How to get voice mail on iphone

Leanne Hays is a Feature Writer at iPhone Life, and has written hundreds of in-depth how-to and troubleshooting articles. She's a former Associate Editor for iPhone Life magazine, and has written for the Iowa Source, as well as web content for education marketing. Leanne has an associate's degree in education, with a focus on curriculum development, as well as a bachelor's degree in science. She has over nine years of experience with SEO, social media management, and web development and writing. Despite years of web work, Leanne is by no means an early adapter; she's only owned a smartphone for five years, which makes her highly sympathetic to the learning curve of new iPhone owners. She enjoys making reader's lives easier and putting her education experience to work by walking them through the most practical ways to use Apple devices, step-by-step.

Table of Contents Show

Access voicemail
Listen to a voicemail
Share or save a voicemail
Listen to Your Voicemail Messages
Adjust the Voicemail Notifications
Change the Voicemail Password
Record a New Voicemail Greeting
How do I access the voicemail on my iPhone?
Why can't I get voicemail on my iPhone?
How do I activate my voicemail?

In off-work hours, Leanne is a mother of two, homesteader, audiobook fanatic, musician, and learning enthusiast.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to:

• Access voicemail
• Listen to a voicemail
• Share or save a voicemail

Access voicemail

1. From the home screen select the

Phone app.

2. Select the Voicemail tab.

Note: Alternatively, from the phone app, select the Keypad tab > select and hold the 1 key > if prompted, enter your voicemail password > follow the prompts to listen to your messages.

Listen to a voicemail

1. Select the desired message.

2. Select the corresponding icon:

• PLAY/PAUSE: Select the Play icon to play the message. Select the Pause icon to pause the message.

• SPEAKER: Select the Speaker icon to enable or disable speaker mode.

• CALL BACK: Select the Call back icon to call back the phone number.

• DELETE: Select the Delete icon to delete the voicemail.

Note: A transcription of the voicemail message will appear at the bottom of the voicemail options.

N.Z.Photography/Shutterstock.com

To set up a voicemail on an iPhone, open the Phone app, tap "Voicemail," and hit "Set Up Now." You must pick a voicemail password, and you can set a custom greeting if you like.

When you get your first iPhone, setting up voicemail is essential. You want to make sure that if you miss a call, your caller can leave a message. Here’s how you can set up voicemail and check your messages on iPhone.

Once you get your voicemail ready, you can adjust your notifications, so you know when a message is waiting. We’ll show you this as well as how to listen to a message, change the password if needed, and even re-record the greeting.

Setting up voicemail on iPhone is a simple process that takes place in the Phone app. Open Phone and tap the Voicemail tab at the bottom.

Select “Set Up Now,” create a voicemail password, and choose if you want a Default or Custom greeting. If you pick Custom, you can record your own greeting by simply following the prompts.

And that’s all there is to it!

RELATED: How to Set Up a Voicemail Greeting on Android

Listen to Your Voicemail Messages

To access your voicemail and listen to your messages, head to the Voicemail tab in the Phone app. You’ll see a list of messages you’ve received as long as your carrier supports Visual Voicemail.

Select a message and tap the Play button to listen to it. If your wireless carrier also supports the Voicemail Transcription feature, you’ll also see your message transcribed to text. This is handy for a quick view of the message.

Note: Visit the Apple Support page to see which voicemail features are supported in your region and for your carrier.

You’ll see a few other buttons for the voicemail message on the right side. Tap the speaker icon to hear the message in speaker mode, the phone icon to call the number back, or the trash can icon to delete the message.

You’ll also notice a share button on the top right you can use to send or share the message using your iPhone Share Sheet options. And finally, you have an info icon (small letter “i”) for details about the call or caller.

Adjust the Voicemail Notifications

When you have a new voicemail, you’ll see a badge app icon on the Phone app by default. You can change this by going to Settings > Phone > Notifications. This number displays all notifications from the Phone app including missed calls and voicemails.

RELATED: How to Make Notifications Actually Display on iPhone

When you open the Phone app, you’ll see a number on the Voicemail tab for the number of unplayed messages you have.

You can also set up an alert when you receive a new voicemail. Open Settings and select “Sounds & Haptics.” Pick “New Voicemail” under Sounds and Vibration Patterns.

Tap “Vibration” at the top to choose a pattern and select one of the Alert Tones or Ringtones at the bottom for the sound. Tap “Back” on the top left to save and exit.

Change the Voicemail Password

If you want to change the password you set up initially for voicemail, you can do this in the Settings app as well. Select “Phone,” pick “Change Voicemail Password,” enter the new password, and tap “Done.”

Note: If you forgot your current voicemail password, contact your wireless carrier.

Record a New Voicemail Greeting

You may also want to change the greeting you recorded for your voicemail. Open the Phone app, select the Voicemail tab, and tap “Greeting” on the top left.

Tap the Play button to hear your current greeting. To record your own, select “Custom,” press “Record” to start, “Stop” to finish, and then “Save” to use the greeting.

As you can see, setting up voicemail on iPhone is easy and worth a few minutes of your time so callers can leave you a message when you’re unavailable to answer.

For additional help with calls on your iPhone, learn more about the Silence Unknown Callers feature for reducing spam calls or how to enable full-screen incoming calls.

RELATED: How to Silence Unknown Callers to Stop Robocall Spam on iPhone

How do I access the voicemail on my iPhone?

On your iPhone: Tap Voicemail, then follow the instructions. On another phone: Dial your own mobile number, press * or # (depending on your carrier) to bypass your greeting, then enter your voicemail password.

Why can't I get voicemail on my iPhone?

Check to see if voicemail has been activated Go to Settings–>Phone and scroll down. If you see the option Change Voicemail Password, then voicemail is on. If you don't see it, then voicemail is off and you need to enable it. You do this by going to the Phone app and tapping Voicemail at the bottom.

How do I activate my voicemail?

Set up voicemail on your mobile phone From your mobile phone, press and hold 1 or the Voicemail key. Do one of the following: For a new voicemail box—follow the prompts to create your password and greeting. For an existing voicemail box—enter your password if prompted.