Why it happened, and how to fix it.
Most recording problems come down to a few causes. Another app grabbing the microphone, the battery running down, or storage running out. This page pairs each common symptom with the reason behind it and the fix, so you know what to change before the next night.
The most common reason is another app taking over audio. Snore Timeline pauses when something else plays sound or grabs the microphone, like music, a podcast, a phone call, or a system alarm. When that happens you see Recording paused, and the app tries to resume on its own. It retries up to five times with growing waits of 1, 3, 7, 12, and 20 seconds. If it can't get the microphone back after all five, it shows Can't resume recording and stops.
Other causes:
To reduce mid-night stops:
A brief interruption usually recovers through the five resume attempts. The habits above matter most for interruptions that go on longer than the app can wait out.
A blank timeline usually means the recording never captured audio, or it stopped early in the night. Work through these checks:
Placement matters too. Keep the phone one to two feet from your head so it picks up your sounds clearly. Look back at any status messages the app showed, then check permissions and free space before the next session. You may also have had a quiet night with little to detect, which is a perfectly normal outcome and doesn't mean anything failed.
Snore Timeline pauses recording whenever another app or the system plays audio, and that includes phone calls and some alerts. To keep the night clear:
If an interruption does happen, the app shows Recording paused and tries to resume up to five times, so a brief one usually recovers. The optional bedtime reminder is marked time-sensitive, so it can still reach your lock screen during Sleep Focus. It only prompts you to begin a session and won't interrupt one that's already running. The Getting Started page covers the same setup for a fresh install.
Snore Timeline shows short status messages so you know what's going on:
People sometimes ask whether the Recording Delay starts over when a recording is interrupted and resumes. It doesn't. The delay is a one-time fall-asleep timer that only applies at the start of a session. After an interruption, the app starts capturing audio again right away instead of going quiet for another delay period.
Snore Timeline works with Bluetooth audio devices including AirPods. The Microphone setting in Settings controls which mic records:
Fall asleep to music or a podcast on AirPods? Choose iPhone Microphone. The phone's built-in mic handles the recording and your AirPods keep their full-quality audio connection all night. On Automatic, the AirPods' own mic records, which forces them into lower-quality call mode while you listen.
If your input changes during the night, between the built-in mic, wired headphones, or a Bluetooth mic, the app shows Switched to (AirPods, iPhone Microphone, Headset Microphone) and recording carries on without stopping.
Two things to keep in mind when you record through Bluetooth earbuds:
For the most consistent all-night results, put the phone face-down one to two feet away and let the built-in microphone handle the recording. That's the placement the detection is tuned for, and it gives the steadiest breathing capture.
Recording through the night does use battery, since the microphone stays active while you sleep. On many iPhones the screen is the biggest factor:
Use a cable that reaches your nightstand so the phone can stay one to two feet away while it charges. If you got no recording at all, as opposed to an early stop, check microphone permission and free space too, since either one can stop recording from starting.
Snore Timeline needs free space to save audio. At the start of a session, too little space shows Cannot record - only (82)MB free and the session won't begin. If space runs out mid-session, you see Storage full - recording stopped. The app needs roughly 100 MB free to begin.
To prevent it:
Storage & Quality walks through each of these settings.
Snore Timeline detects coughs as their own category, alongside snoring and gasps, so a cough is normally labeled a cough. Detection runs on acoustic patterns and confidence scores, so the occasional sound lands in the wrong category, especially when two sounds overlap or bedding muffles one. Misclassifications are a normal limit of automated sound detection and don't mean anything is wrong with your recording.
If an event looks off, play back the audio for that moment and hear what happened. Raising the sensitivity catches more faint sounds but lets in more false detections. Lowering it keeps only the clearer, louder events. How Detection Works explains the confidence thresholds behind each label.
The nudge tone plays through the app's own audio engine, over the recording, and the app turns your iPhone's media volume up for the 8 seconds it plays. If it isn't reaching you:
The tone isn't a notification, so Sleep Focus and the silent switch don't mute it. Sleep Focus can hold back the Stop Sound notification, but the Stop Sound button on the Live Activity still works, and the tone ends on its own after 8 seconds. Snore Nudge covers the delivery options.
A couple of things can make playback sound quieter or more muffled than you expected:
One more note on starting a session. Siri or a widget can't begin recording if a session is already running (you'll see Recording is already in progress), if storage is too low, or if microphone access is off. Siri, Shortcuts & Widgets covers those launch conditions.
When the app is acting up, force-quit it and reopen:
If a problem won't go away, get in touch from the support hub. Include your phone model and iOS version, what you were doing when it happened, and any error messages you saw. With those three details I can usually reproduce the problem quickly.
