How to Find WhatsApp Voice Notes on iPhone or Android

Typing a text is a tedious task and it takes a lot of efforts. WhatsApp voice note has made it possible to instantly communicate with your contacts and groups by sending a voice recording. If you have a very long message, then instead of typing it in a text, you can easily send it by recording your voice with WhatsApp voice note feature.

Find WhatsApp voice notes


There is a separate place on each WhatsApp chat where you can find your shared media files (including photos and videos), documents, and links but unfortunately WhatsApp doesn’t have this feature for voice notes. Now let’s suppose you need to find an old voice note on your WhatsApp. It would be annoying to search it by scrolling through the chat manually.

If you are also facing the same situation right now and looking for a way to find your WhatsApp voice note quickly, then you are on the right webpage. In this guide, we will show how you can find voice notes on WhatsApp without searching them manually. There are different methods for both Android and iPhone/iOS. Now let’s get started without wasting any time.

How to find WhatsApp voice notes on iPhone

There is a chat search feature on WhatsApp which allows you to search messages in the chat. WhatsApp voice notes are saved in opus format which is an audio file format. So if you will search “.opus” in the chat search, it will show all your voice notes. We will be using this simple trick on iPhone to help you find voice notes quickly. Here’s a step-by-step guide –

  1. Open WhatsApp on your iPhone/iPad.
  2. Open the WhatsApp chat where you want to find voice note.
  3. Tap on the contact or group name at the top. This will open up the chat details page.
  4. Now click on Chat Search option.
    Chat search option on WhatsApp
  5. WhatsApp will take you back on the chat page. You will see a search bar at the top. Just tap on it and type “.opus“.
    Find WhatsApp voice notes on iPhone
  6. As you will search for this term, WhatsApp will show you the most recent voice note in your chat. You can click the upward and downward arrow buttons to move to the next voice note. So this way, you can easily find any audio recording on WhatsApp without searching it manually by scrolling through the long chat.

How to save WhatsApp voice notes on iPhone

iPhone doesn’t save WhatsApp voice notes in the Files app unlike Android where all your WhatsApp media files can be accessed from the file manager. If you have some important voice note and you want to access it frequently, then you can use this method to save on your iPhone –

  1. First, you have find that voice note in your WhatsApp chat by using the method that we have shared above. Simply, go to the chat’s info page, click on Chat Search option and then search “.opus“. After this, you can find your voice note from the search results by moving it up or down based of your reference as when you have sent or received it.
  2. Once you have find the voice note, long-press on it and then choose Forward option. Now it will get selected. You can also select multiple voice notes at once.
  3. At the bottom-right corner of the app, you will see send/upload icon. Just click on it.
    Click send/upload icon
  4. Next, click on Save to Files option. You will be asked to select the folder where you want to save it. By default, it will be saved in the main directly on “On My iPhone“. You can also rename it from the same page. Finally, click the Save button and you have done it.
    Save WhatsApp audio recording to Files app on iPhone

Find voice notes on WhatsApp using search feature

Another way you can find voice notes on WhatsApp is by using its main search feature. This method works on both iPhone and Android. Here’s what you need to do –

  1. Open the WhatsApp on your smartphone.
  2. For Android, click the search icon at the top-right corner. If you are using iPhone, then swipe down from the top and it will reveal the search bar.
  3. Now tap on the search bar and then you will see various options such as photos, GIFs, links, videos, documents, and audio. Just choose Audio option.
    Find WhatsApp voice note using search feature

    It will show all your WhatsApp voice recordings. They are sorted on the basis on date and time when you have received them. The most recent one appears at the top. This method will make your searching a lot easier to find the voice note that you are looking for.

How to find WhatsApp voice notes on Android

On Android, all WhatsApp media files including voice notes are saved in the internal storage at /WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Voice Notes folder. You can directly access them with any file manager app on your phone. By default, all the content of WhatsApp folder is hidden by nomedia file i.e. it is not available in gallery and other media apps. This step-by-step guide will show you how to find WhatsApp voice notes on Android –

  1. Open the built-in file manager app of your phone. Alternatively, you can download a third-party file manager from Google Play Store such as File Commander.
  2. Go to the Internal Storage and then open WhatsApp folder.
  3. Next, click on the Media folder. After that, open WhatsApp Voice Notes. Here you will find various folders where all your voice notes are saved. As they are not sorted by contact names, you will need to find the voice note manually by playing each file.
    WhatsApp voice notes folder on Android
  4. As we have already mentioned, the voice notes are hidden because of the nomedia file in the WhatsApp folder. So if you want to save any voice note publicly, then simply copy and paste it to some other folder on your internal storage.

Save WhatsAppp voice notes on Android from chats

There is another way you can save voice notes on your Android phone from WhatsApp chats directly. This methods requires you to find the voice note in the conversation manually. Once you have find it, long-press on it to select and then tap the share button at the top-right corner. This will open up a pop-up window where you will see various sharing option. Click on the Copy to option to save the audio on your internal storage. You can also save it on Google Drive or attach to an email if you want to send it to someone.

Save WhatsApp audio recording on Android

Convert WhatsApp voice notes from opus to MP3

WhatsApp uses opus file format for voice notes. It is a lossy audio format which is mainly used for internet streaming purpose as it uses less data. Unfortunately, this audio format is not supported by most audio players on Android and iPhone. If you try to open the file, it will return file not supported error and you will be asked to download the app that supports it.

If you are also facing this issue, then you need to convert the audio file format from opus to MP3. This can be easily done without using any third-party application. You just need a file manager app to change the file format by renaming it. Simply, select the voice note file, click the rename option and then replace “.opus” with “.mp3” at the end of the file name. This will automatically convert the voice note to MP3 format and then you will be able to play it with any audio player app on your smartphone.

So that’s how you can easily find voice notes on WhatsApp without searching them manually by scrolling through the conversation. We have shared this guide for both Android and iPhone. Hope you liked it. If you want to ask something related to this tutorial, feel free to share it in the comments below. Stay tuned with us for more interesting tutorials.

About the author

Vivek Chaudhary Author
Content marketer & founder @Geek Instructor. With over a decade of experience, I have written over 1500 articles covering a wide range of topics. I am passionate about sharing my tech knowledge with others. Personally, I love travelling and making YouTube videos.

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