Tag: recorder

Android Google

Google Messages tests yet another new voice recorder UI

As one of the top texting apps for Android, Google Messages frequently picks up new functionalities as well as design-related enhancements. Back in March, we came across a revamp of the voice recorder UI on the app, in line with the Pixel-exclusive Google Recorder app. It seems like the Messages UI team is going back to the drawing board, as we’re coming across another visual overhaul of the voice recorder UI on Google’s first-party messaging client.


Thanks to some digging around within the Google Messages APK, the folks at 9to5Google were able to discover a fresh new design for the recorder UI, a departure from the Google Recorder interface that was previously being tested. With this new UI, users are greeted with a graphic briefly explaining how the feature works, as you can see below.

GM-Voice Recorder UI Graphic
GM-Voice Recorder UI

A pill-shaped microphone button sits below the aforementioned graphic, flanked by Delete and Attach buttons on either side. In its current form, the voice recorder UI within Messages is fairly minimal (pictured below), so these changes are certainly a welcome addition to the app.

GM Voice Recording Current UI
GM Voice Recording Current UI-1

Tapping the microphone initiates the recording, displaying a familiar waveform interface and the duration of the recording. Users can then replay the audio and even scrub through it. Tapping Attach takes the recording to the text field on Messages, with the audio clip finally reaching the user on the other end when you hit the send button. Meanwhile, the Delete button lets you restart the recording from scratch.

GM Voice Recorder UI -2
GM Voice Recorder UI -3

9to5 was kind enough to upload a video on YouTube showcasing the redesigned UI, though the publication didn’t specify the app version that enabled these changes. Based on the feature’s readiness, though, we assume Google will roll out this new interface to the Messages app imminently, although we don’t have a date to

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Android Google

Google’s a little surprised at how we’ve all been using Recorder

The user experience design is versatile nonetheless


Although Google’s Pixel phones ship with stock Android, they include several exclusive apps unavailable to other devices, like Google Camera and Google Recorder. The latter has a rich feature set, making it adept at recording everything from long arguments to ideas that strike you in the shower. However, Google recently revealed most people prefer using the app only for shorter recordings.


Since the Recorder app debuted with the Pixel 4, it has gained a ton of useful features like real-time voice transcription and speaker labels, making it perfect for long-form recordings with multiple speakers, like interviews, meetings, or lectures. In an interesting discussion on the Made by Google Podcast about the Pixel Essential Apps team’s work on the Recorder app, Google product manager Kristi Bradford revealed most Recorder sessions are just three minutes long — or less (via 9to5Google).

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The staffer also shared that people use the Recorder app as a part of their brainstorming process, or for rap lyrics, and some actors even use it for production-ready samples. This dichotomy between Google’s intended use case for Recorder, and the way people actually use it in the real world could come as a surprise, especially considering how recently added features also reiterate the focus on longer recordings.

However, Google seems intent on maintaining Recorder as a versatile tool that can suffice for shorter recordings and longer sessions alike. Bradford reveals the process of user experience research (UXR) at Google is constant, and the team revisits detailed feedback from users once a month, especially when planning Recorder’s roadmap or cooking up new capabilities enabled by Google Research. She says the Pixel Essential Apps team focuses on reliability in function, ease of use,

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Android Apps

Android customers warned over iRecorder screen recorder app secretly recording spying on users

A popular Android screen recording app has been caught spying on its users, including recording their conversations and stealing documents from their phones, cybersecurity researchers report.

Researchers at cybersecurity firm ESET discovered malware had been uploaded to the Android iRecorder — Screen Recorder app, which has been downloaded more than 50,000 times.

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The app was initially uploaded to the Google Play store as a harmless screen recording app in 2021, however, researchers found it likely became malicious in August.

ESET says Android users who installed the app prior to then would have unknowingly exposed their devices to the malware, named AhRat after the malware AhMyth on which it is based, when they updated the app.

“Aside from providing legitimate screen recording functionality, the malicious iRecorder can record surrounding audio from the device’s microphone and upload it to the attacker’s command and control (C&C) server,” ESET malware researcher Lukas Stefanko warns.

The iRecorder – Screen Recorder app has since been deleted from the Google Play store. Credit: ESET

The sneaky malware uses the victim’s microphone to take a snippet of audio every 15 minutes to send it back to the server.

It can also steal documents, web pages, images, audio and video from the victim’s phone, which is also sent to the cyber criminal’s server to be stored.

Once it is downloaded, users are asked to give their permission for iRecorder to access their phone’s photo, media and files, which researchers say does not initially come across as suspicious as it is a recording app.

The app has since been removed from the Google Play store, and Android users

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