How Vinyl uses storage on iPhone
When you record an in-person meeting using the Vinyl mobile app, the audio is captured and stored temporarily on your device before being uploaded to Vinyl for processing. Your iPhone needs enough free storage to hold this temporary file during and after the recording, until the upload completes.
The amount of storage used scales with the length of the meeting, longer meetings produce larger temporary files. Once Vinyl has successfully uploaded and processed the recording, the temporary file is cleared from your device.
What happens when storage is low
iOS actively manages storage in the background, and when your device is running low it may automatically remove temporary files, including files that apps like Vinyl are actively using. This can cause:
Recording failures — Vinyl may be unable to start or may stop recording mid-meeting if there isn't enough space to write the audio file.
Recordings not processing — The recording may be captured but fail to upload if storage runs out before the transfer completes.
Missing or incomplete recordings — Recordings that didn't process correctly will appear in the Recovery screen in the Vinyl app, where you can attempt to reprocess them once storage is freed up.
How to check your available storage
Open the Settings app.
Tap General.
Tap iPhone Storage.
At the top of the screen you'll see a bar showing how your storage is allocated across categories, followed by a list of apps sorted by size. iOS also surfaces personalised recommendations here for freeing up space based on your usage.
How to free up space on iPhone
Here are reliable, iOS-native methods to recover storage before a meeting:
Offload unused apps
Offloading removes the app itself but keeps all its data, so you can reinstall it later without losing anything.
Go to Settings → General → iPhone Storage, tap any app, then tap Offload App.
To do this automatically, go to Settings → App Store and enable Offload Unused Apps. iOS will remove apps you haven't used recently when storage gets tight.
Optimise photo and video storage
Your camera roll is often the largest consumer of storage. Enabling iCloud Photos optimisation keeps full-resolution originals in iCloud while storing smaller previews on your device.
Go to Settings → Photos and select Optimise iPhone Storage.
Clear Safari cache
Safari accumulates website data and cached files over time.
Go to Settings → Safari and tap Clear History and Website Data.
Delete downloaded content
Downloaded music, podcasts, and streaming content (Netflix, Spotify, etc.) can take up significant space. Check each app's settings for a download management option, or delete and reinstall apps that have accumulated large caches.
Delete large or unused apps
In Settings → General → iPhone Storage, apps are sorted by size. Scroll through and delete any you no longer use, keeping in mind that uninstalling an app removes its locally stored data permanently (unlike Offload).
Tips for reliable recordings
Check your available storage before important or lengthy meetings, particularly if your device is close to full.
Keep the Vinyl app updated. App updates can include improvements to how local storage is handled.
If a recording didn't appear after a meeting, check the Recovery screen in the Vinyl app before assuming it's lost, it may still be recoverable.
If you've freed up storage but recordings are still failing, check that Vinyl has microphone access enabled: go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone and make sure Vinyl is toggled on. If the issue continues, reach out to our support team via the chat bubble in the app.