users to layer one audio track on top of an existing recording, a capability that is likely to be particularly attractive to musicians and songwriters. Users can record an initial track, for example a guitar part, and then add a vocal or another instrument as an overdub.
The way it works is that the Voice Memos app plays the music track through the iPhone's speakers, while simultaneously recording the user's voice. It can then isolate the overdubbed part using what Apple calls "advanced processing" and cancel the background music, leaving a "professional-sounding recording" without the need for headphones. This means users can effectively separate the layers for individual use or editing.
The update addresses a long-standing limitation of the Voice Memos app, which has been a popular tool for quickly capturing musical ideas despite its previously basic functionality. But the feature limitation to Apple's premium Pro models may come as an unwelcome surprise to some.
While Apple hasn't detailed the specific technical requirements that make it exclusive to iPhone 16 Pro models, it's likely that the feature leverages the enhanced processing power of the new A18 Pro chip and the devices' new four studio-quality microphones. The iPhone 16 series launches on September 20, with pre-orders starting on Friday, September 13, but the multitrack recording feature is expected to be available later in the year via a software update.
