Start a voice note by double-tapping the back of your iPhone
Back Tap is an iPhone setting that runs an action when you tap the back of the phone. Here is how to make a double tap start a Notair recording, and what happens after you speak.
· Recording, Shortcuts
A thought worth keeping does not wait. By the time the phone is unlocked, the right app is found and the record button is pressed, half of it is gone.
The fix is a way to start recording that takes no looking at all. The iPhone has one built in, and it does not even need a button: you tap the back of the phone twice.
What Back Tap is
Back Tap is an accessibility setting in iOS. It lets you choose one action for a double tap on the back of the iPhone and another for a triple tap. Apple lists it for the iPhone 8 and later, and describes it in Use Back Tap on your iPhone.
Most people use it for a screenshot or the flashlight. It can also run an action from an app, and Notair has one made for this: Start or Stop Recording.
Set it up once
It takes about a minute, and you only do it once.
- Open Settings and tap Accessibility.
- Tap Touch, then scroll down and tap Back Tap.
- Choose Double Tap (or Triple Tap).
- Scroll to Shortcuts and choose Start or Stop Recording.
Notair has the same steps inside the app, in its One-Press Start guide, with a button that opens Settings for you and a test at the end that tells you when the tap worked.
Using it
Tap the back of the iPhone twice. A new note starts and the recording begins straight away. Say what you have to say, then tap twice again to stop.
From there Notair does the rest on the phone:
- Your words appear on the screen as you talk.
- When you stop, the note gets a title and a summary.
- Lists you dictated become lists, and plans with a time become a schedule you can send to Calendar or Reminders.
None of this needs the internet. The recording, the transcript and the summary are made on the iPhone and stay there unless you choose to share them.
Double tap or triple tap?
A double tap is quicker, so start with that. If you find recordings starting when you did not mean them to, go back to the same setting and choose Triple Tap instead.
Other ways to start without opening the app
Back Tap is one of four. The same Start or Stop Recording action can sit on:
- The Action Button, on iPhones that have one. Press it to start, press it again to stop.
- The Lock Screen, as one of the two buttons at the bottom.
- Control Center, as a button you reach with a swipe down.
Pick the one your hand finds first. The point is the same for all of them: the note starts when the thought does.