How do I record audio on iPhone with AVAudioRecorder?

Question

Actually, there are no examples at all. Here is my working code. Recording is triggered by the user pressing a button on the navBar. The recording uses cd quality (44100 samples), stereo (2 channels) linear pcm. Beware: if you want to use a different format, especially an encoded one, make sure you fully understand how to set the AVAudioRecorder settings (read carefully the audio types documentation), otherwise you will never be able to initialize it correctly. One more thing. In the code, I am not showing how to handle metering data, but you can figure it out easily. Finally, note that the AVAudioRecorder method deleteRecording as of this writing crashes your application. This is why I am removing the recorded file through the File Manager. When recording is done, I save the recorded audio as NSData in the currently edited object using KVC.

#define DOCUMENTS_FOLDER [NSHomeDirectory() stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"Documents"]


- (void) startRecording{

UIBarButtonItem *stopButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:@"Stop" style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered  target:self action:@selector(stopRecording)];
self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = stopButton;
[stopButton release];

AVAudioSession *audioSession = [AVAudioSession sharedInstance];
NSError *err = nil;
[audioSession setCategory :AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayAndRecord error:&err];
if(err){
    NSLog(@"audioSession: %@ %d %@", [err domain], [err code], [[err userInfo] description]);
    return;
}
[audioSession setActive:YES error:&err];
err = nil;
if(err){
    NSLog(@"audioSession: %@ %d %@", [err domain], [err code], [[err userInfo] description]);
    return;
}

recordSetting = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];

[recordSetting setValue :[NSNumber numberWithInt:kAudioFormatLinearPCM] forKey:AVFormatIDKey];
[recordSetting setValue:[NSNumber numberWithFloat:44100.0] forKey:AVSampleRateKey]; 
[recordSetting setValue:[NSNumber numberWithInt: 2] forKey:AVNumberOfChannelsKey];

[recordSetting setValue :[NSNumber numberWithInt:16] forKey:AVLinearPCMBitDepthKey];
[recordSetting setValue :[NSNumber numberWithBool:NO] forKey:AVLinearPCMIsBigEndianKey];
[recordSetting setValue :[NSNumber numberWithBool:NO] forKey:AVLinearPCMIsFloatKey];



// Create a new dated file
NSDate *now = [NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:0];
NSString *caldate = [now description];
recorderFilePath = [[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@/%@.caf", DOCUMENTS_FOLDER, caldate] retain];

NSURL *url = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:recorderFilePath];
err = nil;
recorder = [[ AVAudioRecorder alloc] initWithURL:url settings:recordSetting error:&err];
if(!recorder){
    NSLog(@"recorder: %@ %d %@", [err domain], [err code], [[err userInfo] description]);
    UIAlertView *alert =
    [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle: @"Warning"
                               message: [err localizedDescription]
                              delegate: nil
                     cancelButtonTitle:@"OK"
                     otherButtonTitles:nil];
    [alert show];
    [alert release];
    return;
}

//prepare to record
[recorder setDelegate:self];
[recorder prepareToRecord];
recorder.meteringEnabled = YES;

BOOL audioHWAvailable = audioSession.inputIsAvailable;
if (! audioHWAvailable) {
    UIAlertView *cantRecordAlert =
    [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle: @"Warning"
                               message: @"Audio input hardware not available"
                              delegate: nil
                     cancelButtonTitle:@"OK"
                     otherButtonTitles:nil];
    [cantRecordAlert show];
    [cantRecordAlert release]; 
    return;
}

// start recording
[recorder recordForDuration:(NSTimeInterval) 10];

}

- (void) stopRecording{

[recorder stop];

NSURL *url = [NSURL fileURLWithPath: recorderFilePath];
NSError *err = nil;
NSData *audioData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfFile:[url path] options: 0 error:&err];
if(!audioData)
    NSLog(@"audio data: %@ %d %@", [err domain], [err code], [[err userInfo] description]);
[editedObject setValue:[NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:url] forKey:editedFieldKey];   

//[recorder deleteRecording];


NSFileManager *fm = [NSFileManager defaultManager];

err = nil;
[fm removeItemAtPath:[url path] error:&err];
if(err)
    NSLog(@"File Manager: %@ %d %@", [err domain], [err code], [[err userInfo] description]);



UIBarButtonItem *startButton = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:@"Record" style:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered  target:self action:@selector(startRecording)];
self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = startButton;
[startButton release];

}

- (void)audioRecorderDidFinishRecording:(AVAudioRecorder *) aRecorder successfully:(BOOL)flag
{

NSLog (@"audioRecorderDidFinishRecording:successfully:");
// your actions here

}

Although this is an answered question (and kind of old) i have decided to post my full working code for others that found it hard to find good working (out of the box) playing and recording example - including encoded, pcm, play via speaker, write to file here it is:

AudioPlayerViewController.h:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import <AVFoundation/AVFoundation.h>

