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With Live Voicemail, you can see a live transcription of an incoming voicemail as the caller is speaking, giving you a preview of their message and the ability to answer the call right away if it’s urgent. We’ll explain how to turn this convenient feature on and off and show you how to make the most of Live Voicemail on your iPhone.
With Live Voicemail turned on, your iPhone will transcribe an incoming voicemail as it’s being recorded and show you the real-time transcription on the lock screen. As long as you’veset up voicemail on your iPhone, the Live Voicemail feature lets you quickly decide whether a call needs to be answered.
How to Turn Live Voicemail On and Off
Live voicemail is turned on by default in iOS 17 and later. If you’re wondering how to turn it off (and back on), follow these steps:
Screenshot by Tom Twardzik, no attribution required
How to View Live Voicemails
To view a Live Voicemail as it’s being transcribed, simply watch the incoming call screen. Your iPhone will display the real-time text in the center of the screen, between the caller’s name and the answer and decline buttons.
If your iPhone is locked, you’ll have to pressTap to Viewto unlock your iPhone and view the real-time transcript. If you’re using a different app on your iPhone, you’ll see the gray voicemail indicator in the incoming call banner orin the Dynamic Island.
How to Manually Send a Call to Live Voicemail
If you receive an incoming call and let it ring, it will eventually go to Live Voicemail automatically. However, if you want to send it immediately to Live Voicemail instead of waiting, you can do so in multiple ways:
What You Can Do With Live Voicemail on Your iPhone
Now let’s look at how to view the live transcription of an incoming voicemail, answer a call in the middle of a voicemail, and view past Live Voicemails in the Phone app.
View the Real-Time Live Voicemail Transcription
The main benefit of the Live Voicemail feature is its convenience. You’re able to quickly glance at what a caller is saying, even if you can’t answer at the moment. You’ll see the transcript right on your iPhone’s lock screen, so you can simply raise your phone to unlock with Face ID and view it.
If the transcript shows you that the call is urgent, you can answer it right away. This is also helpful in cases where a person from a business is calling you, and calling them back would require knowing an extension, waiting on hold, or navigating an automated phone menu.
Live Voicemail transcriptions are generated on your iPhone, not through online servers, so you can feel comfortable knowing that the contents of your voicemails remain private.
Answer a Call While Someone’s Leaving a Live Voicemail
While your iPhone is displaying the real-time transcript of a Live Voicemail, you still have the opportunity to answer the call. To answer the call, tap the greenPick Upbutton.
Answering the call immediately stops the voicemail recording, and your iPhone will save what was already recorded to theVoicemailtab in the Phone app.
Save a Live Voicemail to View It Later
You don’t need to do anything specific to save a Live Voicemail. Every Live Voicemail is automatically saved to theVoicemailtab of the Phone app, along with the other voicemails stored there. you may tap on a voicemail to see the saved transcription or listen to the audio recording.
The Limitations of Live Voicemail
Despite the convenience and simplicity that make Live Voicemail a great option for many iPhone users, there are still some limitations to keep in mind. Even with the powerful chips in the latest iPhones, real-time transcription might have a minor delay. If someone leaves a very short voicemail, you might miss the opportunity to see the transcription or tap thePick Upbutton before they finish speaking and hang up.
Meanwhile, if you were hoping for additional features, like preset or even AI-generated responses that you could quickly send as a reply, you might be disappointed by Apple’s simple implementation.
Live Voicemail can also cause issues with some carrier features. For example,Verizon warnsthat users should turn off Live Voicemail if they want to use features such as Conditional Call Forwarding and Voicemail to text. If you have more issues, we’ve shownhow to fix iPhone voicemail problems.
At present, Live Voicemail is only available in the US and Canada.
Live Voicemail is a handy feature that makes it easier to determine whether or not an incoming call needs your immediate attention. By using this feature, you can reduce distractions from non-urgent calls while still being available for the important ones.
