Technology moves us forwards, and there are rarely ways that technology can seem like a step back. I’m not sold on replacing the knobs in my car with a touchscreen, for instance, but I could be wrong. I am sure that our current voicemail, even Apple’s visual voicemail, is a step backwards from the wondrous days of the answering machine. Thankfully, Live Voicemail coming in iOS 17 will introduce a new generation to the glory of The Machine.
I say The Machine because that is what we called it. When you get home, you check The Machine. It was our “You’ve got mail” before AOL or email. We actually GOT mail in our mailbox from real humans we enjoy, but we never rushed to the mailbox the way we rushed to check “The Machine.”
The Machine would flash if there was a message, that’s how you knew if you were well-liked. In those days, phone calls did not come entirely from car warranty scams. In fact, most of the time if the phone rang, there was a purpose behind the call. It wasn’t nothing. It was always something.
When the answering machine was popularized, it meant we never missed something. It was the first time that technology solved a FOMO issue, decades before Millenials would invent the fear of missing out.
That benefit of the answering machine never vanished, and now tiny red bubbles over app icons are the smartphone version of the answering machine light flashing. You can tell how compelling this is because every single app demands its own red bubble. Everything has a flashing light. Everything has something important to say.
Call screening disappeared with the answering machine
There was another benefit of answering machines that disappeared, and that is call screening. When someone called your house, you could listen while they talked to The Machine. You didn’t have to listen, but your caller often assumed that you were listening, and might plead with your machine.
In fact, the answering machine led to a genre of communication that has disappeared. We don’t care much what our outgoing voicemail message says about us now, but when we had answering machines, and when our caller knew that we could be screening the call and were not just away from home, a new subtext emerged.
My parents kept our answering machine in their bedroom because I was not allowed to touch it under any circumstances. My father was a dentist and was concerned about patients calling with emergencies, but that was not the reason why.
The reason is because I once changed our outgoing message to a very long, well-sung (if I do say so) version of Bobby McFerrin’s 1988 smash hit “Don’t Worry Be Happy” with the chorus “Don’t Worry We’ll Call You.” There were 2 verses and a bridge, entirely a cappella.
After two days of no flashing light, one of my Mom’s friends left a voicemail saying that our two minute outgoing message was just too long, could we please change it. I was forever banned.
With the next major version of iOS, iOS 17 – coming in the fall to every iPhone from the iPhone 11 forward – you’ll be able to see a live transcript of your calls as your caller records a voicemail message. If you like what they are saying, you’ll be able to interrupt the recording and start a live conversation.
The voicemail will be transcribed from text-to-speech, so you won’t actually hear the pleading in their voice as they beg you to pick up the phone. This was part of the answering machine message. First, you let The Machine know that you know that they are home. Then you plead with them to pick up the phone so that you don’t have to talk to a machine.
Of course there's a creepy side to The Machine
Of course, there’s a bit of a creepy and invasive element to this. Right now, there is nothing a caller can say on a voicemail to convert the voicemail into a conversation. There is no possible coercion that can make someone pick up the phone once a call has been sent to voicemail. If you don’t want to talk to somebody, you send them to voicemail, and that is the end of it.
With Live Voicemails, callers might assume that they can convince you otherwise. It’s not hard to imagine the types of callers who might abuse this privilege. Being able to call someone, to connect with them directly, is a privilege. Apple has an amazing track record with privacy concerns. Hopefully this is a privilege that can be easily revoked.
Apple saves voicemail for the second time
Apple doesn’t get enough credit for the way it saved voicemail at the dawn of the smartphone age. Apple invented the idea of visual voicemail that most carriers and phone makers prefer. Being able to manage your voicemail through an app on your phone, instead of having to call into a convoluted, tedious, dial-up voicemail box was revolutionary. It should be the only way that voicemail is managed today.
These new voicemail improvements could change things again, and they couldn’t come at a better time. While the first generation of smartphone users moved away from phone calls and voicemails in favor of text messages, I’m seeing the next generation moving back to more personal phone calls. My kid is squarely within Generation Z and he calls me after I text him. His generation is going to love this call screening feature.
Google has a similar feature, but you need to use Google Voice, which replaces your existing phone number and many of your phone’s services. That’s not ideal. Apple’s iOS 17 Live Voicemail feature will be available to all modern iPhones.
Soon you'll want call screening for everything
It isn’t just your phone voicemail that will get an upgrade with iOS 17. In addition to live transcription for voicemail screening, Apple is also adding voicemail to FaceTime. Or rather, Facemail, as it should be called. If you call someone over FaceTime and they don’t answer, you can leave a voice message or a video recording.
How long before Apple lets you watch a video message as it’s being recorded, like screening a FaceTime chat? It makes a lot of sense, now that the feature is coming to phone calls. In fact, once today’s generation of smartphone users becomes accustomed to screening voice calls through the phone, they’ll probably want to screen everything.
So if you try to call and I don’t pick up, don’t assume that’s your last chance to reach me. I may be checking a script of whatever you’re telling my voicemail. Keep that in mind the next time you leave me a message but whatever happens don’t worry, I’ll call you.
- Check out the best new features Apple announced for iOS 17 at WWDC 2023
