Voicemail to text · guide
Voicemail to Text on iPhone
iPhone transcribes voicemails on the phone itself — no app needed — but only when three things line up: your carrier supports Visual Voicemail, the phone's language is set to a supported one, and transcription is switched on. Here is the check, in order.
1. See if it's already working
- Open the Phone app → Voicemail tab.
- Tap any voicemail. If you see text under the caller's name, transcription is on. If it says "Transcription not available", keep going.
2. Turn on Live Voicemail (iOS 17 and later)
Live Voicemail shows the transcript while the caller is still speaking, and stores it afterwards. Settings → Phone → Live Voicemail → On. It only works for calls on the iPhone's own number, in the US and Canada, with the phone language set to English (US/Canada) — that list has grown with each iOS release, so check the toggle exists on yours.
3. Check carrier Visual Voicemail
Classic (non-Live) transcripts come from your carrier's Visual Voicemail service:
| Carrier | What you need |
|---|---|
| AT&T | Visual Voicemail is included; transcription ("Voicemail to Text") is on most postpaid plans. Prepaid plans often lack it. |
| Verizon | Basic Visual Voicemail is free; Premium Visual Voicemail (transcription) is a small monthly add-on on many plans, included on Unlimited. |
| T-Mobile | Visual Voicemail with transcription is included on postpaid plans; on some plans transcription shows as "Voicemail to Text" in the T-Mobile app. |
| MVNOs (Mint, Cricket, Visible, Google Fi…) | Varies — Fi transcribes; many prepaid brands offer Visual Voicemail without text. |
If your carrier doesn't include it, Live Voicemail (step 2) still works for incoming calls because it runs on the iPhone, not the network.
4. Set the phone language
Transcription follows Settings → General → Language & Region. If the phone is set to a language transcription doesn't support, you get nothing. Voicemails in another language are also skipped — for those, save the recording and use the translate-voicemail tool.
5. Reset Visual Voicemail if transcripts stopped
- Toggle Airplane Mode on for ten seconds and off.
- Settings → General → Transfer or Reset → Reset → Reset Network Settings (you'll re-enter Wi-Fi passwords).
- Remove and reinsert the SIM, or for eSIM, restart the phone. Visual Voicemail re-provisions on the next boot.
- Still "not available"? Call the carrier and ask them to re-provision Visual Voicemail — it's a two-minute fix on their side.
More causes in voicemail to text not working.
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.