The Google Messages app will be able to transcribe all voicemails you receive

Soon, you won’t have to listen to every voicemail you receive from “that” person too comfortable to write directly to you, as the Google Messages app is getting the ability to transcribe every voicemail you receive.

Intended as an alternative to use at times when you can’t write the message for objective reasons (e.g. you’re driving), the voicemail option is often abused by users who end up sending only voicemails for convenience. Adding to the frustration of those who receive such messages, the sender who does not put any more effort into composing messages in text form ends up spending far too much time recording those messages, wasting just as much time for the person who has to listen to them on the other end.

Coming to solve this inconvenience, Google will add the option to transcribe voicemail messages in the Messages app, using the same voice recognition technology it could use to dictate the message from the start.

Unfortunately, even after automatic conversion to text form, some voicemails will still need to be listened to at least in part, as the speech recognition technology only works properly with sufficiently clear recordings, with whispering or very loud ambient noises adversely affecting the accuracy of the resulting transcripts.