How to record your baby's voice so you can still hear it in twenty years

Why voice recordings matter more than another photo

You will have 4,000 photos of the first year. You will have very few recordings, and in ten years the recordings will be the ones that make you cry. Voices change monthly; the newborn cry, the six-month squeal and the toddler’s first sentence are three different children.

The reason parents do not record is friction: the voice memo app saves “New Recording 47” to a list you will never scroll, and there is no way to attach it to that day or that story. The fix is a baby journal that records voice as a memory with a date, an age, a title and a note.

What to record

• Babbling at 4, 6, 8 and 10 months: you will hear the language arriving.
• The laugh. Tickle, record, done.
• First words and the version before the word (“ba” for ball).
• Mispronunciations: “lellow”, “pasghetti”, “bagana”. Note what they meant.
• Songs they sing to themselves, especially wrong lyrics.
• Bedtime: you reading, them “reading” back.
• Your voice too. A short note to them on each birthday about who they are right now.

How Everkeep handles voice memories

Voice is one of the four capture buttons on Everkeep’s home screen. A recording is saved as a memory with a title, a note, the date and your baby’s age, and it appears in the month chapter with the photos from the same day. You can also add a voice clip to a photo memory, so the picture of the first ice cream comes with the sound of the first ice cream.

On-device transcription turns short clips (up to about 75 seconds) into text in the note, so you can search for “dada” and find the recording. The model runs on your phone; audio never leaves it. The free version includes five transcriptions; Everkeep Pro makes them unlimited.

Recordings are included in your ZIP backup as ordinary audio files, so they will play on any computer for as long as computers play audio.

How to record your baby's voice in Everkeep

From noticing the babble to having it saved and searchable, about twenty seconds.

1. Tap Voice on the home screenEverkeep starts recording immediately. Hold the phone at a normal distance; there is no need to get close and distract them.
2. Stop and title itTap stop when the moment passes. Give the memory a title like “First real laugh” and a line about what set it off.
3. Transcribe (optional)Tap Transcribe to turn spoken words into text in the note. This makes the recording searchable later. The speech model is downloaded once and then works offline.
4. Tag and favouriteAdd a tag such as “voice” or “words” and star the best ones. Searching the tag lists every recording.
5. Attach audio to photosOpen any photo memory and add a voice clip, so the picture and the sound live in one entry.
6. Back it upVoice files are included in your ZIP backup. Save it off the phone every few months.

Baby voice recording FAQ

Is there a limit on how long a voice memory can be?

You can record freely. On-device transcription is designed for short clips of about 75 seconds or less, which suits babbles, words and songs; longer recordings are kept in full, just not transcribed.

Can I get the recordings out of the app?

Yes. Share any memory through the share sheet, or create a ZIP backup, which includes every audio file as a standard format you can play anywhere.

Is my baby's voice sent to a cloud service for transcription?

No. Transcription runs entirely on your device using a downloaded model. Nothing is uploaded.