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Recording Cockpit Audio with iPhone 12 Mini

Dan 57

Well Known Member
The hardware:
  • aircraft (RV-6.9)
  • iPhone 12 Mini with lightning connector and voice recording apps installed
  • right side mike/headphone panel jacks not used as flying solo
  • Bose A20 bluetooth equipped

The goal:
Be able to use the iPhone to record ATC exchanges as heard thru the headset.

The questions:
Is there any interface available for an audio wire connection between the unused headphone jack and the lightning connector on the iPhone?
Any way to directly record the audio using bluetooth?

The big search machine returned a few suggestions, none of them recent and covering my requirements...
Thanks for any idea, suggestion, experience report :)
 
Last edited:
I have an old RST panel mount intercom in my airplane. IT has a auto out signal that I ran to a 3.5 mm jack in the airplane. I use a MP3 recorder connected to that jack to get audio from the radio and intercom.

I have an iPhone also but have not researched using it for an audio recorder. IF I did not have the intercom that I have, I would be looking at a way to use a few resistors and maybe an op amp to isolate the aircraft from the recording jack.
 
The hardware:


The goal:
Be able to use the iPhone to record ATC exchanges as heard thru the headset.

The questions:
Is there any interface available for an audio wire connection between the unused headphone jack and the lightning connector on the iPhone?
Any way to directly record the audio using bluetooth?

Don't know about recording with Bluetooth but there's a cheap adapter to use headsets with the iPhones that don't have 3.5 plugs anymore. I bought a few and gave them away (kept one for me for future use).

You plug it into the iPhone lightning port and it has on the other end a female 3.5 connector for you to plug in the earbuds (or headset with adapters) . Here's a link to the one I bought and it works great. I connect my Bose (non-bluetooth) to my iPhone with it to listen to music.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/125617983909
 

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Thanks guys.
I posted this a month prior setting off for my tour last year, and the issue was resolved differently, by buying and installing a 2nd (one’s in the VS top fairing) Insta360 cam on a stick between the seats, and tapping the audio off there.
Worked pretty good :)
 
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