Visual Voicemail is a feature that displays voicemail messages in a list, allowing you to select and play specific messages. It became widely known when included as a standard feature on the iPhone in 2007.
Traditional voicemail means placing a call to a dedicated number yourself and working through the messages oldest first; with NTT Docomo's voicemail service you dial 1417 to listen. Visual Voicemail instead lets you see the caller number, the time of the recording, and the length of each message before you play anything, so you can pick out only the ones that matter. The difference grows as messages pile up.
On iPhone it is reached from the "Voicemail" tab in the Phone app, and on NTT Docomo the setting is switched from My docomo. With Live Voicemail on iOS 17 and later, a transcription appears in real time while the caller is still recording, and you can pick up part-way through if the content looks important. This feature is one of those for which Apple publishes availability by region and language, so it is worth checking whether it works in your own setup. On Android the approach differs by handset and carrier: NTT Docomo, for instance, offers an Android app for its voicemail service that lets you manage stored messages in a list and read them as text.
Using it assumes you have the underlying voicemail service on your contract. NTT Docomo describes Visual Voicemail as a free feature built into the iPhone; the cost sits with the voicemail service itself, which requires sign-up and is 330 yen per month including tax (as of August 2026). Billing differs by carrier and plan, and it is sometimes bundled into the plan, so check your own contract. Visual Voicemail messages are downloaded to the handset, so they use mobile data when you are not on Wi-Fi. Note also that Visual Voicemail is provided as a carrier service, so it may not be available with an MVNO (budget SIM). Phone-side settings are collected in Complete Guide to Phone Privacy Settings on iOS and Android.