There are plenty of apps that make voice recordings. But Night Recorder is a unique tool in its ability to record noises in the room not only while it is running but even if your iPhone/iPod touch is on standby. It is the perfect tool if you are trying to find out if you are spending your late night hours snoring, talking in your sleep, or haunted by a poltergeist.

Night Recorder has a pretty zany interface — it looks like a recording device from an earlier era. While it is definitely cool, the  only downside to this is that some of the switches were a bit difficult to tap and were not super responsive. However, most of the core functions worked well.

A key feature of this app is the ability to easily move your recordings to any Mac or PC that shares your wireless network. The only hangup I had while testing this was managing to connect Night Recorder to my wireless network with MAC filtering enabled. If you are a security freak (as I clearly am) you may need to take down some of your network protection in order to move the files across the network.

By hitting the record button, Night Recorder will record any sounds in the room that the iPhone microphone can pick up. There is even a sensitivity level that can be adjusted depending on how receptive you want the microphone to be. By tapping the Test Volume dial, you can make the microphone live for testing to ensure it picks up particular sound levels.

The best part about Night Recorder is that once you have tapped the record button, just leave it running and let it work its magic. The phone can be put in standby and still record, which makes it perfect for picking up sounds while you sleep or spying on others without them knowing. Say you “accidentally” leave your phone in a room where some friends are chatting and then come back for it later. No one would be wiser (not that we at AppCraver would condone such activity.

Night Recorder is intended to help those with sleep disorders diagnose or monitor their problems. The app has specialized features to distinguish between different noises during the night so that it “knows” whether it needs to record or not.

Whatever purpose you choose, Night Recorder will make for some great clinical research, or just plain fun.

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app category: Editor's Picks, Expedited Review, Healthcare & Fitness, Utilities