This MagSafe accessory lets you use iOS 18’s most underrated feature before it’s released

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• The Magmo Professional Magnetic Snap-On Name Recorder is out there on Amazon for $129 in Starlight (white), Navy, and Area Black. 
• If you wish to file telephone calls with out counting on a third-party app or ready till iOS 18 lastly launches, this gadget will get the job achieved.
• The system excels at recording, not transcribing, so relying in your wants, it is probably not definitely worth the funding. 
  

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Recording a telephone name could be useful in lots of situations, akin to conducting an interview or gathering proof. Nevertheless, on iPhones, there’s at the moment no native or simple strategy to file telephone calls. This gadget might help.

Customers have extremely requested the power to file calls on an iPhone, a lot in order that at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Convention (WWDC) this yr, the corporate unveiled a function that makes use of Apple Intelligence to file, transcribe, and summarize iPhone calls.

Nevertheless, iOS 18 is not going to be launched till the autumn, and never all iPhone customers will probably be eligible for the complete iOS 18 expertise. Many superior Apple Intelligence options require the A17 Professional chip, which is at the moment solely discovered on the iPhone 15 Professional and iPhone Professional Max. 

Till then, customers inquisitive about recording calls will both must file from a separate system or depend on third-party telephone name apps that often convention into the decision and let the events know it’s current, ruining the discreetness issue. That’s the place the Magmo Professional iPhone Name Recorder might help. 

I first encountered the gadget at CES, which was acknowledged as a CES 2024 Innovation Awards Honoree within the Cell Gadgets, Equipment & Apps class. The gadget makes use of MagSafe to snap on the again of your iPhone and file requires you. Sound too good to be true? Effectively, I put it to the check. 

Within the field, you get the accent and a USB-C to USB-A charger. The charger is impressively skinny at 6.88mm, a lot thinner than any of my MagSafe energy banks, and really mild, weighing solely 50g. It takes no time to completely cost.

When you snap the system onto the again of your telephone, observe the instructions on the display screen and pair it to Bluetooth. Then, you possibly can set the system in Auto mode, which information each name you get robotically, or handbook mode, by which you progress the toggle to file a name. I began with auto mode. 

The primary name I recorded was promising however might have been higher. The system began recording robotically once I received the decision, which I cherished. Nevertheless, the opposite individual on my name sounded very distant, and you could possibly hear some muffling from me by chance putting my hand on the mic. 

Within the subsequent name, I made the quantity as excessive as doable and held my telephone in order that my palm did not block the microphone. You will need to be conscious of this for the very best outcomes. The standard of the decision was considerably higher, and once I performed it again, the decision sounded as if it had been recorded natively, though it wasn’t. 

Regardless of engaging in its recording perform nicely, there are downsides to the system, together with the truth that the battery life dies rapidly when it’s in Auto mode, which it even warns you about, as seen beneath. I do not discover this to be a deal breaker as a result of I can not consider many conditions the place you’d want each name to be recorded for lengthy durations.  

There’s additionally a handbook mode that vastly reduces battery consumption, and it labored as marketed. You merely swap the toggle on the again of the system once you need to begin recording. Even when the accent is not paired to your telephone on the time of recording, it nonetheless syncs the on-device recording to your app when you do.

One draw back is the app’s consumer interface, which seems like one thing I might have discovered on my iPod Contact in 2009. It is not intuitive, seems clunky, and is unnecessarily tough to finish easy duties. 

For instance, to take heed to your recordings, you first must refresh your app, click on on the recording you’ll want to obtain, click on via a number of popups, after which obtain it to offer it a pay attention. Once more, this is not a dealbreaker for me as a result of all I need is the power to take heed to crisp telephone name recordings and export them. 

Lastly, the app’s transcription function, which remains to be in beta, reveals promise however is unreliable. To energy the AI transcriptions, the applying makes use of “Apple’s very personal API to transcribe audio to written textual content,” as acknowledged beneath. In consequence, the transcriptions are simply as unformatted and jumbled as those discovered in your iPhone’s Voicemails. This is to hoping they will enhance with time.

The most important downside with the Magmo Professional is that, in the mean time, the system does not transcribe all the name however relatively only a paragraph. Magmo says the recorder will probably be upgraded shortly, but it surely is probably not appropriate for you if you need a transcription first, recording second system.

ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation

If you’ll want to file telephone calls every day, whether or not for skilled or private causes, the Magmo Professional Name Recorder might help you achieve this discreetly. In fact, you’ll nonetheless must examine your state’s legal guidelines to see whether it is authorized to file one other celebration with out disclosing the actual fact.

As a reporter, I’m excited as a result of, usually, I must file telephone interviews on one other system, akin to my iPad or Mac, and now all I’ve to do is slap the recorder on the again of my telephone. Nevertheless, in the event you purchase it for correct transcriptions, as marketed, it’s possible you’ll need to rethink as a result of the expertise is just not prepared but.