Practical Tech Tip: How to save important voicemails

Practical Tech Tip: How to save important voicemails
© Dmytro Zinkevych | Dreamstime

Some voicemails are just too precious to delete — or too important. After all, you may need to reference that voicemail from your friend about the parking situation at their new house, or you may want to preserve the meaningful message from a departed loved one.

Gone are the days of keeping a cassette tape to preserve your voicemails. Now, nearly everything exists in digital space, so there are convenient ways of saving all your important messages. But be careful. Tap or click here to learn how hackers can get into your digital voicemail.

We’ll teach you how to save important voicemails from your iPhone, Android or old non-smart phone. Let’s start with iPhones.

Saving voicemails on an iPhone

Apple provides ways of not just saving important voicemails, but sharing them, too. This is excellent for business or scholastic use. Share important messages with coworkers or classmates, or upload them to a computer anyone can access.

To save or share a voicemail on an iPhone:

  1. Go to the Phone app, and tap on Voicemail on the bottom of the screen on the far right.
  2. Tap on the voicemail you want to save, then tap the share button — it looks like a box with an arrow pointing out of it.
  3. You can now share this voicemail via AirDrop, Messages, Mail, Notes, Voice Memo and more.
  4. To save the voicemail in your phone, select Notes or Voice Memo. You can access that saved message again in either app, and play it back at your leisure. Both apps will also automatically back up the file to iCloud, so long as you have iCloud enabled. Tap or click here to learn how to enable iCloud backup.
  5. To save the voicemail to your computer, select AirDrop, then tap on your computer’s name. On your computer, accept the AirDrop, and save the message wherever you want.
  6. To send the voicemail to another person, select a contact in Messages or Mail, or share via AirDrop with someone who’s nearby. They can also save it to their device.

If you have a visual voicemail from FaceTime you want to save, you can save it with the Files app:

  1. Open the file you want to store.
  2. Tap Select, the file name and then Organize, which looks like a little folder.
  3. Under “On My [Device name],” choose a folder or tap the icon of a folder with a plus sign to create a new one.
  4. Tap Copy and you’re done.

Saving voicemails on an Android

Android phones are made by a variety of different manufacturers, so how to save voicemails stored in them differs slightly depending on the model you own. But there are some general steps you can follow to save those important messages.

To save important voicemails on most Android phones:

  1. Open your Voicemail app.
  2. Tap, or tap and hold the message you want to save.
  3. In the menu that appears, tap the one that says “save”, “export”, or “archive.”
  4. Select the storage location in your phone you would like the message to go to, and tap “Ok” or “Save.”

Another way to save your voicemails is by going to the cloud service you use to back up your phone, and turn on the switch or select the option to have your voicemails backup automatically. Tap or click here to learn about cloud storage.

Android also has third-party apps that preserve voicemails. Among these, we recommend VoicemailSaver. It costs $3.99 but it saves your messages, even if your phone is broken or stolen. For free options, try HulloMail or InstaVoice.

Get voicemails from an old phone

If you have a non-smart phone, but you want to save the voicemails on it, your best bet is to record them on a computer. This is a method that requires some equipment, but not as much as you might think.

This can also work with your iPhone or Android, if the above methods aren’t working for you. With those, you can plug your phone into the computer with a 3.5mm audio cable, but more on that in a minute.

To save voicemails on older phones:

  1. Download Audacity or another similar audio recording program to your computer. If you have a Mac, Garageband is a native app that can do what you need.
  2. Figure out if your old phone has a headphone jack. This is the port for headphones and microphones.
    • If it does, get a 3.5mm audio cable and plug one end into the headphone jack on your phone, and the other end into the jack of your computer.
    • If it doesn’t, turn up the volume on your phone and get a microphone, or hold the phone close to the opening for your computer’s internal microphone. You may need to experiment to find the exact location.
  3. Open your phone’s voicemail and find the message you want to save.
  4. In your audio recording program, click record, and play the message. When the message is done, stop the recording.
  5. Save the file on your computer to preserve it.

Voicemails can be kept for many reasons, but they’re particularly precious if they’re from people you love. Don’t regret losing those messages. Use our tips and listen to these meaningful messages over and over again.

If you want to save all your files to a cloud service, consider iDrive. Tap or click for 5 reasons Kim recommends this cloud service.

Tags: Android, Apple, Apple iCloud, Apple iCloud Backup, Apple iPhone, apps, backups, cloud storage, FaceTime, hackers, third-party apps, tips and tricks, voicemail