In 2016, Apple launched a new iPhone app called Music Memos. It was meant to expand on the built-in Voice Memos app’s ease of use while adding some features for musicians. You could record something with an acoustic guitar or piano in uncompressed audio, and Music Memos would detect the chords you played and could also add in drum and bass backing tracks that kept with your tempo. You could name those tracks and give them star ratings, or tag certain parts of a recording like the bridge or chorus.
But considering how infrequently Apple updated Music Memos after its release, it’s fair to assume that the app never took off like the company might’ve hoped. It was an awkward middle child between the wonderfully simple Voice Memos and more capable GarageBand. And today, as noted by 9to5Mac, Apple has confirmed that Music Memos won’t be getting any further updates. The one released today, version 1.0.7 — we never even made it to 1.1, folks — allows users to export their Music Memos recordings to Voice Memos. You can still export tracks to GarageBand just like before, too.
Let’s all take a trip back in time and rewatch our 2016 video about Music Memos.
You’ll now see a “Recording is moving to Voice Memos” prompt when you open Music Memos. Tapping “export” will send all of your stuff over to Voice Memos in a folder labeled Music Memos. You can also just tap “OK” to dismiss the export reminder for another week. If you create new recordings with Music Memos after exporting, just remember to copy those over as well. Here’s an FAQ on the transition process.
Apple says that Music Memos will be unavailable to download after March 1st, 2021 for new users; if you’ve already installed it previously, it’ll remain available in your App Store library. But it won’t be getting any further development — not that it had received much attention in years anyway. Apple made a few bare minimum updates to the app in the past, adding support for new iPhone display resolutions and so on, but that’s pretty much it. Here’s the website for the app, but it might not be around for much longer.
