What voicemail app to use for Android?
Voicemail apps allow you to manage your voicemails directly on your Android device, giving you more control and better organization. With a dedicated voicemail app, you can listen to messages, delete old ones, save important voicemails, and personalize greetings. Built-in visual voicemail offered by some carriers only gives you basic playback and management. A third-party voicemail app provides a much more robust experience without having to call in to your voicemail inbox.
There are many great options for Android voicemail apps, ranging from free apps like Google Voice to paid services like YouMail. With customizable features like transcriptions, voice-to-text, and visual voicemail, these apps make it easy to manage your messages efficiently. Choosing the right voicemail app can help you never miss an important voicemail again while decluttering old ones.
Native Phone App
Android devices come with a built-in phone app that provides basic calling and voicemail capabilities. The native phone app allows you to make and receive calls, check voicemail, and manage your contacts 1.
To access voicemail on the native phone app, open the app and tap on the “Voicemail” tab. This will bring up your voicemail inbox where you can listen to messages. You can play back messages, delete messages, and return calls directly from this interface.
The native app also supports visual voicemail on many devices, allowing you to see a list of messages and play them back without having to dial into voicemail. Visual voicemail makes it quicker and easier to manage voicemail playback.
While the native phone app provides basic voicemail capabilities, it lacks some customization options and advanced features offered by third-party voicemail apps. But for simple voicemail access, the native phone app may be sufficient for many users.
Google Voice
Google Voice is a popular voice-over-IP (VoIP) service offered by Google that provides phone numbers, call forwarding, voicemail transcription, and other communication features. Some key aspects of Google Voice for voicemail include:
Google Voice transcribes voicemails automatically using speech recognition technology. Users can read transcribed voicemails in their inbox or listen to the original audio recording. This makes it easy to scan through messages quickly.
Voicemails are accessible on the Google Voice website or mobile app. Users can manage all voicemails in one centralized interface and don’t need to dial in to a voicemail box.
Users can customize voicemail greetings, receive voicemails as email attachments, forward voicemails to multiple numbers, and more. Advanced voicemail options help optimize the voicemail experience.
Visual voicemail allows users to browse, search and playback voicemails in any order. This is more convenient than having to listen to voicemails sequentially.
Google Voice voicemail transcriptions support multiple languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Japanese.
Overall, Google Voice provides a robust set of voicemail management features beyond just a basic voicemail box. The transcription capabilities and visual voicemail in particular help enhance the voicemail experience for Android users.
For more on Google Voice, see this overview from Forbes. Google Voice has a roughly 2% market share in the VoIP industry according to 6sense, and is popular for its unified communication abilities according to this Quora thread.
YouMail
YouMail is a popular visual voicemail app for Android that provides advanced voicemail management features. With YouMail, users can see a list of voicemail messages and play them in any order, like email. The app transcribes voicemails into text so users can read messages instead of listening to them. Users can also archive, search, forward, and delete voicemails easily. Some key features of YouMail include:
Visual Voicemail – Listen to messages in any order and delete or save voicemails you want to keep without having to listen to them all.
Voicemail Transcription – Voicemails are transcribed into text for easy skimming. The transcription also makes voicemails searchable.
Custom Greetings – Record custom voicemail greetings for different callers. You can set up business, out of office, and temporary greetings.
Voicemail Screening – Screen robocalls by reviewing a transcription of a voicemail before deciding to listen to it.
Blocking Tools – Block unwanted callers and screenings calls from unknown numbers.
Smart Notifications – Get alerts for important voicemails from favorite contacts.
According to reviews on G2 (https://www.g2.com/products/youmail/reviews), users praise YouMail’s visual voicemail capabilities and tools for identifying and blocking robocalls and spam calls. However, some users report issues with delayed notifications and transcriptions.
Voice
Voice is a phone app from Vonage that offers free voicemail to text transcription. This is a major benefit as it allows you to read voicemails instead of having to listen to them. Voice also provides unlimited calling and messaging in the US, Canada and Mexico. Some key features of Voice include:
Visual voicemail – View and manage voicemails from an easy inbox interface.
Voicemail to text – Get voicemails instantly transcribed to text so you can read instead of listen.
Free unlimited calling – Make free calls to any number in the US, Canada and Mexico.
Free unlimited texting – Send and receive unlimited texts to any US, Canada or Mexico number.
Call forwarding – Forward calls to any number and manage rules easily.
According to reviews, Vonage Voice provides excellent call quality and a reliable transcription to text feature. The app is free to download and use, making it a top choice for Android users looking for a capable voicemail and calling app. The free unlimited calling and texting to US/Canada/Mexico numbers is a major perk as well.
Comparison
When comparing the top voicemail apps for Android, there are a few key features to consider:
Visual Voicemail: Apps like Google Voice, YouMail, and carrier visual voicemail allow you to view and manage voicemails like a mailbox, rather than needing to dial in and listen sequentially. This makes it much easier to scan, prioritize and respond to messages.
Customization: YouMail and Google Voice stand out for offering robust customization options like personalized greetings, blocking unwanted calls, and transcribing voicemails to text. Other apps tend to have more basic options.
Ad-free: Apps like Google Voice and YouMail offer an ad-free experience, while some carrier visual voicemail apps include ads. Going with a third-party app can avoid this annoyance.
Some key pros of top options like Google Voice include seamless integration across devices, call screening features, and no need for a separate phone plan. Downsides can be lack of full integration with your carrier’s network and potential bugs. Overall the most popular choices balance visual voicemail, customization, and reliability.
Call Forwarding
Call forwarding allows you to forward incoming calls to another number, like your voicemail. This is useful if you want calls to go to voicemail when you can’t answer the phone. Here’s how to set up call forwarding on Android:
On most Android devices, open the Phone app and tap the three-dot menu icon in the top right. Select Settings, then Calling Accounts or Call Settings. Tap Call Forwarding and choose one of the forwarding options like “Always Forward” or “When Busy.” Enter your voicemail number when prompted. You can also activate call forwarding by dialing *72 followed by your voicemail number on most Android devices (source).
Some devices like Samsung have different menus, but look for Call Forwarding under Settings or Calls. You may need to enable it for each phone line if you have multiple. Once enabled, all calls will forward to your voicemail when you don’t answer. Disable call forwarding by selecting “Turn Off” in the Call Forwarding menu (source).
With call forwarding set up, you can ensure callers reach your voicemail when you miss calls or are unable to answer. It provides a seamless voicemail experience on Android.
Voicemail Customization
Voicemail apps allow users to customize their voicemail greetings and menus to provide a more personalized experience for callers. Here are some of the customization options available with popular Android voicemail apps:
Google Voice allows users to record custom voicemail greetings for all calls as well as use separate greetings for calls from specific groups of contacts. Users can also set up customized voicemail menus with options for callers to press certain keys to be directed to different mailboxes or forwarded elsewhere. According to voipstudio.com, “With Google Voice, subscribers can set up an online voicemail system that can not only transcribe messages but allow them to be saved indefinitely as opposed to a limited number of days.”1
YouMail goes beyond just custom greetings and menus by allowing users to personalize their voicemail experience with features like voice avatars, which use AI to mimic the subscriber’s voice. As explained on YouMail’s website, “YouMail voice avatars use advanced artificial intelligence to recreate your voice and speak in your style when replying to callers.”
The native Android Phone app also enables custom voicemail greetings, with the ability to set different greetings for different groups of contacts. However, the native app lacks some of the more advanced personalization options offered by third-party voicemail apps.
In summary, third-party Android voicemail apps like Google Voice and YouMail provide much more robust customization options to personalize the caller experience with custom greetings, menus, voice avatars, and more.
Visual Voicemail
Visual voicemail is a feature offered by some mobile providers like Verizon and AT&T that allows you to manage your voicemails visually and selectively, similar to how you would manage text messages or emails.
With visual voicemail, you can see a list of your voicemails displayed on your phone’s screen, with caller ID information and the length of message shown. You can then choose which voicemails to listen to immediately, delete unwanted messages without listening, and even listen to multiple voicemails in any order you want.
The key advantages of visual voicemail include:
- Convenience – Don’t need to listen to voicemails sequentially or through annoying voicemail menus. Skip around easily.
- Efficiency – Quickly identify important voicemails and skip over ones you don’t need.
- Organization – Voicemails are neatly organized and easy to manage on your phone.
- Accessibility – Visual voicemail transcribes voicemails to text so you can read them rather than listen.
Overall, visual voicemail makes accessing and managing your voicemails much simpler. It provides an intuitive, visual interface that eliminates the need to navigate through traditional audio-based voicemail menus.
Recommendation
Based on the research and analysis above, my recommendation for the best voicemail app for Android is Google Voice. Google Voice is free, provides a dedicated phone number, works across devices, and has excellent visual voicemail features like voicemail transcription. While paid options like YouMail have some additional customization options, Google Voice provides the core visual voicemail functionality most users need at no cost.
For most Android users looking for a capable visual voicemail app, Google Voice is the top choice. It’s full-featured, widely compatible, and easy to set up. The free price point and integration with Google services also makes adoption frictionless. Unless you need specific customization options only available in paid voicemail apps, Google Voice is the best overall voicemail solution for Android.