In our latest video, available over on our YouTube channel, we took a look at apps and tools that are designed to help musicians use their iPhones and iPads to work on their craft and record high-quality music while wherever they are.

This is a bit of a niche video, but it is suitable for new musicians and those who want to find tools to better take advantage of their mobile devices.


Apple's GarageBand is the first app you'll want to delve into if you're new to making music on the iPhone, as it's loaded with different instruments for you to experiment with.

Music Memos, an app that's always gone under the radar, is super useful for recording song lyrics or making notes on your compositions. There's a one-tap record button so it's easy to get started, and Music Memos will record the exact notes you're playing so you can come back to your work in the future.

For actually recording high-quality audio that's similar to what you'd get in a studio, the iPhone's microphone just isn't good enough. You're going to want an accessory like iZotope's Spire Studio, which is basically a miniature recording studio that can go anywhere. It's not cheap at $349, but it can capture great sound.

There are tons of other apps and tools out there, so if you're a musician who records with an iPhone or iPad, make sure to let us know which accessories and apps you prefer to use in the comments.

Top Rated Comments

roguedaemon Avatar
72 months ago
Music Memos is such an amazing app, it’s just so annoying that Apple hasn’t updated it, among other things, to the iPhone X display. Absolutely ridiculous.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
72 months ago
You know what an awesome audio I/O on an iPhone would be? A 1/8" audio jack! Oh, wait.
Most use an external DAC rather than DI audio. ;)
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mrsaxomaphone Avatar
72 months ago
Since the iPhone lost the headphone jack it’s practically useless in a recording environment. Yes you could run another interface like a spire or class compliant device but why would you? Just pull out your notebook and instantly it’s a better machine. Just this morning I wanted to record a stereo sound with a mic on my phone whilst listening to a click to keep in time. GarageBand would totally do it. Except the latency between monitoring with Bluetooth headphones and a rode iXy mic plugged into the lightning port was useles.

My iPhone 6s would’ve nailed it!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
H3LL5P4WN Avatar
72 months ago
I was hoping this article was how to bootleg concerts better. I am disappoint.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rpcclark Avatar
72 months ago
I was hoping this article was how to bootleg concerts better. I am disappoint.
Have you checked out these? https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HLUE2ZM/A/apogee-sennheiser-ambeo-smart-headset definitely the best way to record a concert on an iPhone.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KazKam Avatar
72 months ago
You know what an awesome audio I/O on an iPhone would be? A 1/8" audio jack! Oh, wait.

Edit: On a serious note though, I really like using DM1 ('https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dm1-for-iphone/id526650611?mt=8') and FunkBox ('https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/funkbox-drum-machine/id350437349?mt=8') for drum sequencing and vintage drum machine libraries.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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