How to permanently save voicemails in iOS and Android
Whether for business or sentimental reasons, some voicemails were meant to be kept long-term or indefinitely. I saved the goodbye voicemail from my favorite boss at my last company as well as a greeting from my now-19 year old son back when he was in preschool. Saving voicemails safeguards against equipment loss or failure as well as freeing up space and capacity on a device. there may also be legal or liability issues afoot that require such measures.
SEE: Electronic communication policy(TechRepublic Premium)
This article focuses on the built-in voicemail apps inherent within iOS and Android, but there are also free apps available (with paid versions that add advanced features) which can help manage and save your voicemails such as Instavoice for Android, Instavoice for iOS, Hullomail for Android and Hullomail for iOS.
How to save voicemails on iOS
- Go to Phone, then tap Voicemail.
- Open the voicemail you want to save.
- Tap the Share button in the upper right of the screen.
Since options can vary depending on what apps are installed, you will see the following options (Figure A):
Figure A
You can use Message and Mail to send the voicemail as either a text message or email, respectively, but a better option would be to swipe until you see the Notes or Voice Memo icons (Figure B).
Figure B
It’s advisable to use Voice Memo since it makes the most sense but either one will save the voicemail so it will be backed up to your iTunes library the next time you sync it (ensure syncing is turned by going to Settings, accessing Music and confirming that “Sync Library” is enabled).
You could also use Save to Files, which would give you the option to save the file to your iCloud iDrive (Figure C).
Figure C
How to save voicemails on Android
Since Android is a vast ecosystem, exact steps may vary, but the process of saving the voicemail file will be similar to these.
Access your voicemail screen (Figure D).
Figure D
Open the voicemail and tap on the three vertical dots icon in the upper right (Figure E).
Figure E
Click Save (Figure F).
Figure F
You will see a prompt similar to the one above including the local file path where the voicemail will be saved.
This will save the file to your phone, but to really safeguard the voicemail, I would recommend using the phone interface to copy the file to an SD card or a cloud storage service like Dropbox or Google Drive.
SEE: Samsung Galaxy S21 Series: A cheat sheet (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
On the phone you can access the file location (in my case My Files, Internal Storage, then VisualVoiceMail) to find the voicemail (Figure G):
Figure G
Press an hold your finger on the object to select it (Figure H):
Figure H
Tap Share in the bottom toolbar (Figure I).
Figure I
A list of apps to share the file to will appear. Choose the cloud storage app that works best for you then follow prompts to add the voicemail file.
I prefer to plug my phone into my PC and browse to the location in Windows Explorer (Figure J):
Figure J
I can then cut and paste the .AMR file into my Dropbox folder so it will be backed up and remain available in the event my phone or PC has a hardware failure.
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