Saving your voicemails to your computer helps save space and your messages
Voicemail, or voice messages, come as a service provided by your cellular telephone carrier. Since voicemail messages contain the caller’s voice, they can express more than a text message, but they can also take up valuable space on your device. These messages are also prone to accidental deletion and data loss for other reasons. With that in mind, it’s important to archive your voicemail messages on your computer, but how can you pull that off?
Saving your voicemail messages to your computer requires either jailbreaking or using third-party software, because the capability is not built into the integration between iOS and iTunes on OS X or Windows. If your iPhone isn’t jailbroken, you need third-party software to retrieve the voicemail files. There are a number of choices out there, but one of the most comprehensive alternatives is iMazing, formerly known as DiskAid. IMazing works with every iPhone ever made, and makes it easy to store your voicemail messages on your Mac or PC. With iMazing, you can transfer all sorts of data from your iPhone to your computer: SMS text messages, MMS iMessages, contacts, voicemail, voice memos, notes and call history.
To transfer your voicemail messages to your Mac or PC using iMazing, just follow these simple steps.
1. Make sure you’re using Visual Voicemail
Not every carrier supports Visual Voicemail, so you’ll want to make sure yours does before going any further. Luckily, there is an easy way to find out if your iPhone is set up for Visual Voicemail:
- On your iPhone, open the Phone app.
- Tap on the Voicemail icon on the right of the bottom bar.
- If you see a list of recordings, you have Visual Voicemail.
- If your iPhone calls a voicemail server, your carrier does not support Visual Voicemail and you will not be able to download your messages at all.
2. Purchase and install iMazing
You can download and install iMazing for either Mac or Windows from the company’s Web page. There is a free trial available, but it has limitations that might prevent you from saving your voicemail messages to your computer. A single user license costs $29.99, and covers up to three owned computers and unlimited iOS devices.
3. Launch iMazing and connect your iPhone
Once you’ve installed the software, launch iMazing and connect your iPhone. You should see a screen like this one. In the sidebar, click the triangle next to Phone to open up options for Call History and Voicemail.
4. Download your voicemail messages
If you click Voicemail, iMazing will start backing up your iPhone. Once that’s finished, a list of your voicemail messages will appear in the application. Select the voicemail message or messages you want to archive, and then click Export. IMazing will ask where you want to save the files, so choose your destination and click Choose. Your voicemail messages will be saved in the Adaptive Multi-Rate (.amr) file format, which QuickTime Player is compatible with.
If your iPhone is jailbroken, there is an even easier solution. Available through the Cydia app store, VoicemailForwarder gives you a new button that allows you to forward your messages via email. Once you install VoicemailForwarder, an export button will appear on the information page for each message. Tap that button, and you’ll be able to insert the voicemail message into an email to yourself or someone else.
For even more helpful tips on how to make the most of your iPhone, stick around. We’ve got more in store for you!
