Learn how to send audio messages to your iMessage friends on Apple devices when you don’t have the time for typing or want to tell them something in your own voice.
Apple Messages on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro lets you send and receive audio messages via iMessage that recipients can optionally keep in the app. Audio messages bring that unmistakable personal touch.
Maybe your toddler just uttered his first words. Perhaps you want to send a business colleague a soundbite from an important meeting. Or maybe you’d like that special person in your life to hear a heartfelt message spoken aloud with your own voice.
Follow along with our tutorial below for the steps to record, send, and receive voice messages using the built-in Messages app on your Apple devices.
Send voice messages via iMessage
Open an iMessage chat in the Messages app and hold (iPhone, iPad) or click (Mac) the waveform icon in the text field at the bottom, then speak your message. To finish recording, tap the stop button. Send it by hitting the blue arrow button. The Messages app automatically transcribes voice messages in your default language, with transcription displayed inside the chat bubble.
By default, a voice message is automatically deleted from the recipient’s device after they’ve listened to it. To save the message to replay later, the recipient must choose the Keep option below the message. You can also adjust the Messages settings to prevent audio messages from being automatically deleted.
You can also record a voice message by hitting the plus button on the left side of the text field and choosing Audio from the vertical menu, which is the same as hitting the waveform icon in the text field.
Send voice memos
You can also record a message in the built-in Voice Memos app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Just hit the red button to record your message. Once done, hit the three-dotted menu and choose the Share option, then select Messages to send your voice memo as an iMessage attachment.
The Voice Memos app uses audio filters to improve voice quality, and it saves recordings within the app. Some people may prefer it for the creation and sharing of voice messages instead of the Message app.
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