How to Record & Send Voice Messages on iPhone (iOS 26+)
The iPhone Voice Messages feature is quite useful and fun, allowing for audio recordings to be sent to and from people in the Messages app. Voice Messaging allows people to hear your voice, and you to hear theirs, and for many people it’s easier to speak into their iPhone rather than tap out a long text message. Understanding how Voice Messages and Audio Messages works to record and send on your iPhone lets you get the most out of the feature, but over time Apple has changed where it’s located and accessed on iPhone, which may throw off some users.
Let’s go through the basics for Voice Messages on iPhone, so you can understand how the feature works, how to access it, and use audio messages to the fullest.
Quick side note: Voice Messages and Audio Messages are completely different from Dictation, which is the voice to text feature that converts your speech into text either directly or with Siri, and those typically arrive with a “Sent with Siri” badge attached to them. Voice Messages arrive as an audio file that the recipient can play directly on their iPhone within the messages conversation thread, and then reply to.
How to Record Voice Messages / Audio Messages on iPhone with iOS 26
The most straightforward and simplest way to record audio/voice messages on iPhone is by accessing it directly.
- Open any Messages conversation
- Tap on the (+) plus button
- Tap on “Audio” (you might need to scroll down to find this)
- Record your audio message as desired, when finished tap the Stop button
- Playback your voice message if desired, otherwise just press the Send button like any other message
That’s it, the recorded audio voice message arrives to the recipients iPhone or Android, and they can listen to it directly in the Messages conversation. They can reply with a voice message of their own, or a written text, and so on.
Recording Voice/Audio Messages with Raise to Listen on iPhone
Apple also enables a feature called “Raise to Listen” automatically by default on every iPhone, and while that feature can cause a lot of confusion with random audio recordings in Messages, once it’s understood and used properly it can be fun too. Here’s how to use it properly:
- In a Messages thread, raise the iPhone to your ear and start talking to record your audio message
- Send the audio/voice message as usual
When Raise to Listen works as intended, it can behave a lot like a walkie-talkie, you just pick up your iPhone in a Messages conversation and start talking, send it off, and repeat to listen and reply again.
Raise to Listen and Raise to Record does not always work reliably however, and it can be triggered unintentionally which gives the impression the iPhone is randomly recording audio messages, which it is not, so generally speaking it’s best to rely on the direct Plus + button > Audio approach to record a voice message on your iPhone and send it to someone else.
Now that you understand recording and sending voice messages on iPhone, keep in mind this is the case with iOS 26 and newer, and iOS 18, where the user interface has changed to accommodate this particular way of accessing and using audio messages. It wasn’t too long ago where it wasn’t too long ag
Apple has changed how Voice Messages and Audio Messages work on the iPhone several times now, again with iOS 26 and newer, iOS 18 and earlier, and with different approaches in iOS 16, and with iOS 15 or earlier. Why all the changes to this have been made is not entirely clear, but it certainly keeps everyone on their toes, particularly those who like and rely on these features that get shuffled around, buried, and moved with iOS software updates.
Do you use audio messages and voice messages on iPhone? What do you think of the feature?
