iScream For Mac

Like many of Apple’s built-in utilities, Voice Memos offers basic functionality in an intuitive package, but virtually no customization. On top of that, locating your actual recordings in Finder is much more of a hassle than it should be.

iScream can serve as a free replacement for Voice Memos with a few more features under its belt, but nothing too crazy. It can be used from the main UI, Dock, or menu bar, can be customized quite extensively, and features a minimalistic, though outdated, interface.

While the app does have an interface, you can tell from its design that it’s not meant to see much use. It’s just there for managing your recordings and renaming them, though it’s worth noting that the actual files won’t be renamed, just their listings in the app itself.

You can right-click a recording to remove it or navigate to its location. The default output folder can be configured freely, which is something you don’t get from Apple’s Voice Memos. What’s more, you have a choice of formats and audio settings.

Initially, the app only appears in the Dock. From its preferences, you can enable the menu bar icon as well, or just hide it from the Dock entirely. Given how it operates when used from either location, I feel that keeping it only in the menu bar is the ideal solution.

You’ll be able to start and stop recordings from the menu bar icon, without bringing up the main UI. You can also do this by clicking the Dock icon, which can be configured to pause a recording instead of stop it, but this will always bring up the app UI.

If neither option is to your liking, you can set up hotkeys for starting and pausing a recording.

iScream is by no means packed with features, but it has more than enough for quick voice recordings, and it’s infinitely more customizable than Apple’s built-in recording app. It also allows you to select your preferred audio input device, which can come in handy when multiple are available.