Since a long time, users of the iPhone have been complaining bitterly that Apple has completely ignored complaints that Voice Memos on the iPhone cannot be transferred to iTunes. People have been trying out all kind of tricks, such as trimming the voice memos without really trimming, and like me, by ticking on and off “sync voice memos” etc. The problems were pretty dramatic for some users, as they had made important recording (interviews, family) that they could not use.
See the discussion group:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2607144?tstart=0
I think I was one of the first to comment there, and giving some tips that did work for me, even if a bit confusing. Then things got more complicated, like seeing a 1 hr 21 min voice memo showing up in iTunes (where I could play it but not delete), but nowhere appearing in the iPhone. Everybody got really upset with Apple, after so many years no solution. So, I gave up and bought the software we are not allowed to talk about (see below): iExplorer (It is said Apple deletes any mention). Now that was not only a solution, it was showing things were much much worse: it shows the Voice Memos but also another folder in the iPhone called “Recordings”. The files are mostly .m4a, one is .mov. A total of 13 files totally hidden, old voice memos that were supposed to have been deleted more than a year ago. With iExplorer I copied them to my MAC and then deleted them in the iPhone, also with iExplorer. So, if you think your problem is not being able to download your “existing” voice memos, it could be worse. I know it sucks we have to buy a software that we don’t need in theory. What choice?
Do note: I have the latest OS on the iPhone.
iExplorer is available with Macroplant (USD 34.99). It lets you look straight into your iPhone as a hard disk, basically. You check all the hidden files and copy what you want from the iPhone into your MAC (in my case). I still have to explore (!) more of its features: you can also see and copy your SMS messages, notes, pics and much more.
As a Macfanatic, thumbs down for Apple.