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 required dialing 1417 and listening to messages in chronological order, but Visual Voicemail lets you view caller numbers, recording times, and message lengths in a list before playing. You can listen to only important messages, making it efficient even with a large number of messages.
On iPhone, it is accessed from the "Voicemail" tab in the Phone app. From iOS 17 onward, the Live Voicemail feature displays real-time transcription while the caller is recording their message. If you judge the content to be important, you can pick up the call mid-recording. Android's Google Phone app also provides similar transcription functionality.
Using Visual Voicemail requires subscribing to the carrier's voicemail service (Docomo: 330 yen/month, au: included in Phone Basic Pack at 330 yen/month). Visual Voicemail data is downloaded via mobile data, so it consumes data when Wi-Fi is unavailable. Note that Visual Voicemail is provided as a carrier service, so it may not be available with MVNOs (budget SIMs). MVNO users can achieve similar functionality through Google Voice or other third-party apps. Some Android devices also support Visual Voicemail through certain carriers. Review setup methods in smartphone privacy settings.