Can I turn off my iPhone's voicemail transcriptions in iOS 17?

Is there any way we can turn off the captions/transcription on voice messages in messages? no offence but i genuinely hate it but i cant find a way to disable it anywhere and when i search it up, it comes up with voiceMAIL transcriptions which i really don’t want 😭😭. does anyone know an alternative or a way to turn it off?


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 11, iOS 17

Posted on Sep 19, 2023 2:28 AM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Oct 6, 2023 12:14 PM

cgrimes87 wrote:

This feature needs a disable option. If I send a voice memo it HANGS FOREVER trying to transcribe before the message is sent. I do not need my received voice memos in text and vice versa. If I did, THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN TEXTS ALREADY

Tell Apple:


Product Feedback - Apple

43 replies

Sep 30, 2023 4:15 AM in response to IdrisSeabright

I agree the option should be available for the receiver if they want to hear the message or read the text. The way it is done in WeChat is that you just long-press on an audio message then the option appears to convert to text. Easy. So you can choose any time you want to see a voice message as text or listen to it. It wouldn't have to be a setting that is either on or off.


I also think voice messages can be a good thing. To say "I've never understood why people send an audio message when they could just text me." Could easily be reversed to "I've never understood why people text me when they could just send an audio message." I enjoy hearing people's voices, feels more human to me. Not for every message, like if you're just telling me what time dinner is a text is fine. But if it's a back and forth I prefer audio messages. Sometimes a texting conversation feels like I'm talking with a chatbot. Also you can be walking and talking and walking and listening, you don't have to stop everything you're doing to type out a message or read one.

Sep 30, 2023 10:49 AM in response to Here_we-go

Here_we-go wrote:

To say "I've never understood why people send an audio message when they could just text me." Could easily be reversed to "I've never understood why people text me when they could just send an audio message."

I don't expect you to share my opinion. But, nor am I particularly interested in why other people have a different opinion. Unless they keep sending me audio messages. Then I will do what I do with voicemail: ignore the message and text them.

Oct 5, 2023 11:46 AM in response to diamonds_

This function intercepts calls that should be going to my carrier's voice box for my number we should be able to turn this off. The other reason is that when i get a call from someone who is speaking another language the text is just garbage. An other reason is that this now means the voice message left is now stored on my phone instead of on my carrier voice mail box and i suspect it will eventually impact my storage used. Please give us the option to turn this off.

Oct 7, 2023 9:58 AM in response to ChaseRichard

ChaseRichard wrote:

Smh. Was obv to cgrimes87 as they’re referring to the very glitchy dictation we now have in iMessage voice w ioS 17, not voicemail like the op posted about.

I'm sorry but I'm not entirely clear what that means. Spelling out your words is very helpful to other posters.


What I can comment on is that, though, what the author asked about in the post was "Is there any way we can turn off the captions/transcription on voice messages in messages?", the subject line said "Voice Mail". So, while the OP wasn't talking about Voicemail, it's very easy to see why someone might think this thread is about Voice Mail.


But, yes, they are more likely to get help in their own thread.

Oct 21, 2023 5:45 AM in response to diamonds_

Goodness gracious I was looking for this and I’m glad (not really) it’s not only me. The thing that’s bothersome is that it freezes up the phone. I use and receive voice messages under certain contexts when a text won’t cut it and/or a phone call isn’t available. But it it stops me from using the messages app for an unknown amount of time. Even if it’s just reading another message. I’d like to be able to turn that off too.

Nov 18, 2023 7:57 PM in response to diamonds_

ok I FIGURED THIS OUT TODAY and i'm sooo happy. if i'm understanding the issue right, i was super frustrated as well that i could no longer hold the little microphone button down to record voice messages without it turning to text. the way i restored the feature was by turning off dictation. if you search "dictation" in settings it takes you to keyboards and you can turn off "enable dictation," which makes the microphone on imessage go back to recording voice messages. i would still like to know how turn off voice message transcriptions though lol

Nov 30, 2023 9:55 AM in response to slickem1

slickem1 wrote:

why would you put transcriptions on a voice text. The reason we send a voice text is to have people hear our voice. If we wanted it transcribed we would have just sent a regular text...

Because some people hate it when you send voice texts. Or, they want to know what you said but are in a noisy place or somewhere where they don't want other people to hear your messages. Or they are hard of hearing and it's easier to read than listen. Or reading a text is just faster.

Dec 11, 2023 2:07 AM in response to IdrisSeabright

My friends and I use them all the time because we are busy mums and work full

time and don’t get a chance to catch each other much. Text messages don’t capture the essence of telling a story wholly and you can catch up on stories when you have downtime or while doing things. You can come back to the story later if needed. It’s a flexible option for maintaining social relationships when you’re a busy person!

Can I turn off my iPhone's voicemail transcriptions in iOS 17?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.