Google Voice Voicemail Transcription

Google Voice transcribes every voicemail automatically and it's free — one of the few places it still is. The settings you actually want are where the transcript goes and what to do when it's wrong.

Turn it on / check it's on

1. Go to voice.google.com (or the Voice app) → Settings (gear) → Voicemail.
2. Get voicemail via email — on: every voicemail arrives in Gmail with the transcript in the body and the audio attached.
3. Get voicemail via message — on: the transcript is also sent as a text to your linked phone.
4. Voicemail transcription analysis — optional; lets Google use your voicemails to improve accuracy.

Where the transcript shows

In the app, under the Voicemail tab, each message shows the text with a confidence shading — greyed words are ones the engine wasn't sure about. Tap the play bar to hear the audio at that point.

Why a transcript is wrong or missing

• Not in English — Google Voice transcription is English-only. Save the message (⋮ → Download) and use the translate-voicemail tool to get both the original and an English version.
• Noise, speakerphone, music on hold — the engine gives up rather than guess. The downloaded .mp3 works in the upload tool, which runs a heavier model.
• Voicemail arrived with no transcript at all — it usually appears a minute later; if not, the message was too short (under ~2 seconds) or was silence.

Download a Google Voice voicemail

Web: Voicemail → open the message → ⋮ → Download. App: share the message to Files or email. Old voicemails can also be exported in bulk with Google Takeout (Voice → voicemails as .mp3 with .html transcripts).

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Have a recording that still needs transcribing?

Save the voicemail as a file (share → Save) and drop it into the voicemail-to-text tool — one a day is free, any language, with English translation if you need it.