Record a voice note

Why voice notes matter

A photo shows what a child made. A voice note explains why it matters. "This is my garden for butterflies at night" tells a story that the picture alone cannot. Voice notes turn a gallery of images into a family archive; searchable, personal, and in the child's own words.

When private transcription is enabled, a grown-up can find a voice note later without playing through every recording. Search for "butterfly" or "dinosaur" and matching transcript text can help bring the creation back.

How it works

1. Capture the creation

Start with any capture; a single drawing, a recipe, a comic book. After the child takes the photo and optionally edits it, Little Binder moves to the voice step.

2. "Tell us about it!"

The child taps the microphone and describes their creation. There is no time limit and no pressure to be perfect. The recording starts with a quiet visual cue and stops when the child is done. Typical voice notes are 5–20 seconds, but longer stories are welcome too.

"I drew a rocket that goes to the moon and brings back cheese. The astronaut is my dog."

Choose Record again to make another take. Playback stops first. The previous take stays available if the microphone cannot start. You can keep the recording or continue without one.

3. Name it

On Name your creation, type a title or use the microphone in the title field. Optional title ideas appear when AI assistance is on. Turn off Show a title to leave the creation untitled. Turn it back on to restore the title field.

Your creation is saved! appears above a compact preview, its title when present, and the creator’s name. Share with someone shows approved people in a sideways-scrolling row, with a check when shared. A grown-up can tap a checked card to stop sharing or tap it again to share again. Back to gallery and New creation stay at the bottom without scrolling. The Android Back button also opens the gallery. Edit opens the saved creation for changes.

4. Optional private transcription

Ask what they made, then keep the answer with the creation. Their recording stays just as they said it. If you turn on voice-note transcription, Little Binder can also write out their words.

Voice-note transcription starts off for a new family. Turn it on in the family walkthrough or Settings to search what was said, without turning on title ideas or AI search. Skipping leaves it off. Turning AI assistance off also turns transcription off; turning AI assistance on does not turn transcription on.

A grown-up can read, edit, or remove the transcript without deleting the voice recording. The transcript is an extra layer for search and readability, not a replacement for the child's voice.

Add a voice note after saving

Open the creation in the gallery and choose Add a voice note. For a creation with more than one part, open the part you want to describe first. To add more later, choose Record an additional voice note. Each new recording is kept with the earlier ones, up to five per creation or part, and the newest plays first. Earlier voice notes are listed below it. To erase one for good, a grown-up opens the dots beside it, chooses Remove this voice note, and confirms with the grown-up PIN, device unlock, or account password.

How do I listen to a saved voice note?

Hold a creation in the gallery to play its voice note, or open the creation and choose Play. This works in Grid and Large, and for people you share with in Shared with you, New for you, and shared albums. A small speaker briefly appears on the tile, faint while getting ready and solid when playback starts. Tap the same gallery tile to stop playback. In the installed phone app, a notice appears above the gallery or creation when media volume is very low during playback. Use the phone's volume buttons to turn it up. The website and Expo Go cannot show this device-volume notice.

Voice notes with multi-part creations

Multi-part creations (recipes, comics, holiday cards) support two levels of voice notes:

• Whole-creation note; recorded before the first part, like an introduction. "This is my chocolate chip cookie recipe."
• Per-part notes; recorded after each individual capture. "This is the mixing step; you have to stir it really fast."

Both types are optional. The child narrates what feels natural and skips the rest. After saving, open a part before choosing Add a voice note to attach the new recording to that part.

Managing voice notes and transcripts

Open What they said on the creation. A grown-up can choose Edit transcript to correct the words, or Remove transcript to clear them. Clearing the words never deletes the recording. While words are being transcribed, tap the X on Transcribing now to cancel. Your recording and any earlier transcript stay as they are. You can also keep typing or move on without waiting.

The other tools for a recording are behind the dots beside Edit transcript: Transcribe again, Trim the recording, and Remove this voice note. Earlier voice notes listed under the newest one have their own dots too, with Transcribe again and Remove this voice note.

If the words came out wrong, open the dots and choose Transcribe again. Little Binder listens to the recording once more and, after you confirm, replaces the words. The recording itself stays the same.

Trim the recording moves the start and end in, so a long pause before or after the child speaks is skipped. The full recording stays safe, and you can change the trim later.

Remove this voice note first asks for a grown-up check using one of the methods enabled in Settings. Then it asks once more before erasing that recording for good. The other voice notes on the creation stay just as they are, and children cannot remove a voice note.

Search looks through the words of every voice note on a creation, earlier ones included.

Recordings saved before transcription was switched on can get their words from Settings with Auto-transcribe older recordings. It works in the background while Little Binder is open, so you can leave Settings and keep using the app. Earlier voice notes on a creation are included too.

Reply to several creations together

In All creations, choose Reply to a child’s creations. Review the included creations, record one voice reply, listen, and send. You can choose up to 50 creations from one child in one family. The same recording appears with each included creation and once in the family’s activity. A grown-up can remove it. Permanently erasing an included creation or the target child removes the whole recording.

Privacy and voice data

Voice notes stay inside the adult-managed family account and are never posted publicly. Little Binder does not use family content to train public or third-party AI models. When on-device transcription is available, that transcription step does not send the audio to Little Binder's server.

When voice notes are not available

If the device microphone is not accessible, the voice step is skipped gracefully. The creation is still saved; voice notes are always optional. A grown-up can enable microphone access in device settings, then open the creation from the gallery to try again.