@interface AudioPlayerViewController : UIViewController {
AVAudioPlayer *audioPlayer;
AVAudioRecorder *audioRecorder;
int recordEncoding;
enum
{
    ENC_AAC = 1,
    ENC_ALAC = 2,
    ENC_IMA4 = 3,
    ENC_ILBC = 4,
    ENC_ULAW = 5,
    ENC_PCM = 6,
} encodingTypes;
}

-(IBAction) startRecording;
-(IBAction) stopRecording;
-(IBAction) playRecording;
-(IBAction) stopPlaying;

@end

AudioPlayerViewController.m:

#import "AudioPlayerViewController.h"

@implementation AudioPlayerViewController

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];
    recordEncoding = ENC_AAC;
}

-(IBAction) startRecording
{
NSLog(@"startRecording");
[audioRecorder release];
audioRecorder = nil;

// Init audio with record capability
AVAudioSession *audioSession = [AVAudioSession sharedInstance];
[audioSession setCategory:AVAudioSessionCategoryRecord error:nil];

NSMutableDictionary *recordSettings = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithCapacity:10];
if(recordEncoding == ENC_PCM)
{
    [recordSettings setObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt: kAudioFormatLinearPCM] forKey: AVFormatIDKey];
    [recordSettings setObject:[NSNumber numberWithFloat:44100.0] forKey: AVSampleRateKey];
    [recordSettings setObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:2] forKey:AVNumberOfChannelsKey];
    [recordSettings setObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:16] forKey:AVLinearPCMBitDepthKey];
    [recordSettings setObject:[NSNumber numberWithBool:NO] forKey:AVLinearPCMIsBigEndianKey];
    [recordSettings setObject:[NSNumber numberWithBool:NO] forKey:AVLinearPCMIsFloatKey];   
}
else
{
    NSNumber *formatObject;

    switch (recordEncoding) {
        case (ENC_AAC): 
            formatObject = [NSNumber numberWithInt: kAudioFormatMPEG4AAC];
            break;
        case (ENC_ALAC):
            formatObject = [NSNumber numberWithInt: kAudioFormatAppleLossless];
            break;
        case (ENC_IMA4):
            formatObject = [NSNumber numberWithInt: kAudioFormatAppleIMA4];
            break;
        case (ENC_ILBC):
            formatObject = [NSNumber numberWithInt: kAudioFormatiLBC];
            break;
        case (ENC_ULAW):
            formatObject = [NSNumber numberWithInt: kAudioFormatULaw];
            break;
        default:
            formatObject = [NSNumber numberWithInt: kAudioFormatAppleIMA4];
    }

    [recordSettings setObject:formatObject forKey: AVFormatIDKey];
    [recordSettings setObject:[NSNumber numberWithFloat:44100.0] forKey: AVSampleRateKey];
    [recordSettings setObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:2] forKey:AVNumberOfChannelsKey];
    [recordSettings setObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:12800] forKey:AVEncoderBitRateKey];
    [recordSettings setObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:16] forKey:AVLinearPCMBitDepthKey];
    [recordSettings setObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt: AVAudioQualityHigh] forKey: AVEncoderAudioQualityKey];
}

NSURL *url = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@/recordTest.caf", [[NSBundle mainBundle] resourcePath]]];


NSError *error = nil;
audioRecorder = [[ AVAudioRecorder alloc] initWithURL:url settings:recordSettings error:&error];

if ([audioRecorder prepareToRecord] == YES){
    [audioRecorder record];
}else {
    int errorCode = CFSwapInt32HostToBig ([error code]); 
    NSLog(@"Error: %@ [%4.4s])" , [error localizedDescription], (char*)&errorCode); 

}
NSLog(@"recording");
}

-(IBAction) stopRecording
{
NSLog(@"stopRecording");
[audioRecorder stop];
NSLog(@"stopped");
}

-(IBAction) playRecording
{
NSLog(@"playRecording");
// Init audio with playback capability
AVAudioSession *audioSession = [AVAudioSession sharedInstance];
[audioSession setCategory:AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayback error:nil];

NSURL *url = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@/recordTest.caf", [[NSBundle mainBundle] resourcePath]]];
NSError *error;
audioPlayer = [[AVAudioPlayer alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:url error:&error];
audioPlayer.numberOfLoops = 0;
[audioPlayer play];
NSLog(@"playing");
}

-(IBAction) stopPlaying
{
NSLog(@"stopPlaying");
[audioPlayer stop];
NSLog(@"stopped");
}

- (void)dealloc
{
[audioPlayer release];
[audioRecorder release];
[super dealloc];
}

@end

Hope this will help some of you guys.

I have uploaded a sample project. You can take a look.

VoiceRecorder

Its really helpful. The only problem i had was the size of sound file created after recording. I needed to reduce the file size so i did some changes in settings.

NSMutableDictionary *recordSetting = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
[recordSetting setValue :[NSNumber numberWithInt:kAudioFormatAppleIMA4] forKey:AVFormatIDKey];
[recordSetting setValue:[NSNumber numberWithFloat:16000.0] forKey:AVSampleRateKey];
[recordSetting setValue:[NSNumber numberWithInt: 1] forKey:AVNumberOfChannelsKey];

File size reduced from 360kb to just 25kb (2 seconds recording).