Recording and journal
Voice Voyager is designed around a simple idea: record the moment while it is happening, then add the detail that gives the audio meaning.
Audio recording
On the Record tab, select a quality before you start. The preset is saved with the entry so you can understand how it was captured later.
| Choice | Purpose | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| High | Prioritizes recording detail. | Important interviews, ambient sound, and short critical observations. |
| Medium | Balances size and clarity. | Everyday field notes. |
| Low | Uses less storage. | Long spoken notes where small files matter most. |
| Custom | Uses your bitrate and sample-rate settings. | Projects with a specific audio or storage requirement. |
You can pause and resume one recording session. This is useful when a single observation spans a short interruption but should remain a single diary entry.
Journal details and rich notes
After stopping a recording, give it a title, an entry date and time, and tags. These are not cosmetic fields: the Diary uses them to organize, filter, and find your material later.
Title and date
Use a title that describes the observation, and correct the entry time if it differs from when you are writing it up.
Tags
Tags are short, repeatable labels. Use them for site names, project codes, species, people, or recurring themes.
Notes
Notes are stored as Markdown so they remain portable and readable outside the app.
Preview
Switch between Edit and Preview to review the formatted note without leaving the entry.
The note toolbar can apply bold, italic, underline, headings, bulleted and numbered lists, checklists, block quotes, code, and links. Select text first, then choose a formatting action; Markdown shortcuts also work when typed directly.
Use rich notes for details that are hard to recover from the recording alone: conditions, observations, measurements, decisions, questions, and a short summary of what to listen for.
Photos and drawings
Each entry can hold up to 50 attachments, mixing photos and drawings. Attachments are copied into Voice Voyager’s pictures area when the entry is saved, so they remain associated with that entry rather than with a temporary picker selection.
Photos
Choose Take Photo to use the camera or Choose Photos to select from the library. Use photos for labels, field conditions, objects, screens, or any detail that is faster to see than describe.
Drawings
Choose Draw Note to create a sketch with a finger or stylus. The drawing pad includes Undo, Clear, and a full-screen option for more working room. Drawings are useful for rough layouts, spatial relationships, routes, sampling locations, and annotations that do not need a polished diagram.
Background and long recordings
When Background recording is enabled, Voice Voyager can keep recording after the app is minimized. Android shows an ongoing notification while a recording and GPS tracking continue in the background.
For longer Android sessions, turn on Safe long recording. The app saves recoverable audio parts while you record and finalizes them in the background after you stop. This reduces the amount of audio that can be lost if the app or phone is interrupted. See Settings and reliability for recovery steps.