File Recovery
Every recording is saved on your device first, so a crash, a dead battery, or a bad connection doesn't cost you the audio.
Wave writes audio to your device as you record, and only uploads it after you finish. If the app crashed, your battery died, or the upload failed, the recording is still on the device — Wave keeps retrying on its own, and there's a screen where you can retry by hand.
Looking for something you deleted on purpose? See Recently Deleted.
Wave retries on its own first
You usually don't have to do anything. On phones, Wave rescans for unfinished recordings every time you open the app or your connection comes back, as long as you're signed in and online. On desktop, failed uploads retry in the background with a delay that starts at about six hours and grows from there.
Recovering a recording by hand
When Wave spots audio it hasn't uploaded, the session shows a Recording Saved on Device banner with the message "Wave found audio that still needs to be recovered." Tap Recover to upload it. You'll get a Recovered confirmation, or Recovery Failed if it still can't go through.
If an upload failed outright, the session screen shows Recording Needs Recovery instead. When the failure looks network-related, Wave tells you exactly what to try: "Wave saved this recording on your device, but upload could not finish. Try disabling your VPN or switching networks, then tap Recover below."
To see everything waiting for recovery in one place:
If nothing is stuck you'll see All Clear! — "No failed recordings found. All your recordings are processing normally." Tap Check Again to rescan.
Retries aren't unlimited. On phones, Wave makes up to 5 automatic attempts per app launch and 8 attempts total for any single file before it stops trying and marks it Failed Recovery. If a recording has been stuck for days, don't keep tapping retry — contact support and mention the date and time of the recording.
When you'd use this
- The app closed or crashed during (or right after) a recording.
- Your phone or laptop ran out of battery while recording.
- You lost connection before the upload finished.
- A recording seems stuck, or never showed up in your library at all.
While files are uploading, keep Wave open and stay on a stable connection.
Still can't find a recording?
- Check whether it's simply still processing — see What Happens After You Record.
- If your whole library looks empty, you may be signed in to a different account. See New Phone, Lost All Recordings?.
- If the recording was cut short rather than lost, see Handling Audio Interruptions During Recordings.
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