How to record a short audio clip as quickly as possible I'm trying to figure out a combination of apps/settings that will allow me to record a short audio clip (think reminder note) in as few taps as possible. At the moment I am using the standard voice recorder app. If I'm in the middle of listening to a podcast and want to record a short clip, I currently have to:


hit the power button to wake up my phone
hit unlock
pause the podcast
launch the voice recorder app
hit "record"
when I'm done, hit "save"
resume the podcast


I'm looking for a workflow that will let me launch a recording app and start recording automatically (ideally right from the lock screen) then when I'm done save the clip without being told to and resume whatever was happening before (usually a podcast). 

Can anyone suggest apps to look at, or settings that might help?
Might be a job for tasker, the most famous automation tool. Other automation tools might be capable of the same (think about llama) – but as a Tasker user I'll describe it this way (feel free to adapt).

The "task" to be exececuted would be:


Keyguard › Off
Disable screen lock. Might require the SecureSettings Plugin if the native variant doesn't work.
Media Control › Pause
to stop your podcast, music, or whatever media stuff might be running. This can be set as "toggle". You might need to experiment a little here; consider e.g. what would happen with "toggle" when no podcast is currently played – that would have the opposite effect then, so maybe better just "pause" here directly.
Launch App
Select your voice recorder here.


Note that manipulating app controls is more tricky (and might require root). I didn't play with that, so I cannot give advice on it. I just know theoretically that Tasker is capable of that as well. Another tricky thing is the "continue podcast" part, which might not be wanted if it wasn't played before – but you've got the idea, I hope.

Now, we need a trigger and assign it the task from above. Multiple choices here with Tasker alone – and many more with the tons of plugins available (see e.g. my collection of Tasker resources). So I only give an example here which should make sense:

Shake lets you define a shake-pattern. So e.g. "shake the device twice from left-to-right" could trigger above action.

Even limited to the steps I've explicitly described, this would minimize the steps you need to take: Shake the device, hit "record", hit "save", and then (optionally) continue your podcast.