Android Audio Recording App

General
1

Hey everyone.
Wondering if anyone has found a suitable app for audio recording.

Currently, I have been using the built-in “recorder” for my Android phone.
The process I have to go through to add them into iNat is to

  1. Record call - make note of what/when/where
  2. Upload to the cloud
  3. Log into Google Recorder and download the audio file.
  4. Convert the m4a file into an mp3
  5. Upload to iNat.

There are a few clunky steps in this process.

  1. I have to upload to the cloud and then download onto my PC.
  2. I have to convert from m4a to mp3 (as Google will not convert)
  3. The metadata does not come with the file/or is lost in conversion, so I have to manually adjust the time/date/location for every observation.

Does anyone have a better solution?
P.s - I do not record directly into the iNat app as I am often in remote areas without service.

Thank you in advance.

1 Like
2

Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab
You can share to iNat directly, but in most cases you probably need the file on the PC anyways. The drive up/download is the common practice afaik.
The basic phone recorder does just as well for me, but that depends on the phone, not the app. (afaik)

4 Likes
3

I record Audio with Merlin. It shows up in “my files” as a .wav, which can be uploaded to iNat without modifying, but it doesn’t fix the metadata issue

3 Likes
4

Thirding using Merlin for this purpose. Depending on how savvy you are using file browsers in Android, it’s possible to locate and upload the Merlin .wav files from the iNaturalist app.

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5

you don’t need an internet connection to record audio in the iNat app.

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6

oh great! I am often bush (and without service) for days at a time and have no way of uploading my multiple calls.
But if you are saying that iNat will store them all and upload when I come back into service, that is fantastic! Thanks for your reply, @pisum, and letting me know the updated capabilities.

EDIT:
I have just attempted to record without internet directly into iNat. Seems I cannot find out how to do that. @pisum, can you post me your steps please? I cannot find a help file on it either.

Additionally, thanks for the Merlin suggestion, guys. I don’t have that app, but I might try next time.

7

where exactly are you getting stuck?

8

I found a discussion about it on Reddit.

  1. Add a photo.
  2. Then, add more media, which will let you choose the microphone option.

I was getting caught by not adding a photo first, so the app would not let me choose the microphone for recording.

I have added screenshots here for others.
When you choose the “New Observation” - Options as shown below

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10000300261080×2340 92.4 KB

To get to the recording option, you must first add any photo.

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10000300271080×2340 114 KB

9

this is not true in my version of the Android app. are you using an old version of the app? mine looks different from yours.

in my app, these are the 5 options i have when i click the add button. the bottom left button will start an observation by recording audio:

5 options when adding a new observation
5 options when adding a new observation864×1920 131 KB

in the Edit Observation screen, i also have a button in the bottom right of the screen to record audio:

bottom right of Edit Observation screen has button to record audio
bottom right of Edit Observation screen has button to record audio864×1920 102 KB

1 Like
10

Version 1.36.8

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10000300281080×2340 54.8 KB

11

that’s the latest version, or at least the same version of the app as i have. do you see the same buttons as what i captured in my screenshots?

12

No not at all

13

if you go to the Settings menu in the app, what do you have selected as your “Default Observation Action”? if it’s not “Show Options”, try setting it to that, and then try adding a new observation. hopefully that gives you the buttons that are shown in my screenshots above.

14

That worked!
Yes thank you I can see the options now.