> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://runporter.gitbook.io/docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://runporter.gitbook.io/docs/recording-a-visit/record-a-visit.md).

# Record a visit

## Before you knock

Open Porter. It lands on the **Record** tab.

There are two optional fields on the card:

* **Name** — who you are meeting
* **Phone number** — their number

Both are optional, and you can leave them blank. Filling them in is what lets Porter attach the visit to the right customer afterwards, so it is worth the two taps if you know them. If you skip them, the conversation is still recorded and still analysed — it just arrives without a name on it.

{% hint style="info" %}
Only name and phone are captured here. Email, address and anything else about the customer are edited later, from the conversation itself.
{% endhint %}

## Recording

Tap **Start recording**.

Porter shows a **Before you record** card. Read what will be sent — the visit audio, any name or phone you entered, and notes — and who receives it: Porter stores it for your workspace; AssemblyAI transcribes it; OpenAI and Anthropic produce summaries and coaching. Recordings are visible to your whole team, not just you. Tap **I agree, start recording** to continue.

If iOS asks for the microphone, tap **Allow**. If you previously declined, Porter shows an alert with **Open Settings** — iOS will not ask again.

The recorder opens full screen and shows:

* a **live waveform** that moves with the sound in the room
* the **running time**
* **Pause** / **Resume**
* **Done**

Put the phone away. Porter keeps recording with the screen locked.

On Android this needs notification permission, because the OS only lets an app hold the microphone in the background while it shows a notification. If you turned that down, the recorder says so and offers **Allow notifications**. Until you grant it, anything said while the phone is locked or Porter is in the background is missed — the recording still finishes and still looks complete, so it is worth fixing before a visit rather than after.

### Pausing

**Pause** stops capturing and holds the recording open. **Resume** picks it back up in the same recording — you get one file, not two. Use it when a customer takes a call, or you step away.

The status line at the top of the recorder reads **Recording**, **Paused**, or **Saving…** so you always know which state you are in.

### Leaving the recorder

Tap the chevron in the top left to shrink the recorder to a pill above the tab bar. You can then browse Conversations or Account while the visit is still recording. Tap the pill to come back.

{% hint style="success" %}
Minimising is not stopping. The only things that end a recording are **Done** and the [silence prompt](/docs/recording-a-visit/auto-end-on-silence.md).
{% endhint %}

## Finishing

Tap **Done**.

Porter saves the audio to your phone first, then sends it, showing a spinner while it does. On normal signal this takes a second or two and you land on the finished conversation. If it takes longer than that, or you are somewhere without signal, Porter takes you to the recording's own screen instead — the visit is safely on your phone and will send itself when you are back in range. See [Where your recording goes](/docs/porter-for-team-members/record-an-in-person-visit/where-your-recording-goes.md) for what happens next.

## If something goes wrong mid-visit

If a phone call comes in, or another app takes the microphone, Porter shows the interruption in the recorder and resumes when it can. What you recorded before the call stays part of the same visit — you still get one file at the end, not two.

### If Porter closes mid-recording

If the app is force-quit, crashes, or the phone runs out of battery, the audio up to that moment is still on the device — everything except roughly the last fraction of a second.

The next time you open Porter it shows an **Unfinished visit** card. You can play it back — the card draws the recording's waveform, so you can see where the talking is and scrub straight to it — and then choose:

* **Continue recording** — picks the visit back up. What was recorded before and after joins into one recording, the same way pausing does, and the timer carries on from where the visit got to rather than restarting at zero.
* **Save and upload** — ends the visit there and sends it, landing you on the finished conversation exactly as **Done** does.
* **Discard** — deletes it. This is the only one of the three that removes the audio, and Porter asks again before it does.

{% hint style="info" %}
Porter does not decide for you. A visit interrupted this way is not uploaded until you tap **Save and upload** or finish it with **Done**, because only you know whether the conversation is over.
{% endhint %}