How do you turn voicemail into text on iPhone and Android?

On iPhone, open the Phone app, go to Voicemail, and tap a message. Apple says a transcription of the voicemail then appears in the bottom half of the screen ¹. On Android, turn on Voicemail transcription in the Phone app settings, if your carrier or phone is supported ². On both platforms, whether the option appears depends on your carrier.

On iPhone, the transcript appears under the voicemail

The transcript is part of the built-in Phone app. Open the Phone app, go to Voicemail, and tap the message you want. Apple's article says that the transcription appears in the bottom half of the screen ¹, and the playback controls sit below it.

Apple also has a feature called Live Voicemail. With it on, your iPhone can show a transcription of a caller's voicemail while the caller is still speaking ³. Turn it on in the voicemail settings if you want the words while the message is being left.

On Android, your carrier or phone decides whether it appears

Google says voicemail transcripts are available only if you use certain mobile service providers or devices ².

To turn it on, look for the Voicemail transcription setting in the Phone app's voicemail settings. We could not open Google's help page to confirm the exact menu names, so check them on your own phone. Once the setting is on, Google says it transcribes new and old voicemails ⁴.

Language limits can leave a transcript out

Google says that on Android 8, transcription is available only in English and Spanish ⁷. The page does not give a language list for newer Android versions, so check the setting on your own phone. Apple's article does not give a language list for voicemail transcripts on iPhone, so do not rely on a transcript for a message in another language until you have checked it against the audio.

Why the transcript option is missing

Work through these checks in order.

1. Carrier. Both Apple and Google tie the feature to the carrier. Apple's article says Voicemail, Visual Voicemail, and Live Voicemail are available from select carriers in select countries or regions ⁵. Ask your carrier if the option is absent.
2. Visual voicemail (Android). If the Voicemail transcription option is missing on a supported carrier or device, Google says to turn on visual voicemail ⁶.
3. Language and country. The limits above apply, so check the language of the message and the country your phone is set to.
4. Old messages. On Android, the setting covers old voicemails too ⁴, so a voicemail from before you turned it on may already have a transcript.

Neither source we read gives an accuracy rate for voicemail transcripts. Read a transcript as a rough guide, and listen to the message whenever a name, number or address matters.

Related pages

Voicemail is a message someone else leaves for you. A recording you make yourself is covered in how to turn a voice memo into text on iPhone. For the phone call itself, see transcribing a phone call, and for Android recordings, see transcribing voice recordings on Android.

For the wider topic, read dictation and voice to text on phones and tablets and our guide to dictation on iPhone. The word transcription is defined in the glossary.