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Voice Notes

Sometimes it’s faster (and more expressive) to speak than to type. eChat lets you record and send voice notes directly in any conversation. Recipients can play them back with a built-in waveform player that shows the audio shape and lets you scrub through the recording.

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Recording a voice note

1

Open a conversation

Navigate to the conversation where you want to send a voice note.
2

Tap and hold the microphone icon

In the message input bar, press and hold the microphone icon (🎤). Recording starts immediately.
3

Speak your message

Speak clearly into your device’s microphone. The recording is live the moment you press and hold.
4

Release to send

Let go of the microphone icon to stop recording and automatically send the voice note. The audio is uploaded and sent as a message.
If you release and don’t want to send, swipe left while holding the microphone icon to cancel the recording before it sends.

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Playing back a voice note

When you receive a voice note, it appears as an audio player in the conversation:
  1. Tap the play button (▶) to start playback.
  2. The waveform shows the shape of the audio so you can see quieter and louder parts at a glance.
  3. Tap and drag along the waveform to scrub to any point in the recording.
  4. Tap the pause button (⏸) to pause playback.

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Tips for great voice notes

  • Find a quiet spot — Background noise is picked up by your microphone. A quieter environment makes your voice notes easier to understand.
  • Keep it concise — Voice notes work best for short messages (a few seconds to a minute). For longer topics, consider breaking them into multiple recordings.
  • Speak close to the mic — Hold your phone normally to your face or keep a short distance from your laptop/desktop microphone.

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Microphone permissions

eChat needs access to your microphone to record voice notes. If you haven’t granted this permission yet:
  • On mobile: When you first try to record, your browser or OS will prompt you to allow microphone access. Tap Allow.
  • On desktop: Your browser will show a permission bar at the top. Click Allow.
If you previously denied microphone access:
  1. Tap the lock icon or settings icon in your browser’s address bar.
  2. Find Microphone and change it to Allow.
  3. Refresh the page if needed.
Voice notes are great for conveying tone and emotion that can be hard to express in text. Use them when a quick spoken message is clearer than typing it out.