News Flash: Your Carrier’s Visual Voicemail app Does Not Include Voicemail Transcription.
Here’s why…
Over a decade ago, letting you Visually see all your Voicemail messages at once was a huge innovation and visual voicemail apps became an instant hit. Download a visual voicemail app and you could scroll back through time to listen to any voicemail message in any order you wanted. It seems trivial now, but in 2007 Visual Voicemail apps were a massive upgrade to the keypad-oriented voicemail interfaces of the day.
Two years later, Voicemail to Text apps arrived. Focused on voicemail transcription, voicemail to text apps like Yap and Simulscribe enjoyed great success. But their voicemail transcription accuracy was lacking – leading to some rather funny voicemail memes…
This history is why your mobile carrier treats visual voicemail and voicemail transcription as two different features. One is free, the other is paid. Your carrier probably preloads a free visual voicemail app on your phone. But for the privilege of being able to read voicemail transcriptions, your carrier will charge you for their voicemail to text app or voicemail transcription feature. The exception is AT&T. Unlike other major carriers, AT&T does not offer a universal voicemail to text app to let you read voicemail transcriptions on any of their phones. Instead, AT&T offers its voicemail transcription service on a device by device basis.
Carrier Voicemail to Text Pricing: | |
|---|---|
| Verizon Wireless | $ 2.99 / month |
| T-Mobile | $ 3.99 / month |
| Sprint | $ 2.99 / month |
3 Voicemail to Text App ‘Must Have’ Features:
Now that we’ve cleared up the difference between these two features, let’s discover what makes a good voicemail to text app.
A good voicemail to text app accurately converts your entire voicemail to text, not just the first few seconds. People tend to leave key information like their callback number near the end of their voicemail message. If your voicemail transcription cuts off at 10 or 15 seconds, you’ll have to go back and listen to the message anyway. That defeats the point of voicemail transcriptions!
The next thing your Voicemail to Text app must have is the ability to reply to a voicemail. Today’s voicemail apps let you Reply to voicemails the same way you would with a messaging or chat app.
Modern voicemail to text apps let you reply by calling back, SMS or email, but they also let you reply by starting a chat, sending a picture or a short voice note, or even shooting a quick video. Only the more modern Social Voicemail apps have these conveniences. Look for a Social Voicemail app and your voicemail experience will be more like your other communication apps.
A good voicemail to text app helps you search for a particular voicemail or tidbit of information inside of a voicemail transcript to quickly find important information buried deep in your voicemails.
Once search finds what you are looking for, you should be able to copy, paste, save, share, email and forward voicemail transcriptions, as well as the original voicemail recording, to friends and colleagues.
| Voicemail to Text Included | Read voicemail transcriptions Search voicemail transcriptions |
| Reply to Voicemails | Reply via chat, pictures, a voice note or with video |
| Works on Multiple Carriers |
|
| Lifetime Voicemail | Keep your voicemails if you change your carrier or phone number |
| Voicemail & RoboCall Blocker | Includes a FREE, RoboCall Blocker that also Blocks Voicemail |
 | No Monthly Fee. Pay-as-you-Go. $ 4.88 for 50 Voicemail Transcriptions (50 lasts most people 8 to 10 weeks) |
 | $ 5.88 / month Unlimited Voicemail Transcriptions, more Premium Voicemail features – PLUS – additional Call Blocker & Voicemail Blocker features |
Social Voicemail is available from YouVOXX for android devices in the Google Play Store.
YouVOXX Social Voicemail & Call Blocker offers:
- Free, Unlimited RoboCall Blocking
- Optional Voicemail Service with Voicemail to Text voicemail transcriptions & Voicemail Blocking
- A 30-Day Free Trial of any voicemail service plan
- Easy Set Up. No Obligation. Cancel Anytime.