Thanks to the built-in Recorder app, my Google Pixel 9 Pro XL takes better notes than I could ever do in my meetings. It gives me full transcripts for all my meetings, and all it requires is just a tap of a button. Here’s how you can do that, too.
What Can Pixel Recorder Do?
In case you aren’t aware, Recorder is a built-in app on Google’s Pixel phones that allows you to record audio. I use this app’s transcript feature to take notes in meetings that I can then later review as well as search into. This feature works even when my phone isn’t connected to the internet.
The app labels the speakers accordingly, so I know exactly who said what in my meetings. I can then even search these transcripts to get to where I want quickly.
I then sync my recordings on the web, which allows me to access both audio and text versions of my meetings on my computer.
How I Take Notes Using Recorder on My Pixel Phone
It doesn’t take a lot to start recording a meeting in Recorder. I tap a button and the app starts doing its job.
If you want to do that, launch the Recorder app on your Pixel phone. If you’ve made any recordings in the past, you’ll see them on your screen. To begin a new recording, tap the giant red button.
Recorder will start recording the audio. If you want to see the transcript in real-time, tap the transcript button (the button with three horizontal lines). To pause the recording, tap the Pause button. To stop the recording (when your meeting has finished), tap the Stop button.
Your meeting recording is right there on your screen. Tap it to open it. To play it, tap the Play button. To view the transcript, tap the transcript button.
Let Recorder Label the Speakers
By default, Recorder doesn’t apply labels to the speakers in your meetings. If you want that feature, turn it on as follows.
Open the Recorder app. In the top-right corner, tap your Google account profile icon and choose “Recorder Settings.” On the following screen, scroll down to the Transcription section. Here, turn on “Speaker Labels.” In the prompt that opens, choose “Yes, I’m In.”
From now on, Recorder will identify and label the speakers accordingly in your recordings.
Make Changes to Your Meeting Recordings
I find Recorder to be very accurate when it comes to producing meeting transcripts. However, on the rare occasions where I find it having made a mistake, I manually correct the typos.
To do that, launch Recorder and tap your meeting recording.
You can only edit the existing words in the transcript. You can’t add or remove words from it.
Tap the transcript tab to access the recording’s transcript. Find the word you want to fix, tap and hold on the word, and choose “Edit Word.”
To find a specific word quickly, tap the three dots in the top-right corner and choose “Search Transcript.”
Type the correct form of the word in the open box and tap “Save.”
I Can Access My Meeting Notes on the Web as Well
Recorder allows me to sync my notes to the web, which lets me access all of my audio recordings as well as their transcripts online from my computer.
If you want to do that as well, first enable recording sync in the app. Launch the Recorder app, tap your profile icon in the top-right corner, and choose “Turn On Backup.” Wait for Recorder to finish syncing all your recordings.
Launch the Google Recorder site and sign in to your Google account. In the site’s left sidebar, you’ll see all your recordings. Click a recording to access it. To play it, click the Play button. You can already view the transcript on your screen.
If you want to save the recording, the transcript, or both to your computer, click the three dots and choose “Download.” In the Select File Format prompt, choose whether you only want the audio, the transcript, or both, and then click “Download.”
Your computer will download the appropriate file. You can now use this file yourself or share it with whoever you want.
And that’s how I use this tiny yet extremely useful app as my note-taking assistance on my Google Pixel phone. Let me know how it works for you.