How to preview voice messages on WhatsApp before sending them

Learn how to preview a WhatsApp voice message so you can check whether your ramblings make sense before the message is sent.

An illustration with a WhatsApp logo in white set against a green background

Reviewing a draft of the voice message before sending it not only helps ensure your words make sense but you get to hear them the way the other side will be experiencing them. Is your voice too quiet? Does your speech come across as inarticulate? Mumbling, much?

Thankfully, the Meta-owned messaging service lets you preview voice messages before you hit Send. Not only that, but you can quickly delete a message if you’re unsatisfied with its preview and start fresh.

Preview a WhatsApp voice message before it’s sent

1) Open WhatsApp and go inside an individual or group chat.

2) Touch and hold the microphone icon, then slide up to lock the hands-free recording.

3) Start speaking to record your voice message.

4) Once finished, hit the stop button.

Start voice recording on WhatsApp and swipe up

5) Tap the triangular play icon that appears when you stop recording. Now, you’ll hear exactly how your message will sound to the recipient.

Preview voice message before sending on WhatsApp

For longer messages, it’s helpful that you can play the message from a specific timestamp by hitting that part of the recording on the waveform.

Don’t like how your voice recording sounds and think you can do better? No problem; just hit the Trash can icon to delete the recorded message and start over. When satisfied with the results, hit the Send button to send the voice recording to the selected contact.

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