Question :
I have some friends and acquaintances that prefer to not send me text messages in WhatsApp, but they nearly always send me voice messages… I get frustrated by them, because I can’t speed-read-scan those for the clue, I can’t easily find the info back later on and I can’t listen to them if I don’t have my headphones nearby…
Is there an easy way to have them transcribed ?
Answer:
Yes there is, and it is built-in into WhatsApp since november 2024… however, WhatsApp is not releasing it worldwide everywhere all at once… so, it may be available for you already, but you might also need to wait for it a little longer…
To switch on the Transcribe-function in WhatsApp do this :
- make sure your iPhone is running iOS 16 or newer ( since the fall of 2024 we’re on iOS18 )
Note : in iOS 16 only English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Chinese, and Arabic are supported ; in iOS 17 Danish, Finish, Hebrew, Malay, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish and Thai were added. - make sure that Siri is turned on
to turn on Siri, do these :
– goto Settings.app > Siri > Talk to Siri > make sure that “Press Side Button for Siri” is turned ON
– goto Settings.app > Siri > Messaging with Siri > READ MESSAGES > Add Language… > make sure that the languages that you frequently use to communicate are activated
– goto Seetings.app > Siri > [scroll down] > Apps > WhatsApp > make sure that all options are switched ON - then, open WhatsApp.app on your iPhone
- open the main ‘Chats’ screen ( that’s were your most recent chat conversations are listed )
- click on Settings ( bottom-right ; with the sprocket/gear-icon )
- in the ‘Settings’ screen that opens, scroll slightly down and click on ‘Chats’
- in the ‘Chats’ page that opens, you’ll see an option named ‘Voice Message Transcripts’
Note : this option will only be visible if WhatsApp has released it for your you, so if you don’t see it (yet), comback to this page later to chack wether it’s available for you… - switch ON ‘Voice Message Transcripts’ to activate it, and choose your Transcript Language
Then, to create transcripts of voice messages, do this : - open WhatsApp.app on your iPhone
- open the ‘Chats’ screen ( that’s were your most recent chat conversations are listed )
- click on the chat that you’ve received the voice message in ( so, locate the voice message )
- click & hold on the voice message
- click ‘Transcribe’ when it appears
- click the smal triangular arrow (the downward pointing angle) to expand the transcription
- now, the transcription will be shown…
Note : it might take some time before the transcription will appear - That’s it !
enjoy 😉
Note : if you get an error saying ‘Transcript unavailable’, this may be because of one of the following :
– you have set te wrong transcript language - the voice message language isn’t supported (yet)
- you have set the wrong transcript language
- the audio quality it too poor to be transcribed ( e.g. due to background noise )
MacManus.nl 
I’ve given up on the built in transcription – they are hard to read partly because it’s full of um, like.. you know and partly because it misses words entirely. ‘Transcriber for WhatsApp’ is much better
@James Debian :
Thank you for your reply.
I think you might be right on the problems regarding the quality of the transtcriptions inside the Whatsapp.app
Hopefully the quality of the in-app transcriptions will improve quickly when this feature gets widely available.
Thank you for your reminder regarding this.
😉
To anyone else reading this :
There are various (paid) alternatives available in the AppStore, but since those are mostly ‘paid’ alternatives using a subscription model, these are NOT for people who just incidentally get Voice Memos that they want to get transcribed (so, only for heavy users).
Any alternatives found outside of the AppStore, especially the paid ones, but even the FREE ones, should be treated with extreme CAUTION ! All transcripting options heavily rely on AI and are uploading your (personal) messages onto the internet to have them transcribed… most people will regard that as a violation of their privacy. Furthermore, when using (paid) serviced that are outisde of the AppStore, please be careful and thoroughly check out all available info every service/website/company that provides a FREE or paid online service… do NOT believe them on their word, they may not even exist !