Apple to overhaul voicemail with Siri transcription

During WWDC 2015, Apple made several improvements to Siri, specifically more proactive in her responses and a new look.

As reported by a new report, Apple is said to be working on integrating voicemail into iCloud, bringing about some of the biggest advancements since visual voicemail on the first iPhone. According to a report from Business Insider, the company is making its own visual voicemail of sorts that would allow you to use Siri to record voicemails and then transcribe them as text back to you.

Wondering how it will benefit you? I don’t want to leave you one or listen to yours.

It works on a simple concept.

When using iCloud voicemail, if you’re unable to take a call, Siri will answer, rather than letting the call go to a regular voicemail recorder, and the message will then be automatically transcribed and sent to you by text message. No hustle and the work is done.

In a technological twist that would have seen both American and UK versions of The Office require major rewrites had they aired a few years later, Apple is reportedly looking at ways to establish its Siri voice assistant as a viable replacement for a human workplace receptionist. You can turn it off whenever you wish to.

Apple sends voice data to company servers, where Siri converts the words spoken into text. iCloud Voicemail will presumably function in the same way, sending the raw voicemails to Apple, and Siri will then transcribe them and make them available on your iPhone. The new iOS will allow the personal assistant to create contextual reminders, search more thoroughly through photos and videos, and grant users an easily-accessible curated list of contacts and apps in “Siri Suggestions”, a quick left-swipe from the home screen.