Help with the apps.

Before you write

When you write, please include the app’s name, your iPhone model, your iOS version (Settings → General → About) and what you were doing.

Apps

• Car Note

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Car Note

Car Note records voice notes hands-free while you drive, writes them down on your iPhone, and shows them as stops along a road. Everything stays on your phone.

Getting started

• How do I start a note without touching the phone?
  Say “Hey Siri, take a Car Note”. Car Note confirms, then records. Say “Stop Car Note” to finish, “Pause Car Note” to pause and “Resume Car Note” to carry on. You can also use the Action Button or Control Center (the Car Note control, iOS 18 or later), or press and hold the record button in the app to talk.
• Siri says it can’t do that, or nothing happens.
  Check Settings → Siri → Apps → Car Note, and that Car Note has Microphone and Speech Recognition allowed in Settings → Car Note. Say “Car Note” clearly in the phrase. Hands-free recording also needs Live Activities on: Settings → Car Note → Live Activities.
• It started but recorded nothing.
  Car Note keeps a note only if it heard something. If a call or another app took the microphone, the note ends. Try again; if it keeps happening, write to me with the time it happened.
• Does it work with Bluetooth earbuds and my car?
  Yes, through Siri on your phone. Earbuds with a microphone are used as the microphone; earbuds without one use the phone’s. If the first request fails over the car’s audio while music is playing, say it again.

Your notes and your data

• Where is my data?
  On your iPhone only. Audio is recorded on the phone, transcribed on the phone and stored on the phone. Car Note has no account, no server, and no analytics or crash reporter that sends anything about you. Nothing you say leaves the device.
• Why does Car Note ask for location?
  To name the place you were when you started a note (“Neighbourhood, City”). It is optional: remove the place from any note with the × on its chip, or turn it off in Settings.
• Can I take my notes with me?
  Yes. Settings → Notes → Export all notes writes your transcripts and audio to a zip file you can save or share. Settings → Notes → Import notes brings an export back.
• I deleted a note by mistake.
  Deleted notes stay in Settings → Recently Deleted for 30 days. Restoring one puts it back on its original day.
• How do I delete everything?
  Delete the app; its notes and recordings go with it. (Car Note keeps one number in your device’s Keychain, how many free notes you have used, so that reinstalling cannot hand out the free notes again. It holds nothing you said.)

Free notes and the unlock

• What is free?
  Reading, playing, searching and exporting are always free. You can record three notes for free. After that, Car Note Unlimited is a one-time purchase, with no subscription, that unlocks unlimited recording on your Apple Account.
• I bought it, but Car Note still says I’ve used my free notes.
  Tap the gift icon on the Notes header, then Restore Purchases. It works on any iPhone signed in to the Apple Account that bought it. If it still does not unlock, write to me with the date of the purchase.
• Can I get a refund?
  Apple handles refunds: reportaproblem.apple.com.
• I have an offer code.
  Tap the gift icon on the Notes header, then Redeem Offer Code, or open the code’s link on your iPhone.

Transcription

• The words are wrong.
  Transcription runs on your phone with Apple’s on-device speech recognition, so it sometimes gets names and unusual words wrong, and works best when you speak steadily. Settings → Transcription language sets the language. You can edit a note’s text; the audio is never changed.
• It says the transcript isn’t ready.
  iPhone downloads a speech model for each language the first time. Open Car Note on Wi-Fi once and give it a few minutes; notes recorded before then are transcribed afterwards.