Is voicemail wrecked in iOS 18.3?

[DaveWT]

My wife and I have iPhones 16 Pro and 15 Pro respectively, both on 18.3 In the past when I have received a call from an unknown caller, I hit the voicemail button on the screen, and if that caller leaves a voicemail, I see the text of that scrolling across the screen. Then if I recognize a call I really want I can accept that while the caller is still on the line. Perfect!

This morning I tried to teach my wife how to do that. I called her, she saw the voicemail button and hit it, and I had to listen to the long prompt telling me I could leave a voicemail. By the time that ended and I could talk, her screen had blanked out so she no longer had the chance to see the text of what I was saying scrolling across the screen, And it was a long time later before she got the notification that I had actually left a voicemail, so she could go and listen to it.

So is this a (terrible) change to how this is working in 18.3? The other possibility is that because I am a known caller, the functionality changes and wouldn't for an unknown caller.

 

[chas_m]

You cannot see the text they are leaving until you give them a chance to leave the message. If your screen blanks out before they have a chance to leave their message, you won’t see it. Keep your voicemail greeting short!

 

[DaveWT]

Hi Chas,

I couldn't remember that there is a way to record your own voicemail message. I thought I was using the default message on Apple's voicemail system. I have found an Apple Support article which I will look into tomorrow. Having said that, I have made no changed since I first set this up and it used to work perfectly but now doesn't so something in iOS must have changed. I made test call from our home phone tonight and it wouldn't even respond to me hitting the voicemail button so went through to my carrier voicemail. Perhaps a function of having the home phone recognized in my contacts? I need to get my hands on a burner phone for real case testing.

 

[DaveWT]

I have revisited this today. I found I had the default greeting on my Apple voicemail and changed it to a custom greeting making it as short as possible. Then I made a test call when the iPhone was just sitting there, locked. I got a chance to stab at the voicemail button when the call came in, but by the time the new short custom greeting was played out and I had a chance to leave a voicemail from our home phone, the iPhone had already dimmed out. I have the lock screen timeout set for 1 minute but that affects when the phone is unlocked and how soon it will lock again when idle. It doesn't seem to affect the time if the phone is locked and the screen just comes on if a call comes in. It seems to dim again in about 3 seconds and I can't see how to lengthen that time interval. I am not using "always on display" and that might help the situation but I would rather not use that feature.

The other thing I notice is that if the phone is locked and a call comes in, when I pick up the call to decide to answer or send to voicemail, faceid does not activate and unlock the phone in that case. I guess that would just add to the confusion when taking a call so I suppose that is normal.

Something has definitely changed from when this used to work well.

 

[DaveWT]

I phoned Apple Support today and they said it was a carrier issue but pointed out the new 18.3.1 that just became available. I then contacted my carrier (Freedom) via chat and they hinted it was an Apple problem. But I then did the 18.3.1 update and it is BETTER but not back to how it used to be. If I am very quick I can hit the Voicemail button and then if the caller leaves a voicemail I can tap on the transcript just before it fades away. My wife is still set to the default (longer) greeting so she hasn't a chance in heck of getting it to work. Clearly the result of iOS updates since it used to work well.

 

[chas_m]

I just tested this with my iPhone 16 Pro, running iOS 18.3.1. I had Heather call my iPhone. I saw the call come in, didn't answer it, and it went to voicemail. The screen dimmed but tapping it brought it back, and I did see the transcript of her voicemail (if someone just leaves you a really short message like "call me back" and hangs up, there's not enough time to see the voicemail transcript -- the call has to still be active when the voice mail transcription starts).

So as far as I can tell, nothing much has changed on this front except that the phone screen dims quicker than I recall my older model doing.

 

[DaveWT]

I just tested this with my iPhone 16 Pro, running iOS 18.3.1. I had Heather call my iPhone. I saw the call come in, didn't answer it, and it went to voicemail. The screen dimmed but tapping it brought it back,

Ah I thought you were on to something here... I just tried it again and after I hit the voicemail button to send it to voicemail and then before I could see the transcription, the screen dimmed, I TAPPED THE SCREEN AGAIN (which I may not have done before.) Yes it brought the screen back (to the Home screen I think) but without presenting the button to accept the call (while the transcription is still going on.) So the ability to screen a call from an unknown caller but accept it if desired is lost.

and I did see the transcript of her voicemail (if someone just leaves you a really short message like "call me back" and hangs up, there's not enough time to see the voicemail transcript -- the call has to still be active when the voice mail transcription starts).

No I was sure to be blathering away into our home phone to leave a long voicemail. Of course later the recorded voicemail does show up when you tap on the phone icon and then the voicemail button there, so you could call a caller back if desired, but you miss the chance to intercept the call while it is happening.

So as far as I can tell, nothing much has changed on this front except that the phone screen dims quicker than I recall my older model doing.

I don't think this is a function of your fancy new phone, but rather a function of the updates to iOS since you tried this on your older phone, The fact that I am seeing some improvement (but not enough) going from 18.3 to 18.3.1 on the same iPhone suggests to me where the issue is.

I am still concerned I may be fooling myself by doing this testing from a known caller's phone (my home phone) that is in my Contacts. I worry that the behaviour might be different if the call comes from a truly unknown caller. I get so few calls on my iPhone as it it, whether known or unknown and it may be a while before I get a chance to really determine what happens when the call is from someone not in my Contacts.

 

[chas_m]

In the meantime, you can certainly adjust how long before the iPhone screen goes dark. That's in Settings -> Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock.

 

[DaveWT]

In the meantime, you can certainly adjust how long before the iPhone screen goes dark. That's in Settings -> Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock.

I just checked and I have that setting at 1 minute. When a call comes in, my screen is darkening much sooner than that. 20 seconds in fact, I just tested. So I changed that setting to 2 minutes and the screen dimmed at about 45 seconds and it locked at about 1 minute. Changed it back to the 1 minute setting and the screen dimmed in 20 seconds and then it locked at about 30 seconds. An article I read suggested to go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size and turn off Auto Brightness (in spite of warnings about reducing battery life.) I tried that but it made no difference to the 20 second dimming.

 

[chas_m]

I haven't had any trouble with voicemail on my work or personal phones, but to be fair I'm never sitting there waiting for the transcript to start happening, so it certainly could be a bug.

Maybe this will get fixed in 15.3.2, or some later update ... if it is actually a bug.

But just to double-check, make sure of the following two things:

1. You have Visual Voicemail as part of your cell phone plan (check with your provider).

2. You have Live Voicemail turned on in Settings under the Phone app.

 

[DaveWT]

I haven't had any trouble with voicemail on my work or personal phones, but to be fair I'm never sitting there waiting for the transcript to start happening, so it certainly could be a bug.

And I get so few calls on my iPhone (wanted or unwanted) it may take a long time for me to really nail this down.

Maybe this will get fixed in 15.3.2, or some later update ... if it is actually a bug.

Oops, I am sure you meant to say something like "18.4" or something rather than "15.3.2"

But just to double-check, make sure of the following two things:

1. You have Visual Voicemail as part of your cell phone plan (check with your provider).

2. You have Live Voicemail turned on in Settings under the Phone app.

View attachment 787

Yes, this is exactly how I have my settings. And of course it was working perfectly some time ago but changed with some update (I think.)

Thanks for keeping your thoughts coming. Since I do get so many calls on my iPhone it is a tiny tiny tiny little annoyance to me but it would be great to get it back to how it used to work.

Dave