Can Wave record an in-person interview from my phone?

Yes. Open Wave on your iPhone or Android phone, press record, and place the phone between you and the subject. Wave keeps recording with the screen off and in the background, then gives you a transcript with speaker labels and a summary.

Can Wave record a phone call interview?

Yes. Wave records phone calls on iPhone and Android on every plan (on Free, calls count toward the 30 minutes a month; Pro is unlimited): place the call from Wave's Phone tab, or merge Wave into a call you're already on if your carrier supports three-way calling. Wave shows a recording notice before each call and asks you to tell the other person; it doesn't play an announcement to them.

How accurate are speaker labels?

Wave's speaker labels work best when each person speaks clearly and not over each other; heavy crosstalk can blur them. You can rename, merge, or reassign speakers by hand, and once you name a voice with Voice ID, Wave labels that person by name in future recordings.

Do I need to tell the subject I'm recording an interview?

Often, yes. In the US, twelve states require everyone on a phone call to consent to recording, and other countries set their own rules. The safe approach is to get clear verbal consent at the top of every recording, so the agreement is on tape. This is general information, not legal advice.

Can I export verbatim quotes for fact-checking?

Yes. Every line of a Wave transcript has a timestamp, so you can play back the audio to check a quote before publishing, copy it, or share a link to the session for review.

Will Wave use my interviews to train AI?

No. Wave does not use your recordings, transcripts, or summaries to train AI models on any plan, including the free tier.

An interview recorder that does the work after the recording

Last updated: November 3, 2026

Wave AI is an AI recorder for interviews: it records in person on iPhone or Android, on a phone call, or in a Zoom, Meet, or Teams call, then gives you a transcript with speaker labels, timestamps, and an interview summary in 76 languages. Free to start.

How to record and transcribe an interview

How do I record an interview with Wave?

Ask for consent on the recording, tap record, and keep your attention on the person. When you stop, Wave transcribes the interview, labels each speaker, and writes a summary with key quotes and themes.

Get the subject's agreement at the start, so their consent is on the recording.
In person: put your phone between you and tap record; Wave keeps going with the screen off. Phone: place the call from Wave's Phone tab (on every plan; on Free, calls count toward the 30 minutes a month). Video: send Wave's meeting bot, or record with the Wave desktop app.
After the interview, rename the speakers once. Voice ID then labels saved voices by name in later recordings.
Pull quotes with their timestamps, search across past interviews, or export the transcript.

Do you need consent to record an interview?

Often, yes. In the US, federal law and 38 states plus DC let you record a phone call you're part of with your own consent, but twelve states require everyone on the call to agree. Other countries set their own rules. Asking for consent at the start and keeping it on the recording is the safest practice and satisfies the all-party rule in most places; it is not legal advice. This is general information, not legal advice.

One-party and all-party consent states

Transcribing an interview you already recorded?

Upload the file to Wave's free transcription tool for a speaker-labeled transcript and summary with no account (files up to 200MB).

Transcribe an interview recording free

The problems you know too well

Re-listening to find one quote takes hours

You know the quote is in there somewhere. Wave's speaker-labeled transcript and natural-language search across your interview history find it in seconds.

Speaker names get lost in long transcripts

Generic 'Speaker 1' / 'Speaker 2' labels are hard to use across a stack of interviews. With Voice ID, you name a voice once and Wave labels that person by name in later recordings.

Note-taking pulls you out of the conversation

Good interviews need full attention — eye contact, follow-up questions, pauses. Wave records in the background so you can actually listen.

Features

Everything you need to capture every conversation

Record in person, on the phone, or on video

Use the iPhone or Android app for in-person interviews. Record a phone call from Wave's Phone tab, or merge Wave into a call you're already on (needs three-way calling). Use the meeting bot or the Wave desktop app for a Zoom, Meet, or Teams interview. Same account, same output format.

Speaker-labeled transcripts in 76 languages

Transcripts with automatic speaker attribution, including multilingual interviews. Voice ID remembers recurring subjects by name once you've named them.

Interview-style AI summary

Wave recognizes an interview and writes a summary built for it, with key points and quotes. Customize the summary format to match your editorial or research template.

Search across every interview you've ever done

Ask Wave a question across your whole recording history — 'who mentioned the new pricing structure?' — and get answers that cite the exact sessions and lines.

Export quotes and transcripts cleanly

Export to Notion, Google Docs, OneNote, PDF, DOCX, Markdown, or email. Generate a share link if you want to send a transcript to a source for review.

Perfect for

Journalists doing source interviews — in person, on the phone, or over videoUser researchers running customer interviews at scaleHiring managers running structured interviews and capturing candidate evidencePodcasters generating shownotes and pull quotes from full episodesAnthropologists, sociologists, and historians capturing oral historiesConsultants doing discovery interviews across client stakeholders

FAQs

Common questions

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