Play a recording on Mac
Use Voice Memos playback controls to play, pause, or quickly jump forward or backward 15 seconds in your recording.
Play or pause a recording
Go to the Voice Memos app
on your Mac.Select the recording.
Tip: You can also search for the name of a recording. Just enter text in the search field.
Click
to listen.Do any of the following:
To play the audio from a different starting point, drag the blue vertical line (playhead) left or right in the waveform overview. If you have a trackpad or a Magic Mouse, you can also swipe left or right with two fingers in the waveform detail.
Click
to go back (in 15-second increments) in the recording.Click
to temporarily stop the recording.Click
to skip ahead (in 15-second increments) in the recording.
Tip: You can also press the Space bar to play and pause a recording.
Adjust the playback options
You can adjust the playback options so your recording sounds different when you listen to it.
Note: The settings for a recording’s playback options are retained across devices running macOS 26 or iOS 26 where you are signed in to your Apple Account.
Go to the Voice Memos app
on your Mac.Select the recording, click
, then do any of the following:Change the speed: To slow down or speed up your recording, drag the Playback Speed slider left or right.
Skip over silence: To automatically skip over any gaps in your recording, turn on Skip Silence.
Enhance: To reduce background noise and reverberation, turn on Enhance Recording.
Emphasize a track in a layered recording: Move the Layer Mix slider left or right to choose which layer sounds more prominent.
Note: This control only appears when you select a layered recording, indicated by
. To view and open a layered recording on Mac, you need a Mac with macOS 15.2 or later. Layered recordings can only be recorded on supported iPhone models. See Add a second layer to a Voice Memos recording on iPhone.Reduce background noise: Turn on Studio Voice, then move the slider to increase or decrease the effect and background noise levels.
Note: Studio Voice only appears when you select a Spatial Audio recording. To playback Spatial Audio, you need a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 26 or later. Spatial Audio recordings can only be recorded on supported iPhone models. See Make a recording in Voice Memos on iPhone.
Restore original settings: To restore the playback settings to their defaults, click Reset in the upper-left corner.
Click
, then click to listen.