How to Use Live Voicemail on iPhone: A Step-by-Step Guide

ByJim Miller

With the release of iOS 17, Apple introduced a new feature called Live Voicemail. This feature uses speech recognition to transcribe audio messages into text in real-time, allowing you to read the message as it is being left by the caller. If the message is important, you can pick up the call and continue the conversation. In this article, we will guide you on how to enable and use Live Voicemail on your iPhone.

How to Enable and Use Live Voicemail on iPhone

Live Voicemail is available in the US only and should be enabled by default. However, here's how you can ensure it is enabled and use it:

  1. Make sure your iPhone is running on iOS 17 or above.
  2. Open the Settings app, navigate to Phone, and select Live Voicemail.
  3. Make sure the Live Voicemail feature is enabled.
  4. When you receive a call, you will see the Voicemail icon above the green call pickup icon. Tap on it.
  5. This will start the voicemail and announce to the caller that the call has been forwarded to voicemail. They can leave their message after the beep.
  6. As the voicemail is live, you will see a transcription of the audio message in real-time on your screen.
  7. If the message is important, you can pick up the call and continue the conversation.
  8. Once the voicemail is sent and the call ends, you can check all the previous voicemails from the Phone app. Open the Phone app and tap on the Voicemail icon at the bottom right corner.
  9. Here, you will see all the contacts that have sent you voicemails, along with the date and time.
  10. Tap on a voicemail to open it and view the transcription.
  11. You can also play the audio version of the voicemail or choose to call the person, delete the voicemail, or share it.

How to Use Voicemail With Focus Modes

In addition to manually enabling voicemail for each call, you can also use focus modes to automatically send incoming calls to voicemail. Here's how:

  1. Open the Settings app and select the Focus option.
  2. Choose the focus mode in which you want to block calls or create a new focus mode.
  3. On the focus mode customization page, choose the contacts you want to allow notifications from.
  4. Enable the focus mode to automatically block calls and send them to voicemail.

How to Enable Live Voicemail Outside of the US

Live Voicemail is currently only available in the US. However, if your carrier supports voicemail, you can still access the Live Voicemail option. Here's how:

  1. Open the Settings app and go to General, then Language and Region.
  2. Set English as your preferred language if it's not already.
  3. Set the region to the United States.
  4. Make sure Live Voicemail is enabled in the Phone settings.
  5. Test if your carrier supports voicemail by calling your iPhone from another device and tapping on the Voicemail option.
  6. If you can listen to a robo voice asking to leave a voicemail, your carrier supports the feature. If not, you can change the language and region back to your preferred settings.

Using Live Voicemail on iPhone can be a fun and convenient way to manage your voicemail messages. However, please note that the speech-to-text conversion may not always be completely accurate, and you can only read the message and not reply unless you pick up the call. Nonetheless, it is a useful feature that can enhance your voicemail experience.

For more iPhone tips and tricks, check out our article on how to set a photo for incoming calls on iPhone.