The popular communication platform WhatsApp is developing a new voice note transcription function that will convert audio messages into text. As a result, customers who dislike listening to audio messages will be able to view the messages’ content as plain old text.
Latest WhatsApp beta for iOS offers voice note transcription
According to WABetaInfo, the most recent beta of WhatsApp for iOS has a voice note transcription feature. With this function, the app can convert audio input into text by figuring out what was stated in the message. Of course, there are certain restrictions given that this is a beta version.
For instance, when no words are recognized or when the voice message is in a language different than the language designated for transcriptions, transcriptions are not provided. However, all transcripts will be collected and processed rather than being sent to Apple or WhatsApp servers, which is a huge privacy benefit.
As of right now, the transcribing capability is now only available in WhatsApp’s iOS beta version; a release date for the Android app is unknown. WhatsApp’s top competition Telegram already provides voice and video transcription. However, only subscribers of Telegram Premium have access to the feature. Everyone will be able to use the function for free on WhatsApp.
Since WhatsApp’s voice note transcription is still being tested in beta, exclusively on iOS, we do not know when the company plans to release the features to the general public.
In related news, WhatsApp recently announced a bunch of new features for Status Updates. These include Voice status, Reactions for status, and link previews on status. The company has begun rolling out the new features globally. They should become available to all users in the coming weeks.
Check out some other features that WhatsApp has recently over the last couple of months:
