You can set a custom voicemail greeting on your iPhone 14 or use the default Apple voicemail greeting. Meanwhile, the voicemail won’t work without setting it up and setting the right visual voicemail number. So, this article will revolve around how to set up voicemail on iPhone 14 and other iPhone variants running on the latest iOS 17.
Apple iPhone comes with live and visual voicemail. You can use both on your iPhone with the right setup. You will also get notifications that there is a voicemail either visual or live waiting for you with an indication on the iPhone voicemail tab.
If you are using iOS10 or later you can also use the iPhone voicemail transcriber option (still in beta state though) to transcribe your voicemail messages into a text.
Note: The process to set up voicemail on iPhone should work on all iPhone models up to the new iPhone 15 Pro. Also, you must make sure that your iPhone OS is updated to the latest version iOS 17 if supported, or an earlier version.
To update your iPhone OS to the latest firmware kindly go to your iPhone settings >> General >> Software Update and follow the prompt to download and install any available software update on your iPhone.
How to Set Up Voicemail on an iPhone
You can use iPhone visual voicemail with almost all network carriers including AT&T. Apple lists all the carriers here you can take your time to check it out. However, we can say you have nothing to worry about if you are using any of the big guys in the carrier.
Meanwhile, the plan you subscribe to determines whether you will have access to the Visual Voicemail by default or not or whether you will need to subscribe to the Visual Voicemail as a separate service. It’s even confusing when some carriers use the word “Visual Voicemail” to refer to a different service. So, when planning to set up voicemail on your iPhone it’s important to make sure that Visual Voicemail is part of your plan.
If you don’t want to pay for Visual Voicemail separately you must ensure that you purchase your iPhone from carriers that add Visual Voicemail as part of the service you will enjoy for free for buying your iPhone directly from them.
However, you might not enjoy this benefit if you bought your iPhone from a different carrier and you are using a different carrier as your network carrier.
It’s worth telling you that your iPhone must have the iPhone Visual Voicemail plan for you to be able to set up voicemail on your iPhone. So, instead of your iPhone to listen to your voicemail when you tap the voicemail button on your phone app, it will put a call through to your basic voicemail service where you will then need to provide a passcode to access your voicemail message.
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How to Set Up Voicemail on iPhone 14
Before you proceed with how to set up voicemail on your iPhone 14 make sure you subscribe to the plan that has proper Visual Voicemail service or you should purchase your iPhone from a carrier that will include free Visual Voicemail in your plan so that you don’t purchase it separately.
- Open the phone application on your iPhone. It’s green with a picture of a phone, and by default, it’s at the bottom of the home screen.
- Click the Voicemail icon in the lower right corner.
- A screen to set up your iPhone voicemail for the first time will appear with a setup button. If you see something different like it shows a button to call voicemail or dial your voicemail service and you see a numeric keypad it implies that the service you subscribe to doesn’t support Visual Voicemail. You will need to contact your carrier to get the right service to use Visual Voicemail. This may attract extra cost.
- Click on the “Set Up Now” button to start with your iPhone Visual Voicemail setup.
- Enter a unique passcode for your voicemail service when you are asked to do so. You must keep this passcode secure as you will need it to access all your voicemail messages if you are using another phone to listen to your voicemail messages or if your iPhone is unable to listen to the Visual Voicemail service especially if you don’t have enough data to access your messages.
- After selecting the passcode and setting it successfully you need to set up your greeting message. You can choose “Default” to use the standard Apple Visual Voicemail message or choose “Custom” to record and set a different greeting message for your voicemail greeting message.
- If you went for a “Custom Greeting” message tap on the “Record” button to record your greeting. Once you are done tap on the “Stop” button. Before you save the greeting you recorded you can tap on the “Play” button to listen to the record. If you are satisfied with the message you should click on the “Save” button to save changes. If you are not satisfied with it, you can click on the “Record” button to erase the previous record and start over again.
How to Listen to Voicemail on iPhone
Once you are done with your iPhone Visual Voicemail set up you will see your new voicemail messages appear in the “Phone app” just the same way you see “Email” appear in the “App icon.” You will have access to the list of voicemails you have, the date and time, who sent a voicemail to you, and how long the voicemail is. Once you see that you have a voicemail message or voicemail messages you can click on each of the messages to listen to them without dialing the voicemail service number using your iPhone numeric keypad.
- Open your “iPhone Phone app.”
- Tap on the “Voicemail” button at the bottom right. You should see a red dot on the voicemail button indicating that you have some voicemail waiting for you. Your new voicemail messages will be marked in blue dot.
- Tap on the voicemail message with a blue dot if you want to listen to it. Once you click on the message it will start playing and replay automatically unless you stop it. Once you have listened to the message and stopped it from playing back you will see more options when you click to expand it which includes a playback button that allows you to listen to it once again. You can also listen to the voicemail message on a speaker or headphones if you have one. You will also see a button to delete the voicemail or tap the call icon to put a call through to the person who left the voicemail.
How to Change Voicemail Greeting on iPhone
You can change your Visual Voicemail greeting if you are not satisfied with the default greeting. This will allow you to tailor what your voicemail greeting will say before it starts recording. This allows you to add a professional voicemail greeting on your iPhone.
- Open your “iPhone Phone app.”
- Click on the “Voicemail” button at the bottom right.
- Choose “Greeting” at the top right of the screen.
- Select the phone line you want to change its voicemail greeting if you are using a Dual SIM iPhone.
- You will see the “Greeting” message on the screen that follows.
- For custom greetings, tap the record button to delete existing custom greetings and record a professional greeting for your Visual Voicemail, or switch back to the default if that is what you prefer.
- Once you have recorded a new voicemail greeting you then need to click on the “Save” button to save changes and set the new greeting message as your iPhone Visual Voicemail greeting message.
How to set Voicemail on iPhone using the App method
If you aren’t impressed with Apple’s Visual Voicemail interface, you can find a Visual Voicemail app for iOS to replace it. We encourage you to try an application like InstaVoice or YouMail. These free apps offer unique interfaces and additional functions, e.g., Linking multiple phone numbers that you may prefer over the standard Apple offer.
How to set Voicemail on iPhone on AT&T:
If you use AT&T, you have the option of creating your basic Voicemail. You’ll need to hold down the one key while on your phone. AT&T prompts you to set up your greeting using voice prompts.
How to set Voicemail on iPhone on Sprint:
Sprint has a Voicemail that you can set up. To get there, you will need to hold down the one button and create a four to ten-digit passcode to access your Voicemail. Then you need to follow the voice prompts to set it up.
How to set Voicemail on iPhone on Verizon:
Sorry, but Verizon is not very helpful here. Instead of letting you set up a simple voicemail, the company instructs you to set up a visual voicemail on your iPhone.
How to set Voicemail on iPhone on T-Mobile:
T-Mobile has a similar history to Verizon’s. Instead of letting you set up a specific basic voicemail, you will be directed to Apple to set up the visual Voicemail.