Vic Mensa Tells The Verge Voice Memos Is His Essential App

Musician and actor Vic Mensa says he cannot do his work without Apple's Voice Memos app, according to an interview published by The Verge on October 31. The outlet's technology-focused Weekend Questionnaire series asked Mensa which gadgets, apps, and media he relies on day to day, and the recording tool topped his list, The Verge reported.

What did Vic Mensa tell The Verge about the Voice Memos app?

The Verge's framing of the interview centers on the built-in iPhone application, which lets users record and organize short audio clips. For an artist who moves between a recording booth, a film set, a podcast microphone, and advocacy work, according to the outlet, a simple capture tool doubles as a notebook for ideas that might otherwise disappear between projects. The Verge did not report that Mensa named any other single app as essential to his routine.

Why does an artist with that many projects need a recording app?

The Verge described Mensa as someone who "wears a lot of hats," citing his work in music, acting, podcasting, activism, and multiple businesses. That range, the outlet suggested, is precisely why a lightweight voice-capture tool matters: a lyric, a line of dialogue, or a thought for a podcast segment can arrive at any point in a day that otherwise has little in common from hour to hour. The Verge's questionnaire format is built around exactly that premise — asking public figures with varied workloads what low-profile tools keep them organized, rather than focusing on flagship gadgets alone.

What is The Verge's Weekend Questionnaire series?

The Mensa interview runs as part of The Verge's ongoing Weekend Questionnaire feature, a recurring format in which the outlet asks notable guests about the technology and media habits that shape their work. The piece was written by Terrence O'Brien, identified by The Verge as its weekend editor, who the outlet says has covered the technology industry for more than 18 years. The series' consistent structure — centered on functional, everyday tools rather than product announcements — is what surfaced Mensa's answer about Voice Memos in the first place.

What other work is Vic Mensa doing right now?

The Verge's write-up situates the Voice Memos answer inside a wider account of Mensa's current output. The outlet notes that his debut mixtape, Innanetape, reached major streaming services for the first time in September, after years of being harder to find on those platforms. The Verge also references his house-influenced single "Down On My Luck." Taken together, the outlet frames these releases as part of a broader catalog spanning music, acting, and other ventures, which is the same breadth The Verge says makes a simple audio-capture app useful to him.

What are the key figures behind this story?

• Oct. 31, 2026, 3:00 p.m. UTC — publication time of The Verge's interview, per the outlet.
• 18-plus years — length of time Terrence O'Brien, the article's author and The Verge's weekend editor, has covered the technology industry, according to his Verge author bio.

The Verge did not publish additional figures — such as download numbers for Voice Memos or streaming totals for Innanetape — in the interview, and none are included here as a result.

Why does this kind of tech interview matter beyond one artist's habits?

The Verge's Weekend Questionnaire format exists to show how working professionals, rather than companies, actually use consumer software day to day. A built-in utility like Voice Memos rarely generates headlines on its own; it is the kind of app Apple ships without separate marketing and that users mention only when asked directly, as Mensa was. The Verge's interview offers a rare data point on how a public figure juggling music, film, podcasting, and advocacy work treats a basic recording tool as closer to essential infrastructure than a convenience feature. That distinction — between flagship software and the quieter tools people actually reach for — is the throughline the outlet has used across other entries in the same series.

The full interview, including additional questions about Mensa's broader media diet, is available at The Verge.