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You may soon never have to listen to another rambling voicemail message again. Apple is reportedly testing a new service that lets Siri answer your calls and transcribe your voicemails.
Dubbed iCloud Voicemail, the new service will allow iPhone owners to divert their calls to Siri, instead of their network’s regular voicemail inbox, according to a report on Business Insider. The Siri voice assistant will greet the caller and invite them to leave a voice message, which will then be transcribed in the cloud and sent to the recipient in the form of a text message.
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If it works, the service will avoid the need to scramble around for pen and paper or memorise a telephone number left in a voicemail message. It may also mean that users don’t have to pay to retrieve voicemail messages from their network.
The report claims that iCloud Voicemail is currently being tested by Apple employees, with a view to launch in 2016 if the service proves sufficiently reliable. Even if Siri is unable to transcribe a message perfectly, it may be enough to simply get the gist of a message without having to listen to the audio recording, which will still be available to users.
iCloud Voicemail will offer additional features, such as the option to let certain callers know why you can’t pick up the phone or where you are. Such information may be restricted to those on your iPhone’s VIP list, preventing strangers from discovering your whereabouts if you fail to pick up the phone.
