You can connect a written question or observation to the moment that prompted it in a lecture recording. In Afterglow, a note has its own timestamp. Selecting it later returns you to that point without changing whether playback is running or paused. Press Play when you want to hear the explanation again alongside what you wrote.
Afterglow is an iPhone app we're building for listening to imported audio and keeping your own notes. For lectures, that means working with an audio file you already have. The app doesn't record a live class or open a course's video player. The demonstration uses a short sample with fictional study notes.
Bring in the recording
Import the lecture audio into a project. Each file becomes a track with its own notes and labels. You can keep several lectures together in one project, with a name for each recording.
If the lecture is only available inside a course website or video service, you need an audio file you can import before using this workflow. Afterglow doesn't connect to those services or extract their recordings.
Write a note as you listen
The player's Add note control captures the position where you open the note editor. You write the text and can adjust the timestamp before saving.
A note doesn't need to repeat the lecturer's words. It can hold a question you want to ask, a connection to something you read, or a reminder about an example. In the example, "Why does changing the sample change the result?" belongs to 0:34 in Lecture 3 excerpt.
The text is yours. Each note gives you a place to return to in the recording, whether you wrote a few words or a longer thought.
Return to the explanation
Select a saved note to open the player at its timestamp. You can listen again, edit the wording, or move the note's position in the editor.
If you began writing after the useful part had already started, move the timestamp back to the beginning of the explanation. The text and timestamp are edited together; you don't need a second note just to correct the position.
You can also give a passage a label without writing a comment. A label such as "Worked example" or "Questions" is a named bookmark. Labels are placed by you, so their names and positions can follow what you want to revisit. The bookmark article explains how they work across recordings.
Keep the audio connection when you copy your notes
Afterglow can export your notes as text, including the project and track names, timestamps, and placed labels. You can copy that text into a document alongside other study material.
The exported timestamps are written references, not links that play the recording in another app. Keep the corresponding audio available if you want to listen outside Afterglow. Sending the original audio file alone also won't include your notes: they live in Afterglow's library.
The audio notes article has an export example and explains where notes are stored. Library backup and restore can keep a separate copy of the imported recordings together with their notes.
