How to Save Your Important Voicemails

Joe
March 21, 2019

At some point in your life, you will need or want to save an important voicemail. Maybe it's the last message you received from a loved one or important information. Regardless, you want to make sure you do not lose that voice mail.

All voicemails are stored in your voice mail box, but storage is limited by space and age. So, your voice mail box is not a good long-term storage option. Additionally, getting a new phone or switching phone providers will most likely result in voice mails getting deleted as well. Thankfully, we will go over a few options for storing voicemails that are important to you.

iPhone Voicemails

iPhone users can export a voicemail message with the iPhone's share function.

  1. Go to Phone > Voicemail
  2. Tap the voicemail message that you'd like to save, then tap Share icon.
  3. Choose Add to Notes or Voice Memos. Then save your voicemail message. You may also choose Messages or Mail, and send your message with the attached voicemail. You can also share the voicemail by tapping an AirDrop contact.
ios12 iphone x phone voicemail share
Image: Apple

After you have exported your voicemail, make sure to backup the file up to a couple of locations, such as iTunes backup or cloud storage like Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.

Android Voicemails

Android users can also save their voicemails too. But, the process is a little bit different. The differences depend on your service provider, the voicemail application, and the model of Android phone. Because of this, we will go over some general steps on saving your voicemail on Android phones. This should get you pointed in the correct direction.

Most stock phone and voicemail apps, from major phone providers, will include an option to save copies of your voicemails. Simply open up your phone's voicemail app, locate the voicemail you wish to save, tap or tap and hold the message. This should open up a list of options for the voicemail message. Select the option Save or Save to phone or Archive, the option should be similar to those words. After selecting your preferred option, select a storage location, if prompted, to save your message. Once again, after the voicemail message has been saved, make sure to back it up to additional locations.

You also have the option of using third party apps as well. The only problem here is that all voicemails received prior to installing the app will still be unavailable to save. Google Voice, for example, has an option to send your voicemail messages as MP3s to your email. The other issue, is some third party apps require to buy them to get all the features for your voicemail messages.

Use Your PC to Save Voicemails

If you are still having issues saving your voicemails from your phone, you can always record the message through your PC. This option takes a little work, some software, and some additional hardware. However, this option will work for Android and iPhone.

audacity
Image: Audacityteam.org

You will need a microphone compatible 3.5mm male-to-male audio cable or an attached microphone for your PC. If your phone does not have a headphone jack, you will need an adapter as well. Lastly, you will need the software to record the voicemail as it plays back. A great, free and open source, option is Audacity. Other programs, such as Adobe Audition or Garageband will work as well. Now just follow these simple steps:

  1. Plug your phone into your computer's microphone jack with the audio cable. If you using using a microphone, make sure the microphone is working on your PC.
  2. Open Audacity and change the recording source to Line-In Mic from the Options menu. This is located in the drop-down menu next to the microphone icon.
  3. Go to Edit > Preferences > Recording and check the box for Software Playthrough. This is a step that can be skipped if you're using an external microphone.
  4. On your phone, select the voicemail message you wish to record. Click the red Record button in Audacity, then play the voicemail message on your phone. As the voicemail plays, you should see it being recorded on Audacity's timeline.
    • Note: If you have to use an external microphone, make sure your phone is set to speaker phone and the sound is directed at the PC's microphone.
  5. After the voicemail has finished playing, click the yellow Stop button in Audacity to stop recording.
  6. Save your recording by going toFile > Export. Audacity will then export the recording to the location you choose.

Lastly, take those Audacity recordings and back them up to additional locations as well. The last thing you want is to lose the recorded voicemails you just created.

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