How guests record voice notes

Why voice notes work

At a party few people want to talk to a camera, and the speech nobody gave is otherwise lost. A voice note lowers exactly that barrier: the guest turns away, talks for 40 seconds and is done. The page names it the way it is meant — the toast you did not get to give.

For you it becomes the part of the album that carries most later. A photo shows who was there; a voice shows what it was like.

1. Switch to audio. The page offers "Leave a voice note". A tap opens the recorder.
2. Allow the microphone. The browser asks once. Without permission the recorder stays silent, and the page says so.
3. Record and listen back. After stopping, the note can be played and re-recorded. Only sending makes it visible.

The microphone permission

The browser asks for the microphone the first time the recorder is tapped. A guest who declines by accident then sees that access is blocked and has to allow it again in the browser settings. On a phone that setting sits with the website, not with an app.

Another app can be holding the microphone too — a video call, for instance. The page says it cannot reach it; ending the call and tapping again is enough.

How long a note may be

On the free tier recording stops automatically at 30 seconds, and the page announces that beforehand. The paid tiers have no fixed time limit; a note there ends in practice at the 50 MB file ceiling. You can still set a shorter length for your own event.

A short limit is not a drawback. It forces the point, and 30 seconds of something said gets listened to more than 4 minutes.

The 50 MB ceiling is identical on every plan and is not reached by spoken audio in practice.

Which audio formats arrive

The recorder on the page produces a format we read. Anyone uploading a finished file can use M4A, OGG, WAV or WebM. Files are checked by their contents rather than their extension, so a renamed MP3 will not get through.

For your guests this is a non-issue: the route through the recorder picks the right format by itself.

What makes a note audible

Position does most of the work. 3 metres away from the speakers sounds different from right in front of them, and the phone held close to the mouth beats any later processing. A corridor, a corner or the garden is plenty — this is about intelligible speech, not a studio.

The page allows a listen-back before sending. If a guest cannot understand themselves, they re-record; while nothing is sent that costs seconds.

Where the note ends up

A sent voice note takes the same route as a photo: checked, prepared, then in the album, showing a waveform instead of a thumbnail. With the review step on, it waits for your approval first.

Voice notes can also be switched off per event. The guest page then shows photos and, if enabled, video.