EarMemo is a local-first audio player for iPhone and iPad, built for long-form audio with timestamped notes. Write a note while you listen and EarMemo saves the exact playback position with it; tap the timestamp later and it jumps straight back to that moment. Notes export as plain Markdown, so they drop into Obsidian or any notes app. Nothing is transcribed or uploaded — the notes are your own words, stored on the device.
It is for files you already own — downloaded podcast episodes, DRM-free audiobooks, lecture and conference recordings, language lessons, and voice memos. It is not a streaming app and not a music catalog: you bring your own files, and EarMemo plays them well.
It plays mp3, m4a, m4b, aac, flac, and wav — m4b being the standard audiobook container used by Libro.fm and LibriVox — plus the audio track of mp4, mov, and m4v video files (audio-only, so you can listen to a lecture video without watching it). Import happens through the iOS Share Sheet from Messages, Mail, Files, or any app with a share action, or over Wi-Fi: open a local address in any desktop browser and drag a whole folder in, and it lands as one album with the chapters in order — no cable, no cloud.
Built for sessions longer than three minutes: background playback with full Lock Screen and Control Center controls, variable playback speed (0.5×–3.5×), a sleep timer with a Live Activity countdown on the Dynamic Island and Lock Screen, one-tap bookmarks, and search across albums, tracks, and notes. A yearly listening heatmap (plus weekly and monthly breakdowns) shows what you actually heard.
Privacy is the default, not a setting: EarMemo never connects to any server, requires no account, and contains no third-party SDKs, analytics, advertising, or tracking. Everything — settings, playback progress, bookmarks, notes, and statistics — stays on your device and follows your own iCloud device backup if you have one enabled. It works identically in airplane mode.
Universal app for iPhone and iPad (split-view layout on iPad) that also runs on Apple Silicon Macs. Free to download; the full version is a single one-time purchase — no subscription, no ads.
Note: EarMemo plays DRM-free files only. It does not play Audible (.aax/.aaxc), Apple Books audiobooks, or Spotify/Apple Music tracks — use the official apps for those. It plays m4b but does not read m4b chapter markers, and it has no cloud sync between devices.
Comments and Reviews
I like Earmemo because it's timestamp mark feature is awesome.