Who loves checking their voicemail? Wow, we heard the resounding silence from here. What with missed call notifications and the ability to send a follow-up text, the concept of leaving an audio recording is starting to feel somewhat archaic. In 2016, do we still need to be calling our voicemail inbox, navigating menus, just to hear a short message saying “Hey, it’s Jim, call me back”? Thankfully, in iOS 10…
Voicemail transcription
Finally! A long-desired/rumored feature for the iPhone’s Phone app, iOS 10 has added transcription for voicemails.
The only thing you need to ensure is that Visual voicemail is activated. Visual voicemail allows you to access your voicemail via a visual interface rather than calling the voicemail inbox and is available via most carriers. If it’s not enabled on your device, either contact your carrier or try an online search for your network + visual voicemail and setup instructions should be easily found.
VoIP integration
Firstly, what’s VoIP? That stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, and put simply, it’s basically how Skype works; a service which allows users to talk and make voice calls over the internet, rather than over cellular networks. In iOS 10, certain VoIP services can be used directly via the Phone app.
The following apps will start the ball rolling with more to be added later: Skype, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Viber, Tango + more.
These services are now treated the same as a regular call, or a FaceTime Audio call – calls are logged in the Phone app alongside regular calls, while it’s also now possible to specify preferences for which service to use. So, if you have a friend overseas that you often call, it’s possible to specify which service you wish to use automatically when you call.