Connect with us

Apple

How to Send Audio Messages in iOS 8

Published

on

iOS 8 is out in full force and there are a ton of new features that users can enjoy with the new update. Perhaps the biggest new feature for texters are the improvements to the Messages app.

The Messages app in iOS 8 remains largely unchanged compared to iOS 7, but there are a few added features that make the experience more enjoyable and useful.

Most notably, the app can act a lot like Snapchat, where you can send quick photos and videos to friends in an instant, as well as send off quick audio messages to friends or family instead of typing out a reply, especially if it might be a long response.

While we’ve seen the ability to send quick photos and videos to friends in numerous apps, the audio message feature is something that’s quite unique. However, those who are new to the iOS 8 experience might see it as something foreign, but we’re hear to teach and inform users about how to use the features in iOS 8, including audio messages.

Without further ado, here’s how to send audio messages through iMessage on your iPhone or iPad running iOS 8.

Breaker Breaker 1-9

Sending an audio message in the Messages app on your iPhone or iPad is actually really easy. To do so, just follow these steps.

  • Open up the Messages app from the home screen.
  • Tap on the New Message icon in the upper-right corner or select an existing conversation from the list.
  • You should see a small microphone icon to the right of the text box. Tap and hold on it to start recording an audio message.

2014-10-09 14.13.25

  • When you’re done recording it, lift up your finger and then you’ll have two options to choose from: deleting the audio message and sending it. The X icon will delete the message and the arrow pointing upwards will send it.
  • You can also tap and hold to record your message and then immediately swipe up to send it quickly. Or swipe left to delete the message.
  • You can also raise your iPhone to your ear to record an audio message. The recording will start when you have your phone up to your ear and will stop automatically when you lower your phone. From there, you can tap Send.

Listening to Incoming Audio Messages

If you receive an audio message from someone, there are a couple of ways that you can listen to it.

First off, you can simply press the Play button on the audio message and it will play through your iPhone’s speaker, just to be sure the volume is turned up.

2014-10-09 14.20.59

Secondly, you can raise your iPhone to your ear to have it begin playing automatically. Just be sure that “Raise to Listen is enabled in settings.

By default, audio message delete themselves automatically after two minutes, unless the sender has changed it otherwise. However, you can still keep the audio message forever by tapping on Keep just under the audio message. This will keep the audio message in the conversation until you delete it yourself.

Why Use Audio Messages?

You might asking yourself what the point of audio messages are, and that’s actually a very valid question. One would think that if two people are just constantly sending audio messages back and forth, they might as well just call each other, and you would be correct.

However, there are actually a couple of scenarios where sending simple audio messages are perfect. For instance, if you get a text message while you’re driving, you can simply raise your iPhone to your ear and compose a reply by sending a quick audio message. Of course, you could just use Siri, but that involves just a tad bit more work, which could be more distracting. However, you should at least wait until you get to a stoplight before doing anything on your phone.

We can also see audio messages being useful to get a taste of what a friend is up to. For example, if they’re at a coffee shop with a local pianist who’s playing, you can send a friend an audio message of the piano music if your friend is into that kind of stuff.

2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Alison

    10/11/2014 at 10:57 am

    The message icon has disappeared from my iPad now I’ve updated to ios8 What can I do?

  2. Reva Pree

    08/14/2015 at 1:30 am

    I would like to retrieve an audio message. How do I get it?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.