How do I send a voice recording via text?

A voice recording sent via text message, also known as a voice note or voice memo, allows you to record an audio clip using your phone’s microphone and send it to someone as part of a text conversation. Voice recordings have become increasingly popular in messaging apps as a quicker and more expressive alternative to typing out a text. They allow you to capture the nuances of your voice like tone, inflection, pauses, emphasis, and emotion. Sending a voice recording can convey more meaning and intent than a written message. It also saves time compared to typing a long text. Voice notes are convenient for chatting when you are on the go, have your hands full, or want to add a personal touch. Overall, voice memos add a human voice and personality to digital messaging.

Recording a Voice Message on iPhone

To record and send a voice message on an iPhone, follow these steps:

1. Open the Messages app and select the contact you want to send the voice message to. This opens up a new message thread with that contact.

2. In the message field at the bottom, press and hold down the microphone icon on the right side. This will start recording your voice message.

3. Speak your message while continuing to hold down the mic icon. You can record up to 2 minutes of audio in one message.

4. Once you’re done, lift your finger off the mic icon to stop recording. This will automatically send the voice message to the recipient.

Here is a video showing the process: How to Send Voice Messages on iPhone (2024)

The voice message will be delivered to the recipient’s Messages app, where they can listen and reply back with their own voice messages if desired.

Recording a Voice Message on Android

To record and send a voice message on an Android phone, first open your preferred messaging app and select the contact you want to send the message to (1). Once the messaging window is open, press and hold the microphone icon to start recording your voice message. As you speak, continue holding down the mic button. When you are done, simply release the mic button to automatically stop recording and send the message (2).

On Samsung Galaxy phones, you can press and hold the voice input button while on the keyboard to start recording a voice message. Release when finished and the audio will be converted to an MP3 file that sends as an audio message (3).

The steps may vary slightly between messaging apps, but generally involve a long press on a microphone icon to record, then releasing to stop and send the voice message. Android makes it quick and easy to record and send short voice messages of up to one minute directly within your conversations.

Sending the Voice Message

When you send a voice message on an iPhone using iMessage or on Android using apps like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, the voice message will be sent as an audio file to the recipient. The recipient will see a play button that they can tap to listen to your message.

On iPhones, after you record your message using the microphone icon in iMessage, it will be sent as an m4a audio file to the recipient. They will see your message in the chat with a waveform representation of the audio clip and can tap the play button to listen (Send and receive audio messages on iPhone).

Similarly, in apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger on Android, after recording a voice message by holding down the microphone button, it will be sent as an audio clip. The recipient will see a play button icon that they can press to listen to your message (How to tell if someone has listened to my voice message).

So in summary, voice messages are delivered as audio files with a play button that recipients can simply tap to listen to the message.

Listening to a Received Voice Message

Once you’ve received a voice message, you can easily listen to it right from your messaging app. Here’s how:

Open the messaging app and select the conversation containing the voice message you want to listen to. Voice messages will appear as audio waveform icons within message bubbles.

Simply tap the play button on the voice message bubble to listen to the message. On iPhones, this is the triangular “play” button at the bottom left of the message bubble. On Android devices, tap the triangular “play” button in the center of the message bubble.

The voice message will begin playing automatically. You can pause and restart playback as needed by tapping the “pause” icon.

The message audio will play directly through your device’s speakers so make sure your volume is turned up. Headphones can also be used if you want to listen privately.

Once the message finishes playback, you’ll see options for responding, deleting or sharing the message if desired.

Replying to a Voice Message

Replying to a voice message you’ve received is easy. Here’s how to do it:

First, open the messaging app and go to the message with the voice recording. Tap on the voice message to listen to it.

Once you’ve listened to the message, you can record a reply. To do this, press and hold the microphone icon that’s next to the message field. This will start recording your voice message.

Speak your reply message into your phone’s microphone. When you’re done, simply release the mic button. Your reply will be attached as a voice message to the original message, just like a normal text reply.

That’s all there is to it! With just a tap and hold, you can easily send voice message replies to any voice messages you receive.

Saving a Received Voice Message

Once you’ve listened to a voice message you want to save for later, follow these steps to save it on your device:

On iPhone, touch and hold the message bubble, then tap ‘Save Attachment’. This will save the audio file to your Photos app where you can access it anytime.

On Android, touch and hold the message bubble, then tap the download icon that appears. This will save the audio file to your device’s internal storage. To find it later, open the Files app and look in Downloads or Audio folders.

Saving voice messages allows you to re-listen to important information later on. You can also back up the audio files or share them with others. Just be mindful of storage space used over time.

Sharing a Voice Message

Once you have received a voice message, you may want to share it with someone else. The process for sharing a voice message is straightforward on both iPhone and Android.

On iPhone, open the conversation containing the voice message. Touch and hold down on the message briefly, then tap the Forward button. This will allow you to forward the voice message to a new contact.

On Android, similarly open the conversation and touch and hold down on the voice message. An action menu will appear – tap the share icon, which looks like a box with an arrow pointing upwards. You can then select a contact or app to share the voice message with.

Sharing voice messages this way allows you to pass them on to other people seamlessly from your messaging app. It’s a convenient way to share interesting or important voice messages without having to save them and send them as attachments.

Deleting a Voice Message

After listening to a voice message, you can easily delete it to clear space in your voicemail inbox. The process is slightly different depending on your phone operating system.

On iPhone, [1]:

• Open the Phone app and tap Voicemail.
• Swipe left on the voice message you want to delete.
• Tap ‘Delete’ to confirm.

On Android [2]:

• Open your Visual Voicemail app.
• Touch and hold the voice message you want to delete.
• Tap the trash icon in the upper right corner.

The voice message will be permanently deleted from your voicemail inbox.

Conclusion

Voice messaging via text is becoming an increasingly popular way to communicate. The main steps to recording and sending a voice message are:

1. Open your messaging app and locate the microphone icon to start recording your voice message.
2. Hold down the mic icon while speaking your message. Release when finished.
3. Listen to your recording to confirm it sounds clear. You can re-record if needed.
4. Hit send to deliver the voice message to your recipient. On iPhone this is done automatically, on Android you send manually.
5. The recipient will see a voice message indicator and can tap to play your recording.
6. They can reply via text or send you a voice message in response.

With just a few taps, voice messaging allows you to convey tone and nuance more naturally than text alone. Following these main steps, you can start enhancing your conversations today.