WhatsApp Adds Voice Message Transcripts and More

By: Nick Gambino

Voicemail transcription has been available on the iPhone for a while and was even expanded to include real-time, live voicemail transcription while the caller is leaving their message. In addition, iPhone users can see transcripts for audio messages. Now WhatsApp, a major competitor to Apple’s iMessage, is adding the same feature.

Over the next few weeks WhatsApp users will see the new feature option pop up when someone sends them a voice message. The text message version of the voice message will be ready to view right away, allowing the user to read instead of listen.

This feature is particularly useful if you’re in a place where you can’t easily listen to the audio message. It’s also just generally useful if you don’t enjoy listening when you could just read it like you would a text message.

In other words, it turns a voice message into a text message. So it’s almost like the caller could have just texted you to begin with. But some callers are my dad and just don’t do well with text. This voicemail transcription feature is bridging generational gaps and I love it.

Now, you’ll have to turn on this feature if you want to use it. You can do that by firing up WhatsApp. Then navigate to Settings > Chats > Voice message transcripts. Tap that on and the feature will be ready to go. If you don’t see it, be patient. It’s rolling out to all users in the coming weeks.

You also have the option to select what language you want the transcript to be in. On iOS they’ve included support for many languages like Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Spanish and English. Android only offers support for Russian, Spanish, Portuguese and English to start. That should expand to more options soon.

To view a transcript of a voice message, simply long-press on the file and select “transcribe.” It’ll then do the near instant work of transcribing for you. And it only appears on your device and not on any server.

WhatsApp is also adding more control over the spam you receive on the app. Businesses and scammers love to inundate the message platform with promotions and other spam. They’re testing new tools that allow users to apply stop/resume demands for certain text categories. This should stop them right at the door.

WhatsApp continues to be one of the most popular message portals in the world and these new features will help keep it that way.