How to transcribe a WhatsApp voice message on Android, iPhone and desktop

WhatsApp's own transcription and its languages

Before you install anything, check whether WhatsApp can already do the job. The app has had its own voice message transcripts since November 2024 (announced on the WhatsApp blog on November 21, 2024). According to the WhatsApp Help Center, transcripts are generated on your device, voice messages stay protected by end-to-end encryption, and the sender cannot see your transcript.

The feature is off by default. To turn it on:

1. Open WhatsApp Settings and tap Chats.
2. Turn on Voice Message Transcripts.
3. Tap Choose language and pick the language most of your incoming voice messages are in. Then confirm: on Android with Set up now or Wait for Wi-Fi, on iPhone with Change to plus the language name.
4. In a chat, tap and hold a voice message and choose Transcribe (on Android it sits behind a menu icon). The text appears in the voice message after a moment.

Languages depend on the platform. This is what the Help Center listed when I checked it on October 24, 2026:

Treat this table as a snapshot. A WABetaInfo report from September 17, 2026 says Android beta 2.26.37.5 brings German, French, Italian, Japanese and more English variants to some beta testers, and lists Arabic, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese and Russian as already available, while the official Android page still shows four languages. The reliable answer is on your own phone: once the feature is on, open Settings, Chats, Transcript language and see what it offers.

If your language is there and the phone is in your hand, use the built-in option. It is free, it takes one tap, and the transcript is made on the device. The rest of this guide is for the cases where it falls short.

When WhatsApp transcripts are not enough

• Your language is missing. The official Android list has four languages. Ukrainian and Polish, for example, are not on any list in the table above.
• Your contacts speak different languages. WhatsApp asks for one transcript language, the one most of your voice messages are in. A friend who records in German and a colleague who records in English are not both covered unless you keep switching the setting.
• You are at a computer. For WhatsApp Web, Windows and Mac the Help Center only says transcripts are available on certain devices, so on a laptop you will most likely not find a Transcribe option.
• Your iPhone runs an older iOS or Siri is off. On iPhone the feature needs iOS 16 or newer with Siri enabled.
• You need the text somewhere else. The transcript appears inside the voice message in the chat. A ten-minute brief from a client is easier to work with as a document with timestamps, or as a summary with the tasks pulled out.
• The exact words matter. The Help Center itself notes that transcripts may be inaccurate. For an address, a price or a quote you will repeat, timestamps let you jump to that moment and listen.
• It is not a voice message. The Help Center article covers voice messages only. For a call recording or a podcast clip that arrives as an audio file, do not count on the Transcribe option.

In each of these cases the route is the same: get the audio out of WhatsApp as a file and give it to a transcription tool. The one I build, Voicepad, a transcription tool for the browser and Telegram, does not work inside WhatsApp, so below is how to get the file out on each platform.

Android: share or save the voice message

The fastest route on Android is the share sheet, straight from WhatsApp to Telegram.

1. Open @Voicepad_bot in Telegram once and tap Start, so the chat is there when you share to Telegram.
2. In WhatsApp, tap and hold the voice message.
3. Tap the Share icon.
4. Choose Telegram, then the chat with the bot.

The bot replies with the text, timestamps and speaker labels. Under every transcript it offers a summary, a task list, an article, a post, questions about the recording, and export to DOCX, TXT and SRT.

If you would rather keep the file, for example to upload it on the website, look for it in your file manager. Guides describe a WhatsApp Voice Notes folder inside WhatsApp's Media folder, split into subfolders by date. The exact path differs between phones and Android versions, so searching for "Voice Notes" in the file manager is faster than following a path. The files usually have the .opus extension.

For a whole thread of voice messages, export the chat: open it, tap the menu icon, then More, Export chat, Include media. The Help Center says the most recent media is added as attachments, so older voice messages may be left out.

iPhone: share or save the .opus file

1. Tap and hold the voice message and choose Forward.
2. Tap the share icon.
3. Choose Telegram and the chat with the bot, or tap Save to Files to keep the audio in the Files app.

The saved file usually has the .opus extension. Some guides suggest converting it to MP3 in case a tool rejects .opus. For Voicepad you can skip that step: the site lists OGG and OPUS among accepted formats, and the bot takes audio files as they are.

To pull out many voice messages at once, tap the contact or group name at the top of the chat, then Export chat and With all media. According to the Help Center, the chat is exported as a ZIP file (you can pick Save to Files), and view once messages are not exported.

Desktop and web

On a computer you most likely have no built-in transcript, so download the voice message and transcribe the file.

1. Open the chat in WhatsApp Web or the desktop app.
2. Hover over the voice message and click the small arrow in its corner.
3. Click Download and choose where to save it.

The download is usually an .ogg file rather than .opus. That is not a problem. GuidingTech describes WhatsApp's voice format as Opus in OGG, and Meta's developer documentation for the WhatsApp Business Platform requires voice messages to be .ogg files encoded with the Opus codec, so the phone file and the computer file are the same kind of audio under a different extension. Drag the .ogg into the Voicepad web tool or into the chat with the bot in Telegram Desktop.

Upload in the browser or forward to the Telegram bot

Voicepad runs on ElevenLabs Scribe v2 and detects the language of each recording automatically, so the German friend and the English colleague from the list above are both covered without touching a setting. The website and the bot differ in limits and extras:

For a single short voice message the browser tool without login is the quickest: open the page, drop the .opus or .ogg file, read the text. A longer recording is not refused there, but only its first three minutes are transcribed, so for a longer message log in with Telegram or forward it to the bot.

If WhatsApp voice messages are a daily thing for you, the Voicepad bot in Telegram means less friction: share from WhatsApp to Telegram and the text comes back in the same app, with a task list for the moments when someone dictated a list of errands. Logging in on the site uses the same balance as the bot.

Pricing: 15 free minutes every month. After that there are packs of 60 minutes for 199 RUB, 300 minutes for 690 RUB and 1000 minutes for 1990 RUB, paid by card via Tribute. Minutes never expire, and only the real duration of a recording is charged.

On privacy, an honest comparison: WhatsApp's own transcripts are made on your phone. With Voicepad the audio is uploaded for recognition and deleted right after it; transcripts in the bot are kept for 30 days, and /delete removes them. If a voice message is sensitive and WhatsApp supports its language, the built-in feature is the more private choice. The details are in Voicepad's privacy policy, which has an English summary.

One more limit: Voicepad is a Telegram bot and a web tool, so it cannot join a WhatsApp group. In a Telegram group it can: add it to the chat and it transcribes voice messages and video notes up to 3 minutes long for everyone. For that, and for Telegram's own voice messages, see Telegram voice message to text. Longer recordings have their own guide, meeting recording to notes and action items, and Russian speakers can read this guide in Russian.

FAQ

Can WhatsApp transcribe voice messages by itself?

Yes, on Android and iPhone. Turn on Voice Message Transcripts in Settings, Chats, pick a language, then tap and hold a voice message and choose Transcribe. When checked on October 24, 2026, the WhatsApp Help Center listed English, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian on Android and a longer list on iOS 16 and newer. For WhatsApp Web, Windows and Mac it said transcripts are only available on certain devices.

Why is there no Transcribe option on my phone?

The feature is off by default, so check Settings, Chats first. On iPhone it also needs iOS 16 or newer and Siri turned on. WhatsApp rolled the feature out gradually from November 2024, so some accounts got it later than others. On WhatsApp Web and the desktop apps the Help Center says it may not be available yet.

What file format is a WhatsApp voice message?

Opus audio in an OGG container. Shared or saved from a phone it usually has the .opus extension; downloaded from WhatsApp Web or the desktop app it is usually an .ogg file. Both are ordinary audio files, and you can send or upload them to Voicepad as they are, without converting to MP3.

Can I add the Voicepad bot to a WhatsApp group?

No. Voicepad is a Telegram bot with a web tool on its website, and it does not work inside WhatsApp. Share or download the voice message and send it to @Voicepad_bot in Telegram, or upload it at voicepad.qupport.io. In a Telegram group, the bot transcribes voice messages and video notes up to 3 minutes long for everyone.

Is it free?

WhatsApp's built-in transcripts are free. Voicepad gives 15 free minutes every month, and the website without login allows 3 transcriptions a day; a recording longer than 3 minutes is transcribed only for its first 3 minutes there. More minutes come in packs, from 199 RUB for 60 minutes, and they never expire.

Other guides

• Telegram voice message to text: the bot step by step, in private chats and groups.
• Meeting recording to notes and action items: speakers, a summary of the call and a task list.
• In Russian: голосовое из WhatsApp в текст, the same task, and the general guide транскрибация аудио в текст.

Sources

1. WhatsApp blog: Introducing Voice Message Transcripts, November 21, 2024
2. WhatsApp Help Center: voice message transcripts, Android
3. WhatsApp Help Center: voice message transcripts, iPhone
4. WhatsApp Help Center: voice message transcripts, Web
5. WhatsApp Help Center: export chat history, Android
6. WhatsApp Help Center: export chat history, iPhone
7. WABetaInfo: new languages for voice transcriptions, September 17, 2026
8. GuidingTech: how to save WhatsApp audio
9. GoTranscript: how to transcribe WhatsApp voice messages
10. AndroidAyuda: where WhatsApp saves audio
11. IONOS: how to save audio from WhatsApp
12. Canaltech: download WhatsApp audio on a computer (Portuguese)
13. Meta for Developers: WhatsApp audio messages