Straight to Voicemail? Read a Live Transcript as Someone Is Leaving You a Message

Apple and Google features let you prescreen calls on iPhones and Pixels

Edward C. Baig,

AARP

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Published August 05, 2025

I still have a landline and answering machine, which means I can hear messages callers leave before deciding whether to answer. I only wish there were ways to hear them when they leave messages on my smartphone.

Many of us may wish that, especially with the spate of calls we’re getting from marketers, organizations seeking money and, alas, scammers. It is indeed super helpful to prescreen messages as callers leave them to determine whether or not to pick up.

For that matter, it may not always be convenient to answer calls from people we know immediately, either, especially if an incoming message makes it clear it is not urgent.

Caller ID helps us identify the folks trying to reach us, but not always. Caller IDs can be spoofed. Frankly, I rarely answer if I don’t recognize a number under the assumption that it’s probably not someone I want to talk to. If it turns out the call was important — a doctor’s office reaching out, say — I reckon they’ll leave a message.

For many years now, smartphones have also had helpful “visual voicemail” features that let folks read transcripts of the messages that callers leave. Unlike in the olden days, when you had to listen to messages in the order in which they came in, visual voicemail, which all the major U.S. wireless carriers support, lets you prioritize which ones to listen to first, notably those from your spouse, kids or boss.

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Of course, it’d be great to hear those messages in real time. While it’s still not possible on your smartphone, the next best thing may be to read what those incoming callers are saying.

Live Voicemail on iPhone

With the Live Voicemail feature on iPhone, you can view the words being spoken as someone is leaving you a message. You can pick up before the call ends, ignore it and let the person finish leaving the message, or hang up.

Only when you answer will you hear the caller’s voice, and they hear yours.

For privacy reasons, messages are transcribed on the phone itself and not sent to Apple’s servers, the company says.

The feature, which debuted in 2023 as part of the iOS 17 update and is available on all subsequent versions of the software, is turned on by default, though you can disable it in Settings. To do so, tap Settings | Apps | Phone and tap the Live Voicemail switch to toggle it off. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a reason why you’d want it off. When a call comes in and you want it to go to Live Voicemail, tap the voicemail button or icon on the screen; it resembles a pair of upside-down eyeglasses. You’ll then see the live transcription on the display.

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Transcripts are saved with all the voicemails in the Visual Voicemail inbox on iPhone, which you can listen to and/or read at any time; according to Apple, they won't be deleted.

Worth noting: The Live Voicemail feature may not work if the phone is operating in Low Power Mode or if you’re roaming off another wireless carrier’s network.

Screen calls on Google Pixel

Google’s Call Screen feature on the company’s Pixel smartphones is squarely aimed at silencing marketers and scammers. Normally, when you receive a call from a random number, you’d wait until the caller leaves a message before deciding whether to call back. Now, if you suspect the caller is spreading spam or is a robocaller, you can tap a Screen button. Whether you see the button depends on whether the caller is known and your Settings.

An automated calling assistant answers on your behalf as follows: “Hi. I’m a Google virtual calling assistant recording this call for the person you’re trying to reach. Can you say what you’re calling about?”

If the caller begins to speak, you will see a transcript of the conversation between Google and the person in real time.

While this is happening, you can tap buttons such as “Take me off the list,” “Can you say more?,” “Wrong number, or “Report as spam.”

Of course, if a call is legit, you can answer by tapping the green call button, and if not, you can hang up.

You can also tap an Urgent button, and the virtual calling assistant will ask the caller if it is urgent.

To enable Call Screen on Pixel, launch the Phone app, tap the three dots at the upper right corner, and tap Settings | Call Screen | Automatically screen calls.

You have three levels of protection to choose from. The Maximum setting screens all unknown numbers, and the assistant will answer without you having to tap the Screen button; Medium screens suspicious calls and declines known spam; Basic declines only known spam.

You also have the option to tap Respond with AI replies in Settings. Call Assist suggests AI-powered replies based on the caller’s responses. Google warns that AI-generated responses “may be inaccurate and don’t represent Google's views.”

In my experience with Call Screen, when callers hear the automated assistant answer instead of me, they usually hang up without uttering a word.

Bonus tip: Weigh security before recording your own voicemail greeting

Most people record their own voicemail greeting to replace the default nondescript greeting callers would otherwise hear when leaving a message. It’s certainly friendlier, more personal, and it can sound more professional, too.

But some cybersecurity types recommend sticking with (or returning to) the generic default because of AI voice-cloning scams. Through artificial intelligence tools, scammers can capture and clone voices from just a few seconds of audio on a voicemail greeting. Then, by pretending to be you, they may try to trick your loved ones or other people you know into sending them money or falling for a scam.

It’s scary stuff and quite frankly a difficult and unfortunate trade-off.

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Edward C. Baig covers technology and other consumer topics. He previously worked for USA Today, BusinessWeek, U.S. News & World Report and Fortune, and is author of Macs for Dummies and coauthor of iPhone for Dummies and iPad for Dummies. Follow him on LinkedIn; Threads; and X, formerly known as Twitter.