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WhatsApp on Thursday introduced new features designed to make sharing voice messages easier. Voice message transcription has been introduced in WhatsApp for Android and iOS platforms, allowing users to see text transcriptions of voice messages they receive from others. This feature is intended to be useful on the go or in noisy environments. The development comes after WhatsApp recently introduced labels for unread draft messages in chats and new widgets for the iOS app's home screen. In a blog post, WhatsApp emphasized that transcripts of voice messages are generated on the device and no one else can listen to or read the content of the transcripts. Voice messages continue to be protected by end-to-end encryption across the instant messaging platform, the company emphasized.

This feature must be activated before use. After the change, the transcript will automatically appear under the voice message in the language you selected. According to the company, only the recipient can see the text of the voice message, not the sender. According to WhatsApp, only English, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian are currently supported on the Android platform, while Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian and Thai are currently supported on the Turkish iOS app and in Swedish. Here are the steps to use this feature:

Open WhatsApp Settings > Chats
Turn voice message transcription on or off and select your preferred language.
Touch and hold the voice message, then tap Transcribe.
Tap the extension icon in the voice message to view the transcription details.

According to WhatsApp, it may take some time for the transcript to appear. If you receive the "Transcription not available" error message, it may be due to an unsupported transcript language, unknown background audio for words, or an unsupported voicemail language. The company also warns users to be careful as the transcription of voice messages may be inaccurate